The White Stripes Biography

The White Stripes were a blues-rock duo from Detroit, Michigan, made up of Jack White (guitar and vocals) and Meg White (drums).

Stylish and savvy, they began playing together in 1997 and at first were famously cagey about their real backgrounds — were they brother and sister, spouses, or something else? (In fact, they were married from 1996 until a divorce in 2000.) They had modest early success with singles before their debut LP The White Stripes was released in 1999 to wide critical acclaim, especially in the U.K.

Their subsequent albums De Stijl (2000), White Blood Cells (2001), Elephant (2003) and Get Behind Me Satan (2005) received equally good press and spawned singles and videos, including “We’re Going to Be Friends” (featured in the film Napolean Dynamite), “Fell in Love With a Girl,” “Seven Nation Army” and “Blue Orchid.” The song “Seven Nation Army,” with its simple and catchy guitar riff, has become a staple in football stadiums and other sports arenas worldwide; the White Stripes protested when it was used in a video to promote U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016.

Jack White also formed the band The Raconteurs, whose 2006 album, Broken Boy Soldiers, included the single “Steady As She Goes.” The White Stripes released their sixth album, Icky Thump in 2007. But in 2011 they officially split up the band with a posting on their website: “The White Stripes would like to announce that today, February 2nd, 2011, their band has officially ended and will make no further new recordings or perform live.”