Joan Jett
Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin, September 22, 1958)[1] is an American rock singer, guitarist, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is best known for her work as the frontwoman of her band Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and for founding and performing with the Runaways, who recorded and released the hit song "Cherry Bomb". With the Blackhearts, Jett is known for her rendition of the song "I Love Rock 'n Roll" which was number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks in 1982.[2] Jett's other notable songs include "Bad Reputation", "Light of Day", "I Hate Myself for Loving You" and her covers of "Crimson and Clover", "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" and "Dirty Deeds".
Joan Jett
Joan Marie Larkin
September 22, 1958
Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- Singer
- songwriter
- guitarist
- record producer
- actress
- Vocals
- guitar
1975–present
Jett has a mezzo-soprano vocal range.[3] Three of her albums have been certified platinum or gold.[4][5][6] She has been described as "the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll". Joan Jett & the Blackhearts were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.[7]
Early life[edit]
Joan Marie Larkin was born on September 22, 1958, to James and Dorothy Larkin,[1] at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia (some sources incorrectly list her birth date as September 22, 1960[8]). She is the oldest of three children. Her father was an insurance salesman and her mother was a secretary.[1] Her family was Protestant, attending church and Sunday school, but were not strict in their religious beliefs.[9] In 1967, her family moved to Rockville, Maryland, where she attended Randolph Junior High and Wheaton High School.[10] Jett got her first guitar at the age of 13.[11] She took some guitar lessons, but soon quit because the instructor kept trying to teach her folk songs.[12] Her family then moved to West Covina, California, in Los Angeles County, providing Jett with the opportunity to pursue her musical interests. Shortly after the move, her parents divorced and she changed her name to Joan Jett, because she thought it had more of a rock-star sound than her birth name. She has admitted in recent years that "Jett" was not actually her mother's maiden name, even though that is what she used to tell people.[13]
In Los Angeles, Jett's favorite night spot was Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco,[14] a venue that provided the glam rock style she loved.[2]
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
1975–present
- Joan Jett
- Kenny Laguna
- Dougie Needles
- Hal B. Selzer
- Michael McDermott
- Ricky Byrd
- Tony Rey
- Gary Ryan
- Kasim Sulton
- Phil Feit
- Kenny Aaronson
- Sean Koos
- Sami Yaffa
- Enzo Penizzotto
- Acey Slade
- Lee Crystal
- Eric Ambel
- Thommy Price
Career[edit]
The Runaways[edit]
At age 16, Jett became a founding member of the Runaways with drummer Sandy West. After the brief tenure of Micki Steele, who sang and played bass, Jackie Fox, Lita Ford, and Cherie Currie soon joined to complete the band which created the classic lineup. While Currie initially fronted the band, Jett shared some lead vocals, played rhythm guitar, and wrote or co-wrote some of the band's material along with Ford, West, and Currie. This lineup recorded three albums.
The band toured around the world and became an opening act for Cheap Trick, Ramones, Van Halen, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. They found success abroad, especially in Japan. While touring England with the Runaways in 1976, Jett first heard the song "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" when she saw Arrows perform it on their weekly UK television series Arrows.[15]
While the Runaways were popular in Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, and South America, they could not garner the same level of success in the United States.[2][16] After Currie left the band, the band released two more albums with Jett handling the lead vocals: Waitin' for the Night and And Now... The Runaways. Altogether, they produced five albums from 1975 until they disbanded in the spring of 1979.[17]
Soon after, Jett produced the Germs' only album, (GI).[2]
In 2010, The Runaways, a movie about Jett's band, was released, starring Kristen Stewart as Jett and Dakota Fanning as Currie.[2][18]
Solo career[edit]
In 1979, Jett was in England pursuing a solo career. She recorded three songs there with the Sex Pistols' Paul Cook and Steve Jones, one of which was an early version of Arrows' "I Love Rock 'n' Roll". This version appears on the 1993 compilation album Flashback.[19] Later that year, she returned to Los Angeles, where she began fulfilling an obligation of the Runaways to complete a film that was loosely based on the band's career entitled We're All Crazee Now! Three actresses stood in for the departed band members, including Rainbeaux Smith, who was also a rock drummer.[20] While working on the project, Jett met songwriter and producer Kenny Laguna, who was hired by her manager Toby Mamis to help Jett with writing some tracks for the film.[20] They became friends and decided to work together and Jett relocated to Long Beach, New York, where Laguna was based. The plug was pulled on the project halfway through shooting after Jett fell ill, but in 1984, after she became famous, producers looked for a way to use the footage from the incomplete film.[20] Parts of the original footage of Jett were eventually used in another project, an underground film called Du-beat-eo, which was produced by Alan Sacks, but not commercially released.[20]
Jett and Laguna entered the Who's Ramport Studios with the latter at the helm, and Jett's self-titled solo debut was released by Ariola Records in Europe on May 17, 1980. In the US, after the album was rejected by 23 major labels,[21] Jett and Laguna released it independently on their new Blackheart Records label, which they started with Laguna's daughter's college savings. Laguna remembers, "We couldn't think of anything else to do but print up records ourselves."[20]
Kim Fowley rape allegation[edit]
In July 2015, attorney Jackie Fuchs (formerly Jackie Fox of The Runaways) alleged that Kim Fowley raped her on New Year's Eve 1975, at a party following a Runaways performance at an Orange County club. Sixteen years old at the time, Fuchs was reportedly given Quaaludes by a man she thought was a roadie, and while she was incapacitated, Fowley allegedly raped her in full view of a group of partygoers and her bandmates Currie, West, and Jett; Ford was not present.[110] Look Away, a documentary about sexual abuse in the rock music industry features Fuchs' story.[111]
Fuchs said that her last memory of the night was seeing Currie and Jett staring at her as Fowley raped her.[110] Kari Krome (co-founder and songwriter for the group) stated that she saw, "Jett and Currie sitting off to the side of the room for part of the time, snickering" during the rape.[110] In 2015, Jett stated "Anyone who truly knows me understands that if I was aware of a friend or bandmate being violated, I would not stand by while it happened. For a group of young teenagers thrust into '70s rock stardom there were relationships that were bizarre, but I was not aware of this incident. Obviously Jackie's story is extremely upsetting and although we haven't spoken in decades, I wish her peace and healing."[112][113] Victory Tischler-Blue (Fuchs's replacement in the group) said that all the members of the group "have always been aware of this ugly event".[114]
Solo
with the Blackhearts
