Megan Martha White (born December 10, 1974 in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan) is best known as the drummer and backing vocalist of Detroit alternative rock duo The White Stripes.
Jack White spent much of the 1990s (and the early part of their marriage) hopping from band to band, but in 1997, Meg first tried playing drums. In Jack's words, "When she started to play drums with me, just on a lark, it felt liberating and refreshing. There was something in it that opened me up." The young couple then began calling themselves the White Stripes and soon played their first gig at the Gold Dollar in Detroit. In keeping live performances to three basic elements, Jack did the guitar and vocal work while she played drums. They divorced in 2000 (before becoming nationally famous) but the band survived.
Though Jack White (the duo's guitarist and songwriter) usually sings the lead vocals, Meg White sings lead on "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. Both Meg and Jack sing vocals on the track "Well It's True That We Love One Another" from Elephant. For his part, Jack White has declared her to be the key component in the White Stripes' sound. In reference to her "primal" approach to drumming, she remarked, "That is my strength. A lot of drummers would feel weird about being that simplistic."
White has 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.
On October 7, 2005, a picture posted on the Nine Inch Nails website of White with the band led to speculation that she replaced drummer Jerome Dillon, but two hours later, the photo was replaced with one of the band with Alex Carapetis. The significance of the photo featuring White is unclear, as she was never officially announced to be Nine Inch Nails' drummer, nor has any other explanation been given regarding the photo.
Fulfilling a longtime dream, Jack and Meg White guest starred on the long-running animated TV series The Simpsons in an episode titled "Jazzy and the Pussycats", which first aired on September 17, 2006. She has done some modeling for Marc Jacobs' 2006 Spring line. Two of her pictures appeared in the March 2006 issue of ELLE.
Meg White was chosen by Comedian/Director Bob Odenkirk to compose a drum theme for one of his characters in the film Let's Go to Prison, which was released in November 2006.
