Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer and songwriter. One of the most successful and widely known rock performers of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals, as well as her "electric" stage presence.
Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Jefferson Airplane. After some initial personnel changes, the band became well known with the lineup of vocalist Janis Joplin, guitarists Sam Andrew and James Gurley, bassist Peter Albin, and drummer Dave Getz. Their second album Cheap Thrills, released in 1968, is considered one of the masterpieces of the psychedelic sound of San Francisco; it reached number one on the Billboard charts, and was ranked number 338 in Rolling Stone's the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album is also listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Pearl is the second and final solo album by Janis Joplin, released on January 11, 1971, three months after her death on October 4, 1970. It was the final album with her direct participation, and the only Joplin album recorded with the Full Tilt Boogie Band, her final touring unit. It peaked at number one on the Billboard 200, holding that spot for nine weeks. It has been certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA.
Thor's Hammer, or Hljómar, was an Icelandic rock band primarily active in the 1960s. Outside of Iceland, they are known among music collectors for their rare releases on Parlophone, sung in English and recorded in London for export. The most famous of these is the 1966 EP Umbarumbamba, regarded as one of the rarest released records in the world and known to fetch prices into the thousands of dollars when a copy surfaces. Their style can be described as garage rock, fuzz rock, and freakbeat, with noticeable influences from both The Who and The Beatles.
Cheap Thrills is the second studio album by American rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company, issued by Columbia Records in 1968. Cheap Thrills was the band's final album with lead singer Janis Joplin before she left to begin a solo career. For Cheap Thrills, the band and producer John Simon incorporated recordings of crowd noises to give the impression of a live album, for which it was subsequently mistaken by many listeners. Only "Ball and Chain" was actually recorded in concert at the Winterland Ballroom.
James Martin Gurley was an American musician. He is best known as the principal lead guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company, a psychedelic/acid rock band from San Francisco which was fronted by singer Janis Joplin from 1966 to 1968.
Sam Houston Andrew III was an American rock musician, singer, songwriter, composer, artist and founding member and guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company. During his career as musician and composer, Andrew had three platinum albums and two hit singles. His songs have been used in numerous major motion picture soundtracks and documentaries.
"Piece of My Heart" is a romantic soul song written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns, originally recorded by Erma Franklin in 1967. Franklin's single peaked in December 1967 at number 10 on the Billboard Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart in the United States.
Mainstream Records is an American record company and independent record label founded by producer Bob Shad in 1964.
I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! is the debut solo and third studio album overall by American singer-songwriter Janis Joplin, released on September 11, 1969. It was the first album which Joplin recorded after leaving her former band, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and the only solo album released during her lifetime.
In Concert is a live album by Janis Joplin. It was released in 1972, after Joplin's death, as a double-LP record. The first record contains performances with Big Brother and the Holding Company and the second with the Full Tilt Boogie Band, recorded at various locations in 1968 and 1970. The album lacks any live recordings with her first solo effort with the Kozmic Blues band though songs that had been produced with that band were performed in the recordings of the Full Tilt Boogie Band. The photographs used for the gatefold album were taken by photographer David Gahr in New York City in 1969 and 1970.
How Hard It Is is the fourth and final studio album by Big Brother and the Holding Company, released in August 1971. The track "Buried Alive in the Blues" was originally written by guest singer Nick Gravenites for Janis Joplin who died before she could record her vocal. It was included as an instrumental by the Full Tilt Boogie Band on her final album Pearl released the year before.
Robert "Bob" Shad was an American record producer and record label owner. He produced the first album by Big Brother and the Holding Company. Among his labels were Time Records, Brent Records, and Mainstream Records.
Janis is a compilation album by Janis Joplin, released in 1993. The album features a broad overview of her career from her very first recording in December 1962, to the last songs she recorded during the sessions for Pearl just a few days before her death in October 1970.
Tiffany Shade was an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio. They broke up in 1968. They recorded and released one self-titled LP in December, 1967 and two singles from the same album on the Mainstream label in early 1968 prior to their demise.
Kathryn Marie "Kathi" McDonald was an American blues and rock singer and songwriter. As a teenager she sang with different bands around the Pacific Northwest before she was discovered by Ike Turner. She sang as an Ikette with Ike & Tina Turner and eventually replaced Janis Joplin as the front woman of Big Brother and Holding Company. McDonald became a background vocalist for various artists, including Leon Russell, Joe Cocker, The Rolling Stones, Freddie King, and Long John Baldry. She also recorded as a solo artist and fronted her own band Kathi McDonald & Friends.
18 Essential Songs is a collection of songs recorded throughout Janis Joplin's career released in 1995 by Columbia Records. It included songs from her solo career as well as with Big Brother & the Holding Company. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it as gold on April 12, 1999.
Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968 is a live album by Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin. The album was recorded by Owsley Stanley in 1968, and released on 12 March 2012 through Columbia and Legacy, on the one-year anniversary of his death in an automobile accident. He had been supervising the development and release of this album right up to the time of his death on March 12, 2011. The album is dedicated to him, and set to the specifications Stanley set prior to his death.
The Lost Tapes is a two-disc compilation album by the San Francisco psychedelic rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin as lead singer. The material on the first disc consists of a show at The Matrix on January 31, 1967 that is previously unreleased. The second disc consists primarily of a show at The California Hall on July 28, 1966 that had first seen release in 1984 as Cheaper Thrills, with the final track "Hall Of The Mountain King" taken from a KQED TV broadcast on April 25, 1967.
Cheaper Thrills is a live album by Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin as their lead singer. Recorded live at one of their earliest concerts in San Francisco at California Hall on July 28, 1966, it includes the band's rendition of the song "Let the Good Times Roll," which was ten years old at the time. The recording of this concert became officially available to the public for the first time in 1984. The LP was originally released by Rhino Records as RNLP 121. Big Brother drummer David Getz produced and contributed liner notes to the back cover with his personal reminiscences of the circumstances leading to the formation and success of the band.
