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Jack White

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White performing in 2005.

Jack White (born John Anthony Gillis on July 9, 1975 in Detroit) is an American rock musician, producer, and actor. He is best known as the guitarist and lead vocalist of the rock duo The White Stripes. He is also one of the members in the "supergroup" The Raconteurs with Brendan Benson and chosen members of The Greenhornes.

Early life

Jack White is the youngest of ten siblings. His father and mother worked in their diocese, as the maintenance man and the cardinal's secretary, respectively. Jack, along with his six brothers, eventually became an altar boy. According to the September 8, 2005 issue of Rolling Stone, being an altar boy landed him a role in the movie The Rosary Murders, which was filmed in Holy Redeemer church in Detroit.[1] Although White grew up near Mexicantown, the lower-middle-class Hispanic district of southwest Detroit, his musical preferences were not those of his classmates, who listened to electronica and hip hop. White, as a teenager, was already listening to the blues and 1960s rock that would influence him in the White Stripes.[1] Son House and Blind Willie McTell are among his favorite blues musicians.

In 2005, on the news program 60 Minutes, White told Mike Wallace that his life could have turned out differently. "I'd got accepted to a seminary in Wisconsin, and I was gonna become a priest, but at the last second I thought, 'I’ll just go to public school,'" White said. "I had just gotten a new amplifier in my bedroom, and I didn’t think I was allowed to take it with me." [2] It would turn out to be a life-defining decision.

At fifteen, White began a three year upholstery apprenticeship with a family friend, Brian Muldoon. After working in various shops, he started a one-man business of his own, called Third Man Upholstery. The slogan of his business was "Your Furniture's Not Dead" and the color scheme was yellow, white and black — including a yellow van, a yellow and black uniform and a yellow clipboard. While "Third Man Upholstery" never lacked business, White claims that it was not profitable, due to his complacency about money and his business practices that were perceived as unprofessional, including making bills out in crayon and writing poetry inside the furniture.[3]

Career

White's initial professional music experience came in the early 1990s as a drummer in the Detroit country-punk band Goober and the Peas. This led to stints with various other bands The Go, The Upholsterers, and Jack White and The Bricks. Also, in addition to being his mentor and neighbor, Muldoon would play drums with White in late night jam sessions. But it was in 1997 when Meg first took her hand at the drums, and the newly christened White Stripes played their first gig in Detroit two months later. Keeping live performances to three elements, Jack fulfilled guitar and vocal duties while Meg played drums.[1]

Starting out as an underground favorite in Detroit and other circles, the White Stripes came to international attention when, in 2001, British DJ John Peel raved of the band on his radio show. The ensuing critical and popular success of the White Stripes opened up new opportunities for White. In 2003 film he was well-received in the role of Georgia, the love interest of Renée Zellweger's character, in the feature film Cold Mountain. He also performed several songs for the film's soundtrack (produced by T Bone Burnett) in a traditional acoustic style.[4] As a result of his involvement in the movie, he and Zellweger began dating, but later broke up in 2004.[5] Later in that same year, he appeared with Meg in one of the shorts comprising the Jim Jarmusch directed Coffee and Cigarettes. Meanwhile, there had been buzz about a project in development, as White produced Loretta Lynn's 2004 album Van Lear Rose, singing with her on the duet "Portland, Oregon." The album was released in April of 2004 to massive critical acclaim, and earned five Grammy Awards nominations, going on to win both Best Country Album and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for the duet.

In a 2003 issue, Rolling Stone named White the seventeenth greatest guitarist of all time.[6]

White made a surprise appearance with Bob Dylan during Dylan's performance in Detroit on March 17, 2004 during the second encore, performing the White Stripes song "Ball and Biscuit".

White has referred to The Stooges' 1970 release Fun House as 'the greatest rock 'n' roll record ever made.' As a result, he was invited by Rhino Records to contribute liner notes to the 2005 deluxe reissue of the album.

Currently, White is touring following the release of the fifth White Stripes album, Get Behind Me Satan, as well as working with local singer Brendan Benson to create a new collaboration album, under the name of Raconteurs. This first Raconteurs single, "Steady As She Goes" was released January 30, 2006 and the band's first full-length, Broken Boy Soldiers is to be released on May 16. It has also been revealed that he has decided to guest star on one of next season's episodes of The Simpsons in which Homer and Marge buy a drum kit for Bart and he becomes a jazz drummer, making Lisa jealous.

In 2006, it was revealed in the Sunday Times Rich List that Jack White, together with his wife Karen Elson, had a joint fortune of at least £20 million GBP ($37 million USD). This ranked them at 7th place in the list of entertainers aged under 30 who were born or live in the United Kingdom, ahead of the likes of Orlando Bloom and Kate Winslet.[7] [8]

It was recently announced that he has recorded and produced the first '45' for his former teacher Brian Muldoon's family project, The Muldoons. Brian's two sons, ages 8 and 11, front the trio.

Personality

White is known for his eccentric behaviour, hobbies, and passions. He is, for instance, interested in taxidermy, an interest that sprung from his days in upholstering.[3] He collects stuffed animal heads, claiming they make him think about life and judging things. White also has an obsession with the number three and all that it represents. His obsession with the number three allegedly comes from when he looked at a three-legged stool. His sporting interests include the game of cricket (the cover of Elephant features him holding a cricket bat).

The band has also created some sensation on and off the stage. The band (when on official duty) dresses only in red, white, and black, which Jack believes are the three most powerful colors in the universe. The duo also no longer prepares set lists for their shows, for they believe that planning too accurately would ruin the natural feeling of their performances. Jack White once cursed a bay area radio station, 104.9, during a show in the middle of a song because a large balloon bearing the logo of the radio station bounced onto the stage, at The Greek Theater in Berkeley, CA. Jack and Meg initially presented themselves as brother and sister, including the detail of being two of ten children. However, the Detroit Free Press famously produced copies of not only their marriage licence, but divorce papers, revealing that they had been married September 21, 1996 in Oakland County (having the papers notarized five days later) and divorced in March of 2000 in the same county. Neither addresses the truth officially; however, over time, they have become less vocal about the origins of their relationship. Jack has said, though, that siblings are "mated for life," and thus such a relationship distracts less from the music.[1]

White gives few interviews and reveals few details of his private life. He states that he does not consider it relevant to his art, saying "It's the same thing as asking Michelangelo, 'What kind of shoes do you wear?'...In the end, it doesn't really matter ... the only thing that's going to be left is our records and photos." [9]

Musical equipment and sound

Jack White uses a number of effects to create his live sound, most notably a Digitech whammy pedal to create the rapid modulations in pitch he uses in his solos.[10] The guitars he uses live are two 1964 JB Hutto Montgomery Airlines, a Harmony Rocket, a 1970's Crestwood Astral II, and a 1950's Kay Hollowbody. In concert with A Boss CS-3 Compressor/Sustainer and Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Distortion/Sustainer, White can produce a very distinctive sound. He plugs this setup into a 1970's Fender Twin Reverb and two 100-Watt Sears Silvertone 6x10 combo amplifiers.[11]

White also produces a "fake" bass tone by playing the Kay Hollowbody guitar through an octave divider for a very thick, low, rumbling sound, which he uses most notably on the song Seven Nation Army.[10][12]

On occassion, White also plays other instruments, such as a Black F-Style Mandolin, piano ("Denial Twist"), marimba ("The Nurse"), drums and tambourine.

Selected events

It is rumored that he was featured on the Electric Six's song "Danger! High Voltage", but both he and the Electric Six deny it.

On December 13, 2003, White was involved in an altercation at The Magic Stick, a Detroit club, with Jason Stollsteimer, lead singer of the Von Bondies. He was arrested and charged with misdemeanor aggravated assault. He pleaded guilty, was fined $500 in court costs, and was sentenced to take anger management courses.

Jack White was the subject of The Flaming Lips's song Thank You Jack White (For The Fiber-Optic Jesus That You Gave Me) released on their 2003 Fight Test EP.

White unexpectedly married the model and singer Karen Elson (who appeared in the video for the White Stripes song "Blue Orchid") on June 1, 2005 in Manaus, Brazil, with manager Ian Montone as best man and Meg White as the maid of honor. Official wedding announcements stated that it was the first marriage for both.

He played bass on the song "Go It Alone" from the album Guero, which was released by his friend Beck Hansen. Beck appeared in the White Stripes' video for The Hardest Button to Button.

On November 7, 2005, it was widely reported that Jack White had changed his name to "Three Quid" (quid is British slang for pound sterling). However, most reports (e.g. Undercover.com,[13]NME.com,[14] and MTV.com[15]) indicated that this would only last until the end of the tour. When asked about this in a UK radio interview, Jack claimed that "it's all a money thing....it's all about money".

In April of 2006, a long-rumored and extremely low-profile Coca-Cola commercial debuted during the MTV Australia Video Music Awards, featuring the original song "Love is Truth," that White wrote exclusively for Coke.[16] As White generally advocates "brand-free music," it was a departure from this stance.[17] In defense of his involvement, White stated, "I've been offered the opportunity to write a song in a way which interests me as a songwriter. I certainly wouldn't want a song that I'd already written to be used on a commercial. That seems strange."[18] However, according to InTheNews.co.uk, the ad was only played once in England, late at night, and was available for only a short time at the Coke website.[17]

On May 2, 2006, Jack and Karen welcomed their new daughter, named Scarlett Teresa. She was born in Tennesee, where the couple recently bought a new home.[19] The baby's surname is White.[20]

Solo discography

  • "Wayfaring Stranger", "Great High Mountain", "Sittin' on Top of the World" and "Never Far Away" – Cold Mountain (2003)
  • "Portland, Oregon" – Van Lear Rose (2004)

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Fricke, David (2005) "White on White". Rolling Stone (accessed April 12, 2006)
  2. ^ Wallace, Mike (2005). "Choosing Music Over Religion". CBS News (accessed January 24, 2006)
  3. ^ a b de la Manzana, Tobias (2003). "Jack White: Your Furniture is not Dead" The Believer (accessed April 12, 2006)
  4. ^ Abramovich, Alex (2004). "Curator Rock" Slate.com (accessed May 8, 2006)
  5. ^ Finn, Natalie (2006). [http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,18955,00.html "Jack White Adds Touch of Scarlett "] EOnline! (accessed May 6, 2006)
  6. ^ (2003). "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" Rolling Stone (accessed April 12, 2006)
  7. ^ NME staff writer (2006). "Coldplay make the rich list" NME.com (accessed April 30, 2006)
  8. ^ This should not be taken as evidence that Jack White lives in the UK, since their qualification comes from the fact that Karen Elson was born there. [1] The couple (as of 2006), resides in Tennessee.
  9. ^ Brian "The Unofficial White Stripes FAQ Version 6". WhiteStripes.net (accessed April 12, 2006)
  10. ^ a b Ratliff, Ben (2003). "ROCK REVIEW: Contradictory and Proud of It"The New York Times (accessed May 2, 2006)
  11. ^ "White Stripes Equipment/Technique" Broken Bricks (accessed 2 May, 2006)
  12. ^ Seven Nation Army tablature and notes. Broken Bricks (accessed 2 May, 2006)
  13. ^ Jenkin, Eve (2005). "Jack White Changes Name Whilst Band Releases New EP" Undercover.com (accessed November 7, 2005)
  14. ^ (2005). "Jack White changes his name" NME.com (accessed November 7, 2005)
  15. ^ The Chad (2005). "My Name Is...Three Quid" MTV (accessed November 7, 2005)
  16. ^ James Montgomery (2006). "Jack White's New Coca-Cola TV Advertisement Is Red, White And Weird" MTV.com (accessed May 1, 2006)
  17. ^ a b InTheNews staff writer (2006). "Jack White's 'controversial' ad to air" InTheNews.uk.co (accessed May 1, 2006)
  18. ^ NME staff writer (2005). Exclusive - "White Stripes singer confirms Coke ad" NME.com (accessed May 1, 2006)
  19. ^ Smytek, John (2006). "Do they make striped Pampers?" The Detroit Free Press (accessed May 4, 2006)
  20. ^ Huhn, Mary (2006). "Time to Get Saved by Song" The New York Post (accessed May 5, 2006)

References

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