Olivia Jean

Later that year, White arranged for "What Can I Do?" to be used as the theme song for Elvira's Movie Macabre, a revamping of the 1980s classic horror movie showcase hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, which ran from 2010 to 2012.

Olivia Jean Markel White (born February 23, 1990 ) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.

She is known as the lead singer and guitarist of the all-female garage-goth rock band the Black Belles.

Olivia Jean Markel was born on February 23, 1990, to Brent O. Markel and Julie V. (Philippo) Markel.

On April 16, 2003, when she was 13, Jean's mom took her to Detroit's Masonic Temple for her first concert to see the White Stripes. That same year, she created a fan webpage dedicated to the White Stripes called Olivia's Peppermint Palace.

As a 14 year old freshmen, along with her friend, Stephany, on bass and her younger brother, Brent, on drums, Jean formed the Yazuka Drag Queens.

Playing original songs, they won their school's talent show and went on to open at a gig for a local band, Genders.

By high school, Jean was a self-taught multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who spent her free time recording her own surf music using a computer microphone and layering the individual instrument recordings on top of each other using a free music editing program.

At 16, she began playing small clubs around Detroit and handing out her homemade demo CDs to friends, family, and co-workers.

“It was a hobby,” she stated to the New York Times in 2022.

“I didn’t know you could make money off of music.”

As part of an elective course at South Lake High School, Jean enrolled in cosmetology classes.

Speaking to Vogue in 2023 about her signature bouffant hairstyle, "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."

In 2006, Jean took part in the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association (MIPA) Spring Conference On-Site Contest and won 3rd place for her featured writing entry.

In June 2008, Jean participated in the Detroit Festival of the Arts.

She replicated the Andy Warhol painting, Red Jackie, using chalk.

In 2009, Jean was enrolled in graphic design school and continued making surf inspired instrumental demos and performing under the name, Idee Fixe.

At 19 years old in 2009, after hearing that Jack White's supergroup, the Dead Weather, was going to be playing a show in Detroit, Jean headed to the venue and laid a path of her demos from the band's tour bus to the side door they used to enter the venue.

A couple of weeks later, after listening to the demo, Jack White called Jean and invited her to his Nashville studio, Third Man Records, to record her songs with him.

Jean would stay in Nashville to work on Third Man projects and then go home to Detroit during her down time.

Jean appears in the Dead Weather's 2009 music video for "I Cut Like a Buffalo".

After Jean became part of the Third Man Records family in 2009, Jack White introduced her to various musicians to potentially become her band.

"I had a recording that I gave to Jack, and it was mostly instrumental music, but it was a jumping-off point for like, some project to begin. I did it for myself, but I didn’t play anything live, because I didn’t have a band."

Jean met Shelby Lynne, Ruby Rogers, and Erin Belle when they all appeared in the Dead Weather's 2009 music video for "I Cut Like A Buffalo".

The women would go on to form the Black Belles, and the songs Jean wrote and recorded for her demo became the material for the band.

Jean played bass on two tracks for the 2010 album the The Ghost Who Walks, the debut from Jack White's then wife, Karen Elson, and appears in the title track's music video.

She continued to play bass as part of Elson's live band while she was promoting the album, including a performance on The Late Show with David Letterman in September 2010.

Jean played several instruments on various tracks for Wanda Jackson's 2010 Jack White produced album, The Party Ain't Over. Jean also appears in the music video for a song from the album, "Thunder on the Mountain". She continued to play guitar as part of Jackson's live band while promoting the album which included a performance on The Late Show with David Letterman and a show at the Grand Ole Opry both in January 2011.

Jack White produced the Black Belles' first single, "What Can I Do?" which was written by Jean and released on January 26, 2010.

White also directed the single's music video which premiered on February 17, 2010.

She moved to Nashville permanently in 2011.

Jean contributed to the recordings of several instruments and backing vocals for various tracks for several of Jack White's solo albums including Blunderbuss (2012), Lazaretto (2014), Entering Heaven Alive (2022), and Fear of the Dawn (2022).

Jean appeared in White's 2012 music video for "I'm Shakin'" as well as played guitar and sang backing vocals for a live performance of the song on Conan in December 2012.

Jean also appeared in White's 2022 music video for "If I Die Tomorrow."

She has an older sister, Sarah, a younger brother, Brent, and a younger sister, Katlyn who died in 2019.

Her paternal grandmother, Patricia (Berdon) Markel is of Filipino descent.

Jean was raised in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.

Her parents encouraged their four children to be creative.

For her seventh birthday, Jean got her first guitar and started teaching herself to play.

Shortly after that, as an Elmwood Elementary second grader, she formed her first band called Broken Glass.