... met as teenagers, in the Detroit restaurant where Meg worked. They married in 1996, when they were both 21 years old. Unusually, Jack (who was born John Anthony Gillis) took Meg's surname.
Jack White was already playing drums in a band with friends. He'd also played guitar, and he returned to that instrument after Meg took up the drums in July 1997. He described making music with Meg as "liberating and refreshing"; they formed a band more or less immediately, playing their first gig in August 1997.
The White Stripes' first album was released in 1999, and was followed by a second in 2000, but later that year the Whites divorced. There were five more albums, the last in 2007; the band split in 2011.
Around the time of their third album, which was released in 2001 and proved to be their commercial breakthrough, the Whites took to describing themselves as brother and sister. In 2006 and 2008 Jack recorded two albums with The Raconteurs, and in 2008 he duetted with Alicia Keys on the theme song to the Bond film Quantum of Solace. Between 2009 and 2015 he recorded three albums with The Dead Weather. He continues to work as a solo artist and producer, but Meg has not been active in music since the break–up of the White Stripes.
Jack White was married to the English model and singer Karen Elson from 2005 to 2013; they have a son and a daughter. Meg White was married to Jackson Smith, the son of singer Patti Smith and Fred 'Sonic' Smith (guitarist in MC5) from 2009 to 2013.
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