JOAN JETT - FULL BIO

Jett grew up during a time when rock ‘n’ roll was off limits to girls and women, but with her first band, The Runaways, in 1975, she promptly blew the door to the boys’ club off its hinges. It was the first of many iconoclastic moments in her life, including forming her own independent record label, Blackheart Records, after she was rejected by no less than 23 labels.

“You can’t let other people dictate your life to you,” she says. “Being told that girls can't play rock 'n' roll— I mean, even as a kid, it was so illogical to me. It's like, what do you mean? That girls can't master the instruments?" She continues, “Other people have called me a rebel, but I just feel like I'm living my life and doing what I want to do. If I listened to everybody who told me I couldn’t do it, then I wouldn’t be doing it.”

The music industry often had to catch up with Jett as she carved her own path to success. In their infancy, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts happily took on L.A. hot spot The Whisky’s slowest night, quickly building a following. The same thing happened on the East Coast after the band moved to New York, when fifty people at The Malibu in Long Island turned into throngs of fans that shut down local highways.

Jett formed a kismet collaboration of menace and pop sensibility when she met Kenny Laguna, her longtime producer, collaborator, and business partner. Together they pressed up their own records and sold them out of the back of Kenny’s Cadillac at concerts, long before doing so was ever part of the music industry landscape. Blackheart was born in an era that did not see many artist-owned indie labels. And when mainstream radio wouldn’t play the Blackhearts’ single “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll,” fans bombarded stations across the United States and helped turn it into an unstoppable hit that eventually spent seven weeks at #1. Jett has gone on to score eight platinum and gold records and nine Top 40 singles, proving time and again how audiences knew something about her that record companies didn’t.

“The way that Joan and Kenny had done things inspired people to make their own labels, because people figured out that they don’t need a bunch of guys in suits and cigars and cash to start a label,” says Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong. Forty years after its formation, Blackheart is a thriving entertainment company producing music, film, and television, and continues to champion emerging bands.

Jett remains one of the most beloved and influential artists in popular music, with a fanbase that spans diehards who have been with her from the beginning to little kids who see her as a six-string-wielding superhero. Her influence, legacy and inspiration for anyone struggling with industry stereotypes earned her a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Says Miley Cyrus, who inducted Jett at that ceremony, “She's been the first to do many things, and not just as a woman – but just as a badass being on the planet. There isn't one other person on this planet that's been an inspiration to me like she has.”

Having celebrated the 40th anniversary of her seminal albums ‘Bad Reputation’ and ‘I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,’ Jett is still a cultural force. Says Dave Grohl, who along with the other surviving members of Nirvana chose Jett to sing “Smells Like Teen Spirit” at their own Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, “The roar of the crowd as she walked into the spotlight was a thunderous welcome – the kind that only legends receive. Watching her work, I could only imagine the incredible life she had lived, and I could sense her undying love of rock ‘n’ roll, which was as contagious as it was inspiring. In a world of Barbies, every girl needs a Joan Jett.” Apparently Mattel thought so too, as Joan had a Barbie made in her likeness.

Jett’s habit of defying expectations and breaking new ground applies on and off stage. To some of her fans, she’s a feminist icon who has overseen albums by punk titans such as The Germs and Bikini Kill. To others, she’s a guitar idol with three of her own signature Gibson models and a recently released Epiphone model.

Following recent studio work such as an album she produced for rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson, and “Jeepster,” her contribution to the Marc Bolan/T.Rex tribute collection ‘AngelHeaded Hipster,’ she also continues to release new music with the Blackhearts. Succeeding their 2022 album Changeup, their first-ever acoustic record, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ latest EP Mindsets is available to stream now and came out as a Record Store Day First vinyl release on 11/24/23. Featuring 6 brand new songs (and bonus live versions on the RSD vinyl piece), Mindsets serves as a reminder of what the band is all about - the perfect blend of punk and rock n' roll that feels timeless and immediate at once.

Jett’s music has been heard across blockbuster movies (“Ready Player One”), beloved cult TV shows (“Freaks and Geeks”), binge-worthy streaming hits (“Big Little Lies”) and the DC and Marvel universes. Since 2006, the theme song to NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” has been a reworked version of her chart-topping “I Hate Myself for Loving You.” Joan Jett and the Blackhearts also just collaborated with Dolly Parton on a new version of “I Hate Myself For Loving You” for Dolly’s first-ever rock album ‘Rockstar,’ which is leading the 2023-24 album charts.

Jett is also no stranger to acting in movies, television, and theater, notably ‘Light of Day’ alongside Michael J. Fox and ‘The Rocky Horror Show’ on Broadway, and has lent her voice to animated characters (“Steven Universe,” “Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts”). In 2010, Jett served as an executive producer on The Runaways, a film about her first band starring Kristen Stewart as Jett and Dakota Fanning as Runaways vocalist Cherie Currie. ‘Bad Reputation,’ a documentary about Jett's life, premiered to critical acclaim at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and is now available for streaming.

Still relentless in their commitment to live performance, Jett and the Blackhearts continue touring the globe alongside fellow rock legends like The Who, Green Day, and Foo Fighters. The band completed The Stadium Tour with Def Leppard and Motley Crue in 2022, the “So Happy It Hurts” tour with Bryan Adams in 2023, and will be touring with Alanis Morrissette in Summer 2024.

“To me, it’s really about connection: Musician eyeballs to audience eyeballs,” Jett says. “You connect. You see each other. You recognize that vision. You smile. There’s contact. There’s understanding. I know what you’re talking about and you know what I’m talking about.”

“We’ve become so conditioned to measuring our music’s impact in dollar signs that we can forget what it’s really about: the music,” she continues. “Emotion. Expression. Giving a voice to those that aren’t satisfied fitting into whatever box they were given. I have lived this rock ‘n’ roll ethic my entire life, and I am thankful to all those people along the way that let me be me.”

JOAN JETT - SHORT BIO

Joan Jett grew up during a time when rock ‘n’ roll was off limits to girls and women, but as a teenager, she promptly blew the door to the boys’ club right off its hinges. After forming her band the Blackhearts in 1979, with whom Jett has become a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, she has had eight platinum and gold albums and nine Top 40 singles, including the classics "Bad Reputation," "I Love Rock 'N' Roll," "I Hate Myself For Loving You," and "Crimson and Clover." With a career that has spanned music, film, television, Broadway, and humanitarianism, Joan Jett remains a potent force and inspiration to generations of fans worldwide. As a producer, she has overseen seminal albums by Bikini Kill, and the Germs' LA punk masterpiece ‘GI.’ Jett and Kenny Laguna (her longtime producer and music partner) co-founded Blackheart Records from the trunk of Kenny’s Cadillac after rejections from no less than 23 labels. 40 years later, Blackheart is a thriving entertainment company producing music, film and television, and continues to champion emerging bands. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts continue to tour the world with headlining shows and alongside fellow rock legends like The Who, Green Day, Heart, Foo Fighters and Alanis Morrissette (Summer 2024). 'Bad Reputation,' a documentary about Jett's life, premiered to critical acclaim at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Following up on the bands 2022 release Changeup, their first-ever acoustic album, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts EP Mindsets was released as a Record Store Day First vinyl piece on 11/24/23. Mindsets is available to stream now.