View Full Version : Family members of already-established performers or celebrities


um
03-10-2017, 11:36 PM
https://www.accesshollywood.com/videos/the-voice-jack-cassidy-talks-growing-up-in-a-famous-family/

Recently David Cassidy's nephew (actually his half nephew) Jack Cassidy, made news by singing on "The Voice," which as far as I know, and for all practical purposes is just another version of "American Idol" which went off the air approximately a year ago. Jack Cassidy won over the judges.

Of course Jack Cassidy may have a talented singing voice and he is not yet 20 years old as far as I heard, yet, will he go on to actually be like his uncle David Cassidy, or his other uncle Shaun Cassidy?
A lot of people would say that it is a setback that he does not look like his two most famous uncles who themselves became teen-idols because of their pretty-boy appearances. Jack is the son of Patrick Cassidy who is one of the lesser known half-brothers of David Cassidy.
Jack Cassidy even claims not to like show business and was involved in missionary work and is very "religious" but still felt a certain impetus to perform since his family has show-business roots.

Strangely, David Cassidy's son, Beau also sang on The Voice a while back but was told by the judges that he has to overcome nervousness, and he did not make it as far as his half-cousin Jack. It will be strange that Jack Cassidy will be known by his famous grandfather's name .
I am not sure if Beau has the singing talent that his dad David, and his uncle Shaun had.

Katie Cassidy, David Cassidy's daughter, seems to be the main one who
has made a name for herself in spite of her show business roots rather than because of it. She is mostly known for being an actor I believe.

Nevertheless, I recall that Alan Osmond, the oldest performing member of The Osmond Brothers, trained his own sons to sing and called them "The Osmond Boys, The Second Generation." The act just did not cut the mustard and the second generation of singing Osmond brothers just could not become what their father and uncles were. I would say that the same talent was not there but also the concept just did not work either. The original Osmond Brothers have many children each (them being Mormons), and more than one of the many sons and daughters and nieces and nephews went into singing or performing but none has a big name.

Ryan Oneal's daughter Tatum tried to follow in her acting Father's footsteps and only got so far. She is still the youngest person to ever win an Oscar for her role in "Paper Moon" but, except perhaps for her role in the original "The Bad News Bears" her acting career actually faded while she was still young. She mostly became famous for being Ryan O'Neal's daughter and having had been lucky enough when she was 10 years old to win an Oscar.

Cher's former daughter "Chastity" (now "Chaz") used to sing in a rock band as I best recall. That was when Chastity was still in her 20s or so. But Chaz became famous for something else, becoming a trans-gendered person. I don't think Chaz is pursuing a singing or acting career, not any longer. Cher's other child , Elijah Blue, is the son of Greg Allman but I am not aware that Elijah is a musician or performer.

John Lennon's son Julian had some songs back in the early 80s soon after his father died. Julian never really became a well known musician or singer. He
is only known for being John Lennon's estranged son and having had tried a music career, but failing at it. I heard that he is running a restaurant now.
I think that John Lennon's other son Shaun performs music with his mother Yoko Ono. However they still don't have well known material.

it seems that in a way, the child of an established performer is better off if s/he is not associated with his or her parents or other family members in show business. It seems oftentimes there are unavoidable comparisons which make it a matter of overlooking talent because it seems a well-known name is just being used, or alternately it can be a matter of perceiving talent because of the brand name.


Any one know of other children who followed or tried to follow in famous parent's footsteps and the results?

gidgetgrape
03-11-2017, 12:41 AM
Re: Tatum O'Neal

Her career stalled mostly due to her drug use and being abused by men. Both of her parents were drug users. Tatum earned the Oscar by having talent, not luck.

Re: Elijah Blue Allman

He played guitar in Cher's band for years and is in the "If I Could Turn Back Time" music video. He's singer and guitarist of Deadsy.

um
03-11-2017, 06:51 AM
Re: Tatum O'Neal

Her career stalled mostly due to her drug use and being abused by men. Both of her parents were drug users. Tatum earned the Oscar by having talent, not luck.

Re: Elijah Blue Allman

He played guitar in Cher's band for years and is in the "If I Could Turn Back Time" music video. He's singer and guitarist of Deadsy.


Tatum had some acting talent , sure and yet when she made that terrible movie with Kristy McNichol "Little Darlings" (about teen girls betting on who can lose her virginity first) I read a review that the movie is horrible in concept and just sensationalizes the current trend of girls, and teens in general, being prone to have sex an earlier age to be cool, but also Tatum O'Neal has much less acting talent than Kristy McNichol and it shows in the film.
Of course also Tatum's drug use probably did not help her.

I never knew what Elijah Blue was doing. There has not been news that I am aware of regarding his music career. He has not become as iconic as his dad (and maybe his mom).. I guess though, it can be good that the child of a famous parent just goes into the same business in a more discreet way and without a lot of fanfare and advertising that s/he is of a famous parent and carrying on. I think George Harrison's son , Dahni is playing in a band, and I think one of Rod Stewart's daughters is singing in a band.
Sometimes it just happens more organically or automatically and without a particularly big focus on it , and it seems that is what happened with Frank Sinatra's children. However they were of an older generation of
performers who took after their performer parents. That could have something to do with it: It is just different for many of today's young children of famous parents.

Babalu
03-11-2017, 05:56 PM
Her career stalled mostly due to her drug use and being abused by men. Both of her parents were drug users. Tatum earned the Oscar by having talent, not luck.


Funny you should say that. Peter Bogdanovich, who directed Paper Moon, said that Tatum O'Neal couldn't remember her lines. He had to sit right in front of her under the camera and feed her each line one at a time while the camera rolled. She would then repeat the line and he would feed her the next line. They had to cut around it so you couldn't tell what was happening. He said he couldn't believe it when she won the Oscar.