Joan Jett

Joan Marie Larkin was born on September 22, 1958, at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, to James and Dorothy Larkin, an insurance salesman and a secretary. The oldest of three children, she grew up in a Protestant household. In 1967, her family relocated to Rockville, Maryland, where she attended Randolph Junior High School and Wheaton High School. A subsequent move to West Covina, California, in Los Angeles County opened new musical opportunities. Around that time, her parents divorced, and she adopted the stage name Joan Jett, later acknowledging that "Jett" was not, as she had previously claimed, her mother's maiden name. Her primary haunt in Los Angeles was Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco, a glam rock venue that shaped her early musical sensibility. She received her first guitar at age 13 and briefly took lessons before abandoning them when her instructor focused exclusively on folk music.

At 16, Jett co-founded the Runaways alongside drummer Sandy West. The classic lineup eventually included Jackie Fox, Lita Ford, and Cherie Currie, with Jett contributing rhythm guitar, shared lead vocals, and songwriting alongside her bandmates. The group toured internationally, opening for acts including Cheap Trick, the Ramones, Van Halen, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and achieved particular success in Japan. After Currie's departure, Jett assumed lead vocal duties on the band's final two albums, Waitin' for the Night and And Now... The Runaways. The band released five albums in total before disbanding in the spring of 1979. During a 1976 tour of England with the Runaways, Jett first encountered the song "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" when she watched the band Arrows perform it on their weekly UK television series.

Following the Runaways' dissolution, Jett pursued a solo career in England, recording three songs with Sex Pistols members Paul Cook and Steve Jones, including an early version of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" that later appeared on the 1993 compilation Flashback. She also produced the Germs' sole album, (GI), and went on to produce additional artists before releasing her own debut. After meeting songwriter and producer Kenny Laguna while working on the film project We're All Crazee Now!, Jett relocated to Long Beach, New York, to collaborate with him. Her self-titled debut album was released by Ariola Records in Europe on May 17, 1980. In the United States, after 23 major labels rejected the record, Jett and Laguna released it independently through Blackheart Records, a label they founded using Laguna's daughter's college savings. The album was later reissued as Bad Reputation and entered the US Billboard 200, driven in part by the attention its title track received. Blackheart Records subsequently released recordings from a range of artists, including thrash metal band Metal Church and rapper Big Daddy Kane.

With Laguna's assistance, Jett formed her backing band, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Her first on-screen appearance came in the 1981 live concert film Urgh! A Music War, in which she performed "Bad Reputation" with the Blackhearts at the Ritz in New York City. A spring 1981 concert at the Palladium in New York City was widely described by music journalists as a career-defining performance that solidified the band's following in that city. The Blackhearts' 1981 album I Love Rock 'n' Roll peaked at number two on the US Billboard 200. Its lead single of the same name spent seven consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1982, has been ranked by Billboard as the 56th greatest song of all time, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2016. The album also produced a second top ten single, "Crimson and Clover." Subsequent albums Album (1983) and Up Your Alley (1988) earned gold and platinum certifications, respectively, and a string of Top 40 hits followed, including "Fake Friends," "Good Music," "Light of Day," "Little Liar," and covers of "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)," "Dirty Deeds," and "Everyday People." Her 1988 single "I Hate Myself for Loving You" became her third top ten entry on the Hot 100 and earned her first Grammy nomination, for Best Rock Performance.

Outside of recording, Jett headlined the 1987 film Light of Day and has appeared in multiple television series. She appeared on Broadway between 1989 and 2000, with credits including Joan Jett and the Blackhearts on Broadway and The Rocky Horror Show. Rolling Stone included her on its lists of the greatest guitarists of all time in both 2003 and 2023. In 2015, Jett and the Blackhearts were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She has been widely referred to as the "Godmother of Punk" and is recognized both for her influence on rock music and for her activism.