# What "famous people" are you surprised other people haven't heard of? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2024, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817 "2024-07-26T14:54:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/81 "2024-07-27T11:53:39Z")
I saw Cesária Évora perform shortly after meeting my gf. My gf’s ad agency had some kind of pull with the venue, so we were able to meet her after the performance. I remember telling friends about the show, and nobody had a clue who she was. > **[Cesária Évora](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ces%C3%A1ria_%C3%89vora)** > > Cesária Évora GCIH (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}Portuguese pronunciation: \[sɨˈzaɾiɐ ˈɛvuɾɐ\]; 27 August 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a Cape Verdean singer known for singing morna, a genre of music from Cape Verde, in her native Cape Verdean Creole. Her songs were often devoted to themes of love, homesickness, nostalgia, and th... ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/82 "2024-07-27T12:20:23Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > When people cease to read, or study even the most recent past, their knowledge of the world is infinitesimal. You don’t interact with enough people , young or old. Because I know plenty of 60+ year olds who haven’t read anything about the past since they left school. Some have read nothing other than the sports pages. There are uninterested people at any age. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/83 "2024-07-27T12:22:55Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I’ve always said that I’d love to play trivia at the bar, but I need to be on a team where someone knows sports. I’m kinda the same way. I went to pub trivia with some Seattle dopers, and the fourth place team got to name a category for the next week’s game. I wanted to do “sports that don’t use a ball or a stick”. Sports trivia is so centered around football/baseball/basketball/hockey that I think there’s a lot of room to change things up. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/84 "2024-07-27T12:24:03Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Right now I’m reading the last of Anthony Trollope’s Barsetshire Novels. I HOPE a great many folk would at least think “old time dead English author.” But I’m likely fooling myself. I think of the joke about the elderly pastor visiting overnight with some younger parish members, and they tell him to make himself comfortable, help himself to the kitchen, linen closet, library. He responds that he likes a Trollope before bed, do they have any? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/85 "2024-07-27T12:26:09Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I’ve always said that I’d love to play trivia at the bar, but I need to be on a team where someone knows sports. I hear you-- when Trivial Pursuit was popular, in order to get the wedge for “Sports & Leisure,” I had to wait for a question about chess or mixed drinks. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/86 "2024-07-27T12:46:46Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Did you read this somewhere, or is this your gut feeling? Both. But I am not lauding earlier generations either. I grew up in a literate, politically-active family, my degree is in literature, I read history, and follow current events that are not about sports or movie stars or pop stars, none of which I have any interest in at all. I’m unusual in all this --but I always have been. People aren’t any smarter or stupider than they were. When I was young it was the sixties and seventies, when culture was breaking open and fragmenting and flowering like never before or since. We were all on the cutting edge of some thing or another. At least my friends and I were. That, I think, gave us a sense of undeserved superiority. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/87 "2024-07-27T13:39:22Z")
John Prine the guy who talks with a guitar and sometimes mumble sings about inane subjects? How am I familiar with him? My bil, a Republican but a never trumper never heard of Boebert or mtg. How can that be? Maybe stage 4 cancer is fogging his brain. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/88 "2024-07-27T14:01:35Z")
I think I’ve told this story here before. Back when I was working I met a new employee whose name was Robert Heinlein. And I asked him “Are you related?” “To who?” “To Robert Heinlein the author.” “I never heard of him.” I didn’t pursue the subject further but I was surprised. Robert Heinlein is not a common name. Even if he wasn’t related and hadn’t read any of his books, this guy must have been asked this question before. And as some people have pointed out, he may have been asked this question a lot of times before and had gotten sick of it, so he started denying any knowledge of the other guy with his name. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/89 "2024-07-27T14:16:40Z")
> Robert Heinlein is not a common name. Even if he wasn’t related and hadn’t read any of his books, this guy must have been asked this question before. That really kind of depends where you live - I grew up in a fairly German neighborhood and it never occurred to me to ask any of the Heinlein’s I knew if they were related to the author. I don’t think the first name really matters - certainly the author had relatives with different first names and it’s no more likely that a “Robert” is a relative than a “Debra” ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/90 "2024-07-27T16:05:55Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Back when I was working I met a new employee whose name was Robert Heinlein. And I asked him “Are you related?” > “To who?” > “To Robert Heinlein the author.” > “I never heard of him.” When I worked in Sheffield there was a steel factory called Edgar Allen and Co. I was surprised that many of the people I worked with had never heard of Edgar Allen Poe. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/91 "2024-07-27T16:12:46Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Even if he wasn’t related and hadn’t read any of his books, this guy must have been asked this question before. Yeah - hard to imagine someone woulda made it to adulthood w/o hearing that question before. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/92 "2024-07-27T16:27:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Back when I was working I met a new employee whose name was Robert Heinlein. And I asked him “Are you related?” I had a female student named Lauren Eiseley, and I asked if she was named after Loren Eiseley. _Blank look._ “He was an anthropologist, [pretty famous](https://www.eiseley.org/) as science writers go…” _Blank look._ “Heard of Mos Eisley, from Star Wars?” _Blank look._ “Well, something to ask your parents about…” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/93 "2024-07-27T16:28:24Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > That really kind of depends where you live - I grew up in a fairly German neighborhood and it never occurred to me to ask any of the Heinlein’s I knew if they were related to the author. I don’t think the first name really matters - certainly the author had relatives with different first names and it’s no more likely that a “Robert” is a relative than a “Debra” But Robert Heinlein was this guy’s name. There’s a minor celebrity who has the same name I do. I’ve never watched any of this celebrity’s work. But I noticed their name when I encountered it and remembered it just because it was the same as mine. There’s another well known celebrity whose birth name is the same as mine. They later changed their name and everyone is familiar with them under that adopted name. But I know their birth name, again because it’s the same as mine. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/94 "2024-07-27T16:34:16Z")
I had heard of John Prine before his death. I could even tell you he was a musician who was well known as a songwriter. I couldn’t pick him out of a lineup or name one of his songs. I don’t know why my brain retains so much surface level pop culture info. I know who people are even if I don’t consume their genre. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > My wife and I regularly encounter folk for the first time on SNL - both hosts and musical guests. Often the host will come out and we’ll ask each other if we’ve ever heard of them, or know whether they are an actor, singer, whatever. > > But that is one of the reasons we keep watching. It is a minimal way for us to try to not be COMPLETELY out of modern culture. To be fair, SNL does have a lot of flash in the pans on as musical guests and even hosts. They alternate between ultra famous and established acts and trying to be hip and in the forefront of new trends. Sometimes new trends fresh faces never amount to much. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/95 "2024-07-27T16:42:02Z")
I was referring to whether he must have been asked that question before. I have a very uncommon last name and I’m frequently asked if I’m related to a very famous actor who spells it slightly differently. And even if I had never heard of him before, I would have known of him from that. But no one from the neighborhood where I grew up has ever asked me if I’m related to him. Because in that neighborhood , it’s just another German name. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/96 "2024-07-27T16:54:58Z")
My mom got a new dog in 2005. Named her “Lucy Liu”. I casually asked her if she named the dog after said actor. [Mom was 72 at the time note] She had no idea that said performer existed. Only later did I find out that the dog’s name was actually spelled “Lucee Loo”, note. ---
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/97 "2024-07-27T17:46:10Z")
I have this bad habit of falling down this YouTube “reaction videos” rabbit hole late at night. For those unaware, these are videos of young people purportedly hearing popular music from prior decades for the first time. For some some reason, I just love seeing the reactions of people hearing some of this ultra-classic music for the first time. In most cases, they absolutely love what they are hearing, which is somewhat heartening. Anyway, last night I was watching some reactions to “We are the World”. I certainly didn’t expect them to know everyone who was singing, but some of the people that very few of the viewers seemed to recognize were Paul Simon, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick and Bruce Springsteen. They knew Willie Nelson, Lionel Ritchie, and of course Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, but most of the others they had trouble with. It was very strange to see. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/98 "2024-07-27T17:55:01Z")
Here’s one I thought of last night. Can I assume all of you know who John Williams is? Probably the most famous TV/movie composer ever. Wrote the music for Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters, Raiders, ET, the Olympics theme… ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/99 "2024-07-27T17:58:31Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Can I assume all of you know who John Williams is? I would never assume that _everyone_ knows any famous person, but in my case, all you really need to do is look at my user name for the answer to this one. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817/100 "2024-07-27T18:05:04Z")
At one time back in the 70s I owned albums by both John Prine and Ry Cooder. So I’m always a bit surprised when people of my generation haven’t heard of one or both of them. I couldn’t tell you any names of the band members, but a rock group that a lot of folks haven’t heard of is Roxy Music. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-are-you-surprised-other-people-havent-heard-of/1004817.md?page=6)