海角大神

In early 1970, shortly after she turned 27, Janis Joplin wrote a letter to her parents reflecting on her skyrocketing fame. 鈥淚 guess that鈥檚 what ambition is 鈥� it鈥檚 not all a depraved quest for position 鈥� or money, maybe it鈥檚 for love,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淟ots of love!鈥澛�

Joplin would die of a heroin overdose within the year, and Holly George-Warren鈥檚 revealing biography of America鈥檚 first female rock star, 鈥淛anis: Her Life and Music,鈥� makes clear that despite her outsize talent and her outward bravado, much of her tragically short life was driven by a deep loneliness and need for love that her incredible success could not allay.

Joplin has received biographical treatment before, most notably in Alice Echols鈥� 鈥淪cars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of Janis Joplin,鈥� and 鈥淟ove, Janis,鈥� by the singer鈥檚 sister, Laura Joplin. George-Warren鈥檚 book benefits both from new interviews with people who knew Joplin personally and professionally and from the access Laura Joplin granted the author to Janis鈥檚 scrapbooks and letters home. As a music writer whose earlier books include biographies of Alex Chilton and Gene Autry, George-Warren is also adept at describing Joplin鈥檚 singular blues-rock vocals 鈥� with influences including Bessie Smith, Otis Redding, and Willie Mae 鈥淏ig Mama鈥� Thornton 鈥� and her exhilarating stage presence.

The biography is organized as a straightforward cradle-to-(early)-grave story, with the beginning chapters focusing on the singer鈥檚 childhood and teenage years in Port Arthur, Texas. Joplin鈥檚 offbeat personality, her identification as a beatnik, and her progressive views on race made her a pariah in her hometown, and she struggled between wanting to fit in, trying to please her conservative parents, and finding a way to express herself freely, first as a painter and then as a singer.

After an unsuccessful stint in college, Joplin made her way to San Francisco, where she embraced the counterculture, performing at local coffeehouses and hootenannies and panhandling to get by. Always a heavy drinker, she began injecting methamphetamine. Her addiction eventually forced her, sick and emaciated, to return to Texas, where she cleaned up and gave college another try. Before long, however, she again succumbed to her passion for music and the freedom it represented, returning to San Francisco to join the psychedelic rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company.聽聽

As the band gained a local reputation, Joplin, ever in need of her parents鈥� love and approval, assured them that she was 鈥渟till really thinking of coming back to school, so don鈥檛 give up on me yet.鈥� That fiction was soon put to rest, especially following Joplin鈥檚 star-making turn at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967, where documentarian D.A. Pennebaker captured the stunned reaction of 鈥淢ama鈥� Cass Elliot, watching from the audience and mouthing 鈥渨ow鈥� as Joplin electrified the crowd with her raw, wailing vocals. Shortly thereafter Joplin invited her parents to San Francisco to see her perform 鈥渁nd be proud of me.鈥� The Joplins were more discomfited by the hippie scene, however, than they were impressed by their daughter.

Joplin鈥檚 letters home make it achingly apparent that even as her fame grew, the singer continued to crave her parents鈥� affirmation. Already susceptible to the depression that she referred to as the 鈥渒ozmic blues,鈥� Joplin was anguished by their continued disapproval of her lifestyle; she in turn began to withdraw from her family. George-Warren argues that Joplin, who鈥檇 always been self-destructive, saw alcohol and then heroin as 鈥渘umbing agents 鈥� to anesthetize herself from the pain of having lost that connection.鈥� Despite intimate relationships with a series of men and women, her inability to form a lasting romantic attachment exacerbated her feelings of isolation.

Toward the end of her life, Joplin wrote to a friend about the two ways of facing the kozmic blues: getting high or trying to adjust to the realities of life鈥檚 difficulties. She was determined to attempt the latter, resolving to take walks in the woods and learn yoga, but the darkness ultimately won out. Her final album, 鈥淧earl,鈥� featuring the indelible 鈥淢e and Bobby McGee,鈥� was released posthumously in 1971, three months after her accidental overdose. It cemented her reputation.聽

The book concludes somewhat abruptly with the singer鈥檚 death; the assessment of her importance and enduring appeal feels skimpy, particularly following such a detailed accounting of her life. Still, it鈥檚 remarkable to consider the impact Joplin has had despite such a brief career, influencing artists from Robert Plant to Kurt Cobain to Pink. And, of course, it鈥檚 heartbreaking to contemplate what more she might have accomplished.