The New York Times - Dwight Garner
…[Janis] performs a service by stripping away a lot of the noise around Joplin—cackling and bawdy, she was America's first female rock star and Haight-Ashbury's self-destructive pinup girl—and telling her story simply and well, with some of the tone and flavor of a good novel.
From the Publisher
I’ve been waiting for the right person to write the definitive biography of Janis Joplin! All fans should be grateful it’s finally here. Janis lives and breathes freedom and soul, and Holly George-Warren captures that spirit perfectly.”
— Rosanne Cash, four-time Grammy Award winner
“The definitive portrait of one of pop culture’s most misunderstood martyrs... In dwelling so sympathetically on her tangle of talents, contradictions, and mythology, Janis brings one of rock’s most enduring legends down to earth while holding her justly up to the light.”
— NPR.org
“Gripping.”
— Vanity Fair
“Revelatory.”
— Bustle
“Performs a service by stripping away a lot of the noise around Joplin... telling her story simply and well, with some of the tone and flavor of a good novel.”
— New York Times Book Review
“By far and away the most comprehensive and best-researched Joplin biography. It’s an extraordinary life, set to a legendary rock death arc, but the triumph of Janis is that George-Warren understands that the evolution of Joplin’s artistry is what matters most. Janis blossoms as she finds her voice onstage, and her act becomes something of great beauty. So too does George-Warren’s book.”
— Charles R. Cross, New York Times bestselling author of Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix
“Impressive... Like Joplin herself, Janis delivers the most thrilling sort of pathos.”
— Texas Observer
“Empathetic and thrilling. Like an investigative reporter, George-Warren has tracked down every detail of Janis’s young life and influences, and with loving care she has given us rare insight into this genius musician.”
— Kate Pierson, The B-52s
“Exceptional.”
— No Depression
“Illuminating... A top-notch biography of one of the greatest performers to emerge from a brilliant era.”
— Kirkus (starred review)
“This superb biography captures singer Janis Joplin’s complex essence... Anyone who enjoys a good biography will appreciate this exceptional work.”
— Library Journal (starred review)
"Masterfully researched...the significance-establishing project Joplin appreciators have been waiting for."
— New York Times Book Review
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2019-07-28
A richly detailed, affectionate portrait of the legendary singer.
George-Warren (A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, From Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man, 2014, etc.) builds this illuminating biography of Janis Joplin (1943-1970) from interviews with surviving members of her family, band mates, and friends from all eras of her short life. Raised in Port Arthur, Texas, where her father was a refinery engineer, Joplin was a rebel who showed a talent for art. She was an outcast in high school, especially after she began patronizing the segregated venues where she could hear black artists perform live. She had also discovered the Beats, which gave her a picture of a lifestyle she began to emulate. In college, she began to sing with traditional folk groups, showing off a voice inspired by blues legend Bessie Smith. After dropping out, she made her way to San Francisco, where she joined Big Brother and the Holding Company. The most talented of the group, she attracted a devoted following and began to indulge in the excesses of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. The author follows her tours with the band as well as her offstage life, which was full of sex and drugs. Touchingly, she still hoped for acceptance by her conservative family, as indicated in her letters home. After two albums, she had outgrown Big Brother and signed a record contract as a single artist with a new backup band. She was as big a star as any in the business, although her erratic lifestyle occasionally caused her to cancel dates. As her last album, Pearl, demonstrated, she continued to grow as an artist, but her death from a heroin overdose at age 27 cut her promising career short. George-Warren gives her subject a sensitive yet honest treatment, showing all dimensions of Joplin's life without minimizing her self-destructive side. Filled with evocations of the San Francisco music scene at its height, the narrative will give readers new appreciation for Joplin.
A top-notch biography of one of the greatest performers to emerge from a brilliant era.
