Detroit, MI · garage rock · blues rock

Jack White

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The White Stripes' architect, still committed to analog friction — old amps, unrehearsed setlists, and a guitar tone like a blown speaker.

Born John Anthony Gillis in Detroit, White grew up in the Mexicantown neighbourhood, one of ten children in a Catholic family whose parents both worked for the Archdiocese. Before forming a band of his own he drummed and played guitar in a string of underground Detroit acts.

He met Meg White in the 1990s and the two started the White Stripes in 1997, adopting the red-and-white presentation and stripped-down arrangements that became the band's signature. Their 2001 album White Blood Cells, released the same year White founded Third Man Records, gave them international recognition and made him a central figure of that decade's garage rock revival.

After the White Stripes split in 2011, White also worked with the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather, and recorded the Bond theme "Another Way to Die" with Alicia Keys. His solo career opened with Blunderbuss in 2012, followed by Lazaretto in 2014, which broke the record for first-week vinyl sales of the era, a mark that stood for years.

Beyond music, White has acted in films including Cold Mountain, Coffee and Cigarettes and Killers of the Flower Moon, and joined the Library of Congress's National Recording Preservation Foundation. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the White Stripes and has won twelve Grammy Awards.

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garage rockblues rock