Joan Jett & the Blackhearts will be performing at the Nutty Brown Amphitheatre Saturday, August 21 with doors opening at 6 pm to the public. This is an all-ages show with only GA tickets left being sold for $45.

Jett was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 12 years old. By the time she was 15, she had formed her first band and was performing around town. Kim Fowley, a Los Angeles record producer, discovered the band at one of their gigs and became their manager; soon, he renamed the all-female group the Runaways and secured them a contract with Mercury Records. The band released three albums that never had much commercial success in America, yet were very popular in Japan; the group was popular in both the Los Angeles hard rock and punk scenes, which led to Jett’s production of the Germs’ first record, (GI). The Runaways group broke up in 1980 and Jett moved to New York to begin a solo career.

Teaming up with producer/manager Kenny Laguna, Jett independently released her self-titled debut album in 1980 in America, since no labels were interested in signing her. The record was a more traditional rock & roll record than the punky Runaways, yet it retained her previous band’s defiant attitude. The record sold very well for an independent release, leading to a contract with Boardwalk Records, who reissued the album under the title Bad Reputation; it soon climbed to number 51 on the American charts.

Jett formed the Blackhearts between Bad Reputation and her second album, 1981’s I Love Rock-n-Roll; the group included guitarist Ricky Byrd, bassist Gary Ryan, and drummer Lee Crystal. Released at the end of 1981, I Love Rock-n-Roll became her greatest success, sending her into the Top Ten. Originally the B-side of an Arrows single, the title track was an enormous success, spending seven weeks at number one in the spring of 1982. The follow-up single, a version of Tommy James & the Shondells’ “Crimson and Clover,” went Top Ten as well; a single of Gary Glitter’s “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah),” taken from the Bad Reputation album, reached number 20 in the summer of 1982. Album, released in 1983, went gold yet had no hits that compared with either “I Love Rock ‘n Roll” or “Crimson and Clover.”

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

Saturday, August 21

Doors: 6 pm

All ages

GA: $45

Nutty Brown Amphitheatre

12225 Hwy 290 W

Austin, TX 78737

Purchase ticket here

More information here