... were married in 1996. Unusually, Jack (who was born Jack Gillis) took Meg's surname.
Jack White was already playing drums in a band with friends, and in July 1997 Meg took up the same instrument. Jack described making music with Meg as "refreshing and liberating"; they formed a band more or less immediately, playing their first gig in August 1997.
The White Stripes' first album was released in 1999, but the Whites divorced in 2000 – between the second and third albums. There were four more albums, the last in 2007; the band split in 2011.
Around the time of their third album in 2001, which proved to be their commercial breakthrough, the Whites took to claiming to be brother and sister. In 2006 and 2008 Jack recorded two albums with The Raconteurs, and in 2008 he duetted with Alicia Keys on the theme song to the Bond film Quantum of Solace. Between 2009 and 2015 he recorded three albums with The Dead Weather. He continues to word as a solo artist and producer, but Meg has not been active in music since the break–up of the White Stripes.
Jack White was married to the English model and singer Karen Elson from 2005 to 2013; they have a son and a daughter. Meg White was married to Jackson Smith, the son of singer Patti Smith and Fred 'Sonic' Smith (guitarist in MC5) from 2009 to 2013.
© Haydn Thompson 2017