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Olivia Jean

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Revision as of 03:57, 23 June 2023 by CommonsDelinker (talk | contribs) (Removing The_Black_Belles_with_Stephen_Colbert.jpg; it has been deleted from Commons by Infrogmation because: per [[:c:Commons:Deletion requests/File:The Black Belles with Step)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) American musician
Olivia Jean
Jean performing at Women's Music Festival in 2020
BornOlivia Jean Markel
(1990-02-23) February 23, 1990 (age 34)
Metro Detroit, Michigan
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • guitarist
Years active2009–present
Spouse Jack White ​(m. 2022)​
Musical career
OriginNashville, Tennessee
Genres
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
  • drums
  • piano
  • bass guitar
LabelsThird 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 died in 2019. Her paternal grandmother, Patricia (Berdon) Markel is of Filipino descent.

Jean was raised in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. Her parents encouraged their four children to be creative. For her seventh birthday, Jean got her first guitar and started teaching herself to play. Shortly after that, as an Elmwood Elementary second grader, she formed her first band called Broken Glass. In middle school, along with a friend on bass and her younger brother on drums, Jean formed the Yazuka Drag Queens. Playing original songs, they won their school's talent show and went on to open at a show for a local band, Genders. On April 16, 2003, Jean's mom took her to Detroit's Masonic Temple to see her first concert, The White Stripes.

By high school, Jean was a self-taught multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who spent her free time recording her own music using a computer microphone and layering the individual instrument recordings on top of each other using a free music editing program. At 16, she began playing small clubs around Detroit and handing out her homemade demo CDs to friends, family, and co-workers. “It was a hobby,” she stated to the New York Times in 2022. “I didn’t know you could make money off of music.”

After high school, Jean enrolled in graphic design school.

Career

Third Man Records: session work and various contributions (2009–present)

At 19 years old in 2009, after hearing that 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 and projects.

Jean appears in The Dead Weather's 2009 music video for 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 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 including a performance on The Late Show with David Letterman in September 2010.

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

Jean contributed to the recordings of several instruments and backing vocals for 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). Jean appears in White's 2012 music video for I'm Shakin' as well as played guitar and sang backing vocals for a live performance of the song on Conan in December 2012. Jean also appears in White's 2022 music video for If I Die Tomorrow.

The Black Belles (2009–2012)

After Jean moved to Nashville and became part of the Third Man Records family in 2009, Jack White introduced her to various musicians to potentially become her band. "I had a recording that I gave to Jack, and it was mostly instrumental music, but it was a jumping-off point for like, some project to begin. I did it for myself, but I didn’t play anything live, because I didn’t have a band." Jean met Shelby Lynne, Ruby Rogers, and Erin Belle when they all appeared in The Dead Weather's 2009 music video for "I Cut Like A Buffalo". The women would go on to form The Black Belles, and the songs Jean wrote and recorded for her demo became the material for the band.

Jack White produced The Black Belles' first single, "What Can I Do?" which was written by Jean and released on January 26, 2010. White also directed the single's music video which premiered on February 17, 2010. Later that year, White arranged for "What Can I Do?" to be used as the theme song for Elvira's Movie Macabre, a revamping of the 1980s classic horror movie showcase hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, which ran from 2010 to 2012.

In June 2011, Jack White produced the song "Charlene II (I'm Over You)", a collaboration between The Black Belles and comedian and television show host Stephen Colbert. The song is a sequel to Colbert's 2006 faux-eighties comedy tune "Charlene (I'm Right Behind You)". With White introducing them, The Black Belles performed the song with Colbert on The Colbert Report. With Jack White as producer and Jean as the main songwriter, The Black Belles' self-titled debut album, The Black Belles, was released on November 11, 2011. The band went on tour from November 2011 to June 2012, hitting clubs and festivals in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.

The Black Belles disbanded in 2012, with Jean citing struggles on the road and nerves behind the break-up. "Because the road can do some crazy things to a girl band. That was the first band a lot of us actually full-on toured with. So we were just getting used to things. So new to everything that we were all kind of tense and didn't know what was going on. ... So we were very vulnerable and, you know, nervous. So we would take our nerves out on each other."

Solo career (2014–present)

After The Black Belles disbanded in 2012, Jean took about a year off before going back into the studio. Using previously recorded music that didn't quite fit for The Black Belles, she had enough material for a solo album. Bathtub Love Killings was released on September 14, 2014. The title was inspired by a serial killer from the 1800's who killed three women in a bathtub. Jean wrote all of the songs and played almost every instrument herself.

Personal life

On April 8, 2022, Jack 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

with the Black Belles

Studio albums

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. "Katlyn Markel Obituary - St. Clair Shores, MI". Dignity Memorial. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  4. "Patricia Markel Obituary - Clinton Township, MI". Dignity Memorial. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  5. ^ Aggeler, Madeleine (2022-07-08). "What Happens When a Rock Star Proposes Onstage?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  6. The Dead Weather - I Cut Like A Buffalo (Official Video), retrieved 2023-05-24
  7. Karen Elson - The Ghost Who Walks, retrieved 2023-05-24
  8. Karen Elson The Ghost Who Walks Live on Letterman 09 02 2010 HD 1080p, retrieved 2023-05-24
  9. Wanda Jackson - Thunder On The Mountain, retrieved 2023-05-24
  10. Wanda Jackson w/Jack White - "Shakin' All Over" 1/20 Letterman (TheAudioPerv.com), retrieved 2023-05-24
  11. Wanda Jackson with Jack White and the Third Man Band - "Right or Wrong" at the Grand Ole Opry, retrieved 2023-05-24
  12. Stone, Rolling (2012-12-11). "Jack White Plays 'I'm Shakin on 'Conan'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  13. Jack White - I'm Shakin' (Official Video), retrieved 2023-05-24
  14. Jack White – If I Die Tomorrow (Official Video), retrieved 2023-05-24
  15. "The Black Belles Ring True". Interview Magazine. 2012-06-15. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
  16. Dingwall, John (2012-04-28). "The black belles on their love of Jack White and Jack Daniels as they head to Scotland for JD Roots gig". Daily Record. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
  17. "Olivia Jean Interview: Detroit Queen, Nashville Scene". EarthQuaker Devices. 2019-10-15. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
  18. The Black Belles - What Can I Do?, retrieved 2023-05-25
  19. Rodgers, D. Patrick (2010-09-03). "Jack White Produces Theme for Re-'Vamped' Elvira's Movie Macabre [Updated]". Nashville Scene. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
  20. Elvira's Movie Macabre: "What Can I Do" Show Theme Song, retrieved 2023-05-25
  21. Stone, Rolling (2011-06-24). "Stephen Colbert Debuts 'Charlene II'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
  22. Staff, BrooklynVegan StaffBrooklynVegan (2011-06-24). "Colbert made & performed a single w/ the Black Belles, selling it (with Jack White?) in Manhattan at 11am". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
  23. "Interview | Olivia Jean on 'Bathtub Love Killings,' Jack White, The Black Belles, and Nashville - Speakers in Code". 2023-05-15. Retrieved 2023-05-27.
  24. Olivia Jean: Bathtub Love Killings Profile, retrieved 2023-06-02
  25. Horowitz, Hal (2014-10-16). "Olivia Jean: Bathtub Love Killings". American Songwriter. Retrieved 2023-05-27.
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