Janis Joplin vs Jimi Hendrix
Two music prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Janis Joplin | Jimi Hendrix | |
| Field | Music | Music |
| Sub-field | Composer | Pop |
| Born | 1943 | 1942 |
| Died | 1970 | 1970 |
| Country of birth | United States | United States |
| Star sign | Capricorn | Sagittarius |
Who they are
Janis Joplin
In June 1967, at the Monterey International Pop Festival in California, a twenty-four-year-old woman from Port Arthur, Texas, walked onto an outdoor stage with a psychedelic blues band called Big Brother and the Holding Company and sang "Ball and Chain" — a song originally recorded by Big Mama Thornton in 1952 — with such ferocity that the audience of 7,000 people went silent in the middle of the song before erupting at its close. Seated in the audience was Mama Cass Elliott of the Mamas and the Papas, one of the most commercially successful acts…
Full biography of Janis Joplin →
Jimi Hendrix
The first instrument Jimi Hendrix ever played was a ukulele with a single string. He found it while helping his father clean out a house in Seattle in 1957, and he spent weeks working out the melody to "Honky Tonk Women" on that single string before his father relented and bought him a five-dollar acoustic guitar. He was fifteen years old, completely self-taught, and he could already hear in his head sounds that no existing guitarist had yet produced. Within four years, by his own account, he had listened to every blues record he could…
Full biography of Jimi Hendrix →
What they share
- Both are held here under Music.
- Both born in United States.
- Near contemporaries - 1 years apart.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Janis Joplin or Jimi Hendrix?
- Jimi Hendrix. Janis Joplin was born in 1943, Jimi Hendrix in 1942.
- What field is each of them in?
- Janis Joplin is filed under Music (Composer). Jimi Hendrix is filed under Music (Pop).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.