AOL TV: "TV Stars Who Double as Musicians"

[JamesG]

From Small Screen to Singer: When TV Stars Double as Musicians
by Spinner Editors
posted Nov 24th 2011



Joey Lawrence






Joey Lawrence achieved heartthrob status by playing the dumb but pretty Joey Russo on the early to mid-nineties sitcom "Blossom", but music was always his first love.

(He first entered pop-culture as the breakdancing orphan on "Gimme a Break")



Not content to simply be known for his acting –- and for turning the word "Whoa!" into a successful catchphrase -- the then-teenager released his self-titled debut album in 1993.

His first single 'Nothing My Love Can't Fix' became a Top 10 hit, and the video's debut at the end of a "Blossom" episode caused minor hysteria amongst the Tiger Beat set.














John Barrowman






Immortal, omnisexual Captain Jack Harkness of "Doctor Who" and "Torchwood" fame is also a musical theatre actor, dancer and recording artist.

A star in London's prestigious West End, Barrowman has been in 'The Phantom of the Opera,' 'Hair,' 'Miss Saigon,' 'Sunset Boulevard' and 'Beauty and the Beast' as well as The Producers film remake and the Cole Porter movie De-Lovely.

He's been featured on a number of cast recordings, but the cartoonishly good-looking sci-fi hero has also released albums of his own where he sings everything from showtunes to Police and Elton John covers.














Brent Spiner






Data has enjoyed a successful post-"Star Trek" career in musical theatre, but his first venture into song was a slightly more questionable affair.

In 1991, the "Next Generation" star released 'Old Yellow Eyes,' an album that featured Spiner singing a mix of old standards... and one Randy Newman song.

The album wasn't exactly a hit in the real world, but it was popular among Trekkies, especially for the song 'It's a Sin (To Tell a Lie),' featuring his castmates LeVar Burton (Geordie Laforge), Michael Dorn (Worf), Jonathan Frakes (William Riker) and Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) on backup vocals.














Paris Hilton






Before every two-bit reality star worth her attention-seeking salt had a single, and before former buddy Kim Kardashian became the Eve Harrington to Miss Hilton's Margo Channing, Paris tried to have a pop career.

"The Simple Life" star released her 2006 debut album, 'Paris,' on Heiress records, her own personal Warner Records sub-label.



Her surprisingly asexual and only slightly horrible single 'Stars Are Blind' was a Top 10 hit in 17 countries, but other songs failed to attract much interest.

The socialite finished a second album two years later, but couldn't find a label for it.



According to TMZ, she is currently in training to become "The Queen of house music." Yes, really.














Katey Sagal






It's almost unfair that so much coolness is contained in one person.

On TV, she's ruled as proto-MILF Peg Bundy on "Married ... with Children", righteous motorcycle matriarch Gemma Teller Morrow on "Sons of Anarchy" and beloved cyclops Leela on "Futurama".



In music, she's an angelic-voiced singer-songwriter with two albums (1994's 'Well...' and 2004's 'Room') and songs on the "SOA" soundtrack.

The Golden Globe-winning actress has also sung backup vocals for the likes of Bette Midler, Olivia Newton-John and Gene Simmons.














Hugh Laurie






The doctor in the "House" and one half of comedy duo Fry and Laurie can really sing the blues.

A musician since childhood, Laurie can play piano, saxophone drums and harmonica, and his talents have often been featured on many of his shows, including "A Bit of Fry and Laurie", "Jeeves and Wooster", and "House".



In his downtime, the actor is a member of Band From TV, a group that also includes actors from "Heroes", "Desperate Housewives", a "House" costar and a former "Bachelor".

In 2010, Laurie played piano on Meatloaf's 'Hang Cool Teddy Bear'.

A year later, he finally got his own album, 'Let Them Talk,' a collection of blues classics featuring guest appearances by the likes of Tom Jones. It has gone gold in his native UK and, uh, Poland.














David Hasselhoff






In the '80s, he was best known as Michael Knight from "Knight Rider".

In the '90s, he was Mitch Buchannon on "Baywatch".

These days, most people probably think of him as the guy who used to be a judge on "America's Got Talent" and sometimes drunkenly struggles with cheeseburgers.



But to his German fans, he will always be a musical superstar.

The Hoff began his music career in the late '80s and became huge in Germany, even playing a monumental New Years Eve gig at the Berlin Wall in 1989.



On this side of the pond, he sang two of "Baywatch's" ending themes ('Current of Love' for seasons 2-4 and 'I Believe' for 5) and made a viral splash with his jaw-dropping music video for 'Hooked on a Feeling.'














William Shatner






William Shatner's stilted spoken-word covers of pop songs like 'Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds,' 'Rocket Man' and 'Common People' have become particularly infamous (and ironically cool).














Leonard Nimoy






Leonard Nimoy accidentally stumbled into a music career when producer Charles Grean's Spock-obsessed daughter convinced her dad to let the vulcan sing on a "Star Trek" recording.

This led to five albums of intergalactic tunes ('Highly Illogical,' 'Music to Watch Space Girls By'), covers ('Proud Mary,' 'Walk the Line') and, of course, 'The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins,' the most psychedelic song to ever be written about a hobbit.

(No offense, Robert Plant)














Nichelle Nichols






Actress Nichelle "Uhura" Nichols started out seriously enough with an album of standards in 1967 but she then went on to release a record chock-full of space-themed rock called 'Out Of This World'.














Janet Jackson






Although she comes from a famous musical family, most of Miss Jackson's (if you're nasty) early work was in television.

She had already starred in two seasons of "Good Times" as Millicent "Penny" Gordon Woods and appeared on a handful of episodes of "Diff'rent Strokes" (as "watchoo talkin' 'bout Willis' girlfriend?") before she even signed a record deal with A&M in 1982.



After that, she divided her time between television and music, occasionally showing up on "Diff'rent Strokes", guest starring on "The Love Boat" and playing Cleo Hewitt on "Fame" until her 1986 breakthrough album, 'Control.'

Since then, Jackson has mostly stuck to music and film, although she was in an episode of "The Tyler Perry Show" last year.














Drake






Before he became the woe-is-me master of impregnation rap, Aubrey Drake Graham was just another fresh Canadian face on "Degrassi: The Next Generation".

But while he was playing Jimmy Brooks -- colloquially known as "Wheelchair Jimmy" -- the basketball star who was paralyzed when he was shot by a fellow student, the artist soon to be known as Drake was also busy making mixtapes and posting music to MySpace.



Drizzy quickly became an Internet sensation and signed with Lil' Wayne's Young Money Entertainment just as he was wrapping up on "Degrassi".

Before his big musical break, though, Drake also found time to appear on a handful of other Canadian shows like "Sophie", "The Border" and "Being Erica".

http://www.aoltv.com/2011/11/24/tv-s...icians-videos/

[Zoneboy]

Why can't AOL just stick to offering their useless internet service instead of trying to be experts on something they have absolutely zero knowledge about?

[dakert]

Arent musicians someone who can play an instrument?

I did have most of John Travolta's lps but I consider him a singer

[Schmoopie]

I can't believe they don't have Harry Connick Jr on this list! He's more of the opposite; a musician who doubled as a TV star for a while. He played Leo on Will and Grace and he's been in a lot of movies. He's quite a good actor, IMO but his singing will always be the best for me!

[MrCleveland]

No Richard Harris?

He was in many films, such as "Harry Potter" and "Camelot". He also made what many people called "Worst Song Ever"....

[Zebra 3]

David Soul's (left in my avatar) chart-topper Don't Give Up On Us.

[JamesG]

Some others:

Michael Chiklis
Brian Austin Green
Don Johnson

[-STEFFY-]

What about John Stamos?

[UMFaninMD]

Jack Wagner (General Hospital, Melrose Place and Lifetime movies) had a hit song in the 80's with "All I Need."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ2VQw1LQEQ

Ronn Moss, who stars on The Bold and the Beautiful as Ridge Forrester, played bass in the band Player, who had a huge hit in 1978 with "Baby Come Back", one of my favorite songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn-enjcgV1o

We can't forget Rick Springfield, who also starred on General Hospital and did the movie Hard to Hold---big rock star in the 80's.

[phoebe7165]

I wouldn't consider Paris Hilton a TV star NOR a musician!!