Big Brother and the Holding Company
Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Jefferson Airplane. After some initial personnel changes, the band became well known with the lineup of vocalist Janis Joplin, guitarists Sam Andrew and James Gurley, bassist Peter Albin, and drummer Dave Getz. Their second album Cheap Thrills, released in 1968, is considered one of the masterpieces of the psychedelic sound of San Francisco; it reached number one on the Billboard charts, and was ranked number 338 in Rolling Stone's the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album is also listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
This article is about the music group. For their eponymous debut album, see Big Brother & the Holding Company (album).
Big Brother and the Holding Company
San Francisco, California
1965–1968, 1969–1972, 1987–present
- Peter Albin
- Dave Getz
- Tom Finch
- Darby Gould
- David Aguilar
- Kate Russo Thompson
- Sam Andrew
- James Gurley
- Chuck Jones
- Janis Joplin
- Nick Gravenites
- Kathi McDonald
- Dave Schallock
- Mike Finnigan
- Ben Nieves
- Cathy Richardson
- Tommy Odetto
Joplin left the band in 1968, following the recording of Cheap Thrills, for a successful solo career. The band recruited new members Nick Gravenites, Kathi McDonald, and Dave Schallock to replace her, and released two more albums before breaking up in 1972. The classic lineup (minus Joplin, who had died in 1970) reunited in 1987. The band has continued to perform ever since, with a variety of different lead singers. James Gurley left for a solo career in 1997 and died in 2009. Sam Andrew died in 2015.
History[edit]
Roots in San Francisco[edit]
Leader Peter Albin, a country-blues guitarist who had played with future Grateful Dead founders Jerry Garcia and Ron McKernan, met Sam Andrew, a professional rock guitarist with a jazz and classical background. After playing together at Albin's home,[4] Andrew suggested they form a band.[5] The pair approached guitarist James Gurley, the resulting threesome playing open jam sessions hosted by entrepreneur Chet Helms in 1965. Helms found them a drummer, Chuck Jones, and Big Brother and the Holding Company was formed at their first gig, the Trips Festival in January 1966. In the audience was painter and jazz drummer David Getz, who soon replaced Jones.
Big Brother went on to become the house band at the Avalon Ballroom,[6] playing a progressive style of instrumental rock. Feeling a need for a strong vocalist, Helms contacted Janis Joplin, who at the time was considering joining up with Roky Erickson of The 13th Floor Elevators. She traveled to San Francisco from Austin, Texas and debuted with Big Brother at the Avalon on June 10, 1966.[7][8][9]
Janis Joplin[edit]
Joplin sang for the first time with Big Brother in 1966. Years later, Andrew described the band's first impressions of her:
Controversy[edit]
In 2007, following the induction of Cheap Thrills to the Grammy Hall of Fame, former guitar player James Gurley described Big Brother as the most maligned band ever, since they never received appreciation for the arrangements they did and all the engineering tricks he came up with. Gurley also believed that Clive Davis told Joplin to leave the band and record her songs with studio musicians, who could play better.[32] In the documentary Nine Hundred Nights, Peter Albin said that the manager Albert Grossman told Joplin to leave Big Brother and form her own band, with studio musicians, in order to spend less money on recording sessions. Sam Andrew said later that Joplin left due to artistic and financial reasons: Joplin usually asked the band to have some keyboard or horns on at least some songs, but they said, "No! You are going to change the Big Brother sound!" The band was also doing the same songs a lot, sometimes three times a day, so she started feeling trapped. The band was splitting the money in five equal ways, while by leaving she could have all the money and just pay some employees and have a new band.[41]
In 1982, Columbia released the Janis Joplin album Farewell Song. The release displeased Big Brother's living members, since their original instruments were all replaced by studio musicians without consulting the band. James Gurley spoke about that in 1987, before the band's reunion: "It’s just a total bullshit record...some producer's dream at CBS."[42]
