Miles's blog

I read somewhere that Gwyneth Paltrow is going to release an album.  Of course she sang in Duets, on Glee and in her last movie Country Strong.  I guess she believes her press clipping about how outstanding her voice is, and now she is going to explore a music career.  I think Gwyneth has a nice voice and I wish her luck.  Before you say “yeah, right” consider all the actors who have had hit records.  I am not talking about singers who act, like Beyonce or Mariah Carey (that was a joke, I said act) but those whose careers began and continued as actors while they simultaneously became recording artists, at least for a time.

One of the most successful examples I suppose is Jennifer Lopez.  She was an actress first and then a successful singer, although really they kind of went hand in hand.  Many other actors, some who I bet you never knew about, had hit records. 

John Travolta had a number one hit, “You’re the One that I Want” from Grease with Olivia Newton-John in 1978.  But that might be cheating.  He was in a musical which released a hit song.  Does that disqualify David Cassidy?  He hit number 1, along with his “Partridge Family” with “I Think I Love You” in 1969.  (I am not counting The Monkees here because they were formed solely to have a tv show about a hit-making group.)  What about David Naughton?  I know you are thinking who is David Naughton.  He was an actor in one of the scariest movies of all time American Werewolf in London.  If you have not seen that go rent it (although the effects will look pretty dated).  Naughton was cast as the star of a 1979 tv show called Makin’ It, a show so bad TV Guide called it one of the worst 50 shows in the history of television.  It was cancelled after nine episodes.  However, the theme song, performed by Naughton, who never released a record before or since, went to number 5. 

Still, these are all songs connected with other media.  That is cheating, Miles, you are saying, because that does not mean these actors actually had singing careers with touring and everything.  Fine.  That leaves out Debbie Reynolds with the theme song from the movie Tammy and the Bachelor (number 1 in 1957); Barbra Streisand with the theme from The Way We Were (number 1 in 1974), and the entire cast of Glee.

I don’t think that should disqualify others who debuted songs on television, but they became hits.  Saturday Night Live, for example, spawned The Blues Brothers (number 14 with Soul Man in 1978) and the immortal King Tut by Steve Martin (number 17 in 1978).  Ricky Nelson, youngest son of Ozzie and Harriet (a popular ‘50s show) had a string of hits (32 top 40 singles including two number 1s) after he decided it would impress his girlfriend to have a hit record. Shelley Fabares is best known as the girlfriend on Coach, but while a teenager she starred on the Donna Reed Show and sang “Johnny Angel” on the show which went to number 1 in 1962.

Nevertheless, many actors have had hit records separate from their acting careers.  David Soul was considered pretty cool as the macho star of Starsky and Hutch, one of those cop shows where the muscle cars co-starred with the actors.  However, Soul blew all of his street cred when he released some pretty sappy love songs, primarily the drippy “Don’t Give Up on Us,” which went to number 1 in 1976.  Soul ended up being more popular in Europe than America, a career mirrored by Baywatch honcho David Hasselhoff who never charted in America but released 14 top 40 hits in Europe.  Don’t go looking them up to have a listen.  Trust me, there is a good reason America rejected the song stylings of David Hasselhoff.  (And really, nobody ever watched that show for his acting.)

Most people remember Rick Springfield, whose music career was going nowhere until he starred on some soap opera, and then hit number 1 with “Jessie’s Girl” in 1981.  But did you know Eddie Murphy had a number 2 hit with “Party All The Time” in 1985?  Or that Don Johnson, yeah the Miami Vice guy, hit number 5 in 1986 with “Heartbeat? “ How about Bruce Willis?  I bought his album The Return of Bruno containing his number 5 remake of the Staple Singers’ “Respect Yourself.”  Yipee-ki-yay.

There are older examples for those of you over 50.  Vicki Lawrence earned her fame following around Carol Burnett on the latter’s popular television show, but in 1972 her husband wrote a schlocky story song called “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” and let Vicki record it.  Amazingly the piece of trash went to number 1.  (The 70s were kind of a barren time in the music business).  Lorne Greene, patriarch of the Cartwright family on Bonanza, hit number 1 with a western-themed story song, Ringo, in 1964.  Westerns were big in those days.  Mostly Greene just talked while some cowboy-sounding guys in the background repeated “Ringo” in a husky baritone. 

Finally, for Harry Potter fans, remember the Dumbledore from the first two movies?  (As far as many of us are concerned the better Dumbledore.)  That was Richard Harris, a British film veteran.  Harris starred in the movie version of Camelot which led some people to believe he could sing and he started recording.  In 1968 his version of Macarthur Park (a song whose lyrics never have made sense to me, I mean leaving a cake out in the rain?) went to number 2.  It wasn’t that good.  Must have been magic.ea