Jack White (musician) - Early Life

Early Life

Of Polish, Scottish, and Canadian descent, John Anthony Gillis, the son of Teresa and Gorman Gillis, was born the youngest of ten children (six brothers, three sisters) in a lower middle-class neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan. He grew up in a Catholic family. His father and mother worked for the Archdiocese of Detroit, as the Building Maintenance Superintendent and secretary in the Cardinal's office, respectively. White eventually became an altar boy, which landed him an uncredited role in the 1987 movie The Rosary Murders, filmed mainly at Holy Redeemer parish in southwest Detroit. As a child he was a fan of classical music. He attended Cass Technical High School in Detroit.

He began playing an instrument, a drum, at the age of six. As a teenager, White was already listening to the blues and 1960s rock that would influence him in The White Stripes, Son House and Blind Willie McTell being among his favorite blues musicians. He and his childhood friend, Dominic Suchyta (NKA Dominic Davis), would listen to records in White's attic on weekends and began to record cover songs on an old four-track reel to reel tape machine. At the time White was described as "a kid with short hair and braces". He has said in many interviews that Son House's "Grinnin' In Your Face" is his favorite song of all time.

In 2005 on 60 Minutes, White told Mike Wallace that his life could have turned out differently. "I'd got accepted to a seminary in Wisconsin, and I was gonna become a priest, but at the last second I thought, 'I'll just go to public school. I had just gotten a new amplifier in my bedroom, and I didn't think I was allowed to take it with me." At 15, White began a three-year upholstery apprenticeship with a family friend, Brian Muldoon. White credits Muldoon with exposing him to punk music and pushing him to play music with Muldoon as a band: "He played drums, well I guess I'll play guitar then." The two recorded an album, Makers of High Grade Suites, as The Upholsterers. White later started a one-man business of his own, Third Man Upholstery. The slogan of his business was "Your Furniture's Not Dead" and the color scheme was yellow and black—including a yellow van, a yellow-and-black uniform, and a yellow clipboard. Although Third Man Upholstery never lacked business, White claims that it was unprofitable, because of his complacency about money and his business practices that were perceived as unprofessional, including making bills out in crayon and writing poetry inside the furniture. Shortly thereafter, White landed his first professional gig, as the drummer for the Detroit band Goober & the Peas. He also played in other local bands and did solo shows.