| Meg White | |
|---|---|
White performing c. 2002 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Megan Martha White |
| Born | December 10, 1974 |
| Origin | Detroit, Michigan, United States |
| Genres | Alternative rock, garage rock, blues rock, punk blues |
| Occupations | Musician |
| Instruments | Drums, vocals, timpani, organ, guitar |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Labels | Warner Bros., V2, Third Man, Sub Pop, Sympathy for the Record Industry, XL, Italy |
| Associated acts | The White Stripes, Jack White |
| Website | WhiteStripes.com |
Megan Martha "Meg" White (born December 10, 1974) is an American drummer best known for her work in the Detroit rock duo The White Stripes.
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Megan Martha White was born in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan to Walter Hackett White, Jr. and Catherine White. She grew up in the Detroit area with her parents and sister Heather.
Meg's then husband Jack White spent much of the 1990s hopping from band to band. Meg first tried playing drums in 1997. In Jack's 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." The two then began calling themselves The Red and White Stripes (because Meg favored peppermint candies) and soon played their first gig at the Gold Dollar in Detroit.[1] In keeping live performances to three basic elements, Jack did the guitar and vocal work while she played drums.[2]
Jack White has declared her to be the key component in the White Stripes' sound. In reference to her "primal" approach to drumming, she remarked, "That is my strength. A lot of drummers would feel weird about being that simplistic."
Though Jack White usually sang the lead vocals, Meg White sang 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; "Who's a Big Baby", the B-side to "Blue Orchid"; and "St. Andrew (This Battle Is in the Air)", from the band's sixth album Icky Thump. Both Meg and Jack White sing vocals on the tracks "Hotel Yorba" and "This Protector" from White Blood Cells, "Rated X" from the "Hotel Yorba" single, "Well It's True That We Love One Another" on Elephant, and "Rag and Bone" from Icky Thump. The first time Meg sang along on a White Stripes record was with Jack on "Your Southern Can is Mine" from De Stijl.
On February 2, 2011, The White Stripes announced their retirement on their official website.
Meg White has also appeared on the cover of Whirlwind Heat's single "Pink", in a Detroit Cobras music video "Cha Cha Twist" as Little Red Riding Hood, and appeared with Jack White in a segment of Jim Jarmusch's 2003 film Coffee and Cigarettes.
Jack and Meg White guest starred on The Simpsons in an episode titled "Jazzy and the Pussycats", which first aired on September 17, 2006.[3] She has done some modeling for Marc Jacobs' 2006 Spring line.[4] Two of her pictures appeared in the March 2006 issue of ELLE.
Meg White was chosen by Bob Odenkirk to compose a drum theme for one of his characters in the 2006 film Let's Go to Prison.[5] White also has a song dedicated to her by Ray LaMontagne entitled "Meg White", which appears on LaMontagne's album Gossip in the Grain.
In the early 1990s, Meg White worked as a bartender at Memphis Smoke, a bar in downtown Royal Oak (a Detroit suburb), where she first met musician/songwriter John Anthony "Jack" Gillis. They were married on September 21, 1996.[6] Gillis chose to take her last name.[7] They were divorced on March 24, 2000.[8]
White is, by her own admission, "very shy" and gives few interviews. Because of this, when the band was interviewed, Jack White did most of the talking. She guards her privacy in a manner that she identifies with Bob Dylan, whom she admires.[9] In her time away from the band, Meg enjoys photography and amateur taxidermy. Animals are also a motif in her photography (mainly album covers and music videos). Among those photographed with her are a snake, rats (the video for "Hotel Yorba" and the back cover of Elephant), a cow, rabbits,[10] and raccoons (the 7 inch cover of the "Denial Twist" single).
On September 11, 2007, the White Stripes were forced to cancel 18 tour dates due to Meg White's acute anxiety.[11] The following day, these problems caused the duo to cancel the remainder of their 2007 UK tour dates as well.[12] She recovered and appeared onstage during an encore set at a Detroit show with The Raconteurs in June 2008.
In May 2009, White married guitarist Jackson Smith, son of musicians Patti Smith and Fred "Sonic" Smith. The wedding occurred in Nashville, Tennessee, in a small ceremony in Jack White's backyard. Also married at the same ceremony was Jack's fellow Raconteur Jack Lawrence to his girlfriend Jo McCaughey.[13]
Meg White uses a red Ludwig drum kit with a red and white peppermint swirl on the resonant heads of the toms and bass drum.
On the Icky Thump tour the bass drum head design was switched to a button, and during the From the Basement: The White Stripes recordings it was switched to an image of Meg's hand holding an apple (from the Get Behind Me Satan cover).
She also uses a pair of Paiste 14" Signature Medium Hi-Hats, a Paiste 19" Signature Power Crash, and a Paiste 22" 2002 Ride, as of 2006.
Meg's white Pearl Export bass drum complete with original peppermint-painted bass drum that she used with the band's first show in 1997 up through 2002 and complete pearly queen outfit as featured in the photos for the Icky Thump album is currently on exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the "Women Who Rock" exhibition.
