Exactly forty-three years and a month after she passed away, Janis Joplin was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame yesterday. The moving ceremony featured a speech by music industry mogul Clive Davis and an acoustic performance by Kris Kristofferson, who performed “Me and Bobby McGee,” a song he penned that became one of Joplin’s signature hits.
Kristofferson recalled hearing Joplin’s rendition of his tune on the day of her passing. “Her producer gave me the record and it was pretty hard to listen to,” he told Rolling Stone before the ceremony. “I was listening to it at my publisher’s office where we used to hang out, there was nobody there and I was playing it over and over again just so I could hear it without breaking up.”
For Kristofferson the star is a nice tribute, but their brief though close relationship and her lasting influence goes well beyond a plaque. “It’s really hard to say much about the stars and how much they mean; she means so much more to me than a star on a sidewalk,” he said.
Still, the recognition comes at a time when Joplin is enjoying a resurgence thanks to the recent Broadway show, A Night With Janis, and a clothing line, Made For Pearl.
“One of our goals is trying to keep Janis in the forefront,” her brother Michael told Rolling Stone. “Everything just seems to be aligning by accident more than by design, which is a fabulous thing.”
