Everyone has their music idol—that one person who sounds like magic to our ears, who inspires us to do things we thought we could have never done or to be someone we were afraid to be. Everyone, including famous and successful musicians, have their musical inspirations, that individual who inspired them to sing and become who they are. Today, I will talk about my musical heroine, Janis Joplin, her influencers, and how they aided her in her music career. Also, how she has left a strong legacy behind in the music industry and has impacted my life with her music.
Janis Joplin, born in Port Arthur, Texas was raised in a conservative Southern family. Little did she or her family know that she would become a musical star in psychedelic '60s rock and inspire thousands of rock artists of her time as well as many modern-day musicians. A lot of her fans do not know (and I myself didn't either until recently) that she had several people who greatly influenced and inspired her to sing. Since the very beginning, from an early age, Janis was a fan of blues. Her inspirations included singers like Odetta, Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thornton, Billie Holiday, and Leadbelly. At the height of her musical career, her performance and singing styles would be influenced by other blues female singers like Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, and Otis Redding. In other words, everything about her is a mixture of all these amazing singers. What is fantastic about Joplin is that she mixed all their styles so well that it made her stand out as unique.
Of all of her influencers, Bessie Smith was probably the singer with the biggest impact on Joplin. She has even thanked Bessie for guiding her to singing. In high school, her friend Grant Lyons allowed her to borrow his Bessie Smith and Leadbelly records, and they instantly stuck with her. Joplin learned to sing blues by listening to Smith for hours and imitating her vocal style. In fact, Janis Joplin admired Bessie Smith so much that she sometimes told friends that she felt she was a re-born version of her.
Lyons also introduced Janis Joplin to Leadbelly, an iconic American folk and blues musician. Leadbelly was well known for his strong vocals and how he played on his 12 string guitar. Joplin later said that his music mattered to her a lot and claimed that her first record was a Leadbelly performance.
Joplin deeply admired Billie Holiday. One of the two books that she took with her from her trip from Texas to San Francisco was "Lady Sings the Blues, Billie's autography." A friend of Joplin, Richard Hundgen, believes that it was like a bible to her and that she kept it close throughout her life.
Unfortunately, Joplin left us at a very young age, she was just 27 when she passed away due to a heroin overdose in a Los Angeles hotel. In her short years of success, she touched thousands of people across the world. Her legacy remains till today. Several modern singers have claimed Joplin to be their ultimate influence, e.g. Pink and Stevie Nicks.
On a personal note, Joplin with her powerful music has inspired me to accept myself: my body image, my sexuality, etc. She has made me acknowledge that we make mistakes of all kinds but we must overcome them with strength. Most importantly, she taught me to follow my passion and to use that passion as a barrier against the daily problems we face in today's world; just how she overcame her personal problems with her music, her performance, her singing, etc. She has led me to follow my dreams and passions.
Janis Joplin was an amazing singer and performer, and all of the musicians named above helped shape her into the artist that inspired hundreds across the world—including me.
Bibliography:
"Janis and Her Musical Influences." Janis Joplin. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2015.
"The Many Musical Influences of Janis Joplin." Janis Joplin Web. 20 Sept. 2015
