December 10: Meg White, formerly of The White Stripes, is 39-years-old today.

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UPDATE:

It's official:  Jack White and Meg White announced The White Stripes are officially dissolving and "will make no further new recordings or perform live." They said there are a "myriad of reasons" for the breakup, but the main reason is to "preserve what is beautiful and special about the band."

The last recording by the White Stripes was the live album Under the Great White Northern Lights, released in 2010. 

Drummer Megan Martha "Meg" White was born in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan in 1974, Michigan and grew up in Detroit. She is best known as one half of the Detroit rock duo The White Stripes, with her ex-husband Jack White.

Jack White spent much of the 1990s hopping from band to band. In the early 1990s, Meg White worked as a bartender at Memphis Smoke, a bar in downtown Royal Oak, Michigan, where she first met musician/songwriter John Anthony "Jack" Gillis. They were married on September 21, 1996, and in an unusual twist, Gillis took her last name, White. They divorced on March 24, 2000.

The two began calling themselves The White Stripes and soon played their first gig at the Gold Dollar in Detroit.

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During their performances, Jack mostly played guitar and sang work while she played drums. On occasions, Meg sang lead. For example, "In the Cold, Cold Night," from the band's fourth album, Elephant; "Passive Manipulation," from the band's fifth album, Get Behind Me Satan; "Who's a Big Baby," the B-side to "Blue Orchid"; and "St. Andrew (This Battle Is in the Air)," from the band's sixth album Icky Thump.

The first time Meg sang along on a White Stripes record was with Jack on "Your Southern Can is Mine" from De Stijl.

Meg and Jack White share vocals on "Hotel Yorba" and "This Protector" from White Blood Cells, "Well It's True That We Love One Another" on Elephant, and "Rag and Bone" from Icky Thump. White has also appeared on the cover of Whirlwind Heat's single "Pink," in a Detroit Cobras music video "Cha Cha Twist" as Little Red Riding Hood, and appeared with Jack White in a segment of Jim Jarmusch's 2003 film Coffee and Cigarettes.

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Meg White also has a song dedicated to her by Ray LaMontagne entitled "Meg White," which appears on LaMontagne's album Gossip in the Grain.

On September 11, 2007, the White Stripes were forced to cancel 18 tour dates due to Meg White's acute anxiety. The following day, these problems caused the duo to cancel the remainder of their 2007 UK tour dates as well. Meg recovered and appeared onstage during an encore set at a Detroit show with The Raconteurs in June 2008.

In May 2009, Meg married guitarist Jackson Smith, son of punk musicians Patti Smith and Fred "Sonic" Smith. The wedding occurred in Nashville, Tennessee in a small ceremony in Jack White's backyard.

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