Janis Joplin's guitarist Sam Andrew dead at 73

A founding member of Janis Joplin’s band Big Brother And The Holding Company has died.

Guitarist Sam Andrew was 73 when he died last week following open-heart surgery. As well as his work with Joplin, Andrew composed classical music and wrote music for films.

He formed Big Brother And The Holding Company in the early 60s and recruited Joplin in 1966. They went on to record classics like Piece Of My Heart and Summertime.

The pair quit the group in 1968 and recorded an album together. Andrew returned to the band after Joplin’s death in 1970 and remained a member until the 1990s.

A post on Big Brother And The Holding Company’s Facebook page reads: “Dear friends, yesterday, 10 weeks after his heart attack and the open-heart surgery that followed it, Sam lost his gallant fight to hold on to the life he lived so well. He died peacefully in his wife Elise’s arms at 5:15pm.

“There will be much more to say about him in the days to come and there will come a time when we will gather together to remember him. Now is a time for Elise to regather her strength after the long vigil she has kept and the vital role she played in overseeing Sam’s care.

“For now we can all remember him in our own ways until we can remember him together. He lived his life in music and art and a loving marriage. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.