Janis Joplin’s death was ruled a heroin overdose, at least, according to the coroner’s official report.
Discovered in her Hollywood hotel room on October 4, 1970, the rock and roll legend was clutching her cigarettes in one hand and money in the other. She was 27 years old.
What happened to Janis Joplin?
One of the most gifted and talented singer-songwriters of the 1960s, Joplin had also suffered from serious substance abuse issues.
Her friend Peggy Caserta recalled in her memoir, I Ran Into Some Trouble, that the two 20-somethings commonly shared the same batch of heroin.
All that was left of the star by October 7, however, was a cremated pile of ashes that her family privately scattered from a plane into the Pacific Ocean.
It had only been a year since the counterculture icon bellowed out classics like “Piece of My Heart” for hundreds of thousands of fans at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
