Jack White was born John Anthony Gillis

on 9th July 1975 into a musical, catholic

family of 10 children in Detroit. He

learned to play the guitar, drums and

piano. He played in many bands growing

up including The Go, Two Star Tabernacle.

At 17 he was offered an apprenticeship

at Muldoon Studio-an upholstery shop.

During his time at Muldoon Studios, he

formed a band with Brian Muldoon, the

owner; they produced a 3-track single

called The Upholsterers. Jack went on to

have his own business, Third Man

upholstery at about 21 years of age.

Around this time he met Meg White, a bartender, and they married in 1996. On Bastille Day 1997, the story goes that Jack was practicing guitar when he sat Meg behind a drum kit and loved how she played, child-like. They formed the band there and then with Jack playing guitar and singing and Meg on drums, they named themselves The White Stripes, after Meg's favorite sweet-peppermints. With Meg's primitive drumming, their basic sound and their uniform appearance of red and white, they made an image of being innocent and child-like, also saying they were siblings. They were signed to Sympathy for the Record Industry, and in 1999 they produced a self-titled album. By this time they had ceased living together and divorced in the year their second album, De Stijl (2000) was made. The band remained intact and signed to a bigger label, V2 Records. Under this record label they made White Blood Cells and their current album, and most popular was the 2003 Elephant. Jack furthered this fame by appearing in blockbuster civil war movie Cold Mountain (2003). He also faced a few mishaps -- including a car crash in which he broke a finger and had to have screws put into his hand, which canceled many gigs.