Meg White facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Meg White
White performing in 2006
Background information
Birth name	Megan Martha White
Born	(1974-12-10) December 10, 1974 (age 50) Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, U.S.
Genres	Rock alternative rock blues rock garage rock indie rock punk blues
Occupation(s)	Musician singer
Instruments	Drums percussion vocals
Years active	1997–2011
Labels	Warner Bros. V2 Third Man Sub Pop Sympathy for the Record Industry XL Italy

Megan Martha White (born December 10, 1974) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the drummer of the rock duo the White Stripes. Though she typically performed backing vocals for the band, she occasionally sang lead on their albums, including "In the Cold, Cold Night" and "Passive Manipulation".

White began playing the drums on Bastille Day in 1997, and she formed the White Stripes with then-husband Jack White that same year. Their 2001 breakthrough album, White Blood Cells, brought them international fame. Her simultaneous solo ventures include acting, appearing in the 2003 film Coffee and Cigarettes and a 2006 episode of The Simpsons, and briefly modeling. While the band were on tour in support of their 2007 album, Icky Thump, she suffered a bout of acute anxiety, and the remaining dates of the tour were canceled. The band disbanded in 2011 following a lengthy hiatus and she ceased performing.

White is a key artist of the 2000s garage rock revival, and her style of drumming has been called "minimalistic" and "simplistic" by critics. Reviews of her playing were initially ambivalent, but it has earned retrospective praise and continues to be discussed. She is also noted for her elusive media image, calling herself "very shy" and reclusive. With the White Stripes, she won a Brit Award and six Grammy Awards. In 2015, Rolling Stone included her on their "100 Greatest Drummers of All Time" list. She and Jack were nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023, but were not inducted.

Early life

Megan Martha White was born in the affluent Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, on December 10, 1974, the daughter of Catherine and Walter Hackett White Jr. She has an older sister, Heather. She attended Grosse Pointe North High School and, according to one classmate, was "always the quiet, obviously artistic type, and she just kept very much to herself". While still in high school, she decided not to go to college and instead pursue a career as a chef. She began to work at Memphis Smoke, a restaurant in downtown Royal Oak, where she first met budding musician Jack Gillis, a fellow high school senior from a Detroit neighborhood known as Mexicantown, and they frequented the coffee shops, local music venues, and record stores of the area.

Career

The White Stripes

Formation and beginnings

On Bastille Day in 1997, White began learning to play the drums after attempting to do so on Jack Gillis's drumkit. Gillis said that "When she started to play drums with me, just on a lark, it felt liberating and refreshing. There was something in it that opened me up." The two then formed the White Stripes, where they stuck to certain motifs: Gillis and White presented themselves as siblings to an unknowing public, and kept to a chromatic theme, dressing only in red, white, and black. They played their first gig at the Gold Dollar in Detroit, and achieved popularity in Michigan's underground garage rock scene, opening for and playing with established local bands such as Bantam Rooster and the Dirtbombs, among others. In 1998, they were approached by Dave Buick, the owner of Detroit-based independent record label Italy Records, who offered to pay for their debut single. "Let's Shake Hands" was then released in February 1998.

White at Club Shinjuku Jam, Tokyo in 2000

In 1999, the band signed with the California-based label Sympathy for the Record Industry, and released their self-titled debut album. AllMusic said that White's drumming "balances out the fretwork and the fretting with methodical, spare, and booming cymbal, bass drum, and snare..." Following their divorce in 2000, White insisted that they keep the band going. Their second album, De Stijl, was released in 2001. Rolling Stone's Jenny Eliscu said that White's drumming "forces a smile because, like everything about the White Stripes, it proves that you don't need bombast to make a blues explosion." It became a sleeper hit in 2002 after the White Stripes gained popularity, reaching 38 on Billboard's Independent Albums chart in 2002.

Mainstream recognition

The White Stripes rose to widespread recognition in 2001 with the release of their album White Blood Cells. She shared vocal duties with Jack on the tracks "Hotel Yorba" and "This Protector", and also on the Loretta Lynn cover "Rated X" which features as the B-side to "Hotel Yorba". White Blood Cells would have a major label re-release with V2 Records in 2002, which brought them to the forefront of the garage rock revival and made them one of the most acclaimed bands of the year. It was their last album to be released with the Sympathy for the Record Industry. Chris Deville of Stereogum praised White for bashing "the bejesus out of her drums" and called the pair "too compelling for the rest of the world to ignore." The album included the groundbreaking single "Fell in Love with a Girl", which won them three awards at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards.

The White Stripes released their fourth studio album, Elephant, through V2 Records and XL Recordings in 2003. The album was acclaimed, and is often considered the band's best work. Their continued success helped establish Meg and Jack White as key figures of 2000s rock, and Elephant, along with White Blood Cells, were included on numerous editions of Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list. Several writers for AllMusic coined White's drumming on Elephant as "hypnotic" and "explosively minimal", and Bram Teltelman of Billboard described it as "simple but effective". Additionally, the track "In The Cold, Cold Night" features White singing lead for the first time. Tom Breihan of Stereogum described her voice as "magnetic", and Andrew Katchen with Billboard wrote that she sounded "delicate and sweet". Wanda Jackson later covered the track as a tribute. Elephant's first single, "Seven Nation Army", became the band's signature song and a sports anthem. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album and "Seven Nation Army" won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.

In 2004, she starred in the band's first music film Under Blackpool Lights, which was shot entirely on super 8 film. ..... The band's fifth album Get Behind Me Satan saw the pair experimenting, with White using percussion bells, maracas and tambourines. She also performed lead vocals on "Passive Manipulation", for which Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone described her vocals as "chilling", while Matthew Murphy of Pitchfork thought that the song "begs the gentle suggestion that Meg not be allowed to sing lead." It was released in 2005 and won the band their second Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.

Final years

The White Stripes performing at the Wireless Festival in 2007

The White Stripes released their sixth and final album, Icky Thump, in 2007. Winning the Grammys for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rock Song, the album was praised and saw the band returning to styles present on their first album. White spoke on the bagpipe-heavy track "St. Andrew (This Battle Is in the Air)" and provided backing vocals for the tracks "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You're Told)" and "Rag and Bone".

In the summer of 2007, before a show in Southaven, Mississippi, Ben Blackwell (Jack White's nephew and the group's archivist) says that Meg White approached him and said, "This is the last White Stripes show". He asked if she meant of the tour, but she responded, "No. I think this is the last show, period." On September 11, 2007, the White Stripes announced via their website that they were canceling 18 tour dates due to White's acute anxiety. The following day, the duo canceled the remainder of their 2007 UK tour dates as well. Jack White worked with other artists in the meantime, but Meg White remained largely out of the public eye, though in June 2008 she appeared briefly onstage during an encore set of a Detroit show with one of Jack's bands, the Raconteurs. In an interview with Music Radar, Jack explained that Meg's acute anxiety had been due to the combination of a very short pre-tour rehearsal time—that was further reduced by the birth of his son—and a hectic, multi-continental touring schedule. He said, "I just came from a Raconteurs tour and went right into that, so I was already full-speed. Meg had come from a dead-halt for a year and went right back into that madness."

White at Primavera Sound in Barcelona in 2007

Jack revealed the band's plan to release a seventh album by the summer of 2009. On February 20, 2009—and on the final episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien—the band made their first, and what would be their last, live appearance after the cancellation of their tours, performing the song "We're Going to Be Friends". A documentary about their Canadian tour—titled The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights—premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 18, 2009. Directed by Emmett Malloy, the film documents the band's summer 2007 tour across Canada and contains live concert and off-stage footage. Bill Bradley for Vanity Fair opined that it was "impossible" not to see Meg as "road-weary and worn-out" at the end of the film.

A second feature titled Under Nova Scotian Lights was prepared for the DVD release. On February 2, 2011, the band reported on their official website that they were disbanding. The statement emphasized that it was not due to health issues or artistic differences, but "mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band". White has not been active in the industry since.

Solo ventures

White appears on the cover of Whirlwind Heat's single "Pink" wearing a bunny costume; the photo was taken while the White Stripes and Whirlwind Heat toured together in Japan. She made her film debut appearing with Jack White in Jim Jarmusch's 2003 film Coffee and Cigarettes. They star in the segment "Jack Shows Meg His Tesla Coil", which expands on White Stripes motifs such as childhood innocence and Nikola Tesla.

In 2004, White starred as Little Red Riding Hood in the music video for "Cha Cha Twist" by the Detroit Cobras. White modeled for Marc Jacobs' 2006 Spring line. Two of her pictures appeared in the March 2006 issue of ELLE. She was chosen by Bob Odenkirk to compose a drum theme for Dax Shepard's character in the 2006 film Let's Go to Prison; against Odenkirk's wishes however, the studio removed it from the film.

The White Stripes guest starred on The Simpsons in an episode titled "Jazzy and the Pussycats", which first aired on September 17, 2006. White had previously expressed interest in a Simpsons role, saying that "A guest appearance would be amazing. I wouldn't want to be in a Lisa episode. They're kind of boring. Maybe a Homer one would be better." White appeared with Jack in the 2009 documentary It Might Get Loud.

Artistry

Equipment

White performing on her signature pair of peppermint-themed Ludwig Drums with Paiste cymbals in 2005

Throughout her tenure with the White Stripes, White extensively used the Ludwig Classic Maple kit with Paiste cymbals. From their early years to Get Behind Me Satan, the resonant heads of the toms and bass drum almost exclusively featured peppermint swirls. The idea to do so came from Jack, when he and Meg "walked into a drugstore and saw this bag of peppermint candy and I said 'That should be painted on your bass drum because you've been drumming like a little kid". The peppermint decor became signature in her kit, and appeared in several live shows and music videos such as "The Hardest Button to Button" and "Seven Nation Army". She donated her last Ludwig kit to the 2009 Jim Shaw Rock 'N' Roll Benefit, an auction to raise money for the Detroit musician who was suffering from cancer.

While recording From the Basement: The White Stripes, the design on the bass drum was switched to an image of her hand holding the apple from the Get Behind Me Satan cover. Beginning in 2006, White used a pair of Paiste 14" Signature Medium Hi-Hats, a 19" Signature Power Crash, and a 22" 2002 Ride. On the Icky Thump tour, the bass drum head design was switched to a button inspired by the Pearlies clothing Jack and Meg wore for the album cover. She also used Remo and Ludwig drumheads, various percussion instruments and Vater drumsticks.

White's Pearl Export bass drum—complete with original peppermint-painted bass drum that she used with the band's first show—and the Pearly Queen outfit she wore in the photos for the Icky Thump album, were featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame "Women Who Rock" exhibition.

Influences and musical style

White's musical influences are wide and varied. Bob Dylan is her favorite artist and primary inspiration, and she is also a fan of Loretta Lynn. She has said of her influences: "I don't want to know about my biggest idols. I don't want to read their autobiographies, I don't want to find out what they're really like." Her pre-show warm up included "whiskey and Red Bull."

In reference to her "primal" approach to drumming, White remarked, "That is my strength. A lot of drummers would feel weird about being that simplistic". She expanded by saying that "I appreciate other kinds of drummers who play differently, but it's not my style or what works for this band. I get [criticism] sometimes, and I go through periods where it really bothers me. But then I think about it, and I realize that this is what is really needed for this band. And I just try to have as much fun with it as possible". On her style, Jack said "Meg is the best part of this band. It never would have worked with anybody else, because it would have been too complicated... It was my doorway to playing the blues." The New York Times's Kelefa Sanneh said her "drumming is more sophisticated than many fans (and many more non-fans) realize. She refuses to imitate a metronome, refuses to flatten the songs by making them conform to a steady pulse. Instead she seems to hear the music the way Mr. White does: as a series of phrases, each with its own shape and tempo."

Personal life

White and Jack White dated in the mid-1990s, and were married on September 21, 1996, with Jack taking her last name. They divorced on March 24, 2000. In May 2009, she married guitarist Jackson Smith in a small ceremony in Jack White's backyard in Nashville, Tennessee. Jackson is the son of musicians Patti Smith and Fred "Sonic" Smith. They divorced in July 2013. White resides in Detroit as of 2016. She loves peppermint, and it inspired many of the White Stripes' artistic schemes.

White suffers from acute anxiety, and has described herself as "very shy". She told Rolling Stone in 2005 that "the more you talk, the fewer people listen". Her strict maintenance of her privacy and giving few interviews has been the subject of significant commentary. She said in 2006 that she "never really cared about all the things that other people cared about, you know? Like, people recognizing me on the street never interested me. I've always been kind of suspicious of the world, anyway, so it's pretty easy for me to live in my own little world." As of 2023, she has not made any public appearances since 2009.

During the 2016 United States presidential election, White made a joint statement with Jack criticizing Donald Trump after "Seven Nation Army" appeared in his campaign without their consent. After the Trump campaign used the song again in the 2024 United States presidential election, she and Jack reunited to file a copyright infringement lawsuit in September 2024. The lawsuit was dropped in November 2024.

Accolades and achievements

With the White Stripes, White sold over 5 million albums. She received several accolades with the band, which includes winning one Brit Award from six nominations and winning six Grammy Awards from eleven nominations; she was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023, but was not inducted.

Discography

With the White Stripes

• The White Stripes (1999)
• De Stijl (2000)
• White Blood Cells (2001)
• Elephant (2003)
• Get Behind Me Satan (2005)
• Icky Thump (2007)

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

• "Cha Cha Twist" (2004), by The Detroit Cobras

See also

In Spanish: Meg White para niños