Human League

Unofficial releases. She is now remembered best for her powerful, distinctive voice, which was significantly divergent from the soft folk-influenced styles more common at the time, as well as for her lyrical themes of pain and loss. Recently, the band have joined of a number of 80s revival tours, Oakey now describing this as being in a Human League tribute band. The movie The Rose, with Bette Midler in the lead role, was loosely based on Joplin's life. Four CDs attribute songs by The Human League under different names: on The Golden Hour Of The Future there are songs credited to The Human League when they were still The Future, on the single "I Don't Depend On You" where they call themselves The Men, on the "Dance Like A Star" Ep, there are also songs attributed to The Future and on "Love And Dancing", they pay homage to Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra by calling themselves League Unlimited Orchestra. The album Pearl was released six weeks after her death. The album Octopus went silver, and the lead-off single "Tell Me When" was the group's first major hit since "Human". She was cremated in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California, and her ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean.

Dropped by Virgin Records after the failure of their album Romantic? (1989), the group were now signed to EastWest and their line-up included producer Ian Stanley, who helped them to achieve a more modern sound. Shortly thereafter, Joplin died of an overdose of unusually pure heroin on October 4, 1970 in a Los Angeles, California motel room, at the age of 27. The group made a surprise comeback in 1994. She made it there, but it would be one if the last decisions of her life. number one, "Human", but other singles made little impact. Her last public appearance was on The Dick Cavett Show in 1970, where she said that she was going to attend her 10-year high school reunion, although she had formerly said when in high school there she was "laughed out of class, out of school, out of town". The Jam & Lewis-produced Crash LP (1985) did provide a U.S. The result was the posthumously released Pearl (1971), which featured a hit single in the form of Kris Kristofferson's Me and Bobby McGee and the wry social commentary of Mercedes-Benz, written by beat poet Michael McClure.

The band also had a number of other hits but their success faded towards the mid-1980s. That group broke up, and Joplin then formed the Full Tilt Boogie Band. Their most famous single "Don't You Want Me" reached number one in the UK charts during the Christmas of 1981 and was one of the biggest selling singles of that year. Splitting from Big Brother, she formed a backup group, named the Kozmic Blues Band, which backed her on I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! 1969 (year she played at Woodstock). The band achieved a brief spell of success in the early 1980s with their style of Synthpop music. (The D.A. Pennebaker documentary Monterey Pop captured Cass Elliott in the crowd silently mouthing "Wow" during part of Joplin's performance.) Their 1968 album Cheap Thrills featured more raw emotional performances and made Joplin's name. Re-energized by the addition of new members, the band went on to record their breakthrough album Dare, and have many chart successes. The band's big break came at the Monterey Pop Festival, which included a version of Big Mama Thornton's Ball and Chain and featured a barnstorming vocal by Joplin.

At the time, synthpop was starting to become fashionable due to the success of groups like OMD and Ultravox, but female vocals were rarely heard on synth records, so the addition of Sulley and Catherall gave the group a distinctive sound. However, the lack of success of their early singles led to the album being withheld until after their subsequent success. However, they recruited bass player Ian Burden, guitarist Jo Callis (formerly of The Rezillos) and, famously, fronted the band with two singers, Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall, whom they had met in a Sheffield nightclub. The band signed a deal with independent Mainstream Records and recorded an eponymously titled album in 1967. When Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware left to form Heaven 17 it seemed that Phil Oakey and Adrian Wright, the sole remaining group members, would be unable to sustain the band, which, just before the split, was beginning to achieve wider popularity. After a return to Port Arthur to recuperate, she again moved to San Francisco in 1966, where her bluesy vocal style saw her join Big Brother and The Holding Company, a band that was gaining some renown among the nascent hippie community in Haight-Ashbury. Their first single to chart was 'Empire State Human', which peaked at number 62 in the charts. She was a heavy drinker throughout her career, and her trademark beverage was Southern Comfort.

Shortly afterwards, they signed up with Virgin Records, and by the early 1980s had become a successful British electropop band. She also used other intoxicants. Originally a post punk synthesiser based group from Sheffield, the Human League (previously known as the Future) released their first single, "Being Boiled" c/w "Circus Of Death" on Bob Last's Fast Product record label in 1978. Around this time her drug use began to increase, and she acquired a reputation as a "speed freak" and occasional heroin user. A fan site devoted to pictures of the Human League in concert during 2004. (http://www.redpenguin.net/bandphotos/human-league.php). Cultivating a rebellious manner that could be viewed as "liberated", Joplin styled herself after the beat poets, left Texas for San Francisco in 1963, lived in North Beach, and worked occasionally as a folk singer. Secrets Online, excellent fan site with indepth Human League coverage both past and present. (http://www.league-online.com/). There, she began singing blues and folk music with friends.

Blind Youth, a site dedicated to the early post-punk works of Human League. (http://www.blindyouth.co.uk/). Joplin graduated from Jefferson High School in Port Arthur in 1960 and went to college at the University of Texas in Austin, though she never completed a degree. A Human League fan site (http://users.bigpond.net.au/human-league/home.htm). She grew up listening to blues musicians such as Bessie Smith and Big Mama Thornton and singing in the local choir. "Rock And Roll Is Dead" (2003) was a single from fellow Sheffield band, Kings Have Long Arms, that paid tribute to Oakey and eventually was re-released with Oakey doing some guest vocals. Joplin was born in Port Arthur, Texas. Today" (2003) was a single from Alex Gold featuring Oakey on vocals. Joplin released four albums as the frontwoman for several bands from 1967 to a posthumous release in 1971.

"L.A. Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 - October 4, 1970) was an American blues-influenced rock, R&B, and soul singer and occasional songwriter with a distinctive voice. "Together In Electric Dreams" was a solo single for Oakey rather than the whole League, but has been included on Human League albums as if it were by the whole band. Download sample of "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)" from I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!. 'The Human League Interview'. 'The Human League Promo Mix CD' (not available).

'The Golden Hour Of The Future'. 'Dance Like A Star' (EP). 'The Future Tapes' (unreleased). 'In Darkness' (a bootleg demo album).

'Taverner Tape' (1978). 'Human League Cassette' (1978). League Live (DVD). The Very Best Of (EMI, 2 CDs, CD2 is all remixes, also on DVD).

"All I Ever Wanted". Secrets (The Japanese version has three bonus tracks)