Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin on September 22, 1958) is an American rock guitarist, singer, producer and actress.

She’s 49!

She is best known for her hit single “I Love Rock N’ Roll”, which was #1 on the Billboard charts from March 20 to May 8, 1982, as well as for her other popular recordings including “Crimson and Clover”, “Do You Wanna Touch Me”, “Light of Day”, “I Hate Myself for Loving You”, “Little Liar”, and “Love is All Around”. Jett has a mezzo-soprano vocal range.

At age 15 Jett ran away from home after receiving a call from her boyfriend, who was sleeping with her mother. She took only a picture of a jukebox with her boyfriend standing beside it. She then helped form The Runaways.

Kim Fowley and Sandy West called her hotel while on the road. Kari Krome (replaced by Micki Steele and later Jackie Fox), Lita Ford, and Cherie Currie completed the line-up. While Currie initially fronted the band, Jett also sang lead vocal, played rhythm guitar and wrote or co-wrote much of the band’s material. The band recorded five LPs, with one becoming one of the biggest-selling imports in U.S. and U.K. history. The band toured around the world and some of their opening acts included Cheap Trick, Van Halen, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and The Vanden Dungen band (1977). They found massive success abroad, especially in Japan.

With Laguna’s assistance, she formed the Blackhearts. Joan placed an ad in the L.A. Weekly “looking for three good men.” John Doe of X sat in on bass for the auditions held at S.I.R. studios in Los Angeles. He mentioned a local bass player, Gary Ryan, that had recently been crashing on his couch. Ryan was part of the L.A. punk scene and had played bass with local artists Top Jimmy and Rik L. Rik. He had been a huge fan of the Runaways and Jett for years. Joan recognized him at the audition and he was in. Gary recommended guitarist Eric Ambel, who also at the time part of the Rik L. Rik band. The final addition to the original Blackhearts was drummer Danny “Furious” O’Brien, formerly of the infamous San Francisco band, The Avengers. This line-up played several gigs at the Golden Bear and Whiskey a Go-Go in Hollywood before embarking on their first European tour; which consisted of an extensive tour of Holland and a few key shows in England including the Marquee in London.

Upon returning to the states, Jett, Ryan, and Ambel moved to Long Beach, N.Y. O’Brien stayed behind in England to pursue other interests. Auditions were set up and Lee Crystal, formerly of The Boyfriends, became the new drummer. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts then toured throughout the states and built quite a following in their new “hometown” of New York. Jett and Laguna soon used their personal savings to press up copies of the Bad Reputation album and set up their own system of independent distribution, sometimes selling the albums out of the trunk of their car at the end of each concert. Laguna was unable to keep up with demand for her album. Eventually, old friend and founder of Casablanca Records, Neil Bogart, made a joint venture with Laguna and signed Jett to his new label, Boardwalk Records. After a year of touring and recording, The Blackhearts recorded a new album for the label. During the recording process, Ambel was replaced by local guitarist Ricky Byrd. Eric went on to a successful career as a founding member of the Del-Lords, and later worked as a producer of a wide variety of bands. He currently plays with his band, The Yayhoos, and is Steve Earle’s guitar slinger.

With Byrd on guitar, Joan and the Blackhearts recorded their hit album. The new single was a re-recording of the title track, “I Love Rock N’ Roll”, which in the first half of 1982 was number one on the Billboard charts for seven weeks in a row. It is now Billboard’s #28 song of all time.

In the above video, produced in color… they felt that the red suit didn’t look good, so the video that immediately followed and ran for the duration, was the same in black and white.

On November 12, 2007, Jett and the Blackhearts are to appear with Motörhead and Alice Cooper in the Bournemouth Internation Center. Jett is to open eight American shows on Aerosmith’s 2007 World Tour.

Other September 22nd Birthdays:

Shari Belafonte-Harper-Actress/Singer -53
Debby Boone-Singer -51
Scott Baio-Actor -46
Bonnie Hunt-Actress -43
Tom Felton-Actor -20