Janis Joplin (1943-1970) was an American rock and blues singer from Port Arthur, Texas, whose raw mezzo-soprano voice and ferocious stage presence made her one of the defining artists of the 1960s. She broke through at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival with Big Brother and the Holding Company, then pursued a solo career that produced the landmark album Pearl - released posthumously in 1971, it reached #1 on the Billboard 200. She died of a heroin overdose at 27 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 as the first female solo artist to earn that honour in her first year of eligibility.
A Shailene Woodley-led Janis Joplin biopic remains in development, with the project backed by Temple Hill Entertainment and a California Film Commission tax credit secured in September 2024; as of early 2026 it is still unclear whether the Joplin estate will participate.
The Tony-nominated musical 'A Night with Janis Joplin', starring Mary Bridget Davies, screened in cinemas across England on 13 and 16 March 2025, filmed from its West End run.
The Broadway musical 'A Night with Janis Joplin' opened at London's Peacock Theatre in August 2024, with Mary Bridget Davies again in the lead role.
Shailene Woodley was confirmed to star in and produce a Janis Joplin biopic after the California Film Commission committed a $2.49 million tax credit to the project.
Rolling Stone's updated 2023 list of the '200 Greatest Singers of All Time' ranked Joplin at number 78, down from number 28 in the 2008 edition.
