Big Brother and the Holding Company are an American rock band that was formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Jefferson Airplane.

After some initial personnel changes, the band became well known with the lineup of vocalist Janis Joplin, guitarists Sam Andrew and James Gurley, bassist Peter Albin, and drummer Dave Getz.

[5] The pair approached guitarist James Gurley, and the resulting trio played open jam sessions hosted by entrepreneur Chet Helms in 1965.

Helms found them a drummer, Chuck Jones, and "Big Brother and the Holding Company" was formed at their first gig, the Trips Festival in January 1966.

Feeling a need for a strong vocalist, Helms contacted Janis Joplin, who at the time was considering joining up with Roky Erickson of The 13th Floor Elevators.

[10]It took a while for some of the band's followers to accept the new singer, whose musical style differed from the experimental and unconventional sound that Big Brother played at the time.

With the addition of Joplin, they became more disciplined musicians, their songs adopted a more traditional structure, and the band started to increase its popularity in the San Francisco psychedelic scene.

[14][15] In the summer of 1966, the band members moved to Lagunitas, in Marin County, California, to a house that had been originally built by the ethnologist Clinton Hart Merriam.

They lived in there until the beginning of 1967 at which time they put an ad in the San Francisco Oracle with the apparent intention of moving back to the "City".

"[16] One of the band's earliest major performances in 1967 was the Mantra-Rock Dance—a musical event held on January 29, 1967, at the Avalon Ballroom by the San Francisco Hare Krishna temple.

Columbia's marketing department featured Janis Joplin as the star; before that time, some of the band's audience regarded James Gurley as of equal or more importance.

The Village Voice, while noting that “ears came out ringing” after the Saturday night performance, cited Joplin as ranking in sex appeal with Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix, and praised “her belting, groovy style,” mixing Bessie Smith, Aretha Franklin and James Brown.

“At times she seemed to be singing harmony with herself.” Big Brother was the first band to play in the legendary Fillmore East, in New York City, on March 8, 1968.

Initially planned as a live album, the band recorded two concerts at Grande Ballroom in Detroit, but the results did not satisfy the producer John Simon nor the manager Albert Grossman.

[citation needed]) The LP was released in August 1968, one year after their debut album, and reached number one on the Billboard charts in its eighth week in October.

[26][27][28] "Piece of My Heart" would be reissued on a single in the Columbia Hall of Fame oldies series - backed by the title cut from Joplin's first 1969 solo album, I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!.

It was a benefit for the production company known as the Family Dog whose members included Chet Helms, the band's manager from two years earlier.

[20] They auditioned several singers including Eddie Money, Kathi McDonald and John Herald, but the band finally came back together when Sam Andrew left the Kozmic Blues Band in the fall of 1969 with nearly the same line-up (except Joplin): Albin, Andrew, Getz and Gurley were joined by Nick Gravenites (vocals), Dave Schallock (guitar) and Kathi McDonald (vocals).

Gurley moved to bass guitar while Albin played rhythm, Sam Andrew sang more lead vocals with Kathi McDonald (a white blues singer who had been with the Ike and Tina Turner review), David Schallock (from Freedom Highway and Sons of Champlin) on lead guitar, Dave Getz on drums and occasional keyboards.

The band remained with this line-up until 1972, but they gradually fell apart and disbanded amidst drug use, loss of management, lack of gigs and internal squabbles.

[20] The latest incarnation began in 1987, and has been touring part-time ever since with most of its classic line-up; including Sam Andrew, Peter Albin, Dave Getz, and James Gurley.

[33] Big Brother did not have a fixed lead singer until 2011; Michel Bastian, Lisa Battle, Halley DeVestern,[34] Lisa Mills, Jane Kitto (Aus), Andra Mitrovich, Kacee Clanton, Sophia Ramos, Mary Bridget Davies, Duffy Bishop,[35][36] Lana Spence, Chloe Lowery, Jane Myrenget, Lynn Asher, Kate Russo Thompson, Darby Gould, Maria Stanford, Jeri Verdi, and Superfly's Shiho Ochi were among the singers that have played in concerts with them.

In 2008 they released the two-CD set The Lost Tapes, with songs recorded at concerts between 1966 and 1967 in San Francisco, and featuring Janis Joplin as lead singer.

[39] Sam Andrew died on February 12, 2015, following complications from open-heart surgery due to a heart attack suffered ten weeks prior.

Venues included the North Sea Jazz Club in Amsterdam, De Bosuil in Weert, Het Paard in The Hague and Luxor Live in Arnhem.

"Big Brother And The Holding Co Live In The Lowlands" was released in 2017 on DVD and CD by Marista Records featuring this lineup in Weert.

In 2007, following the induction of Cheap Thrills to the Grammy Hall of Fame, former guitar player James Gurley described Big Brother as the most maligned band ever, since they never received appreciation for the arrangements they did and all the engineering tricks he came up with.

Gurley also believed that Clive Davis told Joplin to leave the band and record her songs with studio musicians, who could play better.

[32] In the documentary Nine Hundred Nights, Peter Albin said that the manager Albert Grossman told Joplin to leave Big Brother and form her own band, with studio musicians, in order to spend less money on recording sessions.

The release displeased Big Brother's living members, since their original instruments were all replaced by studio musicians without consulting the band.