Big Brother & the Holding Co. to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Janis Joplin became the singer for Big Brother in 1966, and in that group she found the space to become one of the best white blues singers in the world. Big Brother & the Holding Co. were known in San Francisco a year before Janis Joplin joined them. Although they have a huge impact in music-history, they are still not in the Hall of Fame.

Big Brother & the Holding Co. were and are far more than Janis Joplin’s backup band. They are, as music photographer Bob Seidemann says, “an organic, natural phenomenon, which grew like a plant from the soil. Janis Joplin became their flower.” Big Brother were the pioneers of the San Francisco sound and should be honored as representatives of the psychedelic music movement. Guitarist James Gurley was regarded as “the Father of Psychedelic Music.” The music journalist and publisher of the famous Haight Ashbury magazine Mojo Navigator, Greg Shaw, called him a “Psychedelic Hero of the Sixties.”

The LP "Cheap Thrills" went gold in three days. The album entered the charts on August 31st, 1968 and stayed in the number one spot for eight weeks. Piece of My Heart was the single and reached number 12 on the national hit parade charts.

The Rolling Stone Magazine voted the Song «Piece of my Heart» as one of the 500 best Songs of all time. The Guitar work by Sam Andrew and James Gurley in the Song «Summertime» was announced as one of the best Guitar pieces in Music-History by the Magazine Guitar Player.

That's why they belong in the Hall of Fame - NOW.