Janis Joplin Dies; Rock Star Was 27

October 5, 1970 Janis Joplin Dies; Rock Star Was 27 By REUTERS OLLYWOOD, Oct. 4 -- Janis Joplin, the rock singer, was found dead in her Hollywood apartment tonight. She was 27 years old. The cause of death was not immediately determined, but the police said she apparently died of an overdose of drugs. They said she had been dead for about two hours when she was found shortly after 10 P.M. Miss Joplin was the second noted pop singer to die in less than three weeks. Jimi Hendrix, 27, died in London Sept. 18 after taking nine strong sleeping tablets. She would stand before her audience, microphone in hand, long red hair flailing, her raspy voice shrieking in rock mutations of black country blues. Pellets of sweat flew from her contorted face and glittered in the beam of footlights. Janis Joplin sang with more than her voice. Her involvement was total. She lived that way, too. The girl from Port Arthur, Tex., who moved to stardom by way of the San Francisco rock upsurge, talked openly of t...