Janis Joplin died of a suspected overdose at just 27 years old on October 4, 1970 — but some close to her believe something else happened.
Janis Joplin’s death was ruled a heroin overdose according to the coroner’s official report. Discovered in her Hollywood hotel room on October 4, 1970, the rock and roll legend was clutching her cigarettes in one hand and money in the other. She was only 27 years old.
One of the most gifted and talented singer-songwriters of the 1960s, Joplin had also suffered from serious substance abuse issues. Her friend Peggy Caserta recalled in her memoir, I Ran Into Some Trouble, that the two 20-somethings commonly shared the same batch of heroin.
All that was left of the star by October 7, however, was a cremated pile of ashes that her family privately scattered from a plane into the Pacific Ocean. It had only been a year since the counterculture icon bellowed out classics like “Piece of My Heart” for hundreds of thousands of fans at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
But something bothered Caserta about her friend’s death. Shortly after Joplin died, rumors spread that she had overdosed on an unusually potent batch of heroin. Caserta asserted that she had used the exact same batch not long before Joplin’s overdose and said she found that theory “absurd.” More importantly, however, as an overdose survivor herself, Caserta said she was simply unconvinced by the scene at the hotel.
Investigators claimed that Joplin had taken a lethal dose of heroin only to purchase cigarettes in the lobby downstairs and return to her bed to die. But speaking from experience, Caserta said this was not possible. “You crumble to the floor. Like how they found Philip Seymour Hoffman.”
Half a century later, people are still asking: How did Janis Joplin die
Being An Outcast Brought Janis Joplin To Music
The 1960s arguably yielded the most experimental shift in modern American music. The post-Eisenhower period birthed new trains of thought, sparked as much by psychedelic drug experimentation as by the social and cultural upheaval of the Vietnam War.
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Columbia Records president Clive Davis recalled one particular moment that “made me intensely aware and excited about the new and future direction of music,” which was witnessing Janis Joplin for the first time.
At the time, Joplin was the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company at 1967’s Monterey Pop Festival.
She was only 24 years old and Joplin seemingly arrived out of nowhere but had already garnered a reputation while attending the University of Texas at Austin. Unfortunately, it was one as a “creep” as much as it was a musical prodigy.
Born in Port Arthur, Texas on January 19, 1943, Janis Lyn Joplin’s childhood as a social outcast made her gravitate to the blues. Davis said she “uniquely personified contemporary rock music in spirit, in talent and in personality.”
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Determined to follow her passion for singing, she dropped out of college in January 1963 — and hitchhiked to San Francisco.
Fame Exacerbates Her Vices
While on the road performing, Joplin curated a formidable drinking and methamphetamine habit. She also casually ingested psychedelics before ultimately finding heroin.
She met Caserta while browsing through her hippie clothing store in the Haight-Ashbury district in 1965. They became fast friends with matching vices.
“She was fun and outspoken and uninhibited,” recalled Caserta. “I always thought she was pretty, but she was considered not pretty, and a lot of women thought, ‘I have a chance too.’”
By 1966, Joplin’s career skyrocketed. Her talent had been noticed, and saw her become lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company. Joplin began touring, recording iconic work such as “Piece of My Heart,” and briefly dated a founding member of the Grateful Dead. By the time Woodstock arrived, her peers included Jimi Hendrix and David Crosby.
