Over half a century since her sudden death at the age of 27, Janis Joplin's loss remains one of the most tragic in rock history. Particularly heartbreaking is the fact that the iconic singer recorded ...

Welcome to Formative Jukebox, a column exploring the personal relationships people have with music. Every week, a writer will tackle a song, album, show, or musical artist and their influence on our ...

Janis Joplin’s posthumous 1971 rendition of “Me and Bobby McGee” is arguably the most famous version of the song, but Kris Kristofferson, the writer, ironically never knew Joplin had plans to cut the ...

Janis Joplin began recording a song on Sept. 5, 1970, that would soon become the biggest hit of her career. She just wouldn’t live long enough to see it happen. Joplin entered the studio to record the ...

Few songwriters have left a mark on country music quite like Kris Kristofferson. Born on June 22, 1936, in Brownsville, Texas, the singer-songwriter, actor and poet would have celebrated his 90th ...

Joplin died of an accidental heroin overdose, per The New York Times. The singer had had a long history with drugs and alcohol. One day after her death, Los Angeles County Coroner Dr. Thomas Noguchi ...