Jack White
Where do you go after you've topped NME's (New Musical Express in the U.K.) first ever Cool List and been named "the coolest person in Rock?" Jack White had that dilemma in '02. The honor came after the White Stripes third album and major label debut, "White Blood Cells," featuring the single "Fell In Love With A Girl." Fortunately, this was more a starting point than an end for White. The next year, Rolling Stone magazine listed White as 17th on their 100 Greatest Guitarist of All Time. Big stuff for the seventh son, the youngest of ten kids, who grew up in Detroit.
The future Jack White was born with the name John Anthony Gillis in '75 (7/9). His first career was as an upholsterer. While White was always busy his lack of business sense undercut his profits. It probably wasn't a good fit anyway for a guy who wrote a lot of poetry. A little closer was his stint as the drummer for the Alt. Country Goober & The Peas. Eventually, White switched to guitar and fell into the local garage Rock scene.
White met and married Meg White in '96 and the following year she started playing drums. In keeping with his unconventional nature Gillis took his wife's surname becoming Jack White. While White dabbled in various projects it soon became apparent that the best combination was simply he and Meg. The White Stripes became local underground favorites which led to an indie contract. They told the press and anyone else that they were siblings - rather than husband and wife. As success loomed, the White's divorced in '00.
"White Blood Cells" led a series of both commercially successful and artistically acclaimed (critics liked them) albums; "Elephant," with the single "Seven Nation Army," ('03); "Get Behind Me Satan" ('05); and "Icky Thump" ('07).
It's difficult to play lead guitar and sing. But it's even more demanding with only drums behind you. White has a percussive style, no doubt a holdover from his drumming days, and the ability to use the guitar to accent songs as well as propel them. Like Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), White plays deceptively simple lines that color and shape songs in trademark ways.
Many musicians who front highly successful bands have "outside" interests. But White took it to an unusual level. In '03 he appeared in the film Cold Mountain and performed several songs for the soundtrack. Next he appeared with Meg in one of the segments for the film Coffee And Cigarettes. Then White produced Country legend Loretta Lynn's '04 album, "Van Lear Rose," and sang a duet with her on "Portland, Oregon." Perhaps just to prove he hadn't "gone Country" White also contributed liner notes to a re-issue of The Stooges' '70 album "Fun House." In White's opinion "Fun House" was "the greatest Rock 'n' Roll record ever made." Jack and Meg made a surreal cameo in an '06 episode of The Simpsons. Back in front of the camera, White played Elvis Presley (type casting?) in the comedy Walk Hard before performing "Loving Cup" in Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones concert documentary "Shine A Light."
That itinerary would be enough to keep anyone busy but White undertook yet another major project. He and musician/friend Brendan Benson wrote the song "Steady, As She Goes" together in '05. The two enjoyed the experience and soon formed The Raconteurs. The group issued "Broken Boy Soldiers" ('06), with the single "Steady, As She Goes" and "Consolers Of The Lonely ('08).
Following The Raconteurs' tour in support of their sophomore album White continued on his own trajectory. First, he wrote and recorded, with Alicia Keys, the theme for the James Bond flick Quantum Of Solace.
Unfortunately, it was not a wholly pleasant experience. White voiced his displeasure that the theme song got its first exposure in an advertisement. "We are disappointed that you first heard the song in a co-promotion for Coke Zero, rather than in its entirety," said White's management in a statement.
White's next film appearance was later in the year when the documentary It Might Get Loud with fellow guitarists Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) and The Edge (U2) premiered at the '08 Toronto Film Festival.
See The White Stripes and The Raconteurs.