Steve Martin is a virtuoso banjo player and had an Emmy winning bluegrass album in 2010.
I meant to say earlier… in House, MD, when you see House sitting around playing a piano or a guitar, he’s really playing. And one of the season DVDs has a documentary about the formation of the band he & Greg Grunberg formed.
10,000 songs!!!:eek:
Once upon a time, it was impossible to be a teen star without being pushed into also being a teen music star. Which led to terrible examples like
And many, many, many others.
Even if you weren’t exactly a teen star, if you were popular enough, they’d make an album of you singing, no matter how bad you were.
He also wrote a fiction novel, The Gun Seller, which I rather enjoyed.
Anthongy Bourdain has also written a couple of fiction novels aside from his excellent book “Kitchen Confidential.” (I didn’t much care for the fiction novels).
Charo. Most people know her just as that perky (yeah, we’ll go with perky) blond from Spain who shows up on American talk shows from time to time and seems to have bit parts on TV here and there.
But did you know she’s one of the greatest flamenco guitarists around. There’s some serious talent behind those huge…tracts of land.
These days,it’s exactly the opposite.Now it’s impossible to be a teen music star without being pushed into also being a teen television show star.It seems like there’s hardly a single teen-aged musician out there who doesn’t have a TV show.Thanks for the help,by the way.
“Hello, Daddy, this is Chuck. He wants to know if we can…” Ah, the memories of seventh grade come flooding back!
It was when I first fell in love with her. (sigh)
Actor Dudley (“Arthur”) Moore was an accomplished pianist and jazz composer, with several albums out.
Martin Mull is best known as an actor (in Rosanne and Gene Parmisan in Arrested Development, among many other roles), but put out several albums in the 70s of comic music. His “Dueling Tubas” scraped into the top 100.
Milla Jovovich, best known as Alice in the Resident Evil movies, or Leeloo in The Fifth Element, is a talented singer/songwriter who released a quite wonderful album in 1994 called The Divine Comedy. She had been an in-demand supermodel and had already been in a few movies (Chaplin, Kuffs, Return to the Blue Lagoon) before her album, but I hadn’t seen any of those and I knew her first as a singer. For a while there right after the release of the album I had her right up there with Kate Bush, Happy Rhodes, Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan and Jane Siberry as a top favorite, but then she went back to acting and modeling and put her music career on the back burner. I did get to meet and talk with her after a live show at a tiny venue and she’s one of the sweetest, nicest people I’ve ever met.
To me these songs sound completely timeless. Maybe I’m just hopelessly besotted, but I don’t think any of these sound dated in the least.
“The Alien Song (for those who listen)” (live version)
“Gentleman Who Fell” (first video version, Maya Deren video version, beautiful, slower, live version)
“It’s Your Life”
“Reaching From Nowhere”
“Charlie”
“Ruby Lane”
“Bang Your Head”
“Clock”
“Don’t Fade Away”
“In A Glade” (gorgeous traditional Ukrainian folk song)
Not from the album, but I love this (first slow then very wild) cover of “Proud Mary” sung in Russian.
Well,I thought the guy who used to talk to the animated blue dog was a good singer,so I guess I don’t have any right to judge…Congratulations on meeting her,by the way-that’s pretty amazing.
Since you didn’t specify GOOD songs…
Ever heard of the Rock Bottom Remainders? They’re a sort of garage rock band consisting of famous authors. Stephen King is usually lead singer, Dave Barry is usually lead guitarist, and Amy Tan does some vocals.
Again, I never said they were GOOD!
Clint Eastwood has composed the scores for several of his films, and also plays piano.
John Carpenter also does the scores for his movies, and even if dated I think he’s pretty good at setting mood.
Artist Robert Crumb and Director Terry Zwigoff (Crumb, Louie Bluie, Bad Santa, Ghost World) got together with some of their friends and formed the Cheap Suit Serenaders, “an American retro string band playing songs from, and in the style of, the 1920s: old-time music, ragtime, Western swing, country blues, hot jazz “evergreen” standards, hokum, vodeville and medicine show tunes.” How good they are depends on how much you like that kind of old-timey music. I think it’s a lot of fun myself.
“My Girl’s Pussy” (from 1931! Here’s the original version by Harry Roy)
“Laughing Rag”
“Home”
“Chasin’ Rainbows”
“Fine Artiste Blues”
Thanks. We talked about Kate Bush, and High Times magazine (she had just appeared on the cover) and other things. She gave me a big hug, gave me and signed a wonderful poster for my egowall. Such a sweetheart!
He also is, or has been a remarkably good singer. I was surprised to hear him sing on Rawhide, when he played Rowdy Yates, and he has also sung songs he has written for his films. Here are some recordings of Clint Singing.
Both Zooey Deschanel and Megan Mullally sing, with She & Him and Supreme Music Program, respectively. I haven’t heard enough to recommend either of them, though.
One I do like is Adam Busch (Warren Meers on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and a new show called Men At Work). He’s in a band called Common Rotation. They’ve toured with They Might Be Giants, so any TMBG fans might want to check them out.
Double post
Also a classical organist, with a degree in music from Oxford.
I was a fan of Mull’s in the early 70’s. He was a gifted guitarist and songwriter, and very funny. I still think of him as a musician who acts.
I’m happy to report that I’ve been a huge fan of the Cheap Suits for 25 years, and have everything they’ve ever recorded. (As far as I know.) One of their members for nearly their entire run is Bob Brozman, the most incredible guitarist (and musicologist) who most people have never heard of.
And here’s the one I came to post:
The 40’s mega-hit “Come On A My House” was written by:
- Ross Bagdasarian, who later became famous in the 50’s for the novelty song “Witch Doctor” just before he became David Seville and created Alvin And The Chipmunks;
and - His cousin, author William Saroyan.
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Crumb has an impressive recording career with and without the Cheap Suit Serenaders. Keep an eye out for World Musette by Les Primitifs du Futur.
Woody Allen plays a weekly gig with his New Orleans Jazz Band every Monday he’s in town at New York’s Carlyle Hotel. He’s the clarinetist. Not sure if they have an album out.
Kevin Bacon has a side gig with The Bacon Brothers.
And, as I recall, Steve could not read music! Neither can Paul McCartney.
Shatner, Nimoy, and Nichelle Nichols have all released albums.
Lorne Green had a number of releases as well.
Tracey Ullman released a number of other records besides “They Don’t Know” (e.g., “Sunglasses”).