Back to 16 Best Posthumous Albums
Janis Joplin 'Pearl'
Columbia
Janis Joplin's 1971 album Pearl was released a few months after she died from a heroin overdose at age 27 -- just 16 days after Jimi Hendrix (who also died at 27). The only album recorded with The Full Tilt Boogie Band, her final touring outfit, Pearl spawned such classics as "Cry Baby" and "Me and Bobby McGee" -- but record's pièce de résistance is the a capella "Mercedes Benz."
