SAO PAULO, Brazil – Grammy-winning singer and guitarist Jack White of the rock duo White Stripes married British model Karen Elson this week in a canoe in the Brazilian Amazon, according to a message on the band’s Web site.
The marriage, conducted by a shaman priest, took place on Wednesday at the confluence of the Amazon, Negro and Solimoes rivers with a group of close friends attending, the site reported.
The band’s drummer, Meg White, was maid of honor, and manager Ian Montone was best man. The couple were later blessed by a Catholic priest in a church in the Amazon city of Manaus.
On Wednesday night, the White Stripes put on a show in the famed Manaus opera house, the Amazonas Theatre, where Jack White walked through the audience playing, then climbed onto the theater terrace to perform for a crowd gathered outside.
The Stripes were due to appear in Sao Paulo on Saturday night.
The minimalist rock duo, famed for their red-and-white attire and primitive blend of garage punk and blues, burst on the Detroit music scene in 1997 and gained wide exposure with their 2001 release “White Blood Cells,” featuring the hit single “Fell in Love with a Girl.”
Their 2003 follow-up, “Elephant,” won a Grammy as best alternative music album.
Before his marriage to Elson, White had been romantically linked to actress Renee Zellweger.
He and Meg White have long claimed to be siblings, but their family relationship was called into question after the Detroit Free Press reported in 2001 that the pair were once married.
The final line on the band’s posting about Jack White and Elson’s wedding says: “This was the first marriage for both newlyweds.”
The Stripes’ next album, “Get Behind Me Satan,” is due for release next week.