Remembering Janis Joplin

I was reading that today is the 40th anniversary of the death of Janis Joplin. She was only 27. It's hard to believe that 40 years have passed. It would be harder to imagine Janis Joplin, today being 67.

For those of you who are, I guess, under 50 years of age, Janis Joplin was one hell of a singer! 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. She was from Port Arthur, Texas and she sang the blues and rock like nobody else. Joplin performed briefly at Woodstock. It wasn't a pleasant experience for her. Earlier, singing with Big Brother & The Holding Company, she had a big hit with "Piece Of My Heart." Faith Hill rerecorded the song, turned it into a vanilla sundae and had a major hit on the country music charts. Hill said that she never heard the original version. Too bad!

Her biggest album success came with Pearl, an album released after her death.

Joplin liked her Southern Comfort, a lot. She was also a known heroin user. The official cause of death was an overdose.

She was a frequent visitor on the Dick Cavett show. On YouTube, you'll find several interviews with Cavett and several performances, too. Check it out - there's nobody like her today, nor in the past 40 years!