Jack White, 46, wowed a sold out crowd on Apr. 8, when he reportedly proposed to and then immediately married Olivia Jean Markel, 32, while on stage at his show at the Masonic Temple in Detroit, MI. The singer got the exciting night started when he brought the beauty up next to him and in front of his fan during the White Stripes song, “Hotel Yorba,” and put a ring on her finger. “It’s been such a great day, mind if we get married right now?” Jack then asked, according to Page Six, before the rest of his band and his parents joined the couple on stage as they exchanged vows.
So, just who is this amazing gal who stole Jack’s heart? Find out five things about her and her impressive career below!
Olivia Jean’s a musician like Jack.
She started making music at a young age while growing up in Detroit before eventually moving to Nashville, TN to work with Jack’s company, Third Man Records, after he listened to her demo, according to Deadline Detroit. Her future husband apparently helped her form the all-female goth/garage band, The Black Belles, which also includes drummer Shelby Lynne and bassist Ruby Rogers, after she relocated.
“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,” Olivia Jean told Interview Magazine about forming the band. “I did it for myself, but I didn’t play anything live because I didn’t have a band. But once we all met, we kind of collaborated together and shared ideas, threw all those ideas together, and we had a lot of material to work with.”
“[Jack] was always helping us out, and believed in all of our opinions and what we wanted to do, and helped us make those things happen,” she continued. “As you said about all of us having the same taste, he really has very similar taste to us as well! It was very easy to work with him. He helped us out the entire way.”
After releasing a debut album in 2011, The Black Belles went on hiatus in 2012, and Olivia Jean started a solo singing career. As of 2022, she’s released two solo albums and a solo EP.
She is Jack’s third wife.
Before he and Olivia Jean tied the knot live on stage, he was married to Meg White from 1996 until 2000 and then Karen Elson, with whom he has two children, from 2005 until 2013.
Olivia Jean’s an epic guitar player.
In addition to singing, Olivia Jean reportedly learned how to play guitar at the young age of 7 and continued from there. She often shares incredible photos and videos of her rocking it out on stage while playing the instrument at shows.
She often shares memorable moments from her life on social media.
Olivia Jean has been known to post all kinds of moments, including posed pics for her music career, pics and videos of herself on stage, and pics and videos of those closest to her, including Jack. In a birthday post in July 2021, she called Jack “an incredible human and one of the greatest friends a gal can have.”
She also posted a photo of them posing together in London in Sept. 2021, which can be seen above, as they attended the “pre-grand opening of Third Man London. “What an incredible couple of days. The man of the hour and I before the pre-grand opening of @ThirdManLondon,” she wrote in the caption of the pic.” I’m so happy for everyone involved. Proud to be a part of this family and to meet so many kind people in London who joined to celebrate.”
Her relationship with Jack was kept private.
The dark-haired songstress and her hunky beau never publicly made it known they were dating, which made their very public engagement and marriage even more surprising than it would have been. It’s not known exactly when they turned their friendship into romance. Jack did seem to hint at his love life doing well, in an interview with Rolling Stone in March 2022.
“There’s been a complete rebirth on all levels of my life throughout the pandemic,” he told the outlet. “I made a goal to myself that no matter how long it lasted I was going to come out of it with a totally different scenario of looking at life.”