Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin, born January 19, 1943 in Port Arthur, Texas, was an American singer whose raw, blues-drenched voice made her one of the defining performers of the late-1960s rock era. Emerging from the San Francisco psychedelic scene, she first rose to fame as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company, delivering a galvanizing performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival that established her as a major new force in rock.

Her voice—raspy, powerful and emotionally unguarded—drew deeply on blues and soul traditions, and she poured herself into every performance with an intensity rarely matched by her contemporaries. After leaving Big Brother, she recorded with the Kozmic Blues Band and later Full Tilt Boogie Band, the latter producing her posthumously released album Pearl, which included her best-known song, «Me and Bobby McGee», alongside tracks like «Mercedes Benz» and «Cry Baby».

Joplin died in 1970 at the age of 27, joining the group of musicians who died at that age, but her influence on rock singing—and on the visibility of women as forceful, uncompromising rock performers—has endured for decades, shaping countless singers who followed in her wake.