Born the youngest of ten children, raised in Southwest Detroit and a resident of Nashville since 2005, Jack White is one of the most prolific and renowned artists of the past two decades.
When the White Stripes started in 1997 no one, least of all Jack, ever expected that a red, white and black two-piece band would take hold in the mainstream world. The band’s self-titled debut and sophomore effort De Stijl amassed critical acclaim and built a passionate underground following, but it was the release of 2001’s White Blood Cells that thrust the White Stripes onto magazine covers as they captivated larger audiences through worldwide touring. “Fell in Love With a Girl” served as the band’s breakthrough hit and its accompanying Michel Gondry Lego clip was chosen by Pitchfork Media as the #1 music video of the 2000s.
The release of Elephant in 2003 not only cemented the band’s reputation, but also offered the hit “Seven Nation Army” which has since been appropriated as arguably the most popular chant in sports stadiums around the world.
In 2004, White teamed up with Loretta Lynn to produce and perform on her Van Lear Rose album, an effort that won GRAMMY Awards for Best Country Album and Best Country Collaboration With Vocals for the single “Portland, Oregon.” To date White has won twelve GRAMMYs in eight different categories with thirty-two career nominations.
White formed a “new band of old friends,” the Raconteurs, in 2006. Their debut album Broken Boy Soldiers featured the #1 hit single “Steady, As She Goes” and showed a markedly different side of White, one where songwriting, vocal and guitar duties were shared.
In 2009, White returned to his original instrument, the drums, and started the Dead Weather with members of the Kills, Queens of the Stone Age and the Greenhornes. Releasing two albums in two years and unleashing a dark, captivating live show upon curious audiences, The Dead Weather further cemented Jack White’s musical versatility and range. In 2015, the band released their third studio album, Dodge and Burn and garnered a “Best Music Video” Grammy nomination for the single, “I Feel Love (Every Million Miles).”
Also in 2009, White opened the doors to his very own Nashville-based record label, Third Man Records, where he has since produced and released more than 300 records in just over six years. With a catalogue of releases from artists as varied as Jerry Lee Lewis, the Smoke Fairies, Wanda Jackson, Black Milk, The Dead Weather and Stephen Colbert, and unimagined vinyl configurations, the label has rightfully earned its reputation as a leader in the vinyl record industry.
On April 24, 2012, White released his debut album Blunderbuss on Third Man Records/Columbia. Blunderbuss debuted at #1 on the U.S. albums chart–a career first for White–and was both the top selling vinyl album and the highest charting solo debut of 2012 in the U.S.. Blunderbuss also hit #1 in the UK, Canada and Switzerland, and received five GRAMMY nominations, including Album of the Year, Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song for “Freedom at 21,” and, the following year, Best Rock Performance and Best Music Video for “I’m Shakin’.”
White released Lazaretto (Third Man Records/Columbia), the follow-up to the gold-certified Blunderbuss, on June 10, 2014. Once again debuting at #1 on the U.S. albums chart and at #1 in Canada and Denmark, Lazaretto not only broke the record for first-week vinyl album sales, selling over 40,000 copies in the U.S., it was also the biggest selling vinyl album of 2014 and any year of the SoundScan era with 86,707 copies sold in the U.S.. To date, the Lazaretto vinyl ULTRA LP has sold over 210,000 copies worldwide. The album’s title track, “Lazaretto,” won a GRAMMY Award for Best Rock Performance. Lazaretto received two additional GRAMMY nominations for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rock Song for the title track.