Before They Were Rock Stars: The White Stripes

Lullaby Renditions of The White Stripes is almost here!

Whether you're picking up a copy for the little one in your life or for yourself (we know not all of you buy for the baby!), we can thank Meg White and Jack White for music that seriously rocks. Perhaps you have a future rock star or punk rocker in your brood-or expecting one? Curious what The White Stripes were like before they were rock stars? Megan White grew up the younger of two children in Grosse Point Woods, Michigan, and was remembered by high school classmates as a quiet, artsy type.

While John Anthony Gillis (Jack White), who also was from the Detroit area, was the youngest of 10 children. He was raised in a Catholic household, served as an altar boy and, apparently, at one point during his early teens, considered becoming a priest. But music obviously was his true calling. He actually started playing drums in the first grade and went on to also learn the guitar and piano. Before even starting high school, Jack was a one-kid band, recording his own songs. Young Meg, on the other hand, didn't befriend a drum set until she was in her twenties. And guess who brought them together? Her then husband, Jack. She's been quoted as saying that when she started playing drums with him in those early days "it was childlike." Turned out that childlike style combined with Jack's was just the sound the world wanted to hear. So let this "before they were rock stars" story be an inspiration to us all: You're never too young, or too old to start rocking. And if you don't have an instrument, we have a few DIY instruments to make some noise with.