For years, Jack and Meg told people they were brother and sister, concocting elaborate stories about how they grew up together they youngest of 10 children, with Meg learning to play on Jack's drum kit. They were actually married. Jack's real last name was Gillis, but he took her last name when they wed in 1996. The brother-sister story was very believable because they look so much alike. They still refer to each other as siblings.
They are from Detroit, but broke out in England long before they gained much attention in America.
On stage, they would only wear red, black and white clothes. Jack feels they are the colors of "Anger and innocence."
Jack likes to use dilapidated equipment, like an old guitar the Montgomery Ward department store used to sell, and a beat-up amplifier. He feels it makes him more creative and distinguishes their sound from the slick production so common in modern music.
The Detroit Free Press was the first publication to break the story that Jack and Meg were married. They did so in March, 2001 after finding their marriage certificate.
Jack was the drummer in a band called Goober And The Peas before forming the White Stripes.
Jack grew up in West Detroit, Meg grew up in Grosse Point, a wealthy suburb.
Jack and Meg both smoke lots of cigarettes, but Jack won't touch alcohol.
Jack collects animal heads. Stuffed ones.
Their album Elephant was released on vinyl before it came out on CD. This helped keep it from getting pirated.
In 2005, Jack married Karen Elson, the model who appeared in the Stripes' "Blue Orchid" video (she's the one who isn't Jack or Meg). He and Elson got divorced in 2013.
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Suggestion credit:
Jim - Newmarket, Canada
In December of 2005 they became the first band to ever perform on Comedy Central's
The Daily Show.
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Kevin - Linden, NJ
Jack pled guilty to a misdemeanor assault and battery charge after getting in a fight with Von Bondies lead singer Jason Stollsteimer.
They appeared as themselves on an episode of The Simpsons when Bart organizes a benefit concert to raise money for an operation after his drumming arm is mangled by a tiger in "Jazzy And The Pussycats."
When they broke up in February 2011, the band didn't give a concrete explanation for their dissolution. "The reason is not due to artistic differences or lack of wanting to continue, nor any health issues as both Meg and Jack are feeling fine and in good health," their statement said in part, although they acknowledged that they wanted to "preserve what is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way."
Jack White: "Everybody's still that same person they were when they were young - at least they still want to be. They still want to have that freedom."
Jack White once worked as an upholstery apprentice.
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Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 4
The White Stripes were recognized in the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records for the shortest music concert ever. The publication reported that on July 16, 2007, the duo played just one note at St. John's in Newfoundland, Canada.
Jack White described the day that Meg White first played the drums. "She sat at the drums and sort of played like a child, because she never played drums before," he said in a 2005 US TV interview. "And it seemed to be something that was really interesting right off the bat. I was just obsessed with it. And I didn't want it to change, I didn't want her to practice. I wanted it to stay childlike."
"I couldn't drum like that if I wanted to," White added. "And I'd never played with a drama like that."
In 2009 Meg White married Jackson Smith, son of Patti and Fred "Sonic" Smith. Their wedding was held in Jack White's backyard in Tennessee. They divorced in 2013.
