Wednesday, August 25, 2010

gasp ... another post

It is my goal to post more on this site than just letters to J. So, in an effort to achieve that, I'm posting a second time in as many days.

I'd like to get the insight of all five of my readers on a question I've had for ages now.

Why are we more willing to accept a singer who decides to act than an actor who decides to sing? See: Will Smith, Justin Timberlake, Jennifer Hudson vs. pretty much any actor that ever tried his or her hand at music. Maybe there is an exception for actors who began on or went to broadway, but I still can't think of one that could be considered a mainstream musical success.

4 comments:

Russell said...

Maybe it's harder to be a musician than it is to be an actor?

But I was intrigued by your question, so I did some digging.

Here's a short list of people I found that started out as actors and had a substantial music career. Maybe it was substantial in another country and it might be four decades ago, but take a look and see if any of these people would qualify.

Alan Arkin, Micky Dolenz, Jamie Foxx, David Hasselhoff, Alanis Morissette,

Whitney said...

Hmmm. Alan Arkin? How bizzare.

Micky Dolenz was on a show as a (fake) musician so I'm not sure if that counts since America identified with him as a musician already.

I probably should have qualified that by "we" I meant Americans, so I don't know if David Hasselhoff really qualifies.

I'm kind of OK with Jamie Foxx, though his big hit was a duet with an established superstar.

I'll give you Alanis Morissette.

Your first question is my first assumption, too. I also think that Americans are a lot more particular about music than movies. I know I am. For instance, I generally like most movies I see, but I don't necessarily like most the music I hear. And I'm much more willing to pay to see a movie I may like than I am to buy a CD I'm not sure I'd love (unless it's from the used store).

Unknown said...

Um, what about Jared Leto?

Whitney said...

OK. I'll give you Jared Leto, too. I didn't think it would happen, but I think he's taken seriously as a musician now.