Jack White
He’s looking more and more like Johnny Depp in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, but there’s no denying the sheer brilliance of Jack White. A master muso, producer and founding member of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather (with The Kills’ Alison Mosshart), the man, born John Anthony Gillis in Detroit, Michigan, has music flowing in his veins like electricity and an output matched only by his vision.
At a time when music was reeking with meathead rap metal, the Stripes (Jack and drummer Meg White) burst onto the world stage at the turn of the century with a bluesy blast of DIY garage rock and roll that proved that rock could be as intelligent as it was primal. For a time, they conquered the world, adorning magazine covers and end-of-year lists (Rolling Stone gave their 2003 album Elephant five out of five) and redefining indie rock with hits like ‘Seven National Army’, ‘Fell In Love With A Girl’ and ‘The Hardest Button To Button’. They were so good you almost forgot that when the formerly married couple initially claimed they were just brother and sister.
The Stripes’ last studio album Icky Thump was released in 2007 (they officially disbanded in 2011), but by then, White the workaholic was already busy with side-project The Raconteurs. As if that wasn’t enough, he founded The Dead Weather in 2009.
He’s performed alone sparingly in the past (on some one-off singles and film soundtracks), but 2012 sees the musical mad professor finally step out into the spotlight on his own, with his solo album Blunderbuss out in April. “"I've put off making records under my own name for a long time but these songs feel like they could only be presented under my name,” he said when he announced the news. “These songs were written from scratch, had nothing to do with anyone or anything else but my own expression, my own colors on my own canvas.”