Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Jack White

Jack White at the White House.jpg Photo by The White House staff – Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Jack White

He was born on July 9, 1975, as John Anthony Gillis in Detroit, Michigan as the youngest child of Teresa and Gorman M. Gillis His mother’s family was Polish, while his father was Scottish-Canadian. He was raised a Catholic, and his father and mother both worked for the Archdiocese of Detroit as the building maintenance superintendent and secretary in the Cardinal’s office, respectively. Gillis became an altar boy, which landed him an uncredited role in the 1987 movie The Rosary Murders, filmed mainly at Most Holy Redeemer parish in southwest Detroit. He attended Cass Technical High School in Detroit.

His music career was influenced by his elder brother in a band called Catalyst. It is during that time that he learned how to play the instruments which they later abandoned to begin playing the drums in the first grade after finding a kit in the attic. As a child, he was a fan of classical music, but in elementary school, he began listening to the Doors, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. He also began listening to the blues and 1960s rock that would influence him in the White Stripes, with Son House and Blind Willie McTell being among his favorite blues guitarists. He has said in interviews that Son House’s Grinnin’ in Your Face is his favorite song of all time. As a drummer, his heroes include Gene Krupa, Stewart Copeland, and Crow Smith from Flat Duo Jets.

In 2005, he told Mike Wallace that his life could have turned out differently had he been accepted to a seminary in Wisconsin, he would have become a priest. However, he was accepted into Cass Technical High School as a business major and played the drums and trombones in the band. In addition, when he was 15, he began a three-year upholstery apprenticeship with a family friend, Brian Muldoon. He credits Muldoon with exposing him to punk music as they worked together in the shop. Muldoon goaded his young apprentice into forming a band where they both recorded an album known as Makers of the High-Grade Suites as the Upholsterers.

Read more about another Hero in Music here.

1. His Marriage

Meg & Jack, The White Stripes.jpg Photo by Michael Morel – Wikimedia Commons

As a senior in high school, he met Megan White at the Memphis Smoke restaurant where she worked, and they frequented the coffee shops, local music venues, and record stores of the area. After a courtship, they got married on September 21, 1996. In a reversal of tradition, he legally took her last name.

2. He Started a Business

Jack White – Roskilde Festival 2012 – Orange Stage.jpg Photo by Bill Ebbesen – Wikimedia Commons

After completing his apprenticeship, he started a one-man business of his own, Third Man Upholstery. The slogan of his business was “Your Furniture’s Not Dead” and the color scheme was yellow and black—including a yellow van, a yellow-and-black uniform, and a yellow clipboard. Although Third Man Upholstery never lacked business, he claims it was unprofitable due to his complacency about money and his business practices that were perceived as unprofessional, including making bills out of crayon and writing poetry inside the furniture.

3. He has a Fascinating range of Instruments and Equipment

He has a history of owning a variety of instruments that he uses for specific projects in various different settings. For instance, he has a preference for vintage guitars, many of which are associated with influential blues artists. Much of his equipment is custom-made, for both technical and aesthetic reasons. He is a proficient guitar, bass, mandolin, percussion, and piano player. It was during his career with the White Stripes that he principally used three guitars. However, he used others but the use of the three was outstanding. In specific the red, JB Hutto, an Airline guitar was a vintage 1964 model originally distributed by the Montgomery Ward department store. Though used by several artists, White’s attachment to the instrument raised its popularity to the extent that Eastwood Guitars began producing a modified replica around 2000. The 1950s-era Kay Hollowbody was a gift from his brother in return for a favor. It was the same brand of the electric guitar made popular by Howlin’ Wolf, and White most famously used it on Seven Nation Army.

He began using a 1915 Gibson L-1 acoustic often called the Robert Johnson model on the Icky Thump album. In an interview for Gibson, was very clear that that was his favorite of all the others he owns. He also used a three-pickup Airline in Town and the Country. This was featured later in the Steady As She Goes music video, a Harmony Rocket, a 1970s-era Crestwood Astral II, and what would become the first of three custom Gretsch Rancher Falcon acoustic guitars. It is more interesting that any equipment that did not match their red/black/white color scheme was painted red by both White and Stripes.

4. The Fascinating Pedal

In 2013 on Black Friday, Third Man Records diversified and launched the Bumble Buzz pedal an octave fuzz built for Third Man by Vancouver, British Columbia’s Union Tube, and Transistor. In 2014 the pedal was reviewed by Premier Guitar and is found in Jack’s pedal setup. In addition, the Raconteurs were still in development, White commissioned luthier Randy Parsons to create what he called the Triple Jet, a custom guitar styled after the Duo Jet double-cutaway guitar. 

5. His First Production

Parsons’s first product was painted copper color, however, he decided to create a second version with a completely copper body, which White began to use instead. For the Raconteur’s first tour, White also played a Gretsch Anniversary Jr. with a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece and three Filtertron pickups. Further, he later added a custom Gretsch Anniversary Jr. with two cutaways, a lever-activated mute system, a built-in and retractable bullet microphone, and a light-activated theremin next to the Bigsby. He dubbed it Green Machine and it is featured in It Might Get Loud.

6. He is a Co-Founder of Third Man Records

The most fascinating fact about White is that apart from his love for many musical instruments and equipment, he co-founded Third Man Records in 2001 with Ben Swank, formerly of the Ohio-based Soledad Brothers band. However, it was not until after he moved to Nashville that White he a space in 2009 to house his label. However, this was not his wish but because of the demands for the production of songs that called for the ownership of a studio after 10 to 15 years of recording using other studios. His studio was tailor-made to his expectations like the exact tape machines, the exact microphones, the exact amplifiers, and many other items.

In March 2015, Third Man joined in the launch of TIDAL, a music streaming service that Jay-Z purchased and co-owns with other major music artists. Later that year, he partnered with the watch manufacturer Shinola to open a retail location in Detroit.

7. He is a Board Member 

Jack White of the Raconteurs shot by Kris Krug.jpg Photo by Kris Krug – Wikimedia Commons

It is fascinating that he has achieved a great milestone by being a board member of the Library of Congress’s National Recording Preservation Foundation.

8. The Best Rock Album

He collaborated with Brendan Benson, a fellow Michigan native who he has worked with before according to Andrew Leahey. Together, they have composed a called Steady, as She Goes. It is this song that inspired them to have a full band. Therefore, they held a meeting at Benson’s home in Detroit and also invited Jack Lawrence and Patric Keeler. As a team, they debut an album called Broken Boy Soldiers which hit a record and reached the Top Ten charts in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Read more about the best American Albums here.

9. His Albums Nominated for Awards

Steady, As She Goes was nominated for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Broken Boy Soldiers was nominated for Best Rock Album in 2006 at the Grammy Awards. The album Salute Your Solution reached Number Seven on the Billboard 200 chart. However, it also received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album in 2008. In addition,  the new album Help Us Stranger in 2019 is also something to watch out for a nomination.

10 His Unique Career as a Solo

Jack White Outside Lands 2012 (7771487760).jpg Photo by Fred von Lohmann – Wikimedia Commons

He collaborated as a solo artist with various musicians. For instance, he joined other artists on their recordings and invited them to perform on his projects. He Collaborated with Alicia Keys on the song Another Way to Die. He also featured in It Mighty Get Loud, a film in which he together with Jimmy Page and the Edge discussed the different methods of playing the electric guitar.

Read more about another American Artist here.