Joan Jett

Joan Jett is not married and has no children. She has kept her personal life and sexual orientation private, saying in a 1994 interview that she would neither confirm nor deny speculation about whether she was lesbian or bisexual.

Jett has been a vegetarian since the late 1980s and supports animal-rights organizations including PETA and Farm Sanctuary. She lives in Long Beach, New York, and has been a New York resident since the late 1970s.

Jett entered the music business as a teenager when she co-founded the Runaways with drummer Sandy West. The classic lineup included Lita Ford, Jackie Fox, and Cherie Currie, with Jett playing guitar, singing, and writing or co-writing songs. Kim Fowley managed and produced the band.

The Runaways developed a hard-rock and punk-pop sound and toured the United States, Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada, and South America. Their songs included "Cherry Bomb," which Jett co-wrote with Fowley, and the group earned three gold records in Japan. After Currie and Fox left, Jett took over as lead singer. The Runaways released four studio albums between 1976 and 1978 before breaking up in 1979.

Jett later served as an executive producer on The Runaways, a 2010 biographical film about the band. Kristen Stewart portrayed Jett, while Dakota Fanning played Currie. Jett helped Stewart prepare for the role by sharing old audio recordings and spending time with her.

After the Runaways disbanded, Jett recorded music in England with former Sex Pistols members Paul Cook and Steve Jones. She then worked with producer Kenny Laguna, who became her long-term collaborator. When 23 record companies rejected her first solo album, Jett and Laguna founded Blackheart Records in 1980 and released the record independently. It was later reissued as Bad Reputation.

Jett formed Joan Jett and the Blackhearts with Laguna's assistance. Their 1981 album I Love Rock 'n' Roll produced a number-one title track, a cover of the Arrows' 1975 song that topped the Billboard Hot 100 for seven consecutive weeks. The recording became Jett's signature song and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2016. The album also included her cover of "Crimson and Clover" and helped establish the Blackhearts as one of the most prominent rock bands of the 1980s.

Jett followed the album with Album in 1983, Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth in 1984, and Good Music in 1986. Her 1988 album Up Your Alley returned her to the charts with "I Hate Myself for Loving You," which reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, and "Little Liar." Later releases included The Hit List, Notorious, Pure and Simple, Naked, Sinner, and Unvarnished.

In the 1990s, Jett produced and performed with female-led punk bands including Bikini Kill, L7, and Babes in Toyland. She also formed Evil Stig with the surviving members of the Gits in tribute to the band's singer Mia Zapata, whose 1993 murder prompted benefit performances and fundraising efforts. Jett and the Blackhearts released the acoustic album Changeup in 2022 and the six-song EP Mindsets in 2023.

Jett's acting work includes the musical drama film Light of Day (1987), in which she starred alongside Michael J. Fox and Gena Rowlands. She later appeared in The Sweet Life, Boogie Boy, By Hook or by Crook, Repo! The Genetic Opera, and Big Driver. Her television credits include Highlander: The Series, Ellen, Walker, Texas Ranger, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Muppets, and voice roles in Steven Universe, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, and Bubble Guppies. She also played Columbia in the Broadway production of The Rocky Horror Show in 2000.

Jett has supported animal rights, the United Service Organizations, gun-control advocacy, and other social causes. She has toured for the USO for more than 20 years and performed at events connected with the military. Her song "Bad Reputation" has been used as entrance music by Ronda Rousey, including at WrestleMania 35, while Jett has performed "I Hate Myself for Loving You" with Carrie Underwood for Sunday Night Football.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. Jett has appeared on Rolling Stone's lists of the greatest guitarists, received the Golden God Award and the Alternative Press Icon Award, and was the subject of the 2018 documentary Bad Reputation. Her influence has also been recognized by riot grrrl musicians and by later female rock performers.