

In Los Angeles, Jett's favorite night spot was Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco, a venue that provided the glam rock style she loved.

Shortly after the move, her parents divorced and she changed her name to Joan Jett, because she thought it had more of a rock-star sound than her birth name (she has admitted in recent years that "Jett" was not actually her mother's maiden name, even though that is what she used to tell people). Her family then moved to West Covina, California, in Los Angeles County, providing Jett the opportunity to pursue her musical interests. She took some guitar lessons, but soon quit because the instructor kept trying to teach her folk songs. Jett got her first guitar at the age of 13. In 1967, her family moved to Rockville, Maryland, where she attended Randolph Junior High and Wheaton High School.

Her family was Protestant, attended church, and went to Sunday school, but were not strict in their religious beliefs. Her father was an insurance salesman and her mother was a secretary. Joan Marie Larkin was born on September 22, 1958, to James and Dorothy Larkin, at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia (although some sources list her birth date as September 22, 1960, which is incorrect ).
