# Musicians with surprising or little-known early careers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 26, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-with-surprising-or-little-known-early-careers/385622 "2006-12-26T15:43:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-with-surprising-or-little-known-early-careers/385622/1 "2006-12-26T15:43:28Z")
Alanis Morrissette recorded a dance-pop album as a teenage child actress before reinventing her image. Art Alexakis, frontman of Everclear, played for years in a series of alt.country bands before making it big in grunge. Any more examples? ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-with-surprising-or-little-known-early-careers/385622/2 "2006-12-26T16:51:06Z")
I had hearad Kurt Cobain worked for Muzak making transcriptions (I’m not sure if that’s the correct word, they “Muzakified” the compositions). I can’t seem to find if this is true or not. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-with-surprising-or-little-known-early-careers/385622/3 "2006-12-26T18:37:52Z")
Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers was in a former life a clean-cut child actor, working under the name Cole Dammett. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-with-surprising-or-little-known-early-careers/385622/4 "2006-12-26T18:40:56Z")
Forgot to mention: Kiedis played the son of Sylvester Stallone’s character in [F.I.S.T.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077531/). ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-with-surprising-or-little-known-early-careers/385622/5 "2006-12-26T19:20:21Z")
[Sheryl Crow](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002028/) had a part in the TV show [Cop Rock](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098772/maindetails). I saw a clip once: she had big 70’s hair and was doing the smooth jazz dance moves. (On Ms. Crow’s page, look under “Actress - filmography”.) ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-with-surprising-or-little-known-early-careers/385622/6 "2006-12-26T20:13:12Z")
Seems like very few people know that Norah Jones’ father is Ravi Shankar. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-with-surprising-or-little-known-early-careers/385622/7 "2006-12-26T21:16:51Z")
Phil Collins was a child actor before he was a musician. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-with-surprising-or-little-known-early-careers/385622/8 "2006-12-26T22:16:34Z")
The Bee Gees’ early recordings range from country to Beatles-esque pop. [QUOTE=Autumn Almanac] Alanis Morrissette recorded a dance-pop album as a teenage child actress before reinventing her image. [/QUOTE] And was a regular on [YCDTOTV](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078714/). ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-with-surprising-or-little-known-early-careers/385622/9 "2006-12-26T22:24:52Z")
And, of course, Tori Amos was in a hard rock band (Y Kan’t Tori Spell or some equally idiotic name) before she started doing her faerie music. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-with-surprising-or-little-known-early-careers/385622/10 "2006-12-26T22:39:46Z")
Jan Peerce, legendary operatic tenor, started out as a violin-playing baritone with Jack Berger’s band at New York’s Hotel Astor in the early 1930s. He even made a few records with Berger, using the name Pinky Pearl.