Debbie Harry is a notable late-bloomer when it comes to Rock stardom. I’m not sure if secretary, go-go dancer, Playboy bunny, is a working class resume, though.
Excellent one. She was in her mid 30s when Blondie broke out, and as you note, she had a number of other jobs prior to that.
Chrissie Hynde didn’t join The Pretenders until she was 27, with a variety of jobs before that.
According to Wikipedia, Wayne Coyne from The Flaming Lips worked at Long John Silver’s for THIRTEEN YEARS, and the band existed in an early form for seven of those years. That means that Coyne was still working at Long John Silver’s by the time the second Flaming Lips album came out.
This is exactly the kind of example I was looking for.
Henry Rollins worked a bunch of lame jobs including as a kidney sample courier and as a manager of a Haagen-Dasz while he was starting out as a singer. His job financed the EP of his band prior to Black Flag. He didn’t quit his day job until he had officially become a member of Black Flag in 1981.
Johnny Cash enlisted in the Air Force at age 18, and served for four years as a Morse code operator. After his discharge, he sold appliances for a short while, while starting his musical career, though it only took him about a year to get signed by Sam Phillips at Sun Records.
Johnny Dowd’s first album was self-released in 1995, IIRC. Zolar Moving Company is still in business.
And before that (contrary to the song), he picked cotton.
I’d wager most came from working-class backgrounds.
Not to TS, but a more interesting thread might be once famous (or once semi-famous) rock musicians who are now working regular jobs.
Roger Daltry of the Who was a sheet metal apprentice. Doubt if he clocked in 5 years though.
More precisely, he was a Morse code transcriber. In other words, he listened to Morse code transmissions and wrote down the letters. He was assigned to a base in Germany. There he transcribed Soviet transmissions. He was the first American to learn of Stalin’s death.
Apparently Greg Graffin of the rock group Bad Religion studied and taught zoology while in the band.
Robert Plant was a labourer who worked on the roads in Birmingham during the day and sang in bands on the weekend.
Of course it is. It’s not like Smith or Bryn Mawr grads have to take those jobs.
Bon Scott has a similar Wikipedia entry:
" He attended North Fremantle Primary School and later John Curtin College of the Arts until he dropped out at the age of 15. He subsequently worked as a farmhand and a crayfisherman, and was later a trainee weighing-machine mechanic.In 1963 he spent a short time in Fremantle Prison’s assessment centre and nine months at the Riverbank Juvenile Institution, relating to charges of giving a false name and address to the police, having escaped legal custody, having unlawful carnal knowledge, and stealing 12 imperial gallons (55 L) of petrol."
Bon Scott??? The Hell You Say! Hard to believe…
Depends whether they count as Rock and Pop but moving past the many Rappers who claim criminal pasts you also have many who served in the armed forces. MC Hammer was from a poor family and served (Honourable Discharge) and there was Terence Trent D’Arby (Dishonourable Discharge) but not sure how big he was in the US.
TCMF-2L
None of them “working class” jobs, though. Maybe the stint at SEX. Maybe. Although it was more of a design/art school dropout kind of place, AIUI.
Mark Knopfler worked as a journalist and then as a lecturer for years before attaining any success as a musician. He was almost 28 when Dire Straits was formed, and well into his 30’s when they hit the big time.
That is a job? I wonder if it influenced his music.
I was going to mention Johnny Dowd, but thought he was too obscure. I saw him once, and he was very cool. He swung around to the bar after his band had finished loading out. We talked for a bit. He’s a super nice, modest guy. If you like heavy blues influenced rock, you should give him a try.
Based on the crowd size, I’m not surprised he kept his day job.