10 Famous Singers from Texas singersroom.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from singersroom.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
After an unhappy childhood in a middle-class family in southeastern Texas, Joplin attended Lamar State College of Technology and the University of Texas at Austin before dropping out in 1963 to sing folk songs and especially the blues in Texas clubs. After a long sojourn in San Francisco (during which she abused alcohol and amphetamines), she went back to Texas, only to return to San Francisco in 1966 to become the vocalist for Big Brother and the Holding Company at the recommendation of hippie impresario Chet Helms. Buoyed by Joplin’s raucous, bluesy vocals, the hard-rocking band released an album on independent Mainstream Records, then stunned audiences at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 with a legendary performance highlighted by Joplin’s rendition of “Ball and Chain” (a rhythm-and-blues classic by Big Mama Thornton). Big Brother’s first album for major label Columbia,