Q 01/05

In which Texas city was Janis Joplin born on January 19, 1943?

A) Lubbock

B) Port Arthur

C) Beaumont

D) Galveston

Answer · why

B) Port Arthur

Her father Seth was an engineer at Texaco and her mother Dorothy a registrar at a business college; she had two younger siblings, Laura and Michael.

Q 02/05

Which future Pro Football Hall of Fame coach was Janis Joplin's high-school classmate?

A) Jimmy Johnson

B) Tom Landry

C) Bill Parcells

D) Bum Phillips

Answer · why

A) Jimmy Johnson

She later said her Thomas Jefferson High schoolmates 'laughed me out of class, out of town and out of the state'.

Q 03/05

Which blues singer did Janis Joplin most often cite as an influence and later help buy a headstone for?

A) Ma Rainey

B) Billie Holiday

C) Bessie Smith

D) Memphis Minnie

Answer · why

C) Bessie Smith

Smith's grave had been unmarked; Joplin mailed a cheque after a phone call, and the AP said she 'shared the cost' with nurse Juanita Green.

Q 04/05

What was the headline of the July 1962 Daily Texan profile of Janis Joplin at the University of Texas?

A) A Voice Like Thunder

B) Austin's Wild Child

C) The Barefoot Blues Girl

D) She Dares to Be Different

Answer · why

D) She Dares to Be Different

The article noted she went barefoot, wore Levi's to class and carried her Autoharp everywhere in case she felt like singing.

Q 05/05

With which friend did Janis Joplin hitchhike from Texas to San Francisco in January 1963?

A) Bob Neuwirth

B) Sam Andrew

C) Chet Helms

D) Country Joe McDonald

Answer · why

C) Chet Helms

Three years later Helms, by then managing Big Brother and the Holding Company, sent Travis Rivers to Austin to bring her back to join the band.