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Music Trivia -> Former Career -> Index

Before the fame arrived, what did performers do to make ends meet?

Latest Entries

The 20 most recent entries are listed below. There are 145 Former Career entries on the site.

Name & Band		Former Career		Comments & Submittor Name
Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne		Factory worker		Osbourne used to work as a horn tester at the local Lucas factory in his hometown at the urging of his mother, but hated the irritatingly loud noise he endured. Interestingly enough, the epithet "Prince of Darkness" was given to Lucas Industries due to their products' shoddy quality before Osbourne adopted the nickname as part of his stage persona. - Maryellen Larkin
Diamond Rio, Brian Prout		Bus Driver		Brian worked as a tour bus driver, while the band was performing at Opryland USA as the Tennessee River Boys. - Sundog
Diamond Rio, Gene Johnson		Carpenter		He worked as a carpenter on the side, prior to Diamond Rio landing their record deal. - Sundog
Bon Jovi, Jon Bon Jovi		Shoe salasman		According to a popular rumour, which he later confirmed, Jon got fired from his job at a shoe store for turning up the radio because there was a Bruce Springsteen song on. I don't know why that made his boss so angry - dayna
The Cars, Benjamin Orr		TV show house band musician		In the 60s, Benjamin was a member of the Grasshoppers, the house band on the local Cleveland TV show The Big 5 Show. - Kerry
Cleve Francis, Cleve Francis		Cardiologist		Cleve was a cardiologist, before signing a record deal in 1992 - Sundog
Dannii Minogue, Dannii Minogue		Acting		According to IMDB she did some screen acting before she joined Young Talent Time. - mads.
Berlin, Terri Nunn		Actress		Before she was the lead singer of Berlin, Terri Nunn acted. She appeared on episodes of Lou Grant and T.J. Hooker among other shows. She even auditioned for the role of Princess Leia in Star Wars which of course as we all know went to Carrie Fisher. - Edward
The Neville Brothers; Aaron Neville, Aaron Neville		Stevedore (cargo handler) on New Orleans, LA, harbor docks		Linda Ronstadt, before Parkinson's disease ruined her own singing career, noted, when Aaron Neville's album "Warm Your Heart," one of whose music producers she also was, that Mr. Neville had never made much money from his recordings. Even when "Tell It Like It Is" was charting, she remarked in an interview for a magazine, Mr. Neville still remained financially unable to resign from "loading coffee onto ships," which was the example Ms. Ronstadt cited. - Parker Gabriel
Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant		Magazine Journalist		He was journalist for a pop magazine before co-founding Pet Shop Boys. - mads.
Spice Girls, Emma Bunton		Acting		She did some tv-acting before becoming famous as a singer. - mads.
Kylie Minogue, Kylie Minogue		Acting		She did som tv-acting before becoming famous as a singer. - mads
Johnny Cash, Johnny Cash		spy		He served as a Morse Code operator intercepting Soviet Army transmissions in the Air Force as a part of the US Air Force Security Service in Landsberg, Germany. - Tarzan
Henson Cargill, Henson Cargill		police officer		He was an Oklahoma County deputy sheriff. - Tarzan
George Jones, George Jones		US Marine		He served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War. - Tarzan
MC Hammer, MC Hammer		US Navy Aviation Store Keeper		- Tarzan
The Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger		Hospital porter		He worked part time as a porter in Bexley Psychiatric Hospital when he was 18. An unlikely place for romance, legendary lothario Mick actually lost his virginity in the hospital to a nurse in a store cupboard. - Fred boy
Platinum Blonde, Sergio Galli		P.A. Rental		Sergio mused that he used to rent out P.A.s to Mark. - Celeste
Patti Smith, Patti Smith		Toy factory worker		Patti Smith used to work in a toy factory, fixing boxes and testing toys. She didn’t seem to have had the best time there: “The stuff those women did to me in that factory was horrible. They’d gang up on me and stick my head in a toilet full of piss!” - Lefty Lucy
Tame Impala, Kevin Parker		Law clerk		Before Parker became a musician, he was working as a law clerk in Perth, Australia. He actually wrote some of his first songs whilst bored and travelling around for work delivering court documents. When music began to take over and his work began to slack, he was threatened with being fired and quit instead. - Lefty Lucy

New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Indy Gent. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.

The Top Ten Contributors To This Section

Optimus Lime	12
Celeste (site rank #29)	10
Susanna Viljanen	7
Ra'akone	5
Tarzan	4
mads.	4
Sundog	3
Someone	3
Lefty Lucy (site rank #50)	3
Tim Kramar	3

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