JOAN JETT

Joan Jett

Queen of Rock and Roll

Joan Jett is a gifted multi-talented artist. She is a guitarist, songwriter, record producer, and actress. “As frontwoman for the Runaways, Joan Jett became a female pioneer in the male-dominated world of rock music.” -biography.com

Born Joan Marie Larkin on September 22, 1958, in Wynnewood Pennsylvania. She received her first guitar at 14 years old. She began lessons but quit shortly after because her teacher would only give her folk songs and believed that women should not play rock. She formed her first serious band at 16 years of age, an all-female band called 'The Runaways'. Jett went solo after the band called it quits in 1979. She is the founder and lead of her band 'Joan Jett and the Blackhearts'. After rejections from record labels Jett and Kenny Laguna founded Blackheart Records in 1980. This made her the first female artist to own and have direct control over an independent record company. She is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has many other great honors -Jett's Honors. She also has acted in shows such as Highlander, Light of Day, By Hook or By Crook, and others. Jett continues to produce her music as well as sign others to her record label. She is a philanthropist, is active with Farm Sanctuary and PETA, as well as devotes much time to other social causes.