In a week filled with some momentous events in his hometown of Detroit, Jack White capped everything off by proposing to his girlfriend, singer Olivia Jean, and marrying her on stage after his concert at the Masonic Temple on April 8, in front of a sold-out crowd, bandmates, and family.
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Bringing Jean on stage for a duet of the White Stripes’ 2001 hit “Hotel Yorba,” White introduced his girlfriend to the audience and then said he had a question for her. “Yeah?” asked Jean. “Will you marry me?” asked White, presenting Jean with a ring. Jean said “yes” and White continued into the next line of the “Hotel Yorba”: Let’s get married.
The concert, marked the first night of White’s Supply Chain Issues tour, and followed a string of events in Detroit for White during week. On April 7 White performed a guitar rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the Detroit Tigers’ home opener against the Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park. Then, on April 8, White released the first of two albums, Fear of the Dawn. Another album, Entering Heaven Alive, is set for release on July 22, both via his Third Man label.
Following a short break after the concert, White returned on stage with Jean for the nuptials.
“It’s been such a great day, mind if we get married right now?” asked White. In addition to the sold out audience in attendance for the wedding were White’s mother, Teresa Gillis, Jean’s father, Brent Markel, White’s bandmates, who all gathered on stage as the officiant quoted Prince’s 1984 hit “Let’s Go Crazy”:
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life.
Photo: David James Swanson
