Jack White (born John Anthony Gillis; July 9, 1975), often credited as Jack White III, is an American musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and occasional actor. He is best known as the vocalist, guitarist and pianist with The White Stripes which disbanded February 2011. On April 24, 2012, White released his debut solo album, Blunderbuss which received wide critical acclaim.
Jack is ranked No. 70 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". White's popular and critical success with The White Stripes enabled him to collaborate as a solo artist with other renowned musicians, such as Beck, The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, Alicia Keys, Bob Dylan, Electric Six, and Loretta Lynn, whose 2004 album Van Lear Rose he produced and performed on. In 2006, White became a founding member of the rock band The Raconteurs. In 2009, he became a founding member and drummer of his third commercially successful group, The Dead Weather. He was awarded the title of "Nashville Music City Ambassador" by the Nashville mayor Karl Dean in 2011.
Of Polish, Scottish, and Canadian descent, John Anthony Gillis, the son of Teresa and Gorman Gillis, was born the youngest of ten children (six brothers, three sisters) in a lower middle-class neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan. He grew up in a Catholic family. His father and mother worked for the Archdiocese of Detroit, as the Building Maintenance Superintendent and secretary in the Cardinal's office, respectively. White eventually became an altar boy, which landed him an uncredited role in the 1987 movie The Rosary Murders, filmed mainly at Holy Redeemer parish in southwest Detroit. As a child he was a fan of classical music. He attended Cass Technical High School in Detroit.
Jack began playing the drums at the age of six. Then as a teenager, he was already listening to the blues & 60s rock that would influence him in The White Stripes, Son House and Blind Willie McTell being among his favorite blues musicians. Jack and his childhood friend, Dominic Suchyta (NKA Dominic Davis), would listen to records in White's attic on weekends and then began to record cover songs on an old four-track reel-to-reel tape machine. At that time, White was described as "a kid with short hair and braces". He has said in many interviews that Son House's "Grinnin' In Your Face" is his favorite song of all time.
In 2005 on 60 Minutes, White told Mike Wallace that his life could have turned out differently. "I'd got accepted to a seminary in Wisconsin, and I was gonna become a priest, but at the last second I thought, 'I'll just go to public school. I had just gotten a new amplifier in my bedroom, and I didn't think I was allowed to take it with me." At 15, White began a three-year upholstery apprenticeship with a family friend, Brian Muldoon. White credits Muldoon with exposing him to punk music and pushing him to play music with Muldoon as a band: "He played drums, well I guess I'll play guitar then." The two recorded an album, Makers of High Grade Suites, as The Upholsterers. White later started a one-man business of his own, Third Man Upholstery. The slogan of his business was "Your Furniture's Not Dead" and the color scheme was yellow and black—including a yellow van, a yellow-and-black uniform, and a yellow clipboard. Although Third Man Upholstery never lacked business, White claims that it was unprofitable, because of his complacency about money and his business practices that were perceived as unprofessional, including making bills out in crayon and writing poetry inside the furniture. Shortly thereafter, White landed his first professional gig, as the drummer for the Detroit band Goober & the Peas. He also played in other local bands and did solo shows.
White formed The White Stripes in 1997, along with Meg White. The band began its career as part of the Michigan garage rock underground music scene, playing with local bands such as Bantam Rooster, The Dirtbombs, The Paybacks, Rocket 455, and The Henchmen, among others. In 1998, The White Stripes were signed to Italy Records, a small and independent Detroit-based garage punk label, by Dave Buick. The band released its self-titled debut album in 1999, and a year later the album was followed up by the cult classic De Stijl. The album eventually peaked at No. 38 in Billboard's Independent Albums chart when the band had established their popularity. While performing and in music videos, Jack and Meg are very recognisable visually, as they dress only in red, white, and black.
In 2001 the band released White Blood Cells. The album's stripped-down garage rock sound drew critical acclaim in the UK and soon afterward in the US, making The White Stripes one of the more acclaimed bands of 2002. The album was followed up in 2003 by the commercially and critically successful Elephant. Allmusic wrote that the album "sounds even more pissed-off, paranoid and stunning than its predecessor ... darker and more difficult than White Blood Cells. " The album's first single, "Seven Nation Army", was the band's most successful.
Drummer, Meg White is Jack White’s ex-wife !
The band's fifth album, Get Behind Me Satan, was recorded in White's own home and marked a change in the band's musical direction, with piano-driven melodies and experimentation with marimba and a more rhythm-based guitar playing by White. The band's sixth album Icky Thump, released in 2007, entered the UK Albums Chart at number one and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. The album's sound also included more punk, garage and blues influences than its predecessor. In late 2007, the band announced the cancellation of 18 tour dates due to Meg White's acute anxiety problems.
White had revealed plans to release a seventh, yet-untitled album in the summer of 2009. However, this never materialized. The band also made their first live appearance since Meg's anxiety problems in September 2007 on the final episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien on February 20, 2009.
A documentary, The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights, about the band's 2007 tour, in which they played a gig in every Canadian province and territory, appeared in the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.
In July 2007, The White Stripes made history by playing the shortest concert ever only playing one note, in St John's, Newfoundland. They played a full show later that night at the Mile One Centre in downtown St. John's.
On February 2, 2011, it was reported on the main page of whitestripes.com that the duo has decided to part ways. White stated that it was not due to health issues or artistic differences but there were a "myriad of reasons".
The Raconteurs:
White formed The Raconteurs in 2005 along with Brendan Benson, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler. The origin of the band was the song 'Steady, As She Goes' which White wrote along with Benson. This inspired them to create a full band with the addition of Lawrence and Keeler. The band came together in Detroit during 2005 and, for the remainder of the year, recorded when time allowed. The band's debut album Broken Boy Soldiers was recorded at Benson's home in Detroit. The band set out on tour to support the album, including eight dates as the opening act for Bob Dylan. The group's second album, Consolers of the Lonely, and its first single, "Salute Your Solution", simultaneously in 2008. The album received a Grammy nomination.
The Dead Weather:
Jack White and Alison Mosshart performing live with ‘The Dead Weather’ at the ‘Glastonbury Festival’ on June 26, 2009.
In early 2009, Jack White formed a new group called ‘The Dead Weather’ with The Kills frontwoman Alison Mosshart. White takes drum and vocal duties, while The Raconteurs bassist Jack Lawrence and Queens of the Stone Age keyboardist and guitarist Dean Fertita round the four piece out.
The group debuted a handful of new tracks on March 11, 2009 in Nashville from their debut album Horehound, which came out July 13, 2009 in Europe and July 14, 2009 in North America, on White's Third Man Records label.
On October 16, 2009, Mosshart confirmed that the second album was "halfway done". The first single "Die by the Drop" was released on March 30, 2010. The new album, Sea of Cowards was released on May 7 in Ireland, then on May 11, 2010, in the U.S. and May 10 in the United Kingdom, and again, on White's Third Man Records.
*** Stay tuned for Part 2 of 2, “His Solo Career” ***
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MUSICIAN by Night
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