AMERICAN AXID ROCK

Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 - October 4, 1970) was an American blues-influenced rock and soul singer and occasional songwriter with a distinctive voice. Joplin released four albums as the frontwoman for several bands from 1967 to a posthumous release in 1971.

Joplin was born in Port Arthur, Texas. She grew up listening to blues musicians such as Bessie Smith and Big Mama Thornton and singing in the local choir. Joplin graduated from Jefferson High School in Port Arthur in 1960 and went to college at the University of Texas in Austin, though she never completed a degree. There, she began singing blues and folk music with friends.

Cultivating a rebellious manner that could be viewed as "liberated", Joplin styled herself after the beat poets, left Texas for San Francisco in 1963, lived in North Beach, and worked occasionally as a folk singer. Around this time her drug use began to increase, and she acquired a reputation as a "speed freak" and occasional heroin user. She also used other intoxicants. She was a heavy drinker throughout her career, and her trademark beverage was Southern Comfort brand whiskey. Her drug use became more important to her than singing and eventually ruined her health.

After a return to Port Arthur to recuperate, she again moved to San Francisco in 1966, where her bluesy vocal style saw her join Big Brother and The Holding Company, a band that was gaining some renown among the nascent hippie community in Haight-Ashbury. The band signed a deal with independent Mainstream Records and recorded an eponymously titled album in 1967. However, the lack of success of their early singles led to the album being withheld until after their subsequent success.

The band's big break came at the Monterey Pop Festival, which included a version of Thornton's Ball and Chain and featured a barnstorming vocal by Joplin. Their 1968 album Cheap Thrills featured more raw emotional performances and made Joplin's name.

Splitting from Big Brother, she formed a backup group, named the Kozmic Blues Band, which backed her on I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! (1969). That group broke up, and Joplin then formed the Full Tilt Boogie Band. The result was the posthumously released Pearl (1971), which featured a hit single in the form of Kris Kristofferson's Me and Bobby McGee and the wry social commentary of Mercedes-Benz, written by beat poet Michael McClure.

Her last public appearance was on The Dick Cavett Show in 1970, where she said that she was going to attend her 10-year high school reunion, although she had formerly said when in high school there she was "laughed out of class, out of school, out of town". She made it there, but it would be one if the last decisions of her life.

Shortly thereafter, Joplin died of a heroin overdose on October 4, 1970 in a Los Angeles, California motel room, at the age of 27. She was cremated in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California, and her ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean. The album Pearl was released six weeks after her death. The movie The Rose, with Bette Midler playing the Joplin character, was based on her life.

She is now remembered best for her powerful, distinctive voice, which was significantly divergent from the soft folk-influenced styles more common at the time, as well as for her lyrical themes of pain and loss.

 

The Temptations are an American singing group, hugely popular in the 1960s and known for their finely tuned choreography and harmonies.

The group, formed in Detroit in 1961, was a merger of two local vocal groups, the Primes and the Distants; Baritone Otis Williams, Elbridge Bryant and bass vocalist Melvin Franklin from the Distants, and tenor Eddie Kendricks, and Paul Williams (no relation to Otis) from the Primes. (when singers Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard switched to Motown, they used the feminine form the Primettes for a few years before becoming known as the Supremes).

Otis Williams had earlier success in Otis Williams and the Charms with "Ivory Tower" and "Hearts of Stone". He saw the Primes perform in concert in 1961. Soon after, the Primes disbanded and later that year, Otis Williams, Paul Williams, Bryant, Franklin and Kendricks formed the Elgins. They were then signed to the Motown Records label Miracle.

By 1964, Bryant had left the band and was replaced by tenor David Ruffin. That year the band went into the studio with writer and producer, Smokey Robinson, to record the top ten hit single "The Way You Do the Things You Do." With Robinson again producing, the group returned in 1965 with their signature song, "My Girl," a Number One pop and R&B hit. In 1966, Norman Whitfield took over production and some songwriting roles, and pushed the Temps toward a harder sound. The group continued to release strong material (including "Get Ready," "Ain't Too Proud To Beg," and "(I Know) I'm Losing You") throughout the 1960s and to maintain a high standard of choreography in their live performances, establishing themselves as one of the top musical acts of the time.

By the end of the decade, the group had begun to change their sound away from the earlier Motown formulas, now with Dennis Edwards in the lead (David Ruffin quit in 1968 after continued disputes with the rest of the group and the record company), towards a style known as "psychedelic soul". Their songs began to reflect greater social concerns, often dealing with drug use, politics, and life in the inner city. Songs such as "Cloud Nine", "Psychedelic Shack", and "Ball of Confusion", all of them hit singles, reflected this new sound.

After the release of the hit single "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" in 1971, Kendricks left the band to focus on a solo career. Paul Williams left the group soon after. Plagued by alcoholism and other personal problems, Paul Williams was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on August 17, 1973 at the age of 34.

Tenors Damon Harris and Richard Street were brought in to fill the group's vacancies. The group continued to do well through the 1970s with songs like "Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)," "Papa Was a Rolling Stone," "Masterpiece," "Let Your Hair Down," and "The Plastic Man,"

Since the 1980s, various members of the group have continued to tour and perform reunion shows from time to time.

Ruffin died, at the age of 50, on June 1, 1991 after overdosing on cocaine. Kendricks died, at the age of 52, of lung cancer on October 5, 1992. Melvin Franklin died, at the age of 52, after suffering a brain seizure on February 23, 1995.

In 1998, the Temptations returned to the studio to record Phoenix Rising. Also that year, their story was the subject of a popular NBC television miniseries. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.

 

Carlos Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a famous Mexican rock and roll guitarist, originally from Autlan de Navarro, Jalisco.He became famous in the 1960s with a band named Santana.

Carlos Santana's father was a mariachi violinist and young Carlos learned the violin originally, but switched to the guitar when he was eight years old. After a family move to Tijuana, Santana began playing in clubs and bars; he remained in Tijuana when his family moved to San Francisco, California, but soon joined them. In 1966, he helped found the Santana Blues Band, eventually shortened to simply Santana. The band started playing at the Fillmore West, where many of the great San Francisco bands began. Santana's recording debut occurred on The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper with Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield.

Soon signed to Columbia Records, Santana released a self-titled album, Santana, the group at this point consisting of Carlos Santana (guitar), Gregg Rolie (keyboards and vocals), David Brown (bass guitar), Michael Shrieve (drums), Jose Areas (percussion) and Michael Carabello (percussion). On the tour to support the album, the band played at Woodstock; the set was legendary and vastly increased Santana's popularity. Santana became a huge hit, as did Abraxas (1970) and Santana III (1971). The original Santana band then disbanded. Rolie went on to become a founding member of Journey.

Carlos Santana used the name and a series of changing musicians to continue to tour around the country, releasing several albums. During this period, Carlos took the name "Devadip", bestowed upon him by spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy. Many albums followed in the 1970s and 80s, including collaborations with Willie Nelson, Herbie Hancock, Booker T. Jones, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. In 1991, Santana made a guest appearance on Ottmar Liebert's album "Solo Para Ti", on the songs "Reaching Out 2 U" and a cover of his own song, "Samba Pa Ti". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Carlos Santana dramatically returned to popular consciousness in 1999 upon the release of Supernatural, which included collaborations with Rob Thomas, Eric Clapton and Lauryn Hill. Supernatural was Santana's best-selling album ever, reaching number one on the Billboard albums chart, and won nine Grammy Awards.

In 2001 Santana released Shaman, revisiting the Supernatural format of guest artists including P.O.D., Seal, and Michelle Branch.