# Late bloomers in popular music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2019, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365 "2019-09-17T05:42:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365/21 "2019-09-18T04:16:12Z")
Cyndi Lauper and Tori Amos both hit it big around age 30 with solo albums, and Sheryl Crow did likewise at 32. All had fronted bands that almost cracked the big time for about five years prior. Natalie Merchant was a little older with her solo debut, but her previous band was quite successful, at least with her at the helm. She’s been a celebrity since her mid-20s, I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365/22 "2019-09-18T04:37:28Z")
[Joaquín Sabina](https://www.jsabina.com/) made it when he was 38; at that point he’d been recording for ten years but was more succesful as a songwriter and people outside of the Madrid music circuit didn’t know his name. He’s been called “the Spanish Leonard Cohen”; still kicking, still sounding like shit, very much one of the best lyricists in Spanish, he’s published books of poems as well as his music. Both him and his friend Joan Manuel Serrat (who made it young) are frequently mentioned as possible candidates for the Academy of the Spanish Language. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365/23 "2019-09-18T09:53:32Z")
Eva Cassidy would have been 38 when she broke through in 2001, but she had already been dead for four and a half years. I’m counting her breakthrough as being when she topped the charts with an album for the first time. Her releases before then had sold that much. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365/24 "2019-09-18T12:32:58Z")
How about [Moms Mabley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moms_Mabley)? Famous comedian who came out at a young age. She also did a little bit of singing but it was her cover version of _Abraham, Martin and John_ that was her only major song. It reached #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969. “At 75 years old, Mabley became the oldest living person ever to have a US Top 40 hit.” [Mrs. Miller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Miller) had her first song in the Hot 100 at the age of 60. A cover of _Downtown_. I strongly suggest you don’t ever listen to it. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365/25 "2019-09-18T15:50:26Z")
John Mayall was 33 when “Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton” was released. “Gallant Men” made the top 40 charts when Sen. Everett Dirksen was 71 Walter Brennan had a hit with “Mama Sang a Song” when he was 68. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365/26 "2019-09-18T16:49:23Z")
Roger Whittaker has been active musically since his mid-20s. His only major hit in the US, “The :Last Farewell,” charted here when he was 39. He has always seemed kind of elderly, and was heavily vested in sea-shanty type music. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365/27 "2019-09-18T16:49:48Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Mrs. Miller had her first song in the Hot 100 at the age of 60. A cover of _Downtown_. I strongly suggest you don’t ever listen to it. At a bowling alley somebody played a song I don’t like. The person did it on purpose to bother me. I retaliated by playing the Mrs. Miller/Downtown song. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365/28 "2019-09-18T16:52:24Z")
FWIW Anton Bruckner started composing his first (of many) symphonies at age 41. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365/29 "2019-09-18T19:33:34Z")
[Mark Sandman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Sandman) is a good example of this, as he was 37 when he founded Morphine. That Wikipedia article says “Sandman was reported to have been particularly secretive about his age, becoming angry with any reporter who expressed an interest in revealing it publicly, perhaps because he was 10 to 20 years older than most of his indie-rock contemporaries.” He died young, also, at age 46, of a heart attack. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365/30 "2019-09-19T16:48:16Z")
[Los Del Rio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_del_R%C3%ADo), gave us the one hit wonder _Macarena_ when both band members were in their late 50s ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365/31 "2019-09-19T19:13:03Z")
[Christopher Lee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne:_By_the_Sword_and_the_Cross) had his breakthrough album aged 87. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365/32 "2019-09-19T21:22:27Z")
Shatner was 37 when he released The Transformed Man. It … was … not … good. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365/33 "2019-09-19T21:51:59Z")
Antonio Carlos Jobim did not become well known in Brazil until he was 30, and didn’t become a major international star until he teamed with Getz and Gilberto to produce Getz/Gilberto at age 37. ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2019, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365/34 "2019-09-20T16:18:45Z")
Seasick Steve had a long career as a studio musician before his breakthrough in the UK aged 55. > **[Seasick Steve](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasick_Steve)** > > Steven Gene Wold (né Leach; 19 March 1951), commonly known as Seasick Steve, is an American blues musician. He plays mostly personalized guitars and sings, usually about his early life doing casual work. From the late 1960s, he worked as a musician and recording engineer in the US and Europe; he played bass in Shanti and was in a disco band called Crystal Grass as well as other bands. He also pursued other works, including producing an album for Modest Mouse. He achieved his breakthr The publ... ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2019, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365/35 "2019-09-20T20:54:17Z")
Didn’t remember to check Leonard Nimoy’s recording career when looking up Shatner’s. He was 36 when _Leonard Nimoy Presents Mr. Spock’s Music from Outer Space_ came out. Reached 83 on the album chart. Shatner’s career seems better remembered, but probably not for a good reason. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-bloomers-in-popular-music/840365.md?page=1)