The Rose (soundtrack) The Rose (soundtrack) The Rose is the soundtrack to the feature film of the same name starring Bette Midler which was released in 1979. Midler performs all the songs on the album, with the exception of the instrumental "Camellia". Apart from the title track, the soundtrack was entirely recorded live and also features concert monologues, with Midler portraying the character The Rose, loosely based on blues singer Janis Joplin. The soundtrack was produced by Paul A. Rothchild, who in fact also had worked with Joplin on what was to become her final album before her death in 1970, entitled "Pearl"
Janis Joplin Joplin was on a "star trip", while others were telling Joplin that Big Brother was a terrible band and that she ought to dump them. "Time" magazine called Joplin "probably the most powerful singer to emerge from the white rock movement", and Richard Goldstein wrote for the May 1968 issue of "Vogue" magazine that Joplin was "the most staggering leading woman in rock ... she slinks like tar, scowls like war ... clutching the knees of a final stanza, begging it not to leave ... Janis Joplin can sing the chic off any listener." For her first major studio recording,