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CELEBRATING 79 YEARS OF JANIS JOPLIN

Single song cover Can’t Turn You Loose- Live at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, August 17 1969 by Janis Joplin

“On stage, I make love to 25,000 different people, then I go home alone”

Today, October 4th (but make it 1943), the one and only Janis Lyn Joplin was born into this world. 

Known as being the “First Lady of Rock n’ Roll,” and for her eclectic, “liberated” stage presence, Joplin had this unmatched ability to sing each word with intention, with this raw passion that left every audience dumbstruck in admiration by the end of the performance. Janis was the perfect rebel to some and while to others close to her, a brilliant, sensitive woman devoted to her family. To us, she was indeed one in a million.

Let’s take a moment to celebrate some of Joplin’s contributions to not only musical history but her service as an unconscious feminist symbol for younger women for years to come.

…and may we never forget the heroic memory of Janis smashing a bottle of Southern Comfort over Jim Morrison’s head, after she became just a bit too fed up at Morrisons one too many sexual advances towards her.

1968: Joplin’s first big break. She releases album, Cheap Thrills, with her blues band, (at the time) “Big Brother,” which featured an uncanny vocal performance by Joplin. Quickly turning her into one of the most influential musical stars of the late Sixties.

1969: She performs with her new classic soul band, The Kozmic Blues Band, at the legendary Woodstock.

1970: Joplin forms her best backing group, The Full Tilt Boogie Band and released “Pearl” which became her biggest selling album of her career. The album featured her biggest hit single ever, “Me and Bobby McGee.”

1970: Janis on The Dick Cavett Show aired on August 3, 1970. One of her two last public appearances.

1970: Her tragic overdose at age 27 at the Landmark Motor Hotel in Hollywood.

1979: The documentary film, The Rose was released. The film followed Janis’s life and eventually earned Bette Midler an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress.

1988: The Janis Joplin Memorial unveiled a five-headed bronze sculpture of Joplin created by artist Douglas Clark.

1995: She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

2001: The musical play Love was released off Broadway and became such a success that they began a national tour which included pop artists such Laura Branigan and Beth Hart.

2003: Her hit album, Pearl, was ranked #122 on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”

2005: Joplin was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

2009: Joplin was the honored as an American Music Master in 2009 at the Rock Hall’s American Music Master concert and lecture series.

2013: Premiere of broadway musical, A Night with Janis Joplin which followed Joplins rise to fame.

2015: Amy J. Berg released a biographical documentary film, called Janis: Little Girl Blue, which eventually became a New York Times Critics’ Pick.

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