Have you ever looked at rock stars with their perfect hair and teeth and think “I bet they’ve always been cool.” Wrong.
They were dweebs just like us in high school! Through money; PR experts; make-up; lighting; major surgery; payola; special effects; magic; voodoo; and selling their souls to the devil, they became the rock gods we all know and sometimes envy.
Their journey from high-school nerd to fame and fortune was almost always a unique one and included plenty of luck, along with their considerable talent; hell, if there was a guidebook showing the way, we would all do it! We thought it would be fun to snoop into their past, check out their origins, and find out how they got their big break. We hope you enjoy: Iconic Rock Stars: From Goofy to Great
- Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler- Future bank president
Steven Victor Tallarico was born March 26, 1948 in Yonkers, New York. His mom was a secretary, and his dad was a classical musician and a pianist who taught music at a high school in the Bronx. He has one older sister named Lynda. He was a huge Rolling Stones fan and got to see them in concert when he was 17; that pretty much set his career path. As a teen he played drums in a band called The Strangeurs; they became Chain Reaction, and he became Steven Tally. He moved to the Boston area, then became Steven Tyler (a decent stage name is a must) and he met the guys with whom he would form Aerosmith. Their big break came in 1972 when they signed a deal with Columbia Records, and released their eponymous debut album which contained the hit “Dream On.”
He went on to a legendary career that included a drugging, drinking, and carousing lifestyle that became the stuff of legend. He has danced on the dark side as much as any rock star alive. In fact, Tyler once referred to himself as a “pharmaceutical disposal.” Aerosmith’s wild man attacks life with an I-don’t-give-a-crap fearlessness that many of us wish we had the guts to pull off. His screaming vocal style, acrobatic stage antics, and long flowing scarves draped around his microphone stand make for a memorable show and are a few of the reasons why he is one of rock’s great front men.
- Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin- Future executive secretary
Janis Lyn Joplin was born in Port Arthur, Texas on January 19, 1943. Her mom was a registrar at a business college, her father was an engineer at Texaco, and she had two younger siblings, Michael and Laura. She was a self-described teenage “misfit” who fell in love with her friends’ blues records; she soon began singing the blues herself, with her friends. In high school, she suffered from severe acne and was teased incessantly by her peers. After graduation, she attended college but did not finish. In 1963, she moved to San Francisco “just to get away.” There, she became heavily into drinking and hard psychoactive drugs, and in early 1965, her friends threw her a “bus-fare party” so she could go back to Texas and regroup. Once there, she cleaned up and enrolled in college as an anthropology major, playing gigs here and there. She also became engaged, but the wedding plans fell through. In 1966, she was recruited to join Big Brother and the Holding Company in San Francisco, where she seriously relapsed into heavier drug use. Her big break came with the band’s appearance at The Monterey Pop Festival in June/ 1967, and Columbia Records signed them to a record deal on the strength of that performance. Janis Joplin was a woman of large appetites. She was also tough and stubborn; resisting the pressure to be “feminine” in post-1950s America. She was smart and funny, and her fans picked up on a sweet vulnerability about her; we wanted to protect her. She became a blues legend until her huge intake of whiskey and heroin began to destroy her personal and professional relationships, as well as her voice. It was heroin that eventually did her in.
- Gwen Stefani
Gwen Stefani- Future Sleep Number sales rep
Gwen Renee Stefani was born on October 3, 1969, in Fullerton, California, and raised Roman Catholic in Anaheim, California. She was named after a stewardess in the 1968 novel Airport, and her middle name, Renée, comes from The Four Tops’ 1968 cover of The Left Banke’s 1966 song “Walk Away Renee.” [Is that more information than you ever wanted?] Her father worked as a Yamaha marketing executive. And her mother worked as an accountant before becoming a housewife. Gwen’s parents were great fans of folk music and exposed her to music by artists like Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris. She has two younger siblings, Jill and Todd, and an older brother named Eric, who was the keyboardist for No Doubt before leaving the band to pursue a career in animation on The Simpsons.
In 1986, Eric invited her to record some vocals for No Doubt, a ska band he was forming. In 1991, the band was signed to Interscope Records, and their “big break” came with the release of their third album Tragic Kingdom in 1995 and its huge single “Don’t Speak.” Tragic Kingdom has sold over 16 million copies.
Gwen Stefani has cited Blondie singer Debbie Harry’s combination of power and sex appeal as a major influence. One of the last great female rock stars, Stefani has been widely influential and is much loved by most everyone…a very nice person in a very tough business. And now, she dates country singer Blake Shelton and tries desperately to not ever wear a cowboy hat. Her chances are about 50/50.
- Jon Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi- Future TGIF shift manager
John Francis Bongiovi, Jr. was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. His dad was a former Marine and a barber, and his mother was also a former Marine and a Playboy Bunny turned florist. He has two brothers, Anthony and Matthew. He has stated that he is a blood relative of singer and Rat-Pack leader Frank Sinatra. He spent most of his adolescence skipping school, and ended up playing in local bands with friends and his cousin Tony Bongiovi, who owned the then-famous New York City recording studio, The Power Station. Needless to say, he was not an academic.
By the age of 16, he was playing and hanging out in clubs. He played in various bands and at 17; he swept the floors at his cousin’s recording studio. In 1982, he recorded a song called “Runaway,” and shopped it around without success. He finally got it played at a major rock station WAPP 103.5FM “The Apple” in New York City, and in 1983, Mercury Records signed him to a contract and “Runaway” became a local hit. He gathered together the players that would form his band and they renamed themselves into a variation of his own name, now Bon Jovi. Their big break was the 1986 album Slippery When Wet, which has sold over 12 million copies. The band has enjoyed a long, fruitful run of success and Jon Bon Jovi has even acted in 12 movies and various TV shows. He does lots of charity work, is very active in liberal politics, and he has been married to his high school sweetheart for 27 years. In 2011, he was named People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive. He is unofficially New Jersey’s second most favored son. Is there anything this guy can’t do?
The Jon Bon Jovi story shows that there is more than one way to get to the top. From a teenager skipping school, smoking, drinking, and hanging out in bars, to life as a multi-millionaire rock star with a high-wattage smile; he is respected by all.
Its funny…it seems the harder one works, the luckier one gets.
- Stevie Nicks
Stevie Nicks- Future PTA Treasurer
Stephanie Lynn “Stevie” Nicks was born in Phoenix, Arizona. Her father was former president of Greyhound’s Armour-Dial (Greyhound Bus, Armour Meats, and Dial soap), her mother was a homemaker, and she has a brother, Chris.. Her grandfather was a struggling country singer who taught her to sing duets. Her mother was overly protective and Stevie spent most of her time at home. The family moved frequently because of her dad’s career as a food executive. She spent her teens playing records constantly in her room, and lived in her “own little musical world.” At 16, she got a guitar and wrote her first song, “I’ve Loved and I’ve Lost and I’m Sad But Not Blue.”
She met her future musical and romantic partner, Lindsey Buckingham, as a senior in high school and they formed various bands together. She attended San Jose State University in Northern California, majoring in speech communication, and planned to become an English teacher, but she dropped out of college the semester before graduation. Buckingham Nicks released a failed album, and then in 1975, their big break arrived when they joined Fleetwood Mac. It has been an amazing ride for Stevie Nicks that has included drugs, troubled relationships, and fabulous wealth; in other words, all the excesses of rock and roll.
On a personal note, I’d like to add that most every guy in America had a crush on her in the 70s, and any male who says he never fantasized about Stevie Nicks is a doggone liar. That’s right, I said it. She was beautiful. We’ve since learned that Stevie was a little “out there” with her robes, scarves, tambourines, and the whole white witch thing going on but hey, at the time, I was only twenty-one… most of my blood supply for deep contemplation was in use elsewhere. I still love Stevie though, because she has always kept it real and has shown herself to be a tough survivor while always giving everything she had to her fans and to her art.
- Alice Cooper (Vincent Damon Furnier)
Alice Cooper- Future Dominos Delivery Driver
Vincent Damon Furnier was born on February 4, 1948 in Detroit, Michigan. His dad was a preacher in The Church of Jesus Christ, and he also has an older sister, Nicola. After a series of childhood illnesses, he moved with his family to Phoenix, Arizona where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Vincent formed his first band, The Earwigs in high school, with the band later changing their name to The Spiders. Around 1967, they relocated to Los Angeles where they again changed their name. The myth is that Alice Cooper was a witch they had contacted through a Ouija board, but actually, “Alice Cooper” was a character on Mayberry R.F.D. The band, and now Vincent, was officially named Alice Cooper and they gradually developed a genre of music called “Shock Rock,” of which he was the “Godfather.” This Shock Rock genre featured Alice wearing macabre, theatrical make-up and costumes with a stage show that featured guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, deadly snakes, baby dolls, and dueling swords. They caught the eye of Frank Zappa, who was intrigued with their weirdness and he signed them to his new record label, Straight Records. Their climb to fame was a gradual process of refining their act and pushing the limits, even featuring, at one point, a staged execution with an electric chair. As Cooper once stated, “We were into fun, sex, death and money when everybody was into peace and love. We wanted to see what was next. It turned out we were next, and we drove a stake through the heart of the Love Generation“.
Their big break came on the third album of their three-album deal, Love it to Death, which featured their breakout single, “I’m Eighteen” in 1970.
The funniest thing about the whole Alice Cooper story was that Alice was probably the nicest, most normal guy in the business. He did have his troubles with alcoholism in the mid-eighties, but he has maintained a long and active solo career. Away from music, Cooper is a film actor, a golfing celebrity, a restaurateur, and, since 2004, a popular radio DJ with his classic rock show Nights with Alice Cooper.
No dummy, he.
- Adam Levine
Adam Levine- Future McDonald’s Manager-Trainee
Adam Noah Levine was born in Los Angeles, California on March 18, 1979. His dad was the founder of retail chain M. Fredric and his mom was an admissions counselor. They divorced when Adam was seven years old. He also has a brother, Michael and a sister, Julia. He describes his family as “very musical” and, early on, he was heavily exposed to the music of artists like Simon & Garfunkel, Fleetwood Mac, and especially The Beatles. In high school, he formed the band Kara’s Flowers with his buddies. In 1997, they were discovered playing a beach party in Malibu and soon signed with Reprise Records. They released an album, The Fourth World, which had little success, and the band broke up. Levine soon left L.A. to pursue further studies in New York, where he discovered hip-hop and R&B music. It wasn’t long before he and his Kara’s Flowers buddies reunited; they signed with Octone Records and renamed themselves Maroon 5. Their debut album, Songs about Jane, sold 10 million copies with hit singles like “Harder to Breathe,” and international hits “This Love” and “She Will Be Loved.”
Since 2011, he has been a judge/coach on NBC’s The Voice. As an entrepreneur, he launched his own fragrance line in 2013. The same year, he collaborated with K-Mart and ShopYourWay.com to develop his menswear collection. He also owns a record label, 222 Records.
On The Voice, Levine shows himself to be very funny and quite the game-show strategist, and together with his fellow judge, country singer Blake Shelton, they are a riot. And if that wasn’t enough, he was named “People’s Sexiest Man Alive” in 2013.
Is there no stopping this guy?
- Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen- Future Feed Store Manager
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born on September 23, 1949, in Long Branch, New Jersey. His dad was a bus driver, but all too often was unemployed while Springsteen’s mom, a legal secretary, was the main family breadwinner. He has two younger sisters, Virginia and Pamela. He was raised a Roman Catholic, but was always at odds with the nuns, and he rejected the restrictions they placed upon him. Former teachers describe him as a “loner, who wanted nothing more than to play his guitar.” He finished high school, but skipped his own graduation ceremony. He briefly attended Ocean County College, but dropped out. Like so many American kids, once he saw The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, it was all over and it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for him. In 1965, Springsteen’s mother took out a loan to buy 16-year-old Bruce a $60 Kent guitar. He was called for the Vietnam draft but failed his physical exam thanks to an earlier concussion and his “crazy behavior” at induction. For the next few years, he played in various bands, improving his performing chops and building a reputation until he got his big break in 1972: a recording contract with Columbia Records. He then began assembling the musicians that would become the E Street Band. He was on his way. His exhaustive live shows soon became legendary, as he wrote poetic lyrics about life’s losers and the dispossessed, and sang them with the feeling that he meant every single word of it. In 1974, critic Jon Landau wrote, “I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.”
He remains “The Boss” but never really was crazy about the nickname; he had a natural aversion to bosses and to authority in general. Indeed, despite his fame and fortune, he remains the voice of the common man. This is a very exciting time for Bruce Springsteen fans, as his long-awaited autobiography has recently released, and is titled Born to Run (what else?).
- Prince
Prince- Future Car Stereo Installer
Prince Rogers Nelson was born June 7, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father was a pianist and songwriter, his mother was a jazz singer, and he has a younger sister, Tika. Prince wrote his first tune, “Funk Machine”, on his father’s piano when he was just seven years old. At age 10, his parents separated and he began switching homes, sometimes living with his mother and sometimes with his father. He then moved into the home of neighbors and befriended their son, Andre. In high school, he played three sports and especially loved basketball. In 1975, he played and recorded with the band 94 East. In 1976, Prince created a demo tape and signed with a manager who helped him put together a better quality demo and press kit while shopping him around to several record companies. At the tender age of 18, his big break came in the form of a Warner Bros recording contract; a three-album deal that gave him full creative control and ownership of his publishing rights; an almost unprecedented deal. Thus, Prince began a career of spectacular creativity.
The words “genius” and “Diva” are thrown around loosely these days, but Prince really was a musical genius. He played every instrument expertly. He sang his ass off in a high falsetto range or in a full baritone. Some have said if James Brown and Jimi Hendrix had a baby, it would be Prince…and you can throw in Little Richard as the crazy uncle. He was wildly prolific, selling over 150 million albums; including 39 studio records and 4 live collections in an almost 40-year career. Since 1979, he charted 50 Top-40 hits. He was influenced by everyone and he, in turn, was just as influential to others. Prince made it okay to be different. He was androgynous, with big hair, and he brought a flamboyant showmanship to the stage. He had his own unique fashion style, and he seized control of his artistry as if it was his very life, which it was. He didn’t give a crap about what others thought of him. He brought his sexuality out into the great wide open and challenged others to deal with it.
Prince was The Beatles of the Millennial Generation. The Baby Boomers, with all their proud talk of Woodstock and “free love” were a little leery of Prince and didn’t quite know what to make of him. Over the years, Prince kept his name in the limelight; kept pushing the boundaries, and more importantly, stayed relevant for almost forty years, through changing musical tastes and the ever-short attention spans of the average record buyer. His staying power is a huge part of the Prince legacy.
And now he is gone.
A world without Prince is a world that is less fun; less interesting, and less inspiring. He has been there for so long. At the time of his death, he was writing a memoir, tentatively titled, The Beautiful Ones. The status of this project is unknown, but one hopes that he was near the finish line. A memoir that features the intimate thoughts and words of such a shy and private man as The Purple One will, indeed, be a beautiful one.
- Glenn Frey
Glenn Frey- Future Choir Director
Glenn Lewis Frey was born November 6, 1948 in Detroit, Michigan. His dad was a machinist, but he was basically raised by his mother, Nellie, who started him on piano at age five. As a teen, he became very much a part of the mid-60s Detroit rock scene, hanging out and playing with friend Bob Seger, who helped him get a management and recording contract. The next few years, Frey shuffled between Los Angeles and Detroit, playing and recording with other young players like J.D. Souther and Jackson Browne. In a sense, you might say that Frey got his big break when he met Don Henley in 1970, as they would become sort of the Lennon-McCartney of American pop music. They wound up together in a band backing up Linda Ronstadt until that band formed The Eagles in 1971, signing with Asylum Records, and releasing their debut album in 1972.
The Eagles made unforgettable music; they fought with each other, broke up, reunited, toured, broke up again, and on and on, and Frey was there for every single minute of it. He went on to a successful solo career too and he even did some acting. And has there ever been a prettier, sadder song than his “The One You Love”?
Glenn Frey was a strong personality. His Detroit background put steel in his spine; he was no pushover and he wanted things done right. By most accounts, he was funny, stubborn, and generous; and yes, he was pretty soulful too.
To say that his music was the soundtrack to my life is one of the tritest of clichés, but it also happens to be very true. His passing jarred me and put me right square into the here-and-now. Glenn Frey is gone and at this stage of the game, so too is much of my potential. The mirror no longer tells me that I’m the fairest of them all.
So, here’s to life.
Here’s to the memories.
Here’s to Glenn Frey.
Winter is coming! Wouldn’t you like a furry pet sitting by the fire with you? Head down to your local rescue and give one a home.
David
Dogs and Avocados 