![]() ![]() ![]() “This gripping biography charts the brilliant and troubled blues singer, from life in small-town Texas to discovering Kerouac, San Francisco, and her own musical self.” – Vanity Fair “The best books of 2019” – People Magazine Listen to Holly George-Warren on the Lefsetz podcast: Listen to author Holly George-Warren on Rolling Stone’s Music Now podcast: Written by one of the most highly regarded chroniclers of American music history, and based on unprecedented access to Janis Joplin’s family, friends, band mates, archives, and long-lost interviews, Janis is a complex, rewarding portrait of a remarkable artist finally getting her due. She was a Texan who yearned to flee Texas but could never quite get away-even after becoming a countercultural icon in San Francisco. She was a woman who pushed the boundaries of sexuality – and bisexuality – in a time when any deviation from the 1960’s vision of homogenous, heterosexual America was considered socially taboo. She was a sensitive soul who wanted to marry and settle down-but couldn’t or wouldn’t. Janis was a perfectionist: a passionate, erudite musician who was born with talent but also worked exceptionally hard to develop it. But in these pages, Holly George-Warren provides a revelatory and deeply satisfying portrait of a woman who wasn’t all about suffering. Janis Joplin has passed into legend as a brash, impassioned artist doomed by the pain that produced one of the most extraordinary voices in rock history. Her parents doted on her in many ways but were ultimately put off by her repeated acts of defiance. By the time she reached high school, she had drawn the scorn of her peers for her embrace of the Beat poets and her racially progressive views. She was a tomboy who was intellectually curious and artistic. But even before that, she stood out in her conservative oil town. Janis Joplin’s first transgressive act was to be a white girl who embraced the power of the blues, music one could only find on obscure records and in roadhouses along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. This blazingly intimate biography of Janis Joplin illuminates the Queen of Rock & Roll as a true rule-breaking musical trailblazer and complicated, uncompromising artistic revolutionary. Cross, New York Times bestselling author of Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix It’s an extraordinary life, set to a legendary rock death arc, but the triumph of Janis is that George-Warren understands that the evolution of Joplin’s artistry is what matters most. Janisblossoms as she finds her voice onstage, and her act becomes something of great beauty. George-Warren constructs the “real” Joplin by building her life through letters, diaries, and countless interviews with associates. “By far and away the most comprehensive and best-researched Joplin biography. David Ritz, author of Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin “Joplin fans rejoice! Holly George-Warren’s biography is a triumph of passionate scholarship, thus making me love Janis-with all her baffling and brilliant complexity-even more.” “I’ve been waiting for the right person to write the definitive biography of Janis Joplin! All fans should be grateful it’s finally here. Janis lives and breathes freedom and soul, and Holly George-Warren captures that spirit perfectly.” I have approached my own life’s work as a direct result of her portrayal of the villain, victim and hero.” – Linda Perry “Janis Joplin is, and will always be, the poster child of a true rockstar her take-no-shit attitude, vulnerability, rebellious snarl and complete commitment to raw emotion, has been used as a blue print for me and many others. ![]() The definitive biography about the Queen of Rock ‘n Roll is available now. ![]()
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