Big Brother and the Holding Company
Encyclopedia
Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic
music scene
that produced the Grateful Dead
, Quicksilver Messenger Service
and Jefferson Airplane
. They are best known as the band that featured Janis Joplin
as their lead singer. Their 1968 album Cheap Thrills is considered one of the masterpieces of the psychedelic
sound of San Francisco; it reached number one on the Billboard charts
, and was ranked number 338 in Rolling Stone
's the 500 greatest albums of all time
.
and Ron McKernan, met Sam Andrew
, a professional rock & roll guitarist with a jazz and classical background. After playing together at Albin's home, Andrew suggested they form a band. The pair approached guitarist James Gurley
, the resulting threesome playing open jam sessions hosted by entrepreneur Chet Helms
in 1965. Helms found them a drummer, Chuck Jones, and Big Brother and the Holding Company was formed at their first gig, the Trips Festival in January 1966. In the audience was painter and jazz drummer David Getz, who soon displaced Jones.
Big Brother went on to become the house band at the Avalon Ballroom, playing a progressive style of instrumental rock. Feeling a need for a strong vocalist, Helms contacted Janis Joplin
in Austin, Texas, who at the time was considering joining up with Roky Erickson of the 13th Floor Elevators. She traveled to San Francisco and debuted with the band at the Avalon on June 10, 1966.
It took a while for some of the band's followers to accept the new singer. Her music was completely different from that which Big Brother was playing at that time. Big Brother had a very experimental and non-conventional sound, but with Janis, they became more conventional musicians, their songs adopted a more conventional structure, and the band started to increase its popularity in the underground San Francisco psychedelic scene.
. They recorded all the songs for the album Big Brother & the Holding Company
for Mainstream at a studio in Chicago in three days; December 12 through 14th. Mainstream was known for its jazz records, and Big Brother was the first rock band to work with them. This may have influenced the final result, since the album sounded very different from what the band expected: acoustic and folk instead of heavy acid rock. The first single released was "Blind Man" b/w "All Is Loneliness," both from the album sessions, in July 1967. It was popular in the San Francisco Bay Area, but did not garner much national attention. A second single, "Down On Me" b/w "Call On Me" was released along with their self-titled debut album in the August 1967, following the band's national success after the Monterey Pop Festival
. The album debuted on Billboard charts
on 9/2/67, peaking at #60. It stayed on the charts for a total of 30 weeks.
The Pop Chronicles
criticized the record as difficult to find and "technically disappointing". "Down On Me
" had a long gestation in the marketplace and finally debuted on the Billboard Hot 100
chart on 8/31/68, peaking at #43. It stayed on the charts for 8 weeks. Other singles from the album were released through the end of 1967 and 1968. One final Mainstream single, "Coo Coo" b/w "The Last Time," was released after the band's second album came out on Columbia Records, in Nov. 1968. These last songs were from the original album sessions, but were not included on the album until Columbia Records bought the rights to all the Mainstream material and reissued the LP in the 1970s.
—a musical event held on January 29, 1967 at the Avalon Ballroom by the San Francisco Hare Krishna temple. The Big Brother and Janis Joplin performed there along with the Hare Krishna founder Bhaktivedanta Swami, Allen Ginsberg
, Moby Grape
, and Grateful Dead
, donating proceeds to the Krishna temple.
in June 1967 attracted national and international attention. The band was scheduled to play on Saturday afternoon, with a set which included "Down on Me", "Combination of The Two", "Harry", "Roadblock" and "Ball and Chain". However, the band decided not to allow Pennebaker's film crew to film and record them without paying them, and ordered the crew to turn its cameras off. The festival promoters thought the band performance was great, and asked them to play again the next evening in order to record it on film, but they played only two songs: "Combination of The Two" and a short version of "Ball and Chain" (without James Gurley's guitar solo). "I remember being amazed that this white woman was singing like Bessie Smith
," said Michelle Phillips
once. "I was astounded". They signed a contract with Columbia Records
that November, and Albert Grossman
became their manager.
, in New York City, on March 8, 1968.
in Detroit, but the recorded results did not satisfy the producer John Simon
or the manager Albert Grossman. The live album project was canceled, and Columbia decided to record most of the songs in studio. ("Down on Me" and "Piece of My Heart", taken from the Grande Ballroom concerts, were later released as part of Joplin's live album In Concert
in 1972.) However, it was difficult adapting their raw sound and unorthodox work habits with the realities of a professional studio. The progress was slow, and the pressure from Grossman, Columbia, and the press increased. A few of the band members believed that John Simon should not be the producer, believing that he came from a different musical style and did not understand the band's psychedelic, guitar based sound.
The album was initially named Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills, but Columbia asked them to change it to just Cheap Thrills. For the cover, Columbia had the band photographed naked in a hotel room bed, but the band did not like it, so the band asked underground comic-book artist R. Crumb
to create something. What was originally meant to be the back cover became the classic cover of the album, for the back cover Columbia chose a black & white picture of Janis Joplin. "Ball and Chain" is the only song on the album recorded entirely live, and even though the cover credits assert that the live material was recorded at Bill Graham
's Fillmore Auditorium, it was actually taken from a concert in Winterland Ballroom
in 1968; the same version that appears on the album Live at Winterland '68
, released in 1998. (The performance of "Ball and Chain" as released on the Winterland disc features a different opening guitar solo by Gurley, indicating that he'd dubbed a different intro for the Cheap Thrills issue.) The album was released in the summer of 1968, one year after their debut album, and reached number one on the Billboard charts in its eighth week in October. It held the number one spot for eight (nonconsecutive) weeks, and the single "Piece of My Heart" also became a huge hit. By the end of the year it was one of the most successful albums of 1968. It was awarded a gold disc
by the R.I.A.A. on October 15 that year for $1 million dollars worth of sales, with subsequent sales pushing the total over a million units. Even though the album was released with only seven songs, the other eight songs which were not included were released on subsequent albums. "Catch Me Daddy" and "Farewell Song" were among their most popular songs. These plus "Magic of Love," a medley of "Amazing Grace" and "Hi-Heel Sneakers," and an outtake of "Harry" first appeared on Farewell Song, a posthumous Joplin release in 1981; they also appeared on the 3-CD set Janis in 1993. "It's a Deal" and "Easy Once you Know How" were released in Joplin's Box of Pearls in 1999. "Flower in The Sun" and "Roadblock" were released on the Cheap Thrills reissue CD as bonus tracks. "Piece of My Heart" would be reissued on a single in the Columbia Hall of Fame oldies series---backed by the title cut from Joplin's first solo album, I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!
.
At the end of the summer of 1968, just after appearing at the Palace of Fine Arts Festival in San Francisco, Joplin announced that she was leaving Big Brother in the fall of that year. The official reason given was her desire to go solo and form a soul music
band. Sam Andrew also left the band to join Janis in her new project. Janis played with Big Brother until December 1, 1968, at a Family Dog
Benefit concert in San Francisco. Twenty days later she and Sam played in Memphis for the first time with her new band, later called Kozmic Blues Band.
and toured the U.S. and Europe and played on the Country Joe album Here We Go Again (Vanguard Records 1969). Getz and Albin left Country Joe in May 1969 with the intention of re-forming Big Brother with guitarist David Nelson
. They auditioned several singers including Eddie Money
, Kathi McDonald
and John Herald but the band finally came back together in the fall of 1969 with nearly the same line-up (except Joplin): Albin, Andrew, Getz and Gurley were joined by Nick Gravenites
(vocals), Dave Schallock (guitar) and Kathi McDonald
(vocals). Be a Brother
was released in 1970. Gurley moved to bass guitar while Albin played rhythm, Sam Andrew sang more lead vocals with Kathi McDonald, David Schallock on lead guitar, Dave Getz on drums and occasional keyboards. Nick Gravenites would also produce the album, write and sing on a number of the tracks. They releasad their last studio album, How Hard It Is
, in 1971. The same lineup: Kathi and Sam and Nick on vocals joined by organist Mike Finnegan. The band remained with this lineup until 1972 but drugs, loss of management, lack of gigs and internal squabbles caused them to gradually fall apart and disband during that year. During the next 15 years they re-united once to play "The Tribal Stomp" in 1978 at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley.
, Sophia Ramos, Mary Bridget Davies, Chloe Lowery, Jane Myrenget, Lynn Asher, Maria Stanford, Cathy Richardson
, and Superfly's Shiho Ochi are among the singers that have played in concerts with them. Ben Nieves is the present guitar player along with Sam Andrew. In 1999 the band released the album Do What You Love, with Lisa Battle as the lead singer. The album contains some new versions of classic tunes like "Women is Loser" and a few new songs. The "Hold Me" album, with Sophia Ramos as lead singer and Chad Quist as guitar player, was recorded live in Germany in 2005, and released in 2006. In 2008 they released the two-CD set The Lost Tapes, with songs recorded at concerts between 1966 and 1967 in San Francisco, and featuring Janis Joplin as lead singer. Some songs had already been unofficial releases, but there are 12 never-before-released songs.
Former guitarist James Gurley died on December 20, 2009 of a heart attack, just two days before his 70th birthday.
told Janis to leave the band and record her songs with studio musicians, who could play better. In the documentary Nine Hundred Nights, Peter Albin said that the manager Albert Grossman told Janis to leave Big Brother and form her own band, with studio musicians, in order to spend less money on recording sessions. Sam Andrew said later that Janis left due to artistic and financial reasons: Janis usually asked the band to have some keyboard or horns on at least some songs, but they said "No! You are going to change the Big Brother sound!" The band was also doing the same songs a lot, sometimes three times a day, so she started feeling trapped. The band was splitting the money in five equal ways, by leaving she could have all the money and just pay some employees and have a new band.
In 1982, Columbia released the Janis album Farewell Song
. The release displeased Big Brother's living members, since their original instruments were all replaced by studio musicians without consulting the band. James Gurley spoke about that in 1987, before the band's reunion: "It’s just a total bullshit record…some producer's dream at CBS."
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
music scene
San Francisco Sound
The San Francisco Sound refers to rock music performed live and recorded by San Francisco-based rock groups of the mid 1960s to early 1970s. It was associated with the counterculture community in San Francisco during these years.- Stylistic Dimensions :...
that produced the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
, Quicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band, formed in 1965 in San Francisco.-Introduction:Quicksilver Messenger Service gained wide popularity in the Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe and several of their albums ranked...
and Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
. They are best known as the band that featured Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
as their lead singer. Their 1968 album Cheap Thrills is considered one of the masterpieces of the psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
sound of San Francisco; it reached number one on the Billboard charts
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
, and was ranked number 338 in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
's the 500 greatest albums of all time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...
.
Roots in San Francisco
Leader Peter Albin, a country-blues guitarist who had played with future founders of the Grateful Dead Jerry GarciaJerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
and Ron McKernan, met Sam Andrew
Sam Andrew
Sam Andrew is an American musician, singer, songwriter, composer, artist and founding member and guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company. During his career as musician and composer, Andrew has had three platinum albums and two hit singles...
, a professional rock & roll guitarist with a jazz and classical background. After playing together at Albin's home, Andrew suggested they form a band. The pair approached guitarist James Gurley
James Gurley
James Gurley was an American musician. He is best known as the guitar player of Big Brother and the Holding Company, a psychedelic/acid rock band from San Francisco which was fronted by singer Janis Joplin from 1966 to 1968.-Early life:James Gurley was born in Detroit, Michigan on December 22, 1939...
, the resulting threesome playing open jam sessions hosted by entrepreneur Chet Helms
Chet Helms
Chester Leo "Chet" Helms , often called the father of San Francisco's "1967 Summer of Love," was a music promoter and a cultural figure in San Francisco during its hippie period in the late Sixties....
in 1965. Helms found them a drummer, Chuck Jones, and Big Brother and the Holding Company was formed at their first gig, the Trips Festival in January 1966. In the audience was painter and jazz drummer David Getz, who soon displaced Jones.
Big Brother went on to become the house band at the Avalon Ballroom, playing a progressive style of instrumental rock. Feeling a need for a strong vocalist, Helms contacted Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
in Austin, Texas, who at the time was considering joining up with Roky Erickson of the 13th Floor Elevators. She traveled to San Francisco and debuted with the band at the Avalon on June 10, 1966.
Janis Joplin
Joplin sang for the first time with Big Brother in 1966. Years later, guitarist Sam Andrew described the band's first impressions of her:It took a while for some of the band's followers to accept the new singer. Her music was completely different from that which Big Brother was playing at that time. Big Brother had a very experimental and non-conventional sound, but with Janis, they became more conventional musicians, their songs adopted a more conventional structure, and the band started to increase its popularity in the underground San Francisco psychedelic scene.
Mainstream Records debut
At the end of 1966, Big Brother signed a contract with Mainstream RecordsMainstream Records
Mainstream Records was an American record label, which released jazz, rock music, and soundtracks during the 1970s.It was founded in 1964 by Bob Shad, and in its early history reissued material from Commodore Records and Time Records in addition to some new jazz material...
. They recorded all the songs for the album Big Brother & the Holding Company
Big Brother & the Holding Company (Album)
Big Brother & the Holding Company is the debut album from Big Brother and the Holding Company and the studio debut of Janis Joplin. The album was originally released in the summer of 1967, following the band's major success at the Monterey Pop Festival. The album was a minor success, peaking at #60...
for Mainstream at a studio in Chicago in three days; December 12 through 14th. Mainstream was known for its jazz records, and Big Brother was the first rock band to work with them. This may have influenced the final result, since the album sounded very different from what the band expected: acoustic and folk instead of heavy acid rock. The first single released was "Blind Man" b/w "All Is Loneliness," both from the album sessions, in July 1967. It was popular in the San Francisco Bay Area, but did not garner much national attention. A second single, "Down On Me" b/w "Call On Me" was released along with their self-titled debut album in the August 1967, following the band's national success after the Monterey Pop Festival
Monterey Pop Festival
The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held June 16 to June 18, 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California...
. The album debuted on Billboard charts
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
on 9/2/67, peaking at #60. It stayed on the charts for a total of 30 weeks.
The Pop Chronicles
Pop Chronicles
The Pop Chronicles are two radio documentary series which together "may constitute the most complete audio history of 1940s-60s popular music." Both were produced by John Gilliland.-The Pop Chronicles of the 50s and 60s:...
criticized the record as difficult to find and "technically disappointing". "Down On Me
Down On Me
"Down on Me" is a traditional song from 1930s that became popular following its remake by Big Brother and the Holding Company.Janis Joplin rearranged the song and created new lyrics. The song was originally released in the summer of 1967 and was featured on the band's debut album Big Brother & the...
" had a long gestation in the marketplace and finally debuted on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart on 8/31/68, peaking at #43. It stayed on the charts for 8 weeks. Other singles from the album were released through the end of 1967 and 1968. One final Mainstream single, "Coo Coo" b/w "The Last Time," was released after the band's second album came out on Columbia Records, in Nov. 1968. These last songs were from the original album sessions, but were not included on the album until Columbia Records bought the rights to all the Mainstream material and reissued the LP in the 1970s.
Mantra-Rock Dance
One of the band's earliest major performances in 1967 was the Mantra-Rock DanceMantra-Rock Dance
Mantra-Rock Dance was a musical countercultural event held on , 1967, at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. It was organized by followers of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness as an opportunity for its founder, Swami Prabhupada, to address a wider public, and as a promotional...
—a musical event held on January 29, 1967 at the Avalon Ballroom by the San Francisco Hare Krishna temple. The Big Brother and Janis Joplin performed there along with the Hare Krishna founder Bhaktivedanta Swami, Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, Moby Grape
Moby Grape
Moby Grape is an American rock group from the 1960s, known for having all five members contribute to singing and songwriting and that collectively merged elements of folk music, blues, country, and jazz together with rock and psychedelic music...
, and Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
, donating proceeds to the Krishna temple.
Monterey Pop Festival
The band's historic performance at the Monterey Pop FestivalMonterey Pop Festival
The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held June 16 to June 18, 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California...
in June 1967 attracted national and international attention. The band was scheduled to play on Saturday afternoon, with a set which included "Down on Me", "Combination of The Two", "Harry", "Roadblock" and "Ball and Chain". However, the band decided not to allow Pennebaker's film crew to film and record them without paying them, and ordered the crew to turn its cameras off. The festival promoters thought the band performance was great, and asked them to play again the next evening in order to record it on film, but they played only two songs: "Combination of The Two" and a short version of "Ball and Chain" (without James Gurley's guitar solo). "I remember being amazed that this white woman was singing like Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
," said Michelle Phillips
Michelle Phillips
Michelle Phillips is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She gained fame as a member of the 1960s group The Mamas & the Papas, and is the last surviving original member of the group.-Early life:...
once. "I was astounded". They signed a contract with Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
that November, and Albert Grossman
Albert Grossman
Albert Bernard Grossman was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music scene and rock and roll. He was most famous as the manager of Bob Dylan between 1962 and 1970.-Biography:...
became their manager.
National success
Having received national recognition after the Monterey Pop Festival, Big Brother was booked by Columbia for engagements around the country. A well-known band on the West coast (especially in San Francisco), Big Brother played their first East Coast concert in New York City on February 17, 1968 at the Anderson Theater, 66 Second Avenue. Columbia's marketing department featured Janis Joplin as the star; before that time, some of the band's audience regarded James Gurley as of equal or more importance. In New York the press criticized the band for playing out of tune and for amplifiers set at maximum volume. The Village Voice, while noting that “ears came out ringing” after the Saturday night performance, cited Janis as ranking in sexual pizazz with Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix, and praised “her belting, groovy style,” mixing Bessie Smith, Aretha Franklin and James Brown. “At times she seemed to be singing harmony with herself.” Big Brother was the first band to play in the legendary Fillmore EastFillmore East
The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was open from 1968 to 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time...
, in New York City, on March 8, 1968.
Cheap Thrills and split with Joplin
Their first album with Columbia was due to be recorded the spring and summer of 1968, and released later that year. It was eagerly anticipated, after the first album had been largely ignored. Initially planned as a live album, the band played two concerts at Grande BallroomGrande Ballroom
The Grande Ballroom is a historic live music venue located at 8952 Grand River Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. The building was designed by Detroit engineer and architect Charles N. Agree in 1928 and originally served as a multi-purpose building, hosting retail business on the first floor and a large...
in Detroit, but the recorded results did not satisfy the producer John Simon
John Simon (record producer)
John Simon is an American musician, record producer, and composer. He is best known for his work with The Band as producer and musician on Music from Big Pink and The Band.-Biography:...
or the manager Albert Grossman. The live album project was canceled, and Columbia decided to record most of the songs in studio. ("Down on Me" and "Piece of My Heart", taken from the Grande Ballroom concerts, were later released as part of Joplin's live album In Concert
In Concert (Janis Joplin album)
In Concert is a live album by Janis Joplin. It was released in 1972 after Joplin's death as a double-LP. The first record contains performances with Big Brother and the Holding Company, recorded at various locations in 1968 and 1970, and the second with the Full Tilt Boogie Band.-Side A:# "Down...
in 1972.) However, it was difficult adapting their raw sound and unorthodox work habits with the realities of a professional studio. The progress was slow, and the pressure from Grossman, Columbia, and the press increased. A few of the band members believed that John Simon should not be the producer, believing that he came from a different musical style and did not understand the band's psychedelic, guitar based sound.
The album was initially named Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills, but Columbia asked them to change it to just Cheap Thrills. For the cover, Columbia had the band photographed naked in a hotel room bed, but the band did not like it, so the band asked underground comic-book artist R. Crumb
Robert Crumb
Robert Dennis Crumb —known as Robert Crumb and R. Crumb—is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded...
to create something. What was originally meant to be the back cover became the classic cover of the album, for the back cover Columbia chose a black & white picture of Janis Joplin. "Ball and Chain" is the only song on the album recorded entirely live, and even though the cover credits assert that the live material was recorded at Bill Graham
Bill Graham
William Carvel "Bill" Graham, PC QC is a former Canadian politician, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of National Defence, and Leader of the Opposition and interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.-Personal life:...
's Fillmore Auditorium, it was actually taken from a concert in Winterland Ballroom
Winterland Ballroom
The Winterland Ballroom, often referred to as Winterland Arena or simply Winterland, was an old ice skating rink and 5,400-seat music venue in San Francisco, California...
in 1968; the same version that appears on the album Live at Winterland '68
Live at Winterland '68
Live at Winterland '68 is an album by Big Brother and The Holding Company with Janis Joplin as lead singer. It was recorded at the Winterland Ballroom on April 12, 1968, and April 13, 1968. It includes a selection of tracks from their studio albums...
, released in 1998. (The performance of "Ball and Chain" as released on the Winterland disc features a different opening guitar solo by Gurley, indicating that he'd dubbed a different intro for the Cheap Thrills issue.) The album was released in the summer of 1968, one year after their debut album, and reached number one on the Billboard charts in its eighth week in October. It held the number one spot for eight (nonconsecutive) weeks, and the single "Piece of My Heart" also became a huge hit. By the end of the year it was one of the most successful albums of 1968. It was awarded a gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
by the R.I.A.A. on October 15 that year for $1 million dollars worth of sales, with subsequent sales pushing the total over a million units. Even though the album was released with only seven songs, the other eight songs which were not included were released on subsequent albums. "Catch Me Daddy" and "Farewell Song" were among their most popular songs. These plus "Magic of Love," a medley of "Amazing Grace" and "Hi-Heel Sneakers," and an outtake of "Harry" first appeared on Farewell Song, a posthumous Joplin release in 1981; they also appeared on the 3-CD set Janis in 1993. "It's a Deal" and "Easy Once you Know How" were released in Joplin's Box of Pearls in 1999. "Flower in The Sun" and "Roadblock" were released on the Cheap Thrills reissue CD as bonus tracks. "Piece of My Heart" would be reissued on a single in the Columbia Hall of Fame oldies series---backed by the title cut from Joplin's first solo album, I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!
I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!
I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! is a 1969 studio album by Janis Joplin. It was the first solo studio album Joplin recorded after leaving Big Brother and the Holding Company. The LP was released on September 11, 1969 and reached gold record status within two months of its release. It was...
.
At the end of the summer of 1968, just after appearing at the Palace of Fine Arts Festival in San Francisco, Joplin announced that she was leaving Big Brother in the fall of that year. The official reason given was her desire to go solo and form a soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
band. Sam Andrew also left the band to join Janis in her new project. Janis played with Big Brother until December 1, 1968, at a Family Dog
Family Dog
Family Dog is an American animated television series that only aired 10 episodes for one year on CBS, due to negative reviews. The plot of the story was about an average suburban family, the Binsfords, as told through the eyes of their dog, It first appeared as an episode of the TV show Amazing...
Benefit concert in San Francisco. Twenty days later she and Sam played in Memphis for the first time with her new band, later called Kozmic Blues Band.
1969–1972
After Janis left Big Brother, Dave Getz and Peter Albin joined Country Joe and the FishCountry Joe and the Fish
Country Joe and the Fish was a rock band most widely known for musical protests against the Vietnam War, from 1966 to 1971, and also regarded as a seminal influence to psychedelic rock.-History:...
and toured the U.S. and Europe and played on the Country Joe album Here We Go Again (Vanguard Records 1969). Getz and Albin left Country Joe in May 1969 with the intention of re-forming Big Brother with guitarist David Nelson
David Nelson
David or Dave Nelson may refer to:*Dave Nelson , American skateboarder*Dave Nelson , American baseball player and sportscaster*Dave Nelson , Canadian Jazz Musician...
. They auditioned several singers including Eddie Money
Eddie Money
Eddie Money is an American rock guitarist, saxophonist and singer-songwriter who found success in the 1970s and 1980s with a string of Top 40 hits and platinum albums...
, Kathi McDonald
Kathi McDonald
Kathryn Marie McDonald , popularly known as Kathi McDonald, is a blues and rock singer. She currently performs with Kathi McDonald & Friends. She has appeared on an extensive list of rock and blues albums and toured extensively with Long John Baldry prior to his death...
and John Herald but the band finally came back together in the fall of 1969 with nearly the same line-up (except Joplin): Albin, Andrew, Getz and Gurley were joined by Nick Gravenites
Nick Gravenites
Nicholas George Gravenites , with stage names like Nick "The Greek" Gravenites and Gravy, is a blues, rock and folk singer–songwriter, and is best known for his work with Janis Joplin, Mike Bloomfield and several influential bands and names of the generation springing from the 1960s and 1970s...
(vocals), Dave Schallock (guitar) and Kathi McDonald
Kathi McDonald
Kathryn Marie McDonald , popularly known as Kathi McDonald, is a blues and rock singer. She currently performs with Kathi McDonald & Friends. She has appeared on an extensive list of rock and blues albums and toured extensively with Long John Baldry prior to his death...
(vocals). Be a Brother
Be a Brother
Be a Brother is an album by Big Brother and the Holding Company, released in 1970. It was their first album after Janis Joplin´s departure...
was released in 1970. Gurley moved to bass guitar while Albin played rhythm, Sam Andrew sang more lead vocals with Kathi McDonald, David Schallock on lead guitar, Dave Getz on drums and occasional keyboards. Nick Gravenites would also produce the album, write and sing on a number of the tracks. They releasad their last studio album, How Hard It Is
How Hard It Is
-Track listing:#"How Hard It Is" – 4:21#"You've Been Talkin' 'Bout Me, Baby" – 3:27#"House on Fire" – 3:56#"Black Widow Spider" – 3:32#"Last Band on Side One" – 1:57#"Nu Boogaloo Jam" – 3:24#"Maui" – 3:27#"Shine On" – 5:25#"Buried Alive in the Blues" – 3:59...
, in 1971. The same lineup: Kathi and Sam and Nick on vocals joined by organist Mike Finnegan. The band remained with this lineup until 1972 but drugs, loss of management, lack of gigs and internal squabbles caused them to gradually fall apart and disband during that year. During the next 15 years they re-united once to play "The Tribal Stomp" in 1978 at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley.
1987–present
The latest incarnation began in 1987, and has been touring part-time ever since with most of its original members, including Sam Andrew, Peter Albin, Dave Getz, and James Gurley. James left in 1996 because he did not support his colleagues' idea to hire a female singer to replace Joplin. He was replaced in 1997 by Tom Finch. Big Brother no longer has a fixed lead singer; Michel Bastian, Lisa Battle, Halley DeVestern, Lisa Mills, Andra Mitrovich, Kacee ClantonKacee Clanton
Kacee Clanton is a Los Angeles based rock and blues singer-songwriter who has worked as a background vocalist for recording artists Beth Hart, Joe Cocker and Luis Miguel and toured as lead vocalist with Big Brother and the Holding Company...
, Sophia Ramos, Mary Bridget Davies, Chloe Lowery, Jane Myrenget, Lynn Asher, Maria Stanford, Cathy Richardson
Cathy Richardson
Catherine E. Richardson , who goes professionally by Cathy Richardson, is a singer and songwriter from Chicago, Illinois....
, and Superfly's Shiho Ochi are among the singers that have played in concerts with them. Ben Nieves is the present guitar player along with Sam Andrew. In 1999 the band released the album Do What You Love, with Lisa Battle as the lead singer. The album contains some new versions of classic tunes like "Women is Loser" and a few new songs. The "Hold Me" album, with Sophia Ramos as lead singer and Chad Quist as guitar player, was recorded live in Germany in 2005, and released in 2006. In 2008 they released the two-CD set The Lost Tapes, with songs recorded at concerts between 1966 and 1967 in San Francisco, and featuring Janis Joplin as lead singer. Some songs had already been unofficial releases, but there are 12 never-before-released songs.
Former guitarist James Gurley died on December 20, 2009 of a heart attack, just two days before his 70th birthday.
Controversy
In 2007, following the induction of Cheap Thrills to Grammy Hall of Fame, former guitar player James Gurley, described Big Brother as the most maligned band ever, since they never received appreciation for the arrangements they did and all the engineering tricks he came up with. Gurley also believed that Clive DavisClive Davis
Clive Davis is an American record producer and music industry executive. He has won five Grammy Awards and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer. From 1967 to 1973 he was the President of Columbia Records. He was the founder and president of Arista Records from 1975...
told Janis to leave the band and record her songs with studio musicians, who could play better. In the documentary Nine Hundred Nights, Peter Albin said that the manager Albert Grossman told Janis to leave Big Brother and form her own band, with studio musicians, in order to spend less money on recording sessions. Sam Andrew said later that Janis left due to artistic and financial reasons: Janis usually asked the band to have some keyboard or horns on at least some songs, but they said "No! You are going to change the Big Brother sound!" The band was also doing the same songs a lot, sometimes three times a day, so she started feeling trapped. The band was splitting the money in five equal ways, by leaving she could have all the money and just pay some employees and have a new band.
In 1982, Columbia released the Janis album Farewell Song
Farewell Song
Farewell Song is a 1982 collection of Janis Joplin performances with Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Kozmic Blues Band, and Full Tilt Boogie...
. The release displeased Big Brother's living members, since their original instruments were all replaced by studio musicians without consulting the band. James Gurley spoke about that in 1987, before the band's reunion: "It’s just a total bullshit record…some producer's dream at CBS."
Members
- Members of the classic 1966-1968 Big Brother and the Holding Company are in bold.
Big Brother and the Holding Company lineups (1966) - Sam Andrew
Sam AndrewSam Andrew is an American musician, singer, songwriter, composer, artist and founding member and guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company. During his career as musician and composer, Andrew has had three platinum albums and two hit singles...
– guitar, vocals- James Gurley
James GurleyJames Gurley was an American musician. He is best known as the guitar player of Big Brother and the Holding Company, a psychedelic/acid rock band from San Francisco which was fronted by singer Janis Joplin from 1966 to 1968.-Early life:James Gurley was born in Detroit, Michigan on December 22, 1939...
– guitar- Peter Albin – bass
- Chuck Jones
Chuck JonesCharles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
– drums(1966) - Sam Andrew
Sam AndrewSam Andrew is an American musician, singer, songwriter, composer, artist and founding member and guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company. During his career as musician and composer, Andrew has had three platinum albums and two hit singles...
– guitar, vocals- James Gurley
James GurleyJames Gurley was an American musician. He is best known as the guitar player of Big Brother and the Holding Company, a psychedelic/acid rock band from San Francisco which was fronted by singer Janis Joplin from 1966 to 1968.-Early life:James Gurley was born in Detroit, Michigan on December 22, 1939...
– guitar- Peter Albin – bass
- Dave Getz – drums
(1966–1968) - Janis Joplin
Janis JoplinJanis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
- lead vocals- Sam Andrew
Sam AndrewSam Andrew is an American musician, singer, songwriter, composer, artist and founding member and guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company. During his career as musician and composer, Andrew has had three platinum albums and two hit singles...
– guitar, vocals- James Gurley
James GurleyJames Gurley was an American musician. He is best known as the guitar player of Big Brother and the Holding Company, a psychedelic/acid rock band from San Francisco which was fronted by singer Janis Joplin from 1966 to 1968.-Early life:James Gurley was born in Detroit, Michigan on December 22, 1939...
– guitar- Peter Albin – bass
- Dave Getz – drums
(1968–1969)
Band Split(1969–1971) - Nick GravenitesNick GravenitesNicholas George Gravenites , with stage names like Nick "The Greek" Gravenites and Gravy, is a blues, rock and folk singer–songwriter, and is best known for his work with Janis Joplin, Mike Bloomfield and several influential bands and names of the generation springing from the 1960s and 1970s...
- leadvocals - Kathi McDonaldKathi McDonaldKathryn Marie McDonald , popularly known as Kathi McDonald, is a blues and rock singer. She currently performs with Kathi McDonald & Friends. She has appeared on an extensive list of rock and blues albums and toured extensively with Long John Baldry prior to his death...
- lead vocals - Sam AndrewSam AndrewSam Andrew is an American musician, singer, songwriter, composer, artist and founding member and guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company. During his career as musician and composer, Andrew has had three platinum albums and two hit singles...
– guitar, vocals - James GurleyJames GurleyJames Gurley was an American musician. He is best known as the guitar player of Big Brother and the Holding Company, a psychedelic/acid rock band from San Francisco which was fronted by singer Janis Joplin from 1966 to 1968.-Early life:James Gurley was born in Detroit, Michigan on December 22, 1939...
– guitar - Dave Schallock - guitar
- Peter Albin – bass
- Dave Getz – drums
(1971–1972) - Nick Gravenites
Nick GravenitesNicholas George Gravenites , with stage names like Nick "The Greek" Gravenites and Gravy, is a blues, rock and folk singer–songwriter, and is best known for his work with Janis Joplin, Mike Bloomfield and several influential bands and names of the generation springing from the 1960s and 1970s...
- lead vocals- Kathi McDonald
Kathi McDonaldKathryn Marie McDonald , popularly known as Kathi McDonald, is a blues and rock singer. She currently performs with Kathi McDonald & Friends. She has appeared on an extensive list of rock and blues albums and toured extensively with Long John Baldry prior to his death...
- lead vocals- Sam Andrew
Sam AndrewSam Andrew is an American musician, singer, songwriter, composer, artist and founding member and guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company. During his career as musician and composer, Andrew has had three platinum albums and two hit singles...
– guitar, vocals- James Gurley
James GurleyJames Gurley was an American musician. He is best known as the guitar player of Big Brother and the Holding Company, a psychedelic/acid rock band from San Francisco which was fronted by singer Janis Joplin from 1966 to 1968.-Early life:James Gurley was born in Detroit, Michigan on December 22, 1939...
– guitar- Dave Schallock - guitar
- Peter Albin – bass
- Dave Getz – drums
- Mike Finnegan - organ
(1972–1987)
Band Split(1987–1997) - Sam AndrewSam AndrewSam Andrew is an American musician, singer, songwriter, composer, artist and founding member and guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company. During his career as musician and composer, Andrew has had three platinum albums and two hit singles...
– guitar, vocals - James GurleyJames GurleyJames Gurley was an American musician. He is best known as the guitar player of Big Brother and the Holding Company, a psychedelic/acid rock band from San Francisco which was fronted by singer Janis Joplin from 1966 to 1968.-Early life:James Gurley was born in Detroit, Michigan on December 22, 1939...
– guitar - Peter Albin – bass
- Dave Getz – drums
with- Various guest lead singers
(1997–2008) - Sam Andrew
Sam AndrewSam Andrew is an American musician, singer, songwriter, composer, artist and founding member and guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company. During his career as musician and composer, Andrew has had three platinum albums and two hit singles...
– guitar, vocals- Tom Finch – guitar
- Peter Albin – bass
- Dave Getz – drums
with- Various guest lead singers
(2008–2011) - Sam Andrew
Sam AndrewSam Andrew is an American musician, singer, songwriter, composer, artist and founding member and guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company. During his career as musician and composer, Andrew has had three platinum albums and two hit singles...
– guitar, vocals- Ben Nieves – guitar
- Peter Albin – bass
- Dave Getz – drums
with- Various guest lead singers
(2011–present) - Cathy Richardson
Cathy RichardsonCatherine E. Richardson , who goes professionally by Cathy Richardson, is a singer and songwriter from Chicago, Illinois....
- lead vocals- Sam Andrew
Sam AndrewSam Andrew is an American musician, singer, songwriter, composer, artist and founding member and guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company. During his career as musician and composer, Andrew has had three platinum albums and two hit singles...
– guitar, vocals- Ben Nieves – guitar
- Peter Albin – bass
- Dave Getz – drums
- Sam Andrew
Discography
- Big Brother & the Holding CompanyBig Brother & the Holding Company (Album)Big Brother & the Holding Company is the debut album from Big Brother and the Holding Company and the studio debut of Janis Joplin. The album was originally released in the summer of 1967, following the band's major success at the Monterey Pop Festival. The album was a minor success, peaking at #60...
(1967) - Cheap Thrills (1968)
- Be a BrotherBe a BrotherBe a Brother is an album by Big Brother and the Holding Company, released in 1970. It was their first album after Janis Joplin´s departure...
(1970) - How Hard It IsHow Hard It Is-Track listing:#"How Hard It Is" – 4:21#"You've Been Talkin' 'Bout Me, Baby" – 3:27#"House on Fire" – 3:56#"Black Widow Spider" – 3:32#"Last Band on Side One" – 1:57#"Nu Boogaloo Jam" – 3:24#"Maui" – 3:27#"Shine On" – 5:25#"Buried Alive in the Blues" – 3:59...
(1971) - Can't Go Home AgainCan't Go Home AgainCan't Go Home Again is an album by Big Brother and the Holding Company, released in 1997.-Track listing:#"Don't You Call Me Cryin'"#"I Know"#"As the Years Go Passing By"#"Three Times Last Week"#"Heartache"#"Tired of It All"#"I Can't Go Home Again"...
(1997) - Live at Winterland '68Live at Winterland '68Live at Winterland '68 is an album by Big Brother and The Holding Company with Janis Joplin as lead singer. It was recorded at the Winterland Ballroom on April 12, 1968, and April 13, 1968. It includes a selection of tracks from their studio albums...
(1998) - Do What You Love (1999)
- Hold Me (2006)
- The Lost Tapes (2008)