# Which performer's physical appearance didn't match your mental image the most? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193 "2012-04-18T18:41:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/81 "2012-04-26T01:47:15Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > A part of me is still convinced that “Laughter in the Rain” is a lesbian love song. Yup, me too! I didn’t believe my mom for years when she told me Neil Sedaka was a guy. Still not entirely convinced… ---
**Author:** ![LegendHasit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/legendhasit/32/8246_2.png) [@LegendHasit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LegendHasit)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/82 "2012-04-26T03:05:22Z")
The first time I heard Simply Red’s “Holding Back the Years” I didn’t expect the lead singer to be/look like Mick Hucknall. I was 14 and loved that song. > **[Mick Hucknall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Hucknall)** > > Michael James Hucknall (born 8 June 1960) is an English singer and songwriter. Hucknall achieved international fame in the 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter of the soul-influenced pop band Simply Red, with whom he enjoyed a 25-year career and sold over 50 million albums. Hucknall was described by Australian music magazine Rhythms as "one of the truly great blue-eyed soul singers", while Q credited him with "the most prodigious voice this side of Motown". > Hucknall, born at Saint Mary's... LH ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/83 "2012-04-26T03:10:26Z")
Former Morning Edition host Bob Edwards. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/84 "2012-04-26T19:04:58Z")
Robert Lee, the narrator of Mythbusters doesn’t look at all like I expected. [Rankopedia - Find the best online casinos](http://www.rankopedia.com/CandidatePix/94253.gif) ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/85 "2012-04-26T19:44:43Z")
Leslie West, of Mountain. Somebody told me he weighed about 300 lbs,and I had, for some unfathomable reason, a picture of Hulk Hogan in mind. Not even close. [![](https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS-LNpXUkoTAqaprQ-X9XKe2dGesQ7IQWiiu_SBj868U6EpE-VG) ](https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS-LNpXUkoTAqaprQ-X9XKe2dGesQ7IQWiiu_SBj868U6EpE-VG) ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/86 "2012-04-26T20:08:17Z")
Madeleine Peyroux does not sound like a cute white chick. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/87 "2012-04-26T20:12:20Z")
> [@bup](#): > > [Charlie Patton](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDeo8h9Ef00). > How could that face, on that body, with that guitar, make those sounds? That’s how it worked for me, too. I got an LP of his from the library with his picture on it, and when I first listened to it, I wondered if the record and the cover sleeve had got mixed up. Now he’s probably my favourite of the old blues hounds. I pictured Bela Fleck, with his name and unique mix of genres (a cross between bluegrass and jazz), to be an older, seasoned musician, maybe black or European, or both, but definitely a distinct looking character. I wasn’t sure what instrument he played, and when I first saw a video of his band performing, I wondered who the average white guy who could pass as an insurance salesman was on banjo. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/88 "2012-04-26T22:51:48Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Leslie West, of Mountain. Somebody told me he weighed about 300 lbs,and I had, for some unfathomable reason, a picture of Hulk Hogan in mind. Not even close. > [https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS-LNpXUkoTAqaprQ-X9XKe2dGesQ7IQWiiu\_SBj868U6EpE-VG](https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS-LNpXUkoTAqaprQ-X9XKe2dGesQ7IQWiiu_SBj868U6EpE-VG) He’s a lot thinner now. Lighter too, in part due to losing a leg to diabetes. Still rockin’, though. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/89 "2012-04-27T14:24:51Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > When the theme song from _Neverending Story_ was getting a lot of airplay, I thought it was sung by a woman. And I was picturing a hot babe to go with that sensuous, sultry voice. > > One day, I walked into a record store, and saw a poster, with the words “Limahl”, “Neverending Story”, and a picture of the ugliest chick I have ever seen in my life. A chick with an Adam’s apple, and a five o’clock shadow. > > It was not as bad as _The Crying Game_, but that is not a nice thing to do to a heterosexual. Damn he’s hot. I don’t know how I missed that all these years. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/90 "2012-04-27T21:45:18Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Madeleine Peyroux does not sound like a cute white chick. Who I imagined was singing the first time I heard her wouldn’t rule out cute or white but I really expected someone larger, less angular, and quite a bit older. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/91 "2012-04-28T04:00:28Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > If a radio DJ counts, then “Cousin Brucie” Morrow, who has appeared in a few films such as “Dirty dancing”. I had pictured him as a short, dark haired chubby guy, probably because a classmate named Bruce was such a body type. Morrow looks to be tall, lean, brown hair type. Bad toupe type. Roy Orbison was quite a mismatch. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/92 "2012-04-28T22:46:33Z")
> [@LegendHasit](#): > > The first time I heard Simply Red’s “Holding Back the Years” I didn’t expect the lead singer to be/look like Mick Hucknall. I was 14 and loved that song. > > [Mick Hucknall - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Hucknall) > > LH Holy crap, he looks horrible in that Wikipedia picture. He was a pretty okay looking fellow back in the 1980s, if a bit pasty white. A couple more radio voices that surprised me when I saw their pictures: BBC’s [Neil Nunes](http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/people/presenters/neil-nunes/). He sounds like a guy I know, with an British accent that has an unusual twinge, so I always pictured him as a tall, rotund, bald white guy with a big moustache… with a monocle to reflect his vague Britishness. Dude’s a nice-looking young-ish Jamaican chap. Looking online, I see bitching about his Jamaican accent (via this [article](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/8304155/Who-has-the-most-irritating-radio-voice.html) on annoying radio voices), but I definitely don’t hear it, and I also like his voice and overpronunciation. (I do like a quote from that linked article: “His voice sounds like it is coming out of the funnel of a container ship.”) NPR’s [Diane Rehm](http://thedianerehmshow.org/). I figured she was old, but her spasmodic dysphonia made me think she was doddering, frail, and covered with cobwebs. She’s older, yes, but is the very representative of a “handsome woman.” And one voice that I _knew_ but still shocked me… Meshell Ndegeocello. I knew who she was, liked her singing and deep voice, but for ages I thought the main vocals in Basement Jaxx’s [Right Here’s the Spot](http://youtu.be/IEY8cVmluKc) was some male pop singer. Then I bothered looking at the liner notes and was all :smack:. In my defense, everyone I’ve played the song for has thought it was a guy (usually Justin Timberlake). ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/93 "2012-04-28T22:54:12Z")
> [@LegendHasit](#): > > The first time I heard Simply Red’s “Holding Back the Years” I didn’t expect the lead singer to be/look like Mick Hucknall. I was 14 and loved that song. > > [Mick Hucknall - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Hucknall) > > LH Wow! I had something much closer to Tracy Chapman pictured. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/94 "2012-04-29T01:37:18Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Madeleine Peyroux does not sound like a cute white chick. Huh? Except for sounding almost as much like Billie Holiday as David Sedaris she sounds exactly like a SEXY, cute white chick. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/95 "2012-04-29T01:42:45Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Madeleine Peyroux does not sound like a cute white chick. If her name was any whiter it would be translucent. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/96 "2012-04-29T01:51:05Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Huh? Except for sounding almost as much like Billie Holiday as David Sedaris she sounds exactly like a SEXY, cute white chick. The first time I heard her, I thought it was Ella. I think the song was Leonard Cohen’s Dance Me To The End Of Love… [Madeleine](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX_uRMWFol4) On listening more I have to agree with your Billie Holiday call but not your white chick 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/97 "2015-11-11T00:59:26Z")
Jay Kay of Jamiroquai did not look like I imagined Dobie Gray(RIP) was a black guy but I used to imagine an older, white Willie Nelson type guy. Sophie B.Hawkins, with her song “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover”, I thought she would be a hottie but she was pretty average. However as a kid if I imagined a singer was an attractive woman, chances were most likely they were. Examples include Lady Miss Kier of Deee-lite, Merril Bainbridge(had a hit called “Mouth”), and Amy Grant. But number one of all time has to be for me Ali Campbell of UB40. The lead singer of Romeo Void (“Never Say Never”) also shocked me. On the flip side the singer of Midnight Oil turned out to be the way I expected him to look, which is the only time that has happened. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/98 "2015-11-12T02:46:22Z")
Madonna. First time I saw her I found her disappointingly plain, especially during the “Material Girl” MV where she was copying Marilyn. But she grew on me. Patti Smyth. She could have been younger and more hyper. Lady Gaga - I still don’t know how she really looks. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/99 "2015-11-12T12:00:25Z")
Rick Astley! I was shocked when the first time I saw what I thought was a humungous black dude was actually a kind of skinny Irish-looking nebbish. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193/100 "2015-11-12T12:53:36Z")
No offense intended, since I like his music, but I once found myself standing next to Jose Feliciano at JFK as he was making calls on his mobile. Trust me when I say he’s nowhere near as impressive when he’s not wearing his dark glasses. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-performers-physical-appearance-didnt-match-your-mental-image-the-most/619193.md?page=6)