Jack White

Birthday: 9 July 1975, Detroit, Michigan, USA

Birth Name: John Anthony Gillis

Height: 185 cm

Jack played guitar and sang in the band The White Stripes. They released six albums: their self-titled debut -- "The White Stripes", "De Stijl", "White Blood Cells", "Elephant", "Get Behind Me Satan", and "Icky Thump", before breaking up in 2011.White also sings and plays guitar in the band The Raconteurs (alternatively known as "the Saboteurs" in Australia). They have released two albums, "Broken Boy Soldiers" and newly released "Consolers of the Lonely".White surprised fans by starting a third band, The Dead Weather, while The White Stripes and The Raconteurs were still active. White is primarily a drummer and vocalist for "The Dead Weather", with Dean Fertita acting as guitarist. "The Dead Weather" released their debut album "Horehound" in 2009."The White Stripes" won three VMAs for the video for "Fell In Love With A Girl". They played two dates in Detroit in early August supported by The Strokes, and supported them when "The Strokes" played two dates in New York. He has written songs for the film Cold Mountain (2003).White has appeared in the movies Cold Mountain (2003), Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), The Fearless Freaks (2005) and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007). He was one of the subjects of the documentary It Might Get Loud (2008).White is married to model Karen Elson and the couple has two children, Scarlet Theresa and Henry Lee.In Rolling Stone's 2003 list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, White ranked 17th. Show less «

This generation is so dead. You ask a kid, 'What are you doing this Saturday?' and they'll be playin...Show more »

This generation is so dead. You ask a kid, 'What are you doing this Saturday?' and they'll be playing video games or watching cable, instead of building model cars or airplanes or doing something creative. Kids today never say, 'Man, I'm really into remote-controlled steamboats.' Show less «

When you put something out there into the world, there's all these words you don't want to hear, tha...Show more »

When you put something out there into the world, there's all these words you don't want to hear, that you hope people don't say. I don't like anything that starts with 're' - like retro, reinvent, recreate - I hate that. It's always like living in the past - copying, emulating. Show less «

We have a secret project at Third Man where we want to have the first vinyl record played in outer s...Show more »

We have a secret project at Third Man where we want to have the first vinyl record played in outer space. We want to launch a balloon that carries a vinyl record player. Show less «

There aren't that many things left that haven't already been done, especially with music. I'm intere...Show more »

There aren't that many things left that haven't already been done, especially with music. I'm interested in ideas that can shake us all up. Show less «

We live in an age where everyone wants a heartfelt story from the singer - where 'I' means him - and...Show more »

We live in an age where everyone wants a heartfelt story from the singer - where 'I' means him - and I never saw it that way. It's as ridiculous as saying Michael Corleone is Francis Ford Coppola. People have become too obsessed with the idea that all songs should be written from the heart. I find that complete strangers have no right to be part of my private life. I would never give that to them. Show less «

The fact that we elected Obama was a sign that the black struggle inherent in the blues and so much ...Show more »

The fact that we elected Obama was a sign that the black struggle inherent in the blues and so much of the music I have loved can triumph. Show less «

I wanted to be able to talk with people who have trade jobs and make records with them. I want to do...Show more »

I wanted to be able to talk with people who have trade jobs and make records with them. I want to do more records with carpenters, electricians, people who specialize in even more bizarre trades that are off the beaten path. Show less «

I think you can't really escape any kind of spiritual education as a child, whether it's New Age or ...Show more »

I think you can't really escape any kind of spiritual education as a child, whether it's New Age or Judaism or Buddhism or whatever it is. You can't escape it, even if you completely disagree with it, you still have it as a foundation that you base things off of. Show less «

Some people remaster their records six, seven times, remix it three, four times, spend a million hou...Show more »

Some people remaster their records six, seven times, remix it three, four times, spend a million hours, then they always go back and hear a demo of it and they'll say, 'Aw that sounds so much better than the final mix.' Show less «

[on growing up in Detroit] I think you learn how to walk down the street in a certain way. I think y...Show more »

[on growing up in Detroit] I think you learn how to walk down the street in a certain way. I think you just learn to have a way about yourself, a style of walking down the street, that keeps people away from you. Show less «

I think the sensitivity that you need to create certain things sometimes would spill over into thing...Show more »

I think the sensitivity that you need to create certain things sometimes would spill over into things that shouldn't have bothered me. Show less «

No matter how much I try to write a song about characters and the interactions they're having, no ma...Show more »

No matter how much I try to write a song about characters and the interactions they're having, no matter what I do, I can never make it not come from my own experiences. As an artist you're a victim of your environment. I'd like to make up a scenario, but my writing ends up having a lot to do with with things I've felt and observed. Show less «

I think it takes a lot of trickery to keep up with the media and its perception of you. I don't know...Show more »

I think it takes a lot of trickery to keep up with the media and its perception of you. I don't know if I have it in me most of the time to care. The music is made first, and the interviews or photos to keep it alive come later as a necessary evil, I suppose. Show less «

I came up from growing up with a lot of Catholic guilt, a lot of punk rock, hipster guilt in the lat...Show more »

I came up from growing up with a lot of Catholic guilt, a lot of punk rock, hipster guilt in the later years where I think people have thrown a lot of things on me. Where I always felt like I'm not supposed to tell the horn section what to play or I don't want to come off egotistical. Show less «

The Guinness book is a very elitist organization. There's nothing scientific about what they do. The...Show more »

The Guinness book is a very elitist organization. There's nothing scientific about what they do. They just have an office full of people who decide what is a record and what isn't. Show less «

If you want to put out a million CDs and sell them and get them played on the radio, and even videos...Show more »

If you want to put out a million CDs and sell them and get them played on the radio, and even videos, or whatever, if that still exists, that kind of muscle can only come from a label like Columbia. Show less «

An auctioneer is such a uniquely American thing. I keep thinking in my head, perhaps it's not as Ame...Show more »

An auctioneer is such a uniquely American thing. I keep thinking in my head, perhaps it's not as American as I think, but it feels so Southern. It feels so American. Like, hundreds of years of American tradition is involved in it. Show less «

Playing drums feels like coming home for me. Even during the White Stripes I thought: 'I'll do this ...Show more »

Playing drums feels like coming home for me. Even during the White Stripes I thought: 'I'll do this for now, but I'm really a drummer.' That's what I'll put on my passport application. Show less «

The auctioneer is talking for both people, and that's the big revelation about, 'Oh, that's what the...Show more »

The auctioneer is talking for both people, and that's the big revelation about, 'Oh, that's what they're doing.' They're just doing it very fast, so you could kind of miss on that. He's speaking for you, because people in the crowd don't have a voice, so that's what really makes it compelling. Show less «

We were like a white family from the 1920s or something. My parents had this bizarre, different way ...Show more »

We were like a white family from the 1920s or something. My parents had this bizarre, different way of looking at things from the people that surrounded us. I went to an all-Mexican grade school and an all-black high school, and not many people in those places liked the same stuff as me. Show less «

With the White Stripes we were trying to trick people into not realizing we were playing the blues. ...Show more »

With the White Stripes we were trying to trick people into not realizing we were playing the blues. We did not want to come off like white kids trying to play black music from 100 years ago so a great way to distract them was by dressing in red, white and black. Show less «

I didn't really even think of recording under my own name for a long time. I thought, 'I've got the ...Show more »

I didn't really even think of recording under my own name for a long time. I thought, 'I've got the rest of my life to do that.' Show less «

I've always loved the word blunderbuss. I've always thought that it was a beautiful word and that it...Show more »

I've always loved the word blunderbuss. I've always thought that it was a beautiful word and that it could mean several different things. Show less «

If you have twenty guys in the room and you just bring in one girl, you change the entire mood and e...Show more »

If you have twenty guys in the room and you just bring in one girl, you change the entire mood and everyone plays different. Show less «

I want to be part of the resurgence of things that are tangible, beautiful and soulful, rather than ...Show more »

I want to be part of the resurgence of things that are tangible, beautiful and soulful, rather than just give in to the digital age. But when I talk to people about this they just say, 'Yeah, I know what you mean,' and stare at their mobiles. Show less «

Vinyl is the only thing that's rising because I think it's the only thing that the real music lovers...Show more »

Vinyl is the only thing that's rising because I think it's the only thing that the real music lovers are attaching themselves to-because it's a tangible format that has lasted this long for a reason, because it still sounds the best, it still feels the best. There's an inherent romance to it. When you see the disc moving around, you feel connected, you got up and put the needle down, you feel connected. Just like in a movie theater when they turn the lights down and the movie comes up you feel reverential toward it. When it's digital and you can fast-forward and skip it with a mouse and click it off, you're not reverential toward the music. You're the one is control and you're pushing it around. You can imagine if you're in a movie theater and you could fast forward the movie, it would be a disaster. That's what vinyl is to music.... All the music lovers know it, all the musicians know it, we've all been saying that no one wants it to be invisible and digital. It's great to have a portable song that you can listen to in your car, that's great, but when it comes down to it, we want to be reverential toward the art form, and the music business is in a giant mess right now, because of technology. And that's the only reason. If the technology hadn't changed we wouldn't be in the mess we're in.... If you tell someone about a band, if they can't go on YouTube and listen to the band, they get disinterested and they'll move onto something else. You used to go travel around. I used to go really far, to another record store like 45 minutes away because they had the record that the other store didn't . You'd get up out of your seat and do something for real.That's what this truck is about: it's about people coming here and experiencing something for real. There's a novelty aspect to it, but the best part of it is that people are coming here with their physical bodies and they're talking about music together and what bands they like and what records Third Man is putting out that they've got, and we have Third Man playing onstage. There's nothing going on here in the virtual world, this is all real. That's the thing about coming to a festival, people really want to experience music. Show less «

I'd make a White Stripes record right now. I'd be in the White Stripes for the rest of my life. That...Show more »

I'd make a White Stripes record right now. I'd be in the White Stripes for the rest of my life. That band is the most challenging, important, fulfilling thing ever to happen to me. I wish it was still here. It's something I really, really miss. Show less «

Well, as a songwriter, it's really dangerous to use the word love in a song. It's a word that has be...Show more »

Well, as a songwriter, it's really dangerous to use the word love in a song. It's a word that has been used in songs so many millions of times before, and it's the most popular topic to ever write about. Show less «

I would never purposely sing a song about someone I love, I wouldn't want to embarrass them. But for...Show more »

I would never purposely sing a song about someone I love, I wouldn't want to embarrass them. But for someone I don't like... I would definitely do that. Show less «

I keep guitars that are, you know, the neck's a little bit bent and it's a little bit out of tune. I...Show more »

I keep guitars that are, you know, the neck's a little bit bent and it's a little bit out of tune. I want to work and battle it and conquer it and make it express whatever attitude I have at that moment. I want it to be a struggle. Show less «

I really don't like to take the easy way out, if I can help it, on anything I do, I like to really m...Show more »

I really don't like to take the easy way out, if I can help it, on anything I do, I like to really make it a challenge. I don't know how to create by taking the easy routes. I've tried, you know, I've tried to let myself, but I always struggle to compensate. Show less «

Nowadays, everybody assumes, when they wake up in the morning, if they have a question, it will get ...Show more »

Nowadays, everybody assumes, when they wake up in the morning, if they have a question, it will get answered. Because they have the internet. No matter what the question is, someone will answer their question. Show less «

Vinyl is the real deal. I've always felt like, until you buy the vinyl record, you don't really own ...Show more »

Vinyl is the real deal. I've always felt like, until you buy the vinyl record, you don't really own the album. And it's not just me or a little pet thing or some kind of retro romantic thing from the past. It is still alive. Show less «

A lot of people in the media, and some everyday people, really aren't in search of the truth. They'r...Show more »

A lot of people in the media, and some everyday people, really aren't in search of the truth. They're in search of something worse than that. Money, yeah. I think the media's the kind of a thing where the truth doesn't win, because it's no fun. The truth's no fun. Show less «

That's what happens nowadays with people working on computers. They can so easily fix things with th...Show more »

That's what happens nowadays with people working on computers. They can so easily fix things with their mouse and take out all the, 'Oh, somebody coughed in the background; we need to take that out' - or somebody hit a bad note. Those are all the best moments. Show less «

For new bands, I think a major label is the safest place to be. Independent labels are the ones gett...Show more »

For new bands, I think a major label is the safest place to be. Independent labels are the ones getting away with murder. A lot of them are hobbyists who rip-off young bands, taking advantage of people who would never get signed to a major. Show less «

I grew up in the 90s in the time of grunge when if you didn't go on stage in jeans and a T shirt you...Show more »

I grew up in the 90s in the time of grunge when if you didn't go on stage in jeans and a T shirt you weren't 'real.' That seemed ridiculous to me. Show less «

There's Catholic guilt about things, then there's the guilt of being the youngest of 10, so when nic...Show more »

There's Catholic guilt about things, then there's the guilt of being the youngest of 10, so when nice things happen to you, you're not really allowed to enjoy them. Show less «

I dabbled in things like Howlin' Wolf, Cream and Led Zeppelin, but when I heard Son House and Robert...Show more »

I dabbled in things like Howlin' Wolf, Cream and Led Zeppelin, but when I heard Son House and Robert Johnson, it blew my mind. It was something I'd been missing my whole life. That music made me discard everything else and just get down to the soul and honesty of the blues. Show less «

I certainly wouldn't want a song that I'd already written to be used on a commercial. That seems str...Show more »

I certainly wouldn't want a song that I'd already written to be used on a commercial. That seems strange. Show less «

My mother was 45 when she had me, so when I was in high school my parents were the same age as my fr...Show more »

My mother was 45 when she had me, so when I was in high school my parents were the same age as my friends' grandparents. Show less «

I just think old old movies, they make you concentrate and pay attention so much more. They feel so ...Show more »

I just think old old movies, they make you concentrate and pay attention so much more. They feel so warm. A lot of modern digital videotape, it's just too bright. Don't know why, it's not warm. Show less «

My mother's the youngest of 10 children too, so we have sort of a special bond in that we know what ...Show more »

My mother's the youngest of 10 children too, so we have sort of a special bond in that we know what that feels like. It's a strange spot to be in. Show less «

It is a myth that art has to be sold. It is not like stocking a grocery store where people fill a pu...Show more »

It is a myth that art has to be sold. It is not like stocking a grocery store where people fill a pushcart. Art is a product that has no apparent need. The salesperson builds the need in the mind of the buyer. Show less «

I have so much music inside me I'm just trying to stay afloat. I don't tend to write for a particula...Show more »

I have so much music inside me I'm just trying to stay afloat. I don't tend to write for a particular band - you have to just write the songs and then let God into the room and let the music tell you what to do. Show less «

People aren't buying records like they used to, so it's nice to try to figure out a way to make them...Show more »

People aren't buying records like they used to, so it's nice to try to figure out a way to make them do it. I would enjoy the same thing to own an old movie house, to try to trick people to come in - like having 3-D or Smell-o-Vision or Vibra-Vision or something. Mcguffins to get people interested. Show less «

I've always felt it's ridiculous to say, of any of the females in my life: You're my friend, you're ...Show more »

I've always felt it's ridiculous to say, of any of the females in my life: You're my friend, you're my wife, you're my girlfriend, you're my co-worker. This is your box, and you're not allowed to stray outside of it. Show less «

I know that's blasphemous when you are from Detroit, but I was never a fan of Motown stuff. I don't ...Show more »

I know that's blasphemous when you are from Detroit, but I was never a fan of Motown stuff. I don't care for the production much. Show less «

I think that sometimes love gets in the way of itself - you know, love interrupts itself. We want th...Show more »

I think that sometimes love gets in the way of itself - you know, love interrupts itself. We want things so much that we sabotage them. Show less «

Younger musicians might look at someone who's quote-unquote "made it," and think well, that's it, th...Show more »

Younger musicians might look at someone who's quote-unquote "made it," and think well, that's it, they won the lottery now they can do whatever they want, and that means go to the Bahamas and just party all the time. But my opinion has always been if you call yourself an artist, you have a responsibility to that liberty that you've given yourself. You don't have a day job where you work 9 to 5 at a factory because your an artist? Well, okay, well then you better make some art. That doesn't mean you can sit around all day and do nothing. That's the way I treat myself, and those are the artists I respect who do that. And it doesn't have anything to do with being a workaholic or anything like that; it's about creating all the time, because that's what you can't help but do. Show less «

The way I like to start a new project is to take a cover song and make a stab at it, ideally one tha...Show more »

The way I like to start a new project is to take a cover song and make a stab at it, ideally one that has nothing to do with the people in the room. Show less «

I won't join another band again.

I consider music to be storytelling, melody and rhythm. A lot of hip-hop has broken music down. Ther...Show more »

I consider music to be storytelling, melody and rhythm. A lot of hip-hop has broken music down. There are no instruments and no songwriting. So you're left with just storytelling and rhythm. And the storytelling can be so braggadocious, you're just left with rhythm. Show less «

I was in a Montessori school. There was a drum circle with all the kids passing around a little bong...Show more »

I was in a Montessori school. There was a drum circle with all the kids passing around a little bongo drum. I was the last person in the circle, and when it got to me I played 'Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits' - in front of all the parents. Blew the crowd away at five years old. Show less «

Jack White

Jack White's FILMOGRAPHY

Jack White'S roles

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