Jack White
Jack White was born on July 9, 1975, in Detroit, Michigan, a city whose industrial character and deep musical history formed the backdrop of his early life. He attended Cass Technical High School before going on to study at Wayne State University, both institutions rooted in that same urban landscape. A citizen of the United States, White emerged from Detroit to work across rock, blues, and alternative rock, genres that share an emphasis on raw expression and rhythmic momentum.
White built his career as a musician, singer-songwriter, guitarist, drummer, pianist, and mandolinist, demonstrating a range across instruments that extended well beyond any single role. He served as the lead vocalist of the rock duo the White Stripes, a formation that brought his Detroit sensibility to a wide audience. His work as a record producer and recording artist ran alongside his performing career, and he has also appeared in film and television, including voice acting. The 2009 documentary It Might Get Loud offered a portrait of his relationship to the guitar, while his 2014 album Lazaretto further documented his output as a solo recording artist. For his work, he received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance, a formal recognition within the rock genre.
White works in English, composing and performing across a body of work that spans multiple formats and roles. His discography, from his years fronting the White Stripes through the solo album Lazaretto, reflects the breadth of his engagement with rock and blues as a guitarist, vocalist, and producer. That Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance stands as a concrete marker within a career that has moved across many facets of the music industry.
Quotes by Jack White
Jack White's insights on:
I didn't really even think of recording under my own name for a long time. I thought, 'I've got the rest of my life to do that.'
I've always felt it's ridiculous to say, of any of the females in my life: You're my friend, you're my wife, you're my girlfriend, you're my co-worker. This is your box, and you're not allowed to stray outside of it.
This is a fact. If you don’t make art people like, you will never earn a living as an artist.
There are distractions, all around. There’s so much media, for a young kid to battle against, to get to something soulful. You have to make a decision, on your own, what you can take from these people, if you can dig deeper. It’s nice to be able to let people dig deeper.
I keep guitars that are, you know, the neck’s a little bit bent and it’s a little bit out of tune. I want to work and battle it and conquer it and make it express whatever attitude I have at that moment. I want it to be a struggle.
I say this often, THINK. There is something in life called common sense. Webster’s says common sense is sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts. Perhaps this is why in 1776, Thomas Paine used these words as a title for the most famous pamphlet ever written.
In my bands, I don’t really walk around telling people what to play, just out of respect really. I mean, if there’s something I feel in my gut, I’ll bring it up.
Great work comes from great joy. Leave the angst for the movies; do art – that is fun.
I was in a Montessori school. There was a drum circle with all the kids passing around a little bongo drum. I was the last person in the circle, and when it got to me I played ‘Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits’ – in front of all the parents. Blew the crowd away at five years old.
I don’t think there is room for ‘artistic temperament.’ Professional artists understand art is a business. If businesses ran their companies like many artists do their careers, they would not stay open a year.