Jan. 19: Janis Joplin was born on this date in 1943...

... She was 27 years old when she died from a heroin overdose on October 4, 1970.

Janis Lyn Joplin, who was born in Port Arthur, Texas on January 19, 1943, first achieved success in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Joplin number 46 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2004, and number 28 on its 2008 list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

After splitting from Big Brother, Joplin formed a new backup group, the Kozmic Blues Band. The band's sound used horns and had a more bluesy, funky, soul, pop-oriented sound than most of the hard-rock psychedelic bands of the period.

By early 1969, Joplin was addicted to heroin. The Kozmic Blues album, released in September 1969, was certified gold later that year but did not match the success of Cheap Thrills by Big Brother. Reviews of the new group were mixed.

Joplin and the Kozmic Blues Band toured North America and Europe throughout 1969, appearing at Woodstock in August. At the end of the year, the group broke up. Their final gig with Joplin was at Madison Square Garden in New York City on the night of December 19–20, 1969.

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In 1970, she formed her new band, the Full Tilt Boogie  Band. The band was composed mostly of young Canadian musicians and featured an organ, but no horn section. Joplin took a more active role in putting together the Full Tilt Boogie Band than she did with her prior group.

The Full Tilt Boogie Band began touring in May 1970. Prior to beginning a summer tour with Full Tilt Boogie, she performed in a reunion with Big Brother at the Fillmore West in San Francisco on April 4, 1970. (Recordings from this concert were included in an in-concert album released posthumously in 1972.)

From June 28 to July 4, 1970, Joplin and Full Tilt joined the all-star Festival Express tour through Canada, performing alongside the Grateful Dead, Delaney and Bonnie, Rick Danko and The Band, Eric Andersen and Ian and Sylvia.

 

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The last recordings Joplin completed were "Mercedes Benz" and a birthday greeting for John Lennon on October 1, 1970. Lennon, whose birthday was October 9, later told Dick Cavett that her taped greeting arrived at his home after her death.

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