Meg White

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Meg White
Meg, in addition to drumming for The White Stripes, occasionally takes over vocal duties from Jack.
Meg, in addition to drumming for The White Stripes, occasionally takes over vocal duties from Jack.
Background information
Birth name Megan Martha White
Born December 10, 1974 (age 32)
Origin Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genre(s) Indie rock,
Occupation(s) Singer, drummer,
Years active 1997–present
Website http://www.whitestripes.com

Megan Martha White (born on December 10, 1974, in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan) is best known as the drummer of Detroit rock duo The White Stripes.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Meg grew up in the Detroit area. Despite band assertions to the contrary, Meg and fellow bandmate, Jack White, are not siblings. Before Meg was a drummer, she was a bartender at Memphis Smoke, a Detroit-area bar. While working one night, Meg met Jack in 1994 [1] and they were married on September 21, 1996. In his characteristically unorthodox fashion, Jack took her last name.[2]

[edit] Career

Jack spent much of the 1990s hopping from band to band, but it was in 1997 that Meg first took her hand at the drums. In Jack's own words, "When she started to play drums with me, just on a lark, it felt liberating and refreshing. There was something in it that opened me up."[3] The young couple then became a band, and the newly christened White Stripes played their first gig in Detroit not long after. In keeping live performances to three elements, Jack fulfilled guitar and vocal duties while she played drums.[3] They later divorced in 2000 (before becoming nationally famous) but the band survived.

Though Jack, the duo's guitarist and songwriter, usually sings the lead vocals, Meg has sung lead on "In the Cold, Cold Night", from the band's fourth album, Elephant, "Passive Manipulation", from the band's fifth album Get Behind Me Satan.Her minimalist style, reminiscent of Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker, has drawn debate among fans about her ability, an argument so commonplace that it was even continued in the movie School of Rock. For his part, Jack has claimed that Meg was the key component in the White Stripes' sound. In reference to her "primal" approach to drumming, Meg said. "That is my strength. A lot of drummers would feel weird about being that simplistic."[3]

Meg has appeared on the cover of Whirlwind Heat's single Pink, in one of The Detroit Cobras music videos as Little Red Riding Hood, and, with Jack, in a segment of Jim Jarmusch's 2003 film Coffee and Cigarettes.

On October 7, 2005, a picture posted on the Nine Inch Nails website of White with the band led some to speculate that she had replaced drummer Jerome Dillon, but, two hours later, that photo was replaced with one of the band with Alex Carapetis. The significance of the photo featuring White is unclear, as she was never officially announced as NIИ's drummer, nor has any other explanation been given regarding the photo.[4]

Fulfilling a longtime dream,[5] Jack and Meg White appeared as guest stars on the long-running animated TV series The Simpsons, in an episode that aired on September 17, 2006. The episode was titled "Jazzy and the Pussycats".[6] More recently, Meg has done some modeling for Marc Jacobs' 2006 Spring line.[7] Two of her pictures appeared in the March 2006 issue of ELLE.

Meg White was recently chosen by Comedian/Director Bob Odenkirk to compose a drum theme for one of his characters in the film Let's Go to Prison, which is scheduled for release on November 22, 2006.[8]

[edit] Personal life

Meg is, by her own admission, "very shy" and gives few interviews.[3] Often, when the band is interviewed, she will contribute little or nothing, and Jack will do much of the talking. She guards her privacy, and has said that because of this quality she identifies with Bob Dylan, of whom she is a huge fan.[9]

[edit] Equipment

[edit] Trivia

  • Animals are something of a motif in photography (mainly album covers and music videos) of Meg. Among those photographed alongside her are a snake,[10] rats (the video for Hotel Yorba and the back cover of Elephant), a cow, rabbits,[11] and raccoons (the 7 inch cover of the Denial Twist single).
  • Like Jack, Meg has claimed to be a taxidermy hobbyist, but says she owns just a few subjects (including a white mouse), while Jack owns many.[citation needed]
  • Meg is a fan of the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. She has often been compared to fellow drummer and member of the TFSP, Rachel Trachtenburg. White and Trachtenburg share the same birthday (December 10).

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ neveratnight (2006). "The White Stripes - Bio/History Napster.com (accessed July 11, 2006)
  2. ^ Smytek, John (2006). "Do they make striped Pampers?" The Detroit Free Press (accessed May 4, 2006)
  3. ^ a b c d Fricke, David (2005) "White on White". Rolling Stone (accessed April 12, 2006)
  4. ^ Photo (2005). Uncaptioned NIN Official website. (accessed June 13, 2006).
  5. ^ NME staff (2003)."From White to Yellow?"
  6. ^ MTV Montgomery, James (2006)."White Stripes Get Entangled In A Simpson Family Feud"
  7. ^ NME staff (2006). "Meg White becomes a model" NME.com (accessed June 2, 2006)
  8. ^ " Worst Reviews" Staff (2006). "Let's Go To Prison at WorstPreviews"
  9. ^ Perry, Andrew (2004). "The White Stripes uncut" The Observer (accessed June 6, 2006)
  10. ^ http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b84/juliwhite/Meg%20White/?action=view&current=MegBrazil.jpg&refPage=80&imgAnch=imgAnch94
  11. ^ http://delafo.securesites.net/music_acts/Music_Images/w-stripes2.jpg

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:


The White Stripes
Jack White | Meg White
Discography
Albums and extended plays: The White Stripes | De Stijl | White Blood Cells | Elephant | Get Behind Me Satan | Walking with a Ghost
Singles: "Let's Shake Hands" | "Lafayette Blues" | "The Big Three Killed My Baby" | "Hand Springs" | "Hello Operator" | "Lord, Send Me an Angel" | "Party of Special Things to Do" | "Hotel Yorba" | "Fell in Love with a Girl" | "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" | "We're Going to Be Friends" | "Red Death at 6:14" | "Candy Cane Children" | "Seven Nation Army" | "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" | "The Hardest Button to Button" | "There's No Home for You Here" | "Jolene (Live Under Blackpool Lights)" | "Blue Orchid" | "My Doorbell" | "The Denial Twist"
DVDs: Candy Coloured Blues (unofficial) | Under Blackpool Lights
Other projects: Aluminium
Management
Third Man Records | Ian Montone
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