I grew up in a heavily Greek neighborhood in New York, so Nana Mouskouri was one of the first performers who came to my mind. She’s always been huge in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
But Robbie Williams is an interesting case, because it’s perfectly understandable why Mouskouri is unknown among most Americans, but there’s no obvious reason that Robbie Williams isn’t popular.
Look, in my lifetime, only a handful of songs sung in foreign languages have been big hits in the USA (“Dominique” by the Singing Nun, “Eres Tu” by Mocedades," “La Bamba” and “Macarena” are among the few that come to mind). So, a performer who’s enormously popular in China, Russia or India would have a hard time scoring big hit here.
But Robbie Williams… well, personally , I don’t care for any of his songs. But there’s no language barrier, and he’s making decent mainstream pop. There’s no compelling reason he SHOULDN’T be popular in America. He just isn’t.
Cliff Richard has had a big hit in the U.S. about once every ten years. He’s not a complete unknown- he’s just nowhere near as successful here as he is at home.
“Devil Woman” and “We Don’t Talk Anymore” were both immense hits in the U.S.
Robbie Williams hasn’t even managed THAT kind of limited success here.
“Devil Woman” went only to #6 on the Billboard charts and “We Don’t Talk Anymore” to #7. Not immense hits by my standards.
Wiki says of Robbie Williams:
Since Cliff Richard never has had an album chart, my guess is that his sales are less even over a much longer career.
Neither one had had any real success in the U.S., although their “failures” would make many ordinary singers very happy. Richard is by far the bigger of the two in the U.K., though, so I still give the laurels to him.
I agree. Robbie didn’t do that badly here (two of his singles, “Millennium” and “Angel” broke the top 40, and Escapology peaked at 43 on the album charts), but that’s not really comparable to a Top 10 charter in the US.
At any rate, I think as far as former-boy-band-gone-solo-artist pop stars go (Robbie was part of the immensely popular-in-the-UK band Take That), he’s one of the better ones. His debut album, Life Through a Lens has some very good tracks, and even the follow up was a decent record. From what I’ve seen of his concerts on TV, the man is a true entertainer, and I really can’t dislike him for that.
I assume you are confining the question to Western artists? For by mere coincidence, I am, while reading the Dope, listening to Ba’eed Annak by Oum Kalthoum. According to Wiki,
'Course, she’s been dead for about 30 years, so maybe she doesn’t count.
Well they’re all quirky and stupid, but Supreme is based on “I Will Survive” so it’s got a proven melody and some retro fun. Lacking that, you’re just left with stupid.
A similar voice is Germany’s Katja Ebstein. She is huge around the globe and has recorded in several different languages, but never broke into the US market.
Thats what I thought, too, when I saw it. Who thought that was a good introduction to the American public? Plus the name of his album was The Ego Has Landed. Or as I like to call it: The Ego Was Promptly Ignored.
I met Angelika when she was just starting out - went to clubs with her a lot and was there when she got her first huge break starring in CATS (godihatethatshowwithapassion) in Vienna, where she met her soon-to-be next husband…and from there, well, she went on and has become a big hit in Germany, selling millions of CD’s, performing at many concerts and galas, doing many stage musicals, some so-so movies and now appearing in a television comedy series (Angie) that is quite popular.
And as long as you mention Katja Epstein, there are some other European legends/divas (forgive any spelling errors) that never made it over here: Katarina Vallenta, Viki Leondros, Nana Mouskouri, Milva, Sara Leander, and even the drag queen Romy Haag made a name for him/herself in Germany - once linked romantically to David Bowie but that is another story.
Jamiroquai has sold tens of millions of CDs in the UK, Europe and elsewhere (the last figure I could find was 16 million, but that was from 1999), but their only hits in the U.S. have been on the dance charts. Their last studio CD reached #3 in the UK and #148 in the U.S… More Americans people probably heard Blake Lewis’s A.I. version of Virtual Insanity than Jamiroquai’s (and I’ll admit that’s where I learned the name of the original group- I’d heard the song in gay clubs but had no idea what I was hearing, but then I stopped progressing musically sometime around Davy Jones).
Back in the 70s, I kept hearing about American expats who were huge in Europe but virtually unknown at home (Suzi Quatro, early Stray Cats). There was also Dean Reed, an American in the USSR who was Elvis-big over there but entirely unknown over here.
Not that I care but I think that video pretty much wiped out whatever momentum that was building for success in the U.S. For the type of music Williams does, that video was far too creepy and disturbing. In fact, it was far more creepier and disturbing than anything Marilyn Manson has ever done (MM probably kicked himself for not coming up with idea for the video first). Granted, the video was an extreme joke about his image but American listeners didn’t know Williams well enough to get it.
Well, I listened to Casey Kasem’s top 40 countdown from 1976 to 1988.
After Devil Woman there was
“We Don’t Talk Anymore” #1 UK, #7 US
“Dreamin’” #8 UK, #10 US
“A Little In Love” #15 UK, #17 US
“Carrie” #4 UK, #34 US
“Daddy’s Home” #2 UK, #23 US
Before Devil Woman there was
“Living Doll” #1 UK, #30 US
“It’s All In The Game” #2 UK, #25 US
That is 8 top 40 singles including 3 top 10 hits. That is more successful that many, many chart acts.
I have not been able to find any figures on album sales for Cliff in the USA.
I’ve just been listening to some of Sir Cliff’s old stuff recently. I forgot how he could rock (“Devil Woman”)!
I would throw in a-ha. I suppose they did break America with their first ever song, “Take On Me,” which made it to #1, and the debut album Hunting High and Low went platinum. But a-ha have continued to record and chart worldwide, and played to the largest ever paying audience at a concert (198,000 in Rio, 1991). I don’t think their albums have been released in the U.S. since East of the Sun, West of the Moon in 1990.
Most Americans would probably say “who?” if you mentioned a-ha, and the sharp 80s retro-ists would know “Take On Me,” but I think they could probably easily walk down the streets of NYC unrecognized. When my friends see I’m a fan and notice my CDs, the response is always, “They had more than one record?”
So is a sale of more than 600,000 for an album, and 1,000,000 over all. So I still don’t understand why you won’t admit that Robbie Williams has broken through in the same way.
They’re both pretty minor, if not obscure, artists in the U.S. Asking how obscure is obscure is a mighty hard question to answer. We each have a different definition depending on our musical backgrounds.
How do they compare to Status Quo (42 chart hits in the UK as of 1990; 1 in the US); Shakin’ Stevens (35 in UK; 0 in US); Slade (33 in UK; 2 in US); Lonnie Donegan (30 in UK; 0 in US); Hot Chocolate (30 in UK; 5 in US); or the Stranglers (30 in UK; 0 in US).
The British charts are just worlds apart from the US charts. There are zillions of groups who are superstars there with dozens of hits who are one-hit wonders or trivia names in the US. And I would include Cliff Richard on that list, no question.