Meet Jack White’s striking musician wife he married mid-performance

Not only is Olivia Jean a singer and songwriter, but she also plays multiple instruments after receiving her first guitar from her aunt for her seventh birthday. She now plays a variety of guitars, including the Fender American Professional Jazzmaster and Gretsch George Harrison Duo Jet, drums, piano, and bass.

When Olivia Jean was 13, she attended her first music concert at Detroit’s Masonic Temple, and it was none other than The White Stripes. “My mom loved it,” she told The Huffington Post in 2014.

“When I started taking music a little bit more seriously, I don’t think [my parents] knew my intentions were to try to make a career out of it. So when I became more obsessed with the music, they would get kind of frustrated with me playing all the time. But they were always supportive.”

One look at Olivia Jean’s Instagram and you can see that she has great style, with a penchant for leather and bold patterns. She’s also been rocking winged eyeliner since she was a child and has mastered the perfect cat eye.

“The cat eyes I’ve had since I got my first eyeliner – I think I was 11 when I first colored my hair black and started wearing heavy makeup. My mom would say I looked spooky, and I’d say, ‘Thank you – that’s what I’m going for,'” she told Vogue in 2023. 

“Later, when I was 16, I went to cosmetology school – it was one through my school, so it was not very high-end – and our textbooks were from the ’70s, so we were learning all the hairstyles from the ’60s. All of us in my cosmetology school had giant bouffants, and it just became a part of me.”

Olivia Jean and Jack were collaborators long before they became husband and wife. They met when she was 19 after he received her demo, and he invited her to his Third Man Records record label. After forming an all-female goth-garage band called The Black Belles, Jack produced their first single and their 2011 self-titled debut album.

Since then, they have collaborated many times, with Olivia Jean playing on several of Jack’s solo albums and appearing in his music videos. Jack also produced her 2014 solo debut album, Bathtub Love Killings. 

On April 8, 2022, Jack created a viral moment when he not only proposed to Olivia Jean on stage during his performance at Detroit’s Masonic Temple (the venue where she saw The White Stripes for the first time 19 years prior), but they got married on stage too.

Jack invited his then-girlfriend on stage to perform a rendition of The White Stripes’ song, “Hotel Yorba”, and popped the question right before he sang the lyrics, “Let’s get married.”

A tearful Olivia Jean immediately said, ‘Yes,’ and after finishing the song, the newly engaged couple disappeared off stage, before returning for the encore, where they tied the knot in front of Jack’s mom, Olivia Jean’s dad, and the elated crowd.

The ceremony was officiated by Third Man Records co-founder Ben Swank, and the bass players from their respective bands served as best man and maid of honor.