#1

Paul McCartney's brother Mike released records as Mike McGear.

Paul McCartney released an instrumental album as Thrillington.

George Harrison released 2 solo albums before All Things Must Pass.

Peter Tork played banjo on one of George Harrison's albums Wonderwall Music.

Phil Collins was an extra in A Hard Day's Night.

Before joining The Monkees, Michael Nesmith released a few singles under the name "Michael Blessing".

N'Dea Davenport started out singing hooks on records by Delicious Vinyl acts Young MC and Jesse Jaymes and she can be seen in Jesse Jaymes music video for Shake It (Like A White Girl).

Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers is playing bass on Young MC's Bust A Move.

Weird Al wanted to do a parody on Michael Jackson's Black Or White, but Mike turned him down this time because he thought the song was more serious than Beat It and Bad.

David Lee Roth is a registered emergency medical technician.

Sting and James "JT" Taylor (Kool & The Gang) were school teachers before becoming big.

.

George Benson released his first single in 1953 under the name "Little Georgie Benson". He was 10 years old and the record was called She's Mad At Me/It Should Have Been Me.

.

Kenny G. started out in a funk band named Cold, Bold, and Together.

Some more... this being about Aretha Franklin.

Aretha Facts:
The reigning Queen of Soul for decades, she has a four-octave vocal range.

She is a self-taught pianist, who learned without knowing how to read music.

Franklin's first two sons were born before her 13th and 15th birthdays.

Is extremely private, she rarely discusses her personal life or her father's death.

Her father was shot by burglars in 1979 and remained in a coma from then until his death in 1984. Rev. Jesse Jackson presided over his funeral.

Franklin claims reports of her mother abandoning the family in 1948 are "an absolute lie". The Franklins separated and the children lived with Rev. Franklin, spending summers with their mother until Mrs. Franklin died in 1952.

Due to an in-flight turbulence incident in 1982 she has an extreme fear of flying.

She has performed at the inauguration of three different presidents, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barak Obama.

The "Queen of Soul", she has 44 Grammy nominations and 18 wins. Ten of those wins are for Best R&B Vocal Performance.

A high school dropout, she has two honorary doctorates of music, from Berklee College of Music and Yale University.

In addition to receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the NAACP Hall of Fame, the Apollo Theater Legends Hall of Fame.

[Edited 6/28/13 18:44pm]

Monroe's first marriage, to neighbor James Dougherty when she was 16, took place as a means of keeping her from being sent back to a state-run orphanage after one of her many foster families could no longer care for her.

Monroe notoriously became Playboy magazine's first monthly Playmate in 1953 after the magazine published a nude calendar photo she had posed for six years earlier, for which she had been paid just $50. (Hugh Hefner had paid the photographer $500 for the rights.) Back then, the magazine called its centerfold "Sweetheart of the Month." Monroe never made any money from the Playboy spread.

Monroe's favorite place in NY was Brooklyn. A year before her death. In another interview, she had said during that time period: "I'm going to buy a little house in Brooklyn and live there. I'll go to the coast only when I have to make a picture."

As for what she loved about Brooklyn, it sounds as though there was a certain amount of anonymity she could maintain walking around the borough, while still remaining close to Manhattan life: "I just like walking around. I think the view is better from Brooklyn—you can look back over and see Manhattan. That's the best view, but it isn't only the view. It's the people, and the streets...and the atmosphere, I just like it."

Def Leppard's 1983 #1 hit single "Photograph" from their "Pyromania" album was written about her.

Batman writer/artist Bob Kane used Marilyn's likeness as a reference when he drew Vicki Vale.

At 168, Marilyn's IQ was significantly higher than John F. Kennedy's 129. (A score of 100 is considered average and 150 to be highly gifted).

Learned to play the guitar for her role in River of No Return (1954) and the ukulele for her role in Some Like It Hot (1959).

In 1972, actress Veronica Hamel and her husband became the new owners of Marilyn's Brentwood home. They hired a contractor to replace the roof and remodel the house, and the contractor discovered a sophisticated eavesdropping and telephone tapping system that covered every room in the house. The components were not commercially available in 1962, but were in the words of a retired Justice Department official, "standard FBI issue." This discovery lent further support to claims of conspiracy theorists that Marilyn had been under surveillance by the Kennedys and the Mafia. The new owners spent $100,000 to remove the bugging devices from the house.

Was good friends with Dorothy Dandridge and Ava Gardner when they were all young, struggling actresses in Hollywood.

Last year, Monroe came in third (behind Michael Jackson and Elvis) on Forbes' annual list of To...elebrities. According to Forbes, she earned $27 million last year. Authentic Brands Group, which owns her likeness rights, is reportedly planning to license a chain of Monroe-themed cafes.

George Harrison plays the guitar solo on Hall & Oates The Last Time.

.

Daryl Hall does background vocals on Original Sin by INXS.

.

Early in his career Daryl Hall was a session musician for Thom Bell and Gamble & Huff and played on records by Jerry Butler and other acts they produced.

.

Phil Collins plays drums and sings background vocals on the 45 single version of Howard Jones' No One Is To Blame, but is not on the album version.

.

Charlie Smalls (writer of The Wiz), Tim Buckley, Liberace, & Frank Zappa appeared on episodes of The Monkees. Zappa also did a cameo in The Monkees' movie Head and so does Sonny Liston the boxer. The Clara Ward Singers, Little Richard, Julie Driscoll, Buddy Miles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Brian Auger, and Fats Domino appeared on The Monkees TV special 33⅓ Revolutions. The Jimi Hendrix Experience opened up for the group on their tour but dropped out after a few dates.

.

Wiilie D of The Geto Boys is a fan of 1970s singer-songwriter James Taylor.

.

Before The Beatles broke up, John Lennon considered making Billy Preston an official member.

.

James Ingram appeared in the movie Dolemite with the band he was in Revelation Funk.

George Michael & Andrew Ridgeley were originally in a ska band called The Executive.

.

Tony Curtis & Roger Moore were in an early 1970s TV show named The Persuaders.

.

Bruce Lee was a champion cha cha dancer and also made many movies as a child and teenager.

MickyDolenz said:

David Lee Roth is a registered emergency medical technician.

Sting and James "JT" Taylor (Kool & The Gang) were school teachers before becoming big.

.

George Benson released his first single in 1953 under the name "Little Georgie Benson". He was 10 years old and the record was called She's Mad At Me/It Should Have Been Me.

.

Kenny G. started out in a funk band named Cold, Bold, and Together.

What's Sam Watters from Color Me Badd doing there?

A few members of The Eagles were Linda Ronstadt's band members.

.

The only original member of The Manhattan Transfer is Tim Hauser. The original lineup released one album, but the group has been intact from 2nd album on.

.

Lou Rawls replaced Sam Cooke in The Highway QC's and Johnnie Taylor replaced Lou. Johnnie was the only one that recorded with the group. Johnnie also replaced Sam Cooke in The Soul Stirrers.

.

Sam Cooke acted in an episode of the Ronald Reagan hosted General Electric Theater. The episode is called The Patsy. Sammy Davis Jr. and Robert Culp also appeared.

.

Timothy B. Schmit replaced Randy Meisner in both Poco and The Eagles.

.

Sammy Davis Jr. was good at gun tricks and considered "the fastest draw" in Hollywood.

funkycat00 said:

MickyDolenz said:

Kenny G. started out in a funk band named Cold, Bold, and Together.

What's Sam Watters from Color Me Badd doing there?

Here's a couple of their songs:

SuperSoulFighter said:

Imagine The Jimi Hendrix Experience opening for The Monkees! That's almost as weird as Jimi opening for Engelbert Humperdinck! And yes, even that was planned at one stage. But that was before Jimi set his guitar on fire.

It has recently come to light that New York’s Statue of Liberty is based on the profile of the young Presley.

The French sculpture Bartholdi had spotted him while on a trip to the United States while searching for an adequate space for the monument.

Usher holds the Star Search record for the longest note by a child: 12.1 seconds.

Madonna is related to both Gwen Stefani and Celine Dion. Gwen's great aunt's mother-in-law shares the same last name as Madonna Ciccone and an ancestor of Madonna's mother was married to a distant relative of Celine's dad.

Angelina Jolie's uncle who looks just like John Voight, Chip Taylor, wrote the song "Wild Thing".

Mariah Carey was nicknamed "Mirage" in high school because she never showed up for class.

Christina Applegate attended the 1989 MTV Movie Awards with Brad Pitt, but dumped him at the event and left with someone else. "We were really good friends when I was about 16. We went to the awards and I ditched him! I left him there and I feel really bad about it...I really really do. I left with somebody else".

Even though she appears in ads for Tommy Hilfiger's True Star fragrances, Beyonce is reportedly allergic to perfume.

A childhood virus left Rob Lowe completely deaf in his right ear. "No stereo for me" he says "It's a mono world".

Early in her career, Whitney Houston sang the jingle used in commercials for Bounce fabric sheets.

[Edited 7/5/13 10:01am]

Rock Stars Who Were Born Rich

Kevin Winter, Getty Images

Lindsey Buckingham

Before he hooked up with Stevie Nicks in Los Angeles for a singer-songwriter duo that would eventually transform Fleetwood Mac from lumbering British blues band into world-dominating rock stars, Lindsey Buckingham spent his time in a California suburb. His dad owned a successful coffee plant. Young Lindsey, along with his two older brothers, spent a good deal of his free time swimming competitively. In high school, he became a star water-polo player, which says all you need to know about his pre-Mac finances.

Rhino Records

Gram Parsons

Don't let the twang fool you. Alt-country godfather Gram Parsons had little firsthand knowledge of the truck stops and barn dances he sang about. He grew up as Ingram Cecil Connor III and split his time between Georgia and Florida, where his grandfather owned and operated a citrus empire that was once responsible for one-third of the state's crop. Parsons attended a prestigious boarding school as a child and later moved on to Harvard. But he never graduated; instead, he focused on his music, as a member of the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Byrds, and his interest in drugs, with buddy Keith Richards, before dying of an overdose at age 26.

Noel Vasquez, Getty Images

Carly Simon

Before she started schooling Mick Jagger (or was it Warren Beatty? Or David Geffen?) on vanity issues, Carly Simon was pretty well set, thanks to her dad, who co-founded the Simon & Schuster publishing house. Born and raised in New York City, Simon enjoyed all the privileges of being related to one of the world's leading literary tastemakers, including stints at private liberal-arts schools like Sarah Lawrence College. In 1972 she married fellow singer-songwriter James Taylor, whose own childhood was also blessed with riches, bringing their collective funds somewhere in the upper gazillions.

Express, Hulton Archive, Getty Images

Grace Slick

Grace Slick fought the Man every opportunity she got in songs like 'Volunteers' with Jefferson Airplane. Thing is, her dad was the Man, which probably made for some very awkward holiday dinners. Her father worked for an investment-banking firm, which netted him tons of money -- enough to make sure his little girl attended prestigious and private all-girls schools growing up. After a couple of years at colleges in New York and Florida, Slick and her husband formed a band and moved to San Francisco, where she became a fixture on the burgeoning hippie scene.

Theo Wargo, Getty Images

Lars Ulrich

Despite the working-class thrash of his band's music, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich grew up a spoiled rich kid in Denmark, where his Gandalf-looking dad amassed a fortune in the '70s as one of the top-ranked tennis players in the world. Young Lars was even shipped to Los Angeles when he was 16 to pursue his own professional tennis training. But he soon met fellow metal fan James Hetfield, and together they helped shape the way heavy music sounds over the past 30 years, amassing their own fortune along the way.

Simone Joyner, Getty Images

Julian Casablancas

The only reason we're singling out Julian Casablancas from his equally born-rich bandmates in the Strokes is that his financial advantages stretch back further. Casablancas' dad is the co-founder of a Paris-based model agency that's represented Naomi Campbell, Heidi Klum and many other supermodels over the past 40 years; his mom is a former model (natch) and a onetime Miss Denmark. If that isn't enough to make you see green, his grandfather was a super-successful textile businessman.

Valerio Pennicino, Getty Images

Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey started life as Elizabeth Grant in New York City, where both of her parents worked for Grey Group, a real-life 'Mad Men' agency that deals in advertising, marketing and possibly mid-afternoon highballs. She went to boarding school, studied philosophy in college and recorded an album under her own name before she reworked her image and music. Oh, and her middle name is "Woolridge," which is pretty damn fancy-pants.

Michael Buckner, Getty Images

Zooey Deschanel

The She & Him singer was born in Los Angeles to Hollywood parents. Her mother, Mary Jo Deschanel, starred in 'The Right Stuff' as astronaut John Glenn's wife and in 'Twin Peaks' as the wheelchair-bound mother of one of the show's troubled teens. Zooey's dad, Caleb Deschanel, is an acclaimed director and cinematographer who's been nominated for five Oscars for his work on movies like 'The Natural' and 'The Passion of the Christ.'

Theo Wargo, Getty Images

Ezra Koenig

It should come as little surprise that Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig boasts a privileged background. Just look at him. He looks like he just stepped out of an L.L. Bean catalog. He was raised in Upper Manhattan by a psychotherapist father and a mother who worked behind the scenes on movies and TV shows. Koenig majored in English literature at Columbia University -- a career path favored by born-rich kids and destined-to-be-poor-forever idealists.

Andreas Rentz, Getty Images

Mark Ronson

DJ/producer/party-starter Mark Ronson has a long list of friends and clients that includes Adele, Nas, Amy Winehouse and Duran Duran, among countless others. He undoubtedly got some hobnobbing tips from his uncle, British real-estate tycoon Gerald Ronson, a fixture on past richest-men-on-the-planet rankings. Ronson the artist is also related to a couple of well-known politicians, one of whom has a "Sir" in front of his name. Plus, his stepfather was the guy who played guitar in Foreigner.

Ringo Starr didn't attend much school as he had a lot of medical problems as a child, and spent a lot of time in the hospital.