Janis Joplin was just 27 when she passed away in 1970, of a drug overdose. Joplin died a decade before the Beatles' own John Lennon, who was gunned down in 1980. But, perhaps surprisingly, their two lives were intertwined, in a painstakingly morbid way.
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According to Grunge, Joplin's final recording was for Lennon. She was in the studio with her Full Tilt Boogie Band, to work on Pearl, her second solo album. The record was unfortunately released after she passed away. But after laying down tracks for the project, Joplin reportedly recorded a birthday message for Lennon, whose wife, Yoko Ono, had recruited several artists, including Joplin, to create birthday wishes for Lennon for his upcoming 30th birthday.
Joplin's manager, John Byrne Cooke, later wrote a book, On the Road with Janis. In it, he details Joplin's final time in the studio. Pearl's producer, Paul A. Rothchild, later played back the recordings from that last day in the studio.
"The first song Paul plays for us at Sunset Sound is Janis and Full Tilt's contribution, which we recorded a couple of days before Janis died, all of us singing along behind Janis," Cooke writes. "It is raucous and joyful. We hold the final 'happy birthday to youuuuuuu,' and Janis says, 'Happy birthday from Janis and Full Tilt Boogie! Happy birthday, Johnny!"
Joplin's Legacy
Joplin likely had an idea that she was not going to live a full life, in part due to her partying ways. But she still made sure her friends could celebrate her in a big way, allocating in her will $2500 to go to a "gathering of my friends and acquaintances at a suitable location as a final gesture of appreciation and farewell to such friends and acquaintances."
This October will mark 55 years since Joplin passed away, but her legacy continues. Aspiring singers still try to emulate her unique and stand-out vocals, and still look to her as one of the biggest musical influences of all time.
In the book Buried Alive: The Biography of Janis Joplin, Joplin's longtime friend, Peter Coyote, recalls what it was like after Joplin passed away.
"People were coming over to that house and walking around and taking [stuff]," he writes. "You know, I want this and I want that ... Hell, I know she would have given the stuff away. But, it hipped me to a relationship that was going on during her lifetime and I thought to myself, 'Phewww, that's a lousy way to treat somebody."
