Jack White

Jack met Megan White, a bartender at the ‘Memphis Smoke’ restaurant, and married her on September 21, 1996. Breaking convention, he took on her last name and became Jack White. The couple divorced on March 24, 2000, and less than a year later, ‘The White Stripes was disbanded’.

In 2003, he entered into a relationship with actress Renée Zellweger. In a car accident involving the couple, White broke his left index finger that forced him to reschedule his summer tour. The two split in December 2004.

On June 1, 2005, White married Karen Elson, a British model. The wedding, officiated by a shaman, took place in a canoe in the Amazon River in Manaus, Brazil; the convalidation was done later by a Roman Catholic priest with manager Ian Montone as the best man and Meg White as the maid of honor. The couple threw a party in June 2011 to announce their intention to divorce, which was finalized on November 26, 2013, after a legal spat.

Born as John Anthony Gillis on July 9, 1975, in Detroit, Michigan, Jack White was the youngest of the ten children of Teresa (née Bandyk) and Gorman M. Gillis.

He was fascinated by music from a very early age; when he was in Grade 1, he learned to play the drums after he found a discarded set in his attic. His elder brothers influenced his choice of music in this early period, however, while he was more into classical music as a child, he turned to the blues and 1960s rock music of bands like the ‘Doors’, ‘Pink Floyd’, and ‘Led Zeppelin’ when in elementary school. ‘Blind Willie McTell’ and ‘Son House’ were his favorite guitarists and would continue to influence him during his musical career.

Intending to become a priest, he almost got admitted to a seminary in Wisconsin but changed his mind and enrolled for a major in business at the renowned Cass Technical High School in Detroit, where he played the drums and trombone in the school band.

At the age of 15, he commenced a three-year apprenticeship in upholstery with Brian Muldoon, a family friend, who exposed him to punk music and encouraged him to form a band. As the ‘Upholsterers’, the duo recorded an album, ‘Makers of High Grade Suites’.

After the completion of his apprenticeship, he set up his own business, ‘Third Man Upholstery’, which, despite not lacking in orders, never became profitable due to his poor business sense and lack of professionalism.

Jack White first began performing professionally onstage, at the age of 19, as a drummer for ‘Goober & the Peas’, a Detroit band, which, however, folded up in 1996.

He continued his musical career by moonlighting with various local bands and sometimes performing solo while working as an upholsterer by day to sustain himself.

In 1997, he formed a band with wife Meg White after she learned to play the drums. ‘The White Stripes’, as they called themselves, had their first show in Detroit’s ‘Gold Dollar’ a couple of months after the band was formed. Presenting themselves as siblings, despite being married, they became a part of the underground garage rock music scene of Michigan, opening for and playing with the more established local bands.

In 1998, they signed up with an independent garage punk label in Detroit, ‘Italy Records’, and released their first album ‘White Stripes’ the next year and followed it up in 2000 with ‘De Stijl’, a cult classic that peaked the Billboard's ‘Independent Albums’ chart at #38.

‘White Blood Cells’, released in 2001 to critical acclaim rocketed the band to among the foremost in the revival of the garage band music of the time. Their next album ‘Elephant’ was even more critically acclaimed and commercially successful; the single, ‘Seven Nation Army’ topped the ‘Billboard Modern Rock Tracks’ chart for three weeks, went on to win the ‘Grammy Award for Best Rock Song’ in 2004, and emerged as a universal sporting and protest anthem.

‘White Blood Cells’ (2001) for being their first big hit

‘Elephant’; for big-time commercial success and critical acclaim.