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Olivia Jean
Jean performing at Women's Music Festival in 2020
Born	Olivia Jean Markel (1990-02-23) February 23, 1990 (age 34) Metro Detroit, Michigan
Occupations	Singer songwriter guitarist
Years active	2009–present
Spouse	Jack White ​(m. 2022)​
Musical career
Origin	Nashville, Tennessee
Genres	Gothic rock garage rock
Instruments	Vocals guitar drums piano bass guitar
Labels	Third Man
Musical artist

Olivia Jean Markel White (born February 23, 1990) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. She is known as the lead singer and guitarist of the all-female "garage goth" rock band the Black Belles.

Early life

Olivia Jean Markel was born on February 23, 1990 to Brent O. Markel and Julie V. (Philippo) Markel. She has an older sister, Sarah, a younger brother, Brent, and a younger sister, Katlyn who passed away in 2019. Her paternal grandmother, Patricia (Berdon) Markel is of Filipino decent.

Jean was raised in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, and attended Lake Shores Public Schools. She credits her parents for encouraging her and her siblings to be creative. She began teaching herself to play guitar at age 7. When Jean was 12 years old, she and her younger brother, Brent, formed their own band and won their school's Battle of the Bands contest. By the time Jean was 16, she had taught herself to play multiple instruments and was recording her own music using a computer microphone and layering the recordings on top of each other using a free music editing program. She also began playing small clubs around Detroit and handing out her homemade demos to friends, family and co-workers. After high school, Jean enrolled in graphic design school.

Career

Third Man Records: Session Work & Other Contributions (2009-Present)

At 19 years old in 2009, after hearing Jack White's supergroup, The Dead Weather, was going to be playing a show in Detroit, Jean headed to the venue and laid a path of her demos from the band's tour bus to the side door they used to enter the venue. A couple of weeks later, after listening to the demo, Jack White called Jean and invited her to his Nashville studio, Third Man Records, to record her songs with him. Jean dropped out of graphic design school, moved to Nashville and became a part of the Third Man Records family where she has contributed to many Third Man artists' albums and projects.

Jean appears in the 2009 music video for The Dead Weather's I Cut Like a Buffalo.

Jean played bass on two tracks for Jack White's, then wife, Karen Elson's 2010 debut album, The Ghost Who Walks, and also appears in the title track's music video. She continued to play bass as part of Elson's live band while she was promoting the album, which included an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman in September 2010.

Jean played various instruments on Wanda Jackson's 2010 Jack White produced album, The Party Ain't Over. She also appears in Jackson's music video for one of the album's tracks, Thunder on the Mountain. Jean went on to play guitar as part of Jackson's live band for various shows and appearances while promoting the album, including a live performance on The Late Show with David Letterman and a show at the Grand Ole Opry both in January 2011.

Jean is credited for playing a variety of instruments and backing vocals on various tracks for several of Jack White's solo albums including Blunderbuss (2012), Lazaretto (2014), Entering Heaven Alive (2022), and Fear of the Dawn (2022). She appears in White's 2012 music video for I'm Shakin' and performed the song live with him on a December 2012 episode of Conan. Jean also appears in White's 2022 music video for If I Die Tomorrow.

Along with her many musical talents, Jean is a skilled graphic designer and artist. She has designed several tour posters, t-shirts, and other merchandise for herself, Jack White, and various Third Man artists and projects. Jean also enjoys creating art through photography, painting, drawing, silk screening, interior design, building wood projects, and many other creative ventures.

The Black Belles

Because Jean did not have a band to record with in Nashville, Jack White introduced her to several musicians including Shelby Lynne and Ruby Rogers. The group went into the studio and recorded some original songs including Jean's "What Can I Do?", later released as the first single by the Black Belles. After their success in the studio, the group decided to become a band. Regarding her first recording session in Nashville, Jean stated in an interview, "Once we all met, we kind of collaborated together and shared ideas, threw all those ideas together and we had a lot of material to work with." Jack White signed the Black Belles to Third Man Records and produced a handful of singles, as well as the bands debut self-titled album The Black Belles, released on October 8, 2011. The band saw moderate success with touring; however, in 2012 the band was put on hiatus.

Solo career

The success of the Black Belles led to Jean's career as a solo artist. Her debut solo album, Bathtub Love Killings, was released in 2014 by Third Man. Jean's second solo album, Night Owl was released on August 30, 2019, also on Third Man. Her third album, Raving Ghost, was announced March 2, 2023, with a release date of May 5 by Third Man.

Jean has also performed and recorded with artists as Jack White, Wanda Jackson, and among others.

Personal life

On April 8, 2022, White proposed to Jean near the end of a Supply Chain Issues Tour concert performance at Detroit's Masonic Temple, while "Hotel Yorba" was being played. Jean and White were married shortly afterward by White's business partner Ben Swank, who officiated on stage and was joined by family members.

Discography

Solo

Studio albums

• Bathtub Love Killings (2014)
• Night Owl (2019)
• Raving Ghost (2023)

EPs

• Palladium with April March (2020)

with the Black Belles

Studio albums

• The Black Belles (2011)

References

1. ^ "Jack White proposes, gets married during show at Masonic Temple". wxyz.com. April 8, 2022. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
2. "Olivia Jean Flies Solo: Slay Belle Rings, Are You Listening?". HuffPost. February 8, 2015. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
3. ^ Aggeler, Madeleine (2022-07-08). "What Happens When a Rock Star Proposes Onstage?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-23.
4. "The Black Belles Ring True". Interview Magazine. 2012-06-15. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
5. Minsker, Evan (March 2, 2023). "Olivia Jean Announces New Album Raving Ghost, Shares New Song "Trouble"". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 2, 2023.

• 1990 births
• American blues guitarists
• Alternative rock guitarists
• American women singers
• American rock guitarists
• American rock singers
• 21st-century American guitarists
• Living people
• Lead guitarists
• One-man bands
• 21st-century American singers
• Third Man Records artists
• American women drummers
• Guitarists from Detroit
• 21st-century American drummers
• 21st-century American women guitarists