Janis Joplin died 50 years ago and was the first female rock star. Get to know her more, in this note.Janis Joplin recorded shortly before her death "Me and Bobby McGee" , one of her most popular songs, composed by Kris Kristofferson . Janis died of a heroin overdose on October 4, 1970, at age 27. Shortly before they had died, at the same age, Brian Jones , of the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix . Joining the so-called "club of 27", they were followed by Jim Morrison , and many years later Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse . There are many stories around this exceptional performer, one is written by Holly George-Warren, author of Janis Joplin , one of the latest biography about the artist, edited by Dome. "Janis felt that by acting she became someone beautiful," says her biographer, realizing the self-esteem problem that plagued the singer since she was a child. “When I'm on stage, I feel like I'm making love to 25,000 people, but when I return home, I find myself alone,” Janis, an artist who was extremely distressed by loneliness, was able to respond.
The best rock singer of the sixties, contemporary to the hippie movement, continues to sound to this day, although her tragic death in a hotel room, in a silly relapse after several months clean of drugs and in the middle of the recording of Pearl, her second album soloist. , has largely fueled the narrative about Joplin's significance in culture. The documentary Janis (available on Filmin ) began in 2015 to revive her figure as the musical myth that she is: the first great female rock star, the first woman the music business took seriously and a talent that had only just begun to show. its potential. However, the portrait that best reflects Joplin's creative and personal ambition is the aforementioned biography of Holly George-Warren, which takes advantage of a huge material: the letters and albums written by Janis that Laura and Michael Joplin , her brothers, have kept until today.
Rather than fall for the interpretation of a psychological profile, he painstakingly reconstructs each step of Joplin's life. "The best way to show the complexity of her figure was to let those who knew her offer their point of view," explains the author of this book. That allows to transcend the topic about the singer's complicated relationship with her physique. Although, it is true that in her adolescence she was very introverted and in college she was named "the ugliest man on campus", that is just one more wound in her history. “She felt that by acting she transformed into someone beautiful. She was insecure about her physique, but she pretended she didn't care, hence her flashy outfits. He wanted to elevate himself aesthetically ”, is analyzed in the biography.
Instead of collecting an essential fact, this biographical reconstruction is superimposing layer upon layer upon layer: the girl who wanted to appear on the covers of the magazines, the adolescent activist for integration and against the Ku Klux Klan. , the provocative young woman who was looking for a fight. in the bars of Lousiana, the rookie singer who got hooked on drugs looking for the wild intensity of the beatnik life, the young but already frustrated aspiring wife and mother in a house with a garden, the hypersensitive and wild woman who wants love but without give up your freedom.Janis worked hard to become a good singer, she did nothing else from 17 to 23, because her obsession was excellence: “It was instilled in her by her parents. In addition, she wanted to vindicate herself before those who criticized her in her hometown of Texas ”, the book advances.
In one of her first television interviews, a very young Janis acknowledged her limits with wise honesty. “ Billie Holliday , Aretha Franklin … They're so subtle… They can squeeze you with just two notes. In the little journey that goes from a la to a yes they are able to tell you a universe. I still don't know how to do that. At the moment all I have is strength. But if I keep singing, maybe I will. I hope so".