The opportunity is taken to mention an interesting and at times moving Sky Arts Channel programme on Big Brother and the Holding Company who provided a platform for Janice Joplin to begin her career. The band established themselves as the House band at the Avalon in San Francisco. They recruited Janice on the recommendation of one member and for a short period of time she was an integral part of the band participating in the making of their first album on which she features.
Before the record was released they were invited to perform at the Monterey Free Pop Festival in June 1967. The artists had to agree to be filmed and the organisers hoped to make money from a film of the production. The band less Janice refused to sign up for the film for free so when it came to be made there are only close up shots of her and not of the Band Members. This brought her instant international success with insiders referring her to the successor to legendary blue singer Bessie Smith. This aroused great interest in their forthcoming album. The problem was that while Janice understood the need for professionalism and commenced to be supported by background professional the others found it difficult to adjust. They would require scores of takes to get one number right while Janice would record her numbers in a couple of takes both capable of being used. There was also a problem that the band had not yet worked out its identity.
The original title of the album was to be Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills which for commercial reasons was changed to Cheap Thrills. The album became the biggest seller of 1969 earning more than £1 million and eventually had over one million sales. She played her last live concert with the band in December 1868 forming her own group as a solo artist, the Kosmic Blues Band.
The band continued without Janice for 3 years and then apart from one concert performance they came together again in 1987 with almost all the original members except for one who disagreed with the policy of recruiting a female singer to replace the role of Janice. The band continues to perform and make records to this day but does not use one female singer with a least a dozen having been involved to date.
The programme included interviews about their time with Janice and contained archive interviews and sessions. I have an original tape of Janice singing which I must cover one day. One could ask if it would have been if the career of Janice had not been so short lived and she along with Billie Holiday became two of the great jazz/blues and her case female icons of my generation with sadly the latest brilliant and troubled singer dying last least year- Amy Winehouse I put her work higher than Janice because she was such a great song creator as well as singer and she could have gone on to rival Billie Holiday had she lived.
Before the record was released they were invited to perform at the Monterey Free Pop Festival in June 1967. The artists had to agree to be filmed and the organisers hoped to make money from a film of the production. The band less Janice refused to sign up for the film for free so when it came to be made there are only close up shots of her and not of the Band Members. This brought her instant international success with insiders referring her to the successor to legendary blue singer Bessie Smith. This aroused great interest in their forthcoming album. The problem was that while Janice understood the need for professionalism and commenced to be supported by background professional the others found it difficult to adjust. They would require scores of takes to get one number right while Janice would record her numbers in a couple of takes both capable of being used. There was also a problem that the band had not yet worked out its identity.
The original title of the album was to be Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills which for commercial reasons was changed to Cheap Thrills. The album became the biggest seller of 1969 earning more than £1 million and eventually had over one million sales. She played her last live concert with the band in December 1868 forming her own group as a solo artist, the Kosmic Blues Band.
The band continued without Janice for 3 years and then apart from one concert performance they came together again in 1987 with almost all the original members except for one who disagreed with the policy of recruiting a female singer to replace the role of Janice. The band continues to perform and make records to this day but does not use one female singer with a least a dozen having been involved to date.
The programme included interviews about their time with Janice and contained archive interviews and sessions. I have an original tape of Janice singing which I must cover one day. One could ask if it would have been if the career of Janice had not been so short lived and she along with Billie Holiday became two of the great jazz/blues and her case female icons of my generation with sadly the latest brilliant and troubled singer dying last least year- Amy Winehouse I put her work higher than Janice because she was such a great song creator as well as singer and she could have gone on to rival Billie Holiday had she lived.
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