Janis Joplin
Music industry deaths

Janis Joplin was the dominant female vocalist of rock in the Sixties. Born January 19, 1943, she rose to stardom as lead vocalist and for the San Francisco rock band, Big Brother and the Holding Company. Her performances at the Monterey Pop Festival (1967) and Woodstock (1969) impressed and electrified listeners with her uninhibited, passionate blues style. On October 4, 1970, Joplin was found dead in her hotel room in Los Angeles. In 1992, Janis’s sister, Laura Joplin, wrote a biography entitled Love, Janis. According to Laura, Janis’s death was inaccurately ruled "heroin overdose." While no one disputes that Janis was taking heroin at the time, the term overdose indicates she took too much. That is an erroneous assumption. Janis injected a normal amount, but the heroin she used was four to ten times stronger than normal street heroin, 40 to 50 percent pure. It was sold to her by her regular dealer, "George." Several other customers of George’s died the same weekend because they injected heroin from the same toxic batch as Janis. [Book 2004] Rethinking John Lennon’s Assassination. The FBI’s War on Rock Stars By Salvador Astucia, April 2004