The Motherlode: A2Z: J

Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi
Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi

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MUSIC

MAHALIA JACKSON

Mahalia Jackson

Singer Mahalia Jackson carried the power of the Black church onto the world stage, becoming gospel music’s defining voice and lending her songs to the struggle for civil rights.

MUSIC

MICHAEL JACKSON

Michael Jackson

Singer, songwriter and dancer Michael Jackson transformed popular music through astonishing performance, meticulously constructed recordings and groundbreaking videos that made him a global cultural phenomenon.

MUSIC

WANDA JACKSON

Wanda Jackson

Singer and guitarist Wanda Jackson brought fearless energy, country authority and a ferocious growl to rockabilly, earning her place as the Queen of Rockabilly.

ART

MAX JACOB

Max Jacob

Poet, painter and critic Max Jacob stood at the center of avant-garde Paris, joining mysticism, absurdity and linguistic experimentation while encouraging the emerging work of Picasso and Modigliani.

ART

MIMI JACOBS

Mimi Jacobs

Photographer Mimi Jacobs documented the West Coast art world through perceptive portraits of painters and sculptors, including Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham and Wayne Thiebaud.

MUSIC

MICK JAGGER

Mick Jagger

Singer and songwriter Mick Jagger turned blues obsession, sexual provocation and restless physical movement into the commanding public voice of the Rolling Stones.

MUSIC

ETTA JAMES

Etta James

Singer Etta James moved effortlessly through blues, rhythm and blues, soul and rock & roll, bringing raw force and bruised vulnerability to every song she inhabited.

MUSIC

SKIP JAMES

Skip James

Singer, guitarist and pianist Skip James created one of Delta blues’ most haunting sounds, joining intricate fingerpicking, open tuning and an eerie falsetto to songs of isolation and dread.

ART

ALFRED JARRY

Alfred Jarry

Playwright Alfred Jarry detonated theatrical convention with Ubu Roi and invented ’pataphysics, transforming absurdity, vulgarity and anarchic imagination into foundations of the modern avant-garde.

POLITICS

BENJAMIN JEALOUS

Benjamin Jealous

Civil-rights leader Benjamin Jealous became the youngest president of the NAACP, building coalitions around voting rights, criminal-justice reform, education and economic opportunity.

BOOKS

ROBINSON JEFFERS

Robinson Jeffers

Poet Robinson Jeffers transformed California’s rugged coast into a stage for tragic visions of nature, violence and human insignificance, challenging readers to look beyond humanity as the center of existence.

MUSIC

BLIND LEMON JEFFERSON

Blind Lemon Jefferson

Singer and guitarist Blind Lemon Jefferson became one of country blues’ first recording stars, joining an unmistakable high voice with intricate guitar lines that helped define the sound of Texas blues.

MUSIC

JOAN JETT

Joan Jett

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Joan Jett carried the Runaways’ teenage rebellion into a fiercely independent career built on stripped-down riffs, defiance and an unwavering belief in rock & roll.

MUSIC

DAVID JOHANSEN

David Johansen

Singer and songwriter David Johansen helped ignite punk with the New York Dolls before reinventing himself through solo rock, the lounge persona Buster Poindexter and the blues of the Harry Smiths.

ART

JASPER JOHNS

Jasper Johns

Artist Jasper Johns transformed familiar flags, targets, numbers and maps into enigmatic objects, forcing viewers to reconsider the boundary between an everyday symbol and a work of art.

FASHION

BETSEY JOHNSON

Betsey Johnson

Designer Betsey Johnson carried the irreverence of the 1960s counterculture into decades of exuberant fashion filled with punk attitude, playful femininity and her signature runway cartwheel.

MUSIC

BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON

Blind Willie Johnson

Singer and guitarist Blind Willie Johnson fused gospel conviction with piercing slide guitar and a voice of apocalyptic intensity, creating sacred recordings that became foundations of blues and rock.

MUSIC

ROBERT JOHNSON

Robert Johnson

Singer and guitarist Robert Johnson compressed desire, terror and restless motion into twenty-nine recorded songs whose emotional force and musical invention became central to the mythology of the blues.

ART

FANNIE JOHNSTON

Fannie Johnston

Pioneering photographer Frances “Fannie” Benjamin Johnston documented presidents, artists, schools and historic architecture while using self-portraiture to challenge the prescribed image of American womanhood.

FILM

ANGELINA JOLIE

Angelina Jolie

Actor, filmmaker and humanitarian Angelina Jolie built a career around emotionally intense and physically commanding characters while using her global visibility to advocate for refugees and displaced people.

MUSIC

BRIAN JONES

Brian Jones

Multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones founded the Rolling Stones and expanded their blues foundation with sitar, marimba, dulcimer, mellotron and an adventurous instinct for unfamiliar sounds.

MUSIC

GRACE JONES

Grace Jones

Singer, model and actor Grace Jones fused reggae, disco, new wave, fashion and performance art into a commanding persona that overturned conventional boundaries of gender, beauty and celebrity.

ART

ROBERT JONES

Robert Jones

Stage designer Robert Edmond Jones helped transform American theatre through the Provincetown Players, replacing decorative scenery with expressive environments shaped by light, color and dramatic psychology.

MUSIC

STEVE JONES

Steve Jones

Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones built punk’s most imitated wall of sound from massive chords, sharp timing and streetwise economy, giving the band’s chaos a remarkably disciplined musical foundation.

BOOKS

ERICA JONG

Erica Jong

Author and poet Erica Jong made female desire, anxiety and self-invention the unruly center of Fear of Flying, helping reshape the language of sexual freedom in modern fiction.

MUSIC

JANIS JOPLIN

Janis Joplin

Singer Janis Joplin carried the emotional force of blues into psychedelic rock, turning vulnerability, loneliness and unrestrained desire into performances of overwhelming intensity.

MUSIC

CHARLEY JORDAN

Charley Jordan

St. Louis bluesman Charley Jordan fused nimble guitar, sharp observation and an easy rhythmic swing, recording a vivid catalogue shaped by street life, hard times and Prohibition-era nightlife.

MUSIC

LOUIS JORDAN

Louis Jordan

Singer, saxophonist and bandleader Louis Jordan fused jazz precision, blues storytelling and irresistible rhythm into jump blues, creating a direct musical bridge to rhythm and blues and rock & roll.

BOOKS

JAMES JOYCE

James Joyce

Author James Joyce transformed the ordinary streets of Dublin into an immense literary universe, revolutionizing modern fiction through linguistic invention, interior consciousness and radical attention to everyday life.

MUSIC

VALERIE JUNE

Valerie June

Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Valerie June draws folk, blues, gospel, soul and Appalachian traditions into a luminous sound guided by her unmistakable voice and spiritual imagination.

MUSIC

DAMIEN JURADO

Damien Jurado

Singer and songwriter Damien Jurado creates intimate alternative folk populated by troubled characters, uncertain memories and quietly cinematic landscapes balanced between confession and fiction.

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