Janis Joplin

Research Paper # 100037

Music Studies > Blues, Jazz
Women Studies

Janis Joplin

A biography of the life, music and style of Janis Joplin.

1,409 words () | 7 sources | MLA | 2007 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper traces the life and career of the singer Janis Joplin from her beginning as a 'beatnik' to her early death at the age of 27 from a heroin overdose. It also includes an analysis of the style and lyrics of one of her songs, "Get It While You Can".

From the Paper:

"Janis's experience in Venice is one that would shape the rest of her life. The beatniks first introduced her to blues music, including one of her greatest influences Bessie Smith. She performed in public for the first time in Venice in 1962. Janis continued to sing publically in coffee houses and bars and recorded her first song, a jingle for a local bank. While in California Janis met a man by the name of Jorma Kaukonen, the future guitarist of Jefferson Airplane. "Janis began singing at The Coffee Gallery, occasionally at Coffee and Confusion. She sang alone, using her autoharp or backed by an accompanist, who was sometimes Jorma Kaukonen, later of the Jefferson Airplane. Word spread fast in North Beach."

Sample of Sources Used:

Friedman, Myra. Buried Alive: The Biography of Janis Joplin. New York: William Morrow & . Company, Inc., 1973.
Rodnitzky, Jerry. "Janis Joplin: The Hippie Blues Singer as Feminist Heroine." The Journal of . Texas Music History 2.1 (2002): 8-15.
Joplin, Janis. "Get It While You Can." Pearl. LP, 1971.
http://www.janisjoplin.net
http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/janis-joplin