Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – 4 October 1970) was an American blues-influenced rock singer and occasional songwriter with a distinctive voice. She was one of the most influential rock singers of the 1960s and is widely considered to be the greatest female rock singer of the decade. Joplin performed on four albums recorded between 1966 and 1970 — two as the lead singer of San Francisco's Big Brother and the Holding Company, and two released as a solo artist. Joplin was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.
Though she died from using narcotics while she was drunk, many people who never met her assume incorrectly that all of her fans and friends were drug-oriented hippies. This myth is shattered by the documentary Janis, in which the wife of a U.S. Army officer stationed in Germany is surprised and delighted to encounter Janis outside a Munich concert venue. The myth is also shattered by newspaper and magazine interviews in which athletes, politicians and chess masters have recalled meeting her.