Description
Janis Joplin listened to the instrumental track of “Buried Alive In The Blues” at Sunset Studios and planned to record the vocals for her album Pearl on October 5. She died the following day.
Related events
- Janis Joplin played her final concert at Harvard Stadium before an audience of approximately 40,000.
- Janis Joplin made her final television appearance.
- Janis Joplin wrote the song “Mercedes Benz” while visiting a bar before a concert at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, and sang it later that same evening. She had only one more performance remaining before her death.
- Janis Joplin began recording her version of “Me and Bobby McGee” by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster. It was also her final recording with the Full Tilt Boogie Band. After her death, the song reached number one on the US singles chart in 1971.
- Janis Joplin held her final recording session at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood. During the session, she recorded an a cappella solo version of “Mercedes Benz”, which was later released on the posthumous album “Pearl”. According to one source variant, she also recorded a humorous version of “Happy Trails” during the same session as a birthday gift for John Lennon. She died three days later.
- Janis Joplin died on October 4, 1970, at the age of 27 after a heroin overdose at the Landmark Hotel in Hollywood. Shortly before her death, she was working to complete the album Pearl and recorded the song “Me and Bobby McGee.” The album Pearl was released posthumously in 1971, and “Me and Bobby McGee” became her first US number-one single; the album Pearl also reached number one on the US albums chart. Joplin failed to show up for a scheduled recording session and was subsequently found dead in her hotel room.
- Janis Joplin performed at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, Missouri.
- Janis Joplin performed on the first of two evenings at the Palace of Fine Arts festival in San Francisco.