Music is all about timing, and while success depends on talent and determination, there’s also an element of luck and timing involved and often it just doesn’t happen. Behind the rock and roll facade there are plenty of artists who didn’t make it, plenty who came very close to walking away, and even some who went away and then came back again. We’ve talked before about musical comebacks, but we thought we’d take a look at some of our favourite musicians who came close to leaving it all behind before making it big.
THE BEATLES
If you picture the Fab Four, you think of global success and Beatlemania, hordes of screaming fans and a major pop cultural institution, but the reality is that they were rejected by various record labels. The most notable one was Decca Records who famously said ‘Guitar groups are on their way out’ and ‘The Beatles have no future in show business’. But a meeting with George Martin changed all that, and the rest is pop history.
JOHNNY CASH
One of the best-selling artists of all time, and selling more than 90 million records worldwide, Johnny Cash struggled with addiction issues in the 60s that nearly resulted in him giving up music for good. His popularity was waning, and his drug addiction was becoming more severe; he was arrested for smuggling drugs, his marriage ended and many of his performances were cancelled. He later said it was his arrest, and meeting June Carter, that made him turn his life around. With Carter’s help he beat his addiction and their 1967 duet, ‘Jackson’ won a Grammy Award, he then went on to release ‘At Falsom Prison’ which reached the top of the US Billboard album chart.
BOB DYLAN
Mention Dylan and you think of the folk and rock icon whose career has spanned six decades, but in the late 70s/early 80s Dylan claimed to feel ‘disconnected’ from his songs. He’d become very big, very quickly and was feeling the pressure to produce the kind of album his fans wanted as opposed to the kind of music he wanted to write; his albums from that time had mixed reviews and he thought about leaving the music scene altogether. But his 1977 album ‘Time Out of Mind’ went platinum in the US and was hailed as his comeback album, staying on the best-selling charts for 29 weeks.
EMINEM
Before hitting the big time, Eminem had an unsettled childhood. He was brought up by his mum in a working class, predominantly black neighbourhood in Detroit and as a child he was often bullied. He discovered rap and regularly attended open mic nights and amateur rap shows, even though he was often booed off stage – something that made him think about quitting. But he was eventually signed to an independent label and released ‘Infinite’, which he sold from the boot of his car and despite it being a commercial failure, he went on to release ‘The Slim Shady LP’ in 2000, closely followed by ‘The Marshall Mathers LP’. He’s since been compared to both Elvis and Dylan and even been described as a modern –day William Shakespeare.
ADELE
Adele’s debut album, ‘19’ was released in 2008, earning her a Grammy Award for Best New Artist, then three years later she released ‘21’ which became the world’s best-selling album of the 21st century, with sales of over 31 million. It earned her a whopping 6 Grammy Awards. Understandably, she was worried about living uhp to this early success and felt under pressure. However, four years later she came back with ‘25’, which bagged her another five Grammys, making her one of the world’s best-selling music artists.
ED SHEERAN
Ed Sheeran’s debut album ‘+’ topped the UK album charts and nabbed him a Brit Award for Best British Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act, and his subsequent albums ‘×’ and ‘÷’ were also best-sellers, but he nearly gave it all up to become an actor. He auditioned for a TV show, ‘Britannia High’ and told himself that if he got the part then he’d give up music; his focus at the time was on acting. But once he failed to get the part he thought he’d give music a serious go, and he went on to become one of the most – streamed artists in the world.
CYNDI LAUPER
In the late 70s, Cyndi Lauper was singing in various cover bands, but by 1977, her vocal chords became so damaged she was told that she would never sing again, and she had to communicate using a pen and paper. A year later, after working with a vocal coach who suggested that she stick to performing her own music, using her own voice, instead of trying to replicate someone else’s, she released her debut album – ‘She’s So Unusual’. She became the first female artist to have four consecutive US Billboard top five hits from one album and her re-working of ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ became an anthem for young women everywhere. Find out about other influential women in music in our blog.
SIMON AND GARFUNKEL
Simon and Garfunkel’s debut album ‘Wednesday Morning 3AM’ was released in 1964 and has since become well-known for two reasons; it included the original acoustic version of ‘The Sound of Silence’ and is also credited with being the album that almost ended the duo’s career before it had even begun. The acoustic-heavy album was lost in the arrival of Beatlemania, when folk music just wasn’t ‘the sound’ of the time. It was such a flop that they split up, with Art Garfunkel planning to return to university to study architecture. But a year later a new version of ‘The Sound of Silence’ was released with electric guitars and drums and it went to No. 1 on the US Billboard singles chart.
MOTT THE HOOPLE
Mott the Hoople were ready to call it a day in 1972. While their first album did well, their second had poor sales and negative reviews, and the band were close to splitting up. Luckily for them, David Bowie was a fan, and he persuaded them to stay together. He offered them ‘Suffragette City’ which they turned down, but he then went on to write ‘All the Young Dudes’ which they released as a single. It became their biggest hit and launched them into the world of Glam Rock. Bowie went on to produce one of their albums and has been credited with saving their careers. In later years there was hint of a feud between the lead singer, Ian Hunter, and Bowie; it was said that Hunter resented the suggestion that Bowie had saved them. We’ll never know the truth behind this, but if you love a good celeb feud as much as we do, read our blog on the best music feuds in the business.
BRUNO MARS
Long before ‘Uptown Funk’ became the pop anthem it is, and he became a 13-Grammy nominated musician with six Diamond certified songs, Bruno Mars, feeling homesick and disillusioned, nearly walked away from it all. No stranger to performing, Bruno had appeared as a little Elvis in the film ‘Honeymoon in Vegas’ when he was just four and grew up watching his family perform. He bought a one-way ticket to LA and signed with Motown, but it wasn’t to be and a year later he was thinking of giving it all up. He met Philip Lawrence, a songwriter/record producer and together they wrote for other artists, before he released his first No. 1 single ‘Just the Way You Are’. He’s since earned himself the title of ‘one of the best-selling music artists of all time’.
JIMI HENDRIX
It’s 1967 and The Monkees are on tour across the US. They’ve taken Jimi Hendrix with them as their support act but it’s not going well and less than two weeks later, just 8 shows in, he was asked to leave. It turned out that The Monkees, who were the original boy band having been specifically put together to appeal to a young audience, attracted fans who just weren’t ready to see Hendrix play ‘Purple Haze’ with his teeth, and they booed him off stage. This was a blow to Hendrix, who thought about quitting music, but luckily for us there wasn’t really anything else he could do. He’s still thought of as one of the best guitarists in the history of music.
This list shows just how fickle the world of show business can be; Fred Astaire was famously described as ‘Can’t sing. Can’t act. Balding. Can dance a little.’ before hitting the big time. But the list also shows that persistence, perseverance and determination, as well as being in the right place at the right time with the right people, can make a huge difference.
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