Jack White

Jack White built a career on friction: raw garage-rock noise against a taste for old machines, tape and vinyl. Born John Gillis in Detroit in 1975 and the youngest of ten children, he started on drums, then picked up guitar while working as an upholsterer's apprentice. He fed on blues and 1960s rock, with Son House a lasting favourite. With Meg White he formed the White Stripes in 1997, a duo that made him a defining figure in the indie and garage revival of the 2000s.

The breakthrough came in 2001 with White Blood Cells, the same year he co-founded Third Man Records. Three more Stripes albums followed before the band ended in 2011. Later in the decade he started the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather, and recorded the Bond theme "Another Way to Die" with Alicia Keys. As a solo artist he released Blunderbuss in 2012, then Lazaretto in 2014, which set a first-week vinyl sales record that stood until 2021. No Name (2024) and Frozen Charlotte (2026) were noted for their unusual release methods. He has won twelve Grammys, acted in Cold Mountain and Killers of the Flower Moon, and entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the White Stripes in 2025.