Artist:Janis Joplin w/Big Brother & The Holding Company
Song:Piece Of My Heart
Album:Super Hits
Of course Janis Joplin was a fabulous singing talent overshadowed by her premature death due to alcoholism & drug abuse. She was born Jan. 19, 1943 in Port Arthur, TX. She had been singing blues & folk since her teens but moved to San Francisco in 1966 and got together with a struggling psychedelic group called Big Brother & The Holding Company led by Sam Andrew & David Getz. They were going nowhere until Janis' performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival opened record industry eyes. After a false start on Mainstream Records, their Columbia Records debut Cheap Thrills was huge. And Piece Of My Heart is Janis Joplin's signature song. The group heard the song on a record by Erma Franklin (Aretha's sis) and Janis adds so much to the song. This budget comp is a reasonable intro for beginners. She left the group shortly after to go solo. Janis had further solo chart success but I thought her solo records were uneven. And of course her continued substance abuse didn't help and she died on Oct. 4, 1970 at age 27. There's been a stage show about Janis Joplin. Over the years there's been talk of a biopic, most recently to star Alicia (Pink) Moore but it never seems to go anywhere. For a short period of time, Janis Joplin was the greatest singer in the world. Here's Janis Joplin with Big Brother & The Holding Company performing Piece Of My Heart in 1968.
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