She worked with Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead as well as Tina Turner. And she dated Kris Kristofferson. Though her music has made an impact for decades, this crooner died in her 20s
Janis Joplin’s life was about music, rebellion, and excess but she was influenced most by her tormented relationship with the people and spirit of Port Arthur.
Janis Joplinâs scrapbooks reveal the flipside of a rockânâroll tragedy
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By Craig Mclean
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On August 14, 1970, Janis Joplin went home. Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, Texas, was holding a 10-year reunion. Joplin rocked up in hippie flares, a scoop-necked T-shirt, a feather boa that she wore as a hat, and her trademark round, tinted sunglasses.
Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company in San Francisco on New Yearâs Day, 1967.
Credit:Getty Images
At the time, the 27-year-old singer and songwriter was one of the biggest countercultural forces in America. An incendiary performer on and off the stage, she was a hippie-style icon and feminist trailblazer. The previous summer she had been one of the star performers at Woodstock, managing to cut through the stoned fug and 2am start time with an earth-shaking performa