According to a post I found on Facebook, Pearl was a nickname that Janis Joplin adopted around spring 1970, for "the ballsy, hard–talking, barfly image she so often took on." This was not just a stage persona, but a "protective strategy" against her feelings of vulnerability.
Janis Joplin died on the 4th of October 1970, aged 27 years and 288 days, of a heroin overdose (possibly compounded by alcohol). Her second solo album, entitled Pearl, was released just over three months later, on the 11th of January 1971.
© Haydn Thompson 2023