Any guesses who this is?
She graduated high school in 1960, never completed her degree in college. In 1963 she briefly moved to San Francisco and began getting into the music and drug scene there. She moved back to Texas with her parents and swore off all drugs and alcohol and went back to college. That’s when this photo was probably taken.
Then fast forward another year 1966 to when she started recording some solo material, and caught the attention of Chet Helms who started Big Brother and the Holding Company. Fast forward another year 1967-1968 and she’d become the lead singer. They released their debut hit album, played the Hollywood Bowl, and the Monterey Festival (and all over the West Coast). Come 1969 she was flown in by helicopter to play Woodstock… She was one of the major acts in the country and toured non stop making a sizeable fortune. On-off relationships with heroin, alcohol, men (Kris Kristoffersen being one of them) and women. She recorded her final vocals ever on October 1st 1970 for “Mercedes Benz” (in one take)…and was found unresponsive on October 3rd in her hotel room.
Dead from overdosing on heroin that she took, ironically, to celebrate going one month without using heroin.
Below, Janis with her family not long before her death: