Janis Lyn Joplin was born in Port Arthur, Texas, on January 19, 1943. Despite being raised by a Christian family, Joplin showed her rebellious tendencies from an early age, influenced by the beat generation.

Although initially engaged in painting, he began singing in the local choir where he first came into contact with the sounds of blues artists such as Odetta, Billie Holiday and Big Mama Thornton. She spent most of her childhood and teenage years as an “intruder” at her school until she graduated in 1960. For a while she tried to take classes at some universities, but was unable to complete her studies.

During her career Joplin cultivated her own rebellious, individual style, influenced by the Negro blues. She recorded her first song in December 1962 at a fellow student’s house called “What Good Can Drinkin Do”.

During 1964 he collaborated with the guitarist of Jefferson Airplane, Jason Kaukonencomposing 7 songs which were later included on her album “The Typewriter Tape”. Shortly before joining Big Brother and the Holding Company, Joplin recorded seven more tracks, including Turtle Blues and an alternate version of Buffy Sainte Mary’s Cod’ine. They were all released together on the album This is Janis Joplin 1965, released in 1995.

The road to success

In 1966 Janis Joplin became the lead singer of the psychedelic band Big Brother And The Holding Company. The rock band signed a deal with independent label Mainstream Records, but a dispute with the label’s owner forced them to leave. Shortly after their legendary appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival, which gave them greater recognition, the band released their first album with Columbia Records in 1967, Cheap Thrills, which included the smash hit “Piece of My Heart”. The same year saw the release of the band’s second album entitled “Live at Winterland 1968”, which was recorded in two days.

Solo career and Kozmic Blues Band

The excessive visibility of the singer in the group caused the rest of the members of the group to be disturbed, as a result of which Joplin left in 1969 and pursued a solo career. After breaking up with Big Brother, the singer formed the Kozmic Blues Band, a support band that surrounded her musically with influences from R&B artists of the time, as well as funk, pop and soul. He appeared with them at the Woodstock festival (August 16, 1969) and recorded the album “I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!” (1969), which contained the hits “Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)”, “Kozmic Blues” and “To Love Somebody”.

The drug war, Woodstock and the Full Tilt Boogie Band

Despite her success in professional life, her dependence on drugs and alcohol grew more and more. Although her appearance at Woodstock was iconic for her career, she later stated that her experiences from those days were not particularly pleasant, as she had used heroin before taking the stage, which negatively affected her performance. Exhaustion from her volatile, addiction-filled life forced her to leave the group to seek treatment.

In February 1970 the singer decided, after a trip to Brazil, to stop using drugs and drinking alcohol. Her period of sobriety, however, was short-lived as she resumed drug use upon her return to the US. In the same year, the singer collaborated for a while with the Full Tilt Boogie Band, with whom she appeared at Festival Express, giving one of the best concerts of her life. The band, after Joplin’s death, released their fourth album entitled ‘Pearl’.

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