She’s remembered for her powerful bluesy voice, her flowy feathered red hair and a troubled habit that accompanied her talent.
Janis Joplin’s short-lived but successful career ended 45 years ago Sunday, when the singer fatally overdosed on heroin in 1970 — just about two weeks after another so-called “27 club” member, Jimi Hendrix, died from mixing pills and alcohol.
Known as “the Queen of Psychedelic Soul,” Joplin rose to fame in the band, Big Brother and the Holding Company.
The breakout member emerged as a solo artist, with hits such as “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Love is Like a Ball and Chain.”
Growing up in Port Arthur, Texas, Joplin’s childhood was filled with excellent grades and incidents of low self esteem.
As with many outcasts, she turned to music, singing in her church’s choir. By college, she was carrying her guitar with her everywhere in case the urge to break into song appeared.
Her college experience was marked by harrassment and she escaped to San Francisco. She arrived during the city’s rock upsurge and began singing professionally in 1966.
She quickly went from a drifter to superstar, coming on to the scene in a time when men mainly dominated the rock and roll industry.
Little more than three years later, the singer, who frequently took refuge in drugs and alcohol, was found dead in a Hollywood hotel.
Since then she’s joined a field of rock legends, known just as much for her persona, as for her music.
Here are some lesser-known facts to know about the psychedelic rocker:
1. She was once arrested
Her behavior could be explosive.
In 1969, while performing in Tampa, Fla., she was arrested for screaming obscenities at a policeman.
She was allowed to finish her performance before being cuffed. The charges were later dropped, with the judge saying she was exercising her right to freedom of speech.
2. She owned a rockin’ Porsche convertible
Matching her personality was a psychedeliclly painted Porsche Cabriolet Joplin drove.
The car was placed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after her death.
The colorfully customized 1965 automobile will go on auction in December.
3. She was frequently bullied
Before she was a star — a term she once told host Dick Cavett she hated — Joplin was the victim of school bullying.
She was an overweight teenager with skin that broke out so terribly it left scars and required surgery.
Her classmates taunts followed her into college. While at Texas University, one of the fraternities voted her “ugliest man on campus.”
She dropped out of the school after one semester.
4. She once attacked Jim Morrison
Joplin’s love for Southern Comfort is well-known, so much so that the distillery once gifted her a fur coat for the free publicity she brought the company.
One night, she smashed a bottle of her favorite drink over Jim Morrison’s head.
The Doors’ frontman passed out until the next day, when he said “What a great woman, she’s terrific,” according to the book “Break On Through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison.”
Morrison even fetched Joplin’s phone number but the songstress wasn’t interested.
Coincidentally, Morrison also became a member of the “27 club,” when he died almost a year after Joplin.
5. She paid for Bessie Smith’s tombstone
One of the outcasts Joplin befriended as a teen introduced her to an album from blues artist Bessie Smith.
The singer would come to be an inspiration for Joplin.
Smith, who died in 1937, was buried in an unmarked grave until Joplin paid for the tombstone in 1970.
6. She changed her will two days before her death
Joplin left $2,500 for her friends to throw a wake party in the event of her demise.
“The drinks are on pearl,” she wrote.
Pearl was her nickname amongst her friends and the title of her last album, which was her biggest seller.
Her ashes were scattered over the Pacific Ocean.
