Meg White

Who is Meg White? One of the most intriguing rock characters. She is shy, very shy. She doesn’t want to speak or say things. She is the loudest quiet people of the world.

Meg White was born in 1974 in Detroit. Since she was a kid, she always has been very quiet, but very touching with a strong artistic side. While she was working in a restaurant, she met John Gillis, who is going to be the famous Jack White later. And then, her life was ready to change.

Jack was first a drummer and he used to play in several bands. But one day the young Meg started to play on his drum kits. What happened then is history. Jack saw on her a big potential. “It felt liberating and refreshing” he said. They played then their first performance on the Gold Dollar in Detroit under the name on the White Stripes. Until the end of the band they kept playing live performances to three elements, Jack did the guitar and the vocal work while she was playing the drums.

The band released its self-titled debut album in 1999, and year later they released another one, the one which made the difference De Stijl.

The style of Meg White behind the drums is definite as simple but explosive. The Times even said about her “she reduced the art of drumming to its primary components, bashing the snare and cymbal together on alternating beats with the bass drum in a way that recalled Moe Tucker of The Velvet Underground”. Even if it is a way to play that can please people, Meg White received at the same time a lot of critics. Some of people thought she was playing only rudimentary with no skills at all. For her that is specifically her strength. For Jack there is no doubt. She is a “strong female presence in rock and roll” and “the best part of this band”.

But all of this, plus the success, made Meg White ill. For one of the quietest people in the world, she had to play in front of thousand of people every night. Famous came also with false news about her, talking about her private life. In 2007 the White Stripes had to cancel number of tour dates due to Meg’s acute anxiety. In 2009, they finally made a TV show appearance for the releasing of their last album, a mix between live songs and a documentary. Two years later in 2011, the band reported on their official website that they were disbanding.

However, since then, everybody is still talking about her. She is fascinating. Where is she? What is she doing? Is she working on new music projects? Because, if for Jack, music life is going well, with two other bands – The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather – and three solo albums, it is not quite the same for Meg. Since February 2011 and the end of the White Stripes, she hasn’t been active in the music industry.

For Jack White it is not surprising though a bit sad. “I don’t think anyone talks to Meg. She’s always been a hermit” he said. For him it is not only from today and she was always quiet and not elusive when they were playing together. He recalled the famous quote from Ringo Starr saying “I always felt sorry for Elvis, because in the Beatles we had each other to talk about what it felt like. Elvis was by himself”. And Jack to answer “Shit, try being in a two-piece where the other person doesn’t talk!”.

So why everybody is still interested by her? Because at the end she was a great artist, a strong drummer and eventually a strong woman. She inspired probably a generation of young girls who want to play drum, like the daughter of Dave Grohl who said Meg was her favourite drummer (and not her dad!). For Grohl, White was a good drummer and very recognizable. “She is one of those drummers that if you hear 15 seconds of her recording, you’ll know who it is and that to me has always been the gold standard” he said.

White also inspired the artist Ray Lamontagne who wrote a song about her, called simply “Meg White”. He released the song on Gossip in the Grain in 2008. You can hear that for him she was a big part of the band and that he really wants to take a walk with her. “Meg White – baby you are the bomb – Old Jack is great – Don’t get me wrong – But this is your song”.

After all these years, Meg is still in our mind and we really miss her. And don’t forget, even if she hasn’t released any work in a decade, she participated at the creation of one of the most famous rock anthems, “Seven Nation Army”.