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80 years ago Janis Joplin was born: curiosities about the unforgettable rock and blues icon
Grossman Glotzer Management Corporation, via Wikimedia Commons
Janis Joplin was born eighty years ago, on January 19, 1943
80 years have passed since January 19, 1943, when Janis Joplin, future music icon in the sixties, was born in Porth Arthur, Texas. Restless teenager, but with a good soul (perhaps even too good), Janis Joplin died at only 27 years old, but her myth has remained eternal and is still considered one of the most important figures in rock and blues music. The singer was one of the most influential personalities for the hippie counterculture movement of the sixties: she too, like many icons of the time, took part in the famous festival of Woodstock. Here are some curiosities about the legendary Janis Joplin, who would have turned 80 today.
Thomas Jefferson High School, via Wikimedia Commons
At school she was targeted by bullies
The adolescence of the young Janis was not at all simple. During her years at Thomas Jefferson High School she was abused by her high school classmates for her ideals of equality among all people, regardless of skin color. At the University of Texas, however, she was even voted as the ugliest man on campus: the continuous wrongs suffered will indelibly mark the singer-songwriter, who also for this reason will take refuge in alcohol and toxic substances.
Artwork
She was nicknamed "Pearl" by friends.
Because of her nickname, the singer-songwriter's second and final solo studio album was called Pearl. The album was released on January 11, 1971, three months after Janis's death. The album managed to reach number one on the Billboard 200, where it stayed for nine weeks.
Artwork
Only one of her songs reached the top of the Billboard 100
Although today some of her songs such as Piece of My Heart and Cry Baby have become iconic, only one song by Janis Joplin reached the top of the Billboard 100, namely Me and Bobby McGee, which reached the first place after the death of the singer-songwriter. In fact, Janis had no particular interest in making her works commercial for profit: rather, the singer-songwriter believed in the immaterial power of music and its ability to create unbreakable bonds with her audience.
Elektra Records, via Wikimedia Commons
Once she smashed a bottle on Jim Morrison's head
In particular, the bottle in question was a liqueur, the Southern Comfort. Why this gesture? It seems that both had drunk too much, so Jim began to be insistent with Janis: she, after refusing her colleague several times, was forced to break the bottle in her hand on his head to make him stop being inappropriate. Even this did not stop Morrison, who seemed totally in love with Janis: the frontman of the Doors, the day after this event, tried to contact the voice of "Cry Baby" through her producer, but she was not at all interested in a possible romantic relationship with him.
Albert B. Grossman Management, via Wikimedia Commons
His most famous reports and the dedication of Leonard Cohen
Janis Joplin refused Jim Morrison, but had various relationships, more or less lasting and serious, with different exponents of the music world of the sixties. Openly bisexual, the singer-songwriter has been linked to Kris Kristofferson, Country Joe McDonald, Jimi Hendrix and Leonard Cohen: the mysterious woman in Cohen's song "Chelsea Hotel #2." is just Janis. The singer-songwriter also had a brief relationship with a fan and groupie, Peggy Caserta.
ANSA Foto
Janis Joplin's last studio recording was a song for John Lennon
Janis Joplin died on October 4, 1970, Lennon 's birthday was October 9, five days later. John loved Janis's voice, so Yoko Ono asked the singer-songwriter to participate in a special gift for Lennon's thirtieth birthday, a recording of Janis singing "Happy Birthday".
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