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In 'Janis,' Joplin Shown To Be A Tangle Of Talents, Contradictions And Mythology

Holly George-Warren's research, eye for detail, illuminating contextualization and clear delivery make for a far more rounded and convincing image of the musician's precocity than seen previously.
<em>Janis: Her Life and Music</em>, by Holly George-Warren

In 1969, Newsweek bestowed this honorific on Janis Joplin: "The first female superstar of rock music."

It's also a claim that Holly George-Warren sets out to prove in , her new biography of the iconic Texan singer who rocketed to fame after becoming the frontwoman of the San Francisco blues-rock group Big Brother and the Holding Company — only to die four years later at the age of 27, a casualty of the

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