Classic Pop Icons

For many music stars, their image and persona is carefully crafted and an important factor in their success. Photographs of young, pre-fame stars can therefore be fun and revealing.

See if you can identify these stars before they were famous. Click on the images to enlarge and scroll down for the answers.

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Janis Joplin died forty years ago today from an accidental heroin overdose at the Landmark Motor Hotel in Hollywood.

Joplin was born on January 19, 1943 in Port Arthur, Tx. She sang in the local choir as a teenager, but was also inspired by blues singers such as Bessie Smith and Big Mama Thornton. She moved from Texas to California in 1963 and in 1964 recorded a session with Jorma Kaukonen, who would go on to become the guitarist for Jefferson Airplane. The seven track session, which featured songs such as “Kansas City Blues” and “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”, was later released on the bootleg album “The Typewriter Tape.”

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Amy Adams will play Janis Joplin in a biopic titled “Get It While You Can.” The movie will be directed by Fernando Meirelles, who previously directed “City of God” and “The Constant Gardener.” Adams is an accomplished actress who received Oscar nominations for her roles in the 2005 independent film “Junebug” and the 2006 film “Doubt”. It’s not clear whether or not Adams will sing in the movie, but she did sing in the Disney musical “Enchanted.”

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The Biography Channel’s “Final Hours” series turned its attention to the final day of Janis Joplin’s short life in a new DVD release.

The “Final Hours” shows concentrate on the events that led to the deaths of famous people’s lives, with discussion of the artists’ back stories, but a focus on the last 24 hours of their lives. Read more »