Jack White

John Anthony White (né Gillis; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who was the guitarist and lead vocalist of the rock duo the White Stripes. He was a key artist of the 2000s indie and garage rock movements, noted for his distinctive musical techniques, eccentricity, and utilization of analog technology. After the White Stripes split up in 2011, he found success with his solo career and business ventures.

White began his career moonlighting in several underground Detroit bands as a drummer and guitarist. He met Meg White in the 1990s, and the two founded the White Stripes in 1997. He co-founded his record label and studio Third Man Records in 2001, the same year that the White Stripes earned international fame with their breakthrough album White Blood Cells. This, along with the three subsequent White Stripes albums released throughout the decade, established White as a key artist of the decade's rock revival. In the latter half of the 2000s, he founded the rock groups the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather, recorded the Bond theme "Another Way to Die" with Alicia Keys (the only duet to perform a Bond theme), and collaborated with numerous artists.

White released his debut studio album Blunderbuss (2012) to strong reviews and sales. His second studio album, Lazaretto (2014), broke the record for most first-week vinyl sales since 1991, holding that record until 2021. His following three experimental albums garnered critical and commercial success. His sixth and seventh albums, No Name (2024) and Frozen Charlotte (2026), are noted for their unique release methods and earned general acclaim. Other ventures by White include acting in the films Cold Mountain, Coffee and Cigarettes (both 2003), Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), joining the Library of Congress' National Recording Preservation Foundation in 2013, and opening an art exhibit in 2026.

Among several accolades, White has won twelve Grammy Awards. Rolling Stone included him on their 2010 and 2023 lists of the greatest guitarists of all time. The New York Times called White "the coolest, weirdest, savviest rock star of our time" in 2012. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the White Stripes in 2025.

John Anthony Gillis, named after John the Baptist, was born in Detroit, Michigan, on July 9, 1975. He is the youngest of ten children of the late Teresa (née Bandyke; 1930–2026) and Gorman M. Gillis (1927–2006). His mother's family was Polish, while his father was of Scottish heritage by way of Nova Scotia, Canada. Due to his parents' ages at the time of his birth and the fact that his siblings were significantly older than him, his eldest sibling being 21 at the time, most of the child rearing toward him fell on his siblings. He equated them to having additional parents.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.