“She was a great singer, but she worked hard at it,” he explains. “She was always practicing, always trying to improve. She had this incredible instrument, this voice that could convey so much emotion. But she didn’t take it for granted. She put in the work.”
And the work paid off. Joplin’s voice is still revered today, not just for its power and range, but for the raw emotion she poured into every note. As Johnson puts it, “She sang like her life depended on it, because maybe it did.”
Joplin’s legacy is a complex one, filled with highs and lows, triumphs and tragedies. But through it all, her music remains a testament to her talent and her spirit. As Michael Joplin says, “Janis is like a Shakespearean story in a lot of ways. It’s a perfect scenario of redemption and loss.”
And though she may be gone, her voice still echoes through the decades, a reminder of a woman who blazed a trail in a world that wasn’t always ready for her. As Cat Power said, “At the time, I don’t think there was any female that was really that free on stage, that loving, that open.” Janis Joplin may be gone, but her spirit lives on in every note she sang.” “But she was reaching high, and she couldn’t help but get burned. That’s the tragedy of Janis Joplin,” Getz reflects. “She was a true artist, always pushing herself and her music to new heights. And that’s how she should be remembered.” The legacy of Janis Joplin lives on, not just in the stories of her struggles and pain, but in the music she created and the passion she brought to the stage. “Se estaba mirando a sí misma y diciendo: Voy a intentar algo y podría fallar.”
Para Joplin, fallar y volar eran dos caras de la misma moneda. Las letras, y la voz con la que las cantaba, nos dicen todo lo que necesitamos saber. Todo era autobiográfico para Joplin, dice Getz: “Siempre escribía desde su interior.” La Janis que él conocía era “una persona muy vulnerable” pero también “una persona muy divertida”, una mujer “que era superinteligente” y sin embargo “podía ser herida muy fácilmente”. En contraste con su reputación audaz también había fragilidad. “Todas sus emociones estaban justo bajo su piel”, dice Getz, cariñosamente. Y en el escenario y fuera de él, “era algo hermoso”.
Una noche con Janis Joplin está en el teatro Peacock, Londres, del 21 de agosto al 21 de septiembre.