American singer-songwriter who sang rock, soul and blues music. One of the most successful and widely known rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful vocals. Joplin died aged 27, after releasing three albums.
In the late afternoon of Sunday, October 4, 1970, producer Paul Rothchild became concerned when Joplin failed to show up at Sunset Sound Recorders for a recording session.
In the evening, Rothchild phoned John Cooke, Joplin’s close friend who was staying at the hotel in a room not near hers, according to his 2014 book On the Road with Janis Joplin.
Rothchild expressed his concern over her absence from the studio and asked Cooke to search for her. Cooke and two of his friends noticed her psychedelically painted Porsche in the hotel parking lot. Upon entering her room, he found her dead on the floor beside her bed.
