Janis Lyn Joplin was born January 19, 1943 and died October 4, 1970. In between she led a triumphant and tumultuous life blessed by an innate talent to convey powerful emotion through heart-stomping rock-and-roll singing. Born and raised in Port Arthur, Texas, a small Southern petroleum industry town, she gravitated to artistic interests cultivated by parents Seth and Dorothy Joplin.
When old Austin friend, Chet Helms, then in San Francisco, called to offer her a singing audition with an up-and-coming local group, Janis was tempted. She found a vital San Francisco community, turned upside down by the flower children of 1966, and was offered the singing position in a relatively obscure group called “Big Brother and the Holding Company.”
Big Brother are primarily remembered as the group that gave Janis Joplin her start. There’s no denying both that Joplin was by far the band’s most striking asset, and that Big Brother would never have made a significant impression if they hadn’t been fortunate enough to add her to their lineup shortly after forming. But Big Brother also occupies a significant place in the history of San Francisco psychedelic rock, as one of the bands that best captured the era’s loosest, reckless, and indulgent qualities in its high-energy mutations of blues and folk-rock.
Big Brother was formed in 1965 in the Haight-Ashbury; by the time Joplin joined in mid-1966, the lineup was Sam Andrew and James Gurley on guitar, Peter Albin on bass, and David Getz on drums. Big Brother, like the Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service, were not great songwriters or singers. They didn’t entirely welcome Joplin’s presence at first, though, and Joplin did not dominate the group right away, sharing the lead vocals with other members.
The first Big Brother album is yet another which finds the SF scene in a period of transition. This time, folk, rock, country, and blues are thrown into the mix. Janis Joplin is unusually subdued on this debut, which offers equal showcase to her incredibly innovative backup band. Though not every song is memorable, the writing is ambitious, and some songs are real winners. “Light is Faster than Sound”, “All is Loneliness”, and “Coo Coo” are all great performances. The real stars of the album are guitarists Sam Andrews and James Gurley, whose incredible lead guitar work helped to define the SF sound.
Then during the summer of 1967–the “Summer of Love”–Big Brother played a large concert, The Monterey International Pop Festival. Janis smashed through her anonymity with Big Mama Thornton’s “Ball and Chain” and the world took note.
Their “Cheap Thrills” album was released in August, 1968 and soon went gold, presenting the hits “Piece of My heart” and “Summertime.” The band was playing to large audiences, for big fees, and the billing now read “Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company.” The pressure mounted, income rose and hippie rockers indulged themselves with their new ability to use high-priced drugs. Drugs began affecting their performing and work relationships and in Christmas of 1968, the group played its last gig together.
Near the end of 1968, Janis left the band with Sam Andrew and formed a new backing group, the “Kozmic Blues Band” Kozmic Blues Band, with whom she recorded I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama! in 1969. Albin and Getz became members of Country Joe and the Fish.