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Revision as of 05:59, 24 May 2023 by MamaTot22 (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) American musician| 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 |
|
| Years active | 2009–present |
| Spouse |
Jack White (m. 2022) |
| Musical career | |
| Origin | Nashville, Tennessee |
| Genres | |
| Instruments |
|
| 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. Her parents encouraged their four children to be creative. When she was 7, Jean got her first guitar and started teaching herself to play. In second grade, she formed a band called Broken Glass. At 12, she started a band with her brother. They played the school talent show and won the battle of the bands.
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 & 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 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 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 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
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
- ^ "Jack White proposes, gets married during show at Masonic Temple". wxyz.com. April 8, 2022. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
- ^ "Olivia Jean Flies Solo: Slay Belle Rings, Are You Listening?". HuffPost. February 8, 2015. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
- ^ Aggeler, Madeleine (2022-07-08). "What Happens When a Rock Star Proposes Onstage?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
- The Dead Weather - I Cut Like A Buffalo (Official Video), retrieved 2023-05-24
- Karen Elson - The Ghost Who Walks, retrieved 2023-05-24
- Karen Elson The Ghost Who Walks Live on Letterman 09 02 2010 HD 1080p, retrieved 2023-05-24
- Wanda Jackson - Thunder On The Mountain, retrieved 2023-05-24
- Wanda Jackson w/Jack White - "Shakin' All Over" 1/20 Letterman (TheAudioPerv.com), retrieved 2023-05-24
- Wanda Jackson with Jack White and the Third Man Band - "Right or Wrong" at the Grand Ole Opry, retrieved 2023-05-24
- Stone, Rolling (2012-12-11). "Jack White Plays 'I'm Shakin on 'Conan'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
- Jack White - I'm Shakin' (Official Video), retrieved 2023-05-24
- Jack White – If I Die Tomorrow (Official Video), retrieved 2023-05-24
- "The Black Belles Ring True". Interview Magazine. 2012-06-15. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
- 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