Joan Jett - Biography

Last Editor: kragle				Joan Jett Biography -   Name : Joan Jett Profession : Actress/Singer/Musician Birth Details : born Joan Marie Larkin on September 22, 1958 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Birth Name : Joan Marie Larkin Born : September 22, 1958 (1958-09-22) (age 50) Origin : Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, U.S. Genre(s) : Rock, hard rock, punk rock Occupation(s) : Singer-songwriter, musician Instrument(s) : Vocals, guitar, bass guitar Voice type(s) : Mezzo-soprano Years active : 1975 - present Label(s) : Blackheart Records Associated acts : The Runaways, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

Joan Jett Trivia -

Joan started her own record label, "Blackheart Records", because no one else would sign them. She and Lita Ford were members of the all-girl group, The Runaways. Seen in the 2000 Broadway revival of "The Rocky Horror Show" as the character, Columbia. Although there have been several attempts to reunite Joan's old band, the Runaways, Jett has stated that they always fall apart because former bandmate, Lita Ford, walks out on the rehearsals. Ford is usually the instigator of the reunions. Has held season tickets to New York Liberty games since the inception of the WNBA in 1997. Ranked #32 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll After her parents divorced she changed her last name to Jett, her mother's maiden name. Her single, "I Love Rock And Roll" went to #1 on the Billboard charts in 1982. In the early 1980s, she reportedly starred in a film in which she played a version of herself (a member of an all-girl rock band) called "We're All Crazy Now." After being stalled for a few years, it was revamped and released as Du-beat-e-o (1984). Same birthday as Catherine Oxenberg. First inductee into the Long Island Music Hall Of Fame held on October 15, 2006 at the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts. Songs of the Century - #177 "I Love Rock 'N Roll" as compiled by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts in 2001. February 2007 - nominated for a Canadian Indie Award for Favourite International Artist/Group or Duo of the Year (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts). Inducted into the WAMA (Washington Area Music Association) Hall of Fame in 1993. February 1989 - nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts) for the song "I Hate Myself For Loving You". The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time - #484 "I Love Rock 'N Roll" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts as published by Rolling Stone magazine in November 2004. Ranked #54 on VH1's 100 Sexiest Artists. Ranked #66 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists along with The Blackhearts. June 6, 2008 she and Gibson USA announced the launch of the Joan Jett Signature Melody Maker guitar marking the first Gibson electric signature model designed in conjunction with a female artist. 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time - #89 "I Love Rock 'N Roll" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts 1981 as published by Rolling Stone magazine June 12, 2008. Songs "Bad Reputation" and "Cherry Bomb" are ranked #29 and #52 respectively on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs.

Joan Jett Detailed Biography -

Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin on September 22, 1958 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American rock and roll guitarist, singer, and actress best known for her hit "I Love Rock N Roll," which was #1 on the Billboard charts from March 20 to May 8, 1982. Joan Jett was born in Philadelphia. She later moved to Hollywood, California, where, when still in her teens, she first gained attention as the guitarist, main songwriter and back-up singer in the pioneering all-women band The Runaways, known for pre-punk hard rock and the classic song "Cherry Bomb." Once lead singer Cherie Currie left the band, Joan assumed the duties of lead vocalist. Although the band was misconstrued in the U.S. as a novelty act, they were more popular in Japan. After the Runaways disbanded in 1979, Jett produced an album for Los Angeles punk rock band, The Germs, then embarked on a solo career. Although she approached many labels, not one would sign her due to the stigma that accompanied her former band, The Runaways, and so she and manager and co-writer Kenny Laguna created their own independent record label, Blackheart Records to release recordings by her new band distributed by Boardwalk Records, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. With the Blackhearts, she had several singles in the top ten, including the #1 "I Love Rock 'N Roll" cover, originally by The Arrows, as well as covers of Tommy James' "Crimson and Clover" and Gary Glitter's "Do You Wanna Touch Me". "Bad Reputation", whose accompanying video narrates the story of the rejection of Joan by major labels and the creation of her own record label, was also a hit. During this time, Jett toured relentlessly. One of the highlights of her live performance is the cover of the AC/DC song "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap". Unfortunately Boardwalk Records went under after the death of its founder Neil Bogart, and Jett and Laguna never made the money they were owed from the massive hit "I Love Rock'n Roll". After making the two classic albums on Blackheart Boardwalk, Jett and Laguna signed to MCA Records and her career took a nosedive - with two clunkers leading to her being dropped and being forced to sign to a pressing and distribution deal with a CBS records affiliate. She recorded yet another clunker, 1986's "Good Music", and her career was on the skids. Finally Jett and Laguna were told by CBS that they would lose their record deal if they didn't bring in some outside hands to help guide them through their next album, "Up Your Alley". Faced with the prospect of losing their livelihoods, they turned to hitmaking machine songwriter/producer Desmond Child, and street rock producer/songwriter Ric Browde. Both of these men brought unusual focus and drive to this record and rescued Joan's career from the gutter. Laguna and Jett thought after the success of this album that they could return to doing things on their own (and they refused to pay either her band or her producers their royalties) - but they were mistaken - and after shedding Child and Browde they didn't produce much else memorable. Their follow-up, an album of all covers, was a critical flop. To date, it has been more than 10 years since Joan Jett has released an album of new music in the U.S. She and Laguna currently host a radio program on Sirius satellite radio. Joan Jett's first appearance on film is in the 1981 live concert film Urgh!, subtitled A Music War, performing with her band The Blackhearts. Her first acting role came in 1987, co-starring with Gena Rowlands and Michael J. Fox in the Paul Schrader film Light of Day. She has also appeared in some independent films, including Du-beat-E-O which was originally entitled We're All Crazy Now and was to have been about The Runaways. Production difficulties necessitated changes and the film was rewritten to focus around Jett and released in 1984. In 1997, Joan appeared in the independent film, Boogie Boy, directed by Craig Hamann and most recently has appeared in the Broadway production of The Rocky Horror Show in the role of "Columbia". During the 1990s, she appeared on the Ellen show, performing the title song. She also appeared on the television show Highlander and covered the theme song to The Mary Tyler Moore Show of the 1970s. Her song "Bad Reputation" was used as the theme song for the cult TV show Freaks and Geeks.