Janis Joplin was an icon of rock music; she amazed audiences with her gutsy singing style. She developed a love for music at an early age. Joplin was inspired by legendary blues vocalists Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Odetta, an early leading figure in the folk music movement. She started her career by singing folk songs and especially the blues in Texas clubs. In May 1966, she was recruited in Big Brother and the Holding Company. Her performance at Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 amazed audience and musicians. Cheap Thrills (1968) boosted Joplin’s reputation as a unique, dynamic, bluesy rock singer.
Joplin left Big Brother and released her first solo song “I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!” in September 1969, with Kozmic Blue Band. however, she received mixed reviews, “That was a pretty heavy time for me,” she later said in an interview. She recorded Pearl with the Full Tilt Boogie Band and wrote two of its songs, the powerful, rocking “Move Over” and “Mercedes Benz.” However, the album was released after her death in 1971 and quickly became super hit. The single “Me and Bobby McGee,” written by Kris Kristofferson, a former love of Joplin’s, reached the top of the charts.
Janis Joplin died from heroin overdose possibly compounded by alcohol, on October 4, 1970, at a hotel in Hollywood’s Landmark Hotel. Some believed that Joplin had been given heroin that was much more potent than normal, as several of her dealer’s other customers also overdosed that week. Her sudden early death stunned her fans and shocked the music world.
