Acts that came to prominence when their members were in their 30s or 40s?

Inspired by a Facebook chat with a few Ilxors earlier today, it seems it's less common for a band or artist to achieve recognition past their twenties. We cited a number of examples of artists who were dropped by their label or considered washed-up as early as 22 years old. There are also lots of examples of artists spending time in a career wilderness during their 30s and 40s, only to come back a lot later as 'elder statesmen' with renewed interest from fans and journos.

What are some examples of acts that broke it big during this time of their lives?

Pet Shop Boys
Phil Collins solo

Blondie.

Flaming Lips.

Only being a peripheral fan, I literally had no idea about Underworld's 80s synthrock career pre-Dubnobasswithmyheadman until today.

Ian Dury

Sun Ra

Future Islands

Tina Turner...maybe? Depends on how famous you think she was in the sixties and seventies (answer: not as famous as you think). When 1983 rolled around, she was GIGANTIC.

DJ Rashad (RIP)

Leonard Cohen (as a songwriter)

Future Islands is such a great example of a band who slogged it out for years and years before becoming an unexpected sensation overnight.

Meredith Brooks

Alan Vega was 39 or something when the first Suicide album came out.

probably the national

Rebirth Brass Band won a Grammy after being together for 30 years.

I remember being surprised when I found out that Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand was already in his 30s when their first record came out, Guy Chadwick from The House of Love as well, I think Chadwick shaved a few years off his real age for a time though? Quite a few people who are bit coy about this

Future islands are a sensation now? When did that happen?

Alex Harvey as well maybe, thinking of Scottish people named Alex, I guess he already had some fame pre-SAHB though?

Ian Hunter was in his 30s when Mott the Hoople first got popular

After they appeared on Letterman. xxp

Elbow
Pulp
Richard Hawley

tbh this happens a lot more with genres outside rock and pop e.g. folk, blues, jazz, 'world music' etc

Future islands are a sensation now? When did that happen?

― Knob Dicks (wins), Wednesday, June 25, 2014 4:37 PM (49 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Letterman -> viral Youtube videos -> features in many mainstream publications, I'd say it's a turnaround for an unknown indie-pop band.

Jet Black from the Stranglers, who is 76 later this year

Shania Twain just squeaks in here by being 30 by the time The Woman In Me went mega bonkers sales-wise.

er, can we mention Susan Boyle?

Huh, missed all of that xps

I'd say it's a turnaround for an unknown indie-pop band.

known enough to sign to 4AD and get the PR to book Letterman, but yeah.

"Sonic Youth" was always a somewhat ironic name. Kim Gordon turned 30 the year that Confusion Is Sex was released. Depending on your standard, the band arguably didn't really "come to prominence" until later. If releasing a major-label album is the criterion, Steve Shelley was the only member under 30 when Goo was released in 1990.

Al Stewart was 31 when Year of the Cat went platinum, he'd been around since the late '60s but at nothing like that level of success

a lot of legacy 80s indie rock/punk/post punk bands got a big bump in popularity in the mid 90s, post Nirvana...bands like Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth, Meat Puppets, etc

I had always sorta assumed that Steely Dan were one of these acts until I found out that Walter Becker had only just turned 30 when Gaucho was released

Kind of a special case and an elastic definition of "broke it big", but Jandek.

Toni Basil!

George Clinton was in his late 30s by the time P-funk blew up

wins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ee4bfu_t3c

Guided By Voices, all or most of whom were in their mid/late 30s when Bee Thousand came out

Bill Withers

bob seger (31 the year both night moves and live bullet came out)

cyndi lauper turned 30 the year SHE'S SO UNUSUAL came out

bonnie raitt

sheryl crow was 31 the year TUESDAY NIGHT MUSIC CLUB came out

Looks like no one came to prominence in their 40s then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2ur063fMhs

(b. May 28, 1944)

charlie rich, discovered by pop radio in 1973, at age 40

Future Islands guy projects full-on "I've waited 10 years for this and I'm not going to blow it" vibes.

I know Ivor Cutler (b 1923) had already been appearing on the radio since the late 50s, I think he became more well known in the late 60s following his association with the Beatles and John Peel, though? (Or just known to a different audience?)

Dory Previn?

robin thicke

susan boyle, age 48 when her first album was released

LCD soundsystem

Looks like no one came to prominence in their 40s then.

Willie Nelson

supertramp
dire straits
chris de burgh

M.I.A.

She released Arular when she was 30 and Kala 2 years later which includes her most famous song.

Michael Bolton

Lucinda Williams was in her late 40s when Car Wheels came out.

andy summers was pushing 40 when the police got super popular in the states. el stingo and stu were about 30.

I thought Seasick Steve would be the first name on the thread. He was in his 60s.

Did you really think "Seasick Steve" would be the first name on the thread?

haha

who dat?

Tiny Tim was already 36 when his first album came out in 1968.

I realized I'd never listened to a Tiny Tim record, so now I'm listening to God Bless Tiny Tim and it's fucking weird as shit (in a good way).

!!! that record is awesome

It is!

Alejandro Escovedo was in his 40s when his first solo records started getting traction.
Michael Been of The Call was in his mid-30s when "When The Walls Came Down" was released.

Ed Cassidy was in his mid-40s when Spirit formed.

wasn't saxa already in his 50s when the english beat put out their 1st album? i love that guy's story.

That old guy in the rocking chair in Arrested Development.

"I thought Seasick Steve would be the first name on the thread. He was in his 60s."

Maybe re-read the title of the thread?

Immediate Follower (NA) says "Did you really think "Seasick Steve" would be the first name on the thread?"

Yes, the music media made a pretty big deal out of him being around so long before achieving any fame. I think part of his success was from that aspect. I just searched this forum for him and there is very little about him. Don't know how well he did in America. To be fair, I haven't heard him mentioned in a while. I don't think I've ever heard his music.

There is a clip on YouTube about him moving to Norway and meeting former Emperor members. You see Peccatum watching his reaction to their music and he looked to me like he didn't know how to react.

huey lewis had his first hit at 32.

http://cdn.funcheap.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/148256-anvil1.jpg

Don't know how well he did in America.

Most Americans have zero idea who he is. I only ever heard of him because of something I saw on PBS.

NickB says "Maybe re-read the title of the thread?"

Others have been mentioning older than 40s people, surely that's of interest?

he is not recognized, period

Dio was 33 when Rainbow started, 37 when he joined Sabbath, and 41 when the first Dio album came out.

Drive-By Truckers

Wussy, sort of.

Yo La Tengo

Lemmy was 31 (born 12/24/45) when Motörhead's debut album was released in 1977.

Mary Gauthier didn't start writing/singing until her mid-30s. She was awarded "New Artist of the Year" by The Americana Music Association (copied from wikipedia) at the age of 43 -- that is, if you consider that award as her "breaking out".

I haven't heard any seasick Steve but they sell his cds in my local sainsburys and I hear people talk about him quite often so he's def recognised in the UK. It's def relevant to the thread but I think it's almost less easy for artists to rise to fame in their 40s than their 60s for some reason.

Maybe at 20 you can be young and endearing, in your 60s you can be wizened and eccentric, but at 40 it seems harder to convince the world of your credibility. Maybe it's a sort of 'cool dad' syndrome. You see a lot of musicians who endured success throughout their 20s fall from favour at this stage, listeners and pundits throwing 'losing their edge' accusations for doing pretty much the same thing as they ever did. Off the top of my head I can think of Johnny Cash, Scott walker, Michael gira, even Bowie, who either spent their middle ages absent or simply releasing ignorable material only to come back later in life and be celebrated as cult figures.

lemmy was in a very prominent band already fgs

earl brutus is a classic example of this if we forget world of twist ever happened

Xxpost this is speaking in very general terms of course. There will be exceptions (I hope, although not many examples in this thread which disprove it as most mentioned were in their early 30s)

wasn't gary young in his 30s when slanted & enchanted was recorded? not sure if this counts but w/e.

lemmy was in a very prominent band already fgs

Thread title is "Acts that came to prominence when their members were in their 30s or 40s". Lemmy was a semi-well-known member of Hawkwind in his 20s, but Motörhead did not exist until he was 30/31, and it's arguable they didn't "come to prominence" until Ace of Spades was released - in 1980, when he was 34.

ah ok

tuli kupferberg was in his 40s when the fugs started. born in 1923.

Jumping in to join the chorus on the "God Bless Tiny Tim" album being incredible! A triumph of production.

As for Lemmy, he didn't start making any money at music until he wrote songs for Ozzy's 80s pop albums.

Kim Carnes was 34 when she had her first hit in 1980 and 35 when "Bette Davis Eyes" went to #1. she'd been around since the mid-'60s (she did some time in the New Christy Minstrels and wrote some album tracks for David Cassidy and Frank Sinatra), but she was only moderately successful as a solo artist in the '70s, and her breakthrough album Mistaken Identity was her sixth album to date.

I have heard that "seasons change, waiting on you" tune by the singularly poorly named Future Islands and disliked it intensely upon hearing it and have heard it many many times now… and now that I see how the singer comports himself live and on national TV, I dislike FI even more.

I thought Seasick Steve would be the first name on the thread. He was in his 60s.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, June 25, 2014 12:55 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Did you really think "Seasick Steve" would be the first name on the thread?

― Immediate Follower (NA), Wednesday, June 25, 2014 12:57 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

Future Islands is such a great example of a band who slogged it out for years and years before becoming an unexpected sensation overnight.

― 3kDk (dog latin), Wednesday, June 25, 2014 11:33 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

so so otm

three of Can's four core members were early 30s when they formed. (Michael Karoli was 10 years younger and had been one of Holger's students.)

UK Subs (Charlie Harper)

nifty thread, but the thing that stands out to me is: M.I.A. will be 39 years old in a few weeks?!?!

i srsly would've guessed like 27 or 29 something. wow.

then again, i can't believe it's been 9 yrs since Arular came out. time flies, etc

Scatman John was in his fifties when he made it big.
The Golden Earring started in 1962 so they must've been in their 30s/40s when they had their hits.

(The) Parliament(s)

agreed re the m.i.a mention.
i too had no idea ..

- bob marley

wrong thread nick

Mark Sandman

also belongs under the header - artists 10 years older than their 'contemporaries' of the time

Anastacia. 32 when I'm Outta Love came out, though to be fair I thought she was older.

Pulp, at least outside of the UK, were pretty unknown before Different Class came out in 1995 when Jarvis Cocker was 31. Makes me feel old to think of it now, but I remember seeing them on the tour for that record and being shocked at how old they looked.

i didn't know if this thread was going to buoy or sink my spirits, but the answer is buoy
three of Can's four core members were early 30s when they formed. (Michael Karoli was 10 years younger and had been one of Holger's students.)

― sideshow boob (haitch), Thursday, June 26, 2014 1:23 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark

also god bless tiny tim

The first Tiny Tim album is a masterpiece of psychedelia. The second one has some great moments too.

ctrl-f "Garbage"

Phrase not found

hmm, maybe that's an arguable case considering that Shirley Manson was under 30? I was going to posit that Butch Vig was also famous pre-Garbage but he was 36 when Gish and Nevermind came out (not sure producing Die Kreuzen and Killdozer counts as "coming to prominence" when compared to those two)

hmmm, yeah Garbage / Butch Vig always struck me as a vanity project by a known producer, plus Manson was always the visual focus of that band. I even forget Vig is involved these days TBH.

The first Tiny Tim album is a masterpiece of psychedelia. The second one has some great moments too.

One of these days I'm finally going to get around to Tiny Tim's Rock album from 1993, with a 23 minute version of "Rebel Yell". It's one of those things where I'm so happy just to know that it exists that I've avoided it because I'm afraid it won't live up to my expectations.

Huey Lewis was 35 when Sports came out.

Xpost a bit like Chuck Berry's "Concerto in B-Goode" ?

Sleater-Kinney didn't make it overground till, what, The Woods?

Sleater-Kinney didn't make it overground until Carrie Brownstein got a tv show.

They did "Entertain" on Letterman!

sharon jones - age 46 when her daptone debut was released.

good one

William Onyeabor?

Omar Souleyman is 48.

Open Mike Eagle just put out his most prominent album so far and he's 33, which is like 57 in rap years.

Robert Quine -- in his 30s as a Voidoid, near 40 circa The Blue Mask.

Lucinda Williams

Vi Subversa was 41 when she formed Poison Girls in 1976

Michael Gira was 34 when Swans major label debit came out

lots of old blues folks probably fit in here

swans came to prominence before that.

Danny Brown

Howlin' Wolf was 41 when he started recording for Sam Phillips in 1951. The Wolf was 55 when The Rolling Stones got him on the TV show Shindig in 1964.

Muddy Waters was in his late 30s when he started recording for Chess in the early 50s.

Papa John Creach came into prominence in his mid-50s, when he started playing with Hot Tuna and Jefferson Airplane. He released his first solo album in 1971, at the age of 54.

Just realized that Dean Garcia of Curve was 34 when their first singles were released.

Ian Dury was in his late 30s when the Blockheads had their big hits.

Great, now I've got "Papa John Creach, I'm in trouble deep" stuck in my head.

Lead Belly - born in 1888, first recordings in the 1930's

And there's tons of other blues artists who recorded a few sides for small labels before being discovered by a wider (whiter) audience decades later - from Mississippi John Hurt to RL Burnside

and I guess artists who came to prominence after death would be a whole other category - but that could include Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, etc.

Doc Watson played Newport Folk Festival in 1963 when he was 40.

MIA is 39 today, holy shit.

So, she was 29 yrs, 8 mos when Arular came out. Close enough.

Rufus Thomas (first Top 40 hit age 46)

A borderline case, but Ben Folds Five's breakthrough album, Whatever and Ever Amen, came out when Folds was 30.

The Hold Steady (thirties), Sleaford Mods (forties).

Shawn Colvin was 41 when Sunny Came Home became a hit.

Marnie Stern (31 when she released her first album)

MIA is 39 today, holy shit.

So, she was 29 yrs, 8 mos when Arular came out. Close enough.

She first came into prominence with "Galang" though, a couple of years before Arular came out. Or at least that's how I first heard about her, when people here at ILM were bigging up "Galang".

it was still her debut album, and on a major in the US - that beats a (better) mixtape and ILM chatter tbf.

"prominence" for mia either = 'galang' (crit love, internet stardom) or 'paper planes' (actual stardom, sales, tv)

Deana Carter (30 when "Strawberry Wine" hit).

Sarah McLachlan just misses the cutoff by about 6 months with Surfacing.

2 chainz claims he's 31 but is probably 35 (see fader profile by noz)
Tuneyards is 34 or something

I'm uncomfortable with the fact that I find this thread comforting

isn't fumbling towards ecstasy her breakthru? surfacing is when she briefly became a megastar but she was having hits - 'possession', 'i will remember you' - before that.

he'd had minor hits before then, but Rick Springfield didn't have his biggest US hit until he was 32.

also, Martin Page was never huge and really only had a brief moment, but "In the House of Stone and Light", which did well on the adult contemporary charts (our local station loved it, even though it sounded Sting-lite to me), came out when he was 35. it was from his debut album too.

also, Goo Goo Dolls had been plugging away for years and had minor alt rock hits, but didn't have a big (crossover) hit ("Name") that cemented them as popular until 1995, when Johnny Rzeznick was about 9 months shy of 30, and bass player Robby Takac was already 30.

isn't fumbling towards ecstasy her breakthru? surfacing is when she briefly became a megastar but she was having hits - 'possession', 'i will remember you' - before that.

FTE was kind of a niche singer-songwriter hit -- 2.8 million per Wikipedia -- but Surfacing was mega -- 16 million, #2 US Billboard, two top 5 singles, countless soundtracks.

And it transformed her from a farty, randy goth into a gauzy ASPCA Ur-mother figure.

imo this topic is only interesting if we're talking about people who had no public profile at all until their '30s or something. really huge number of acts plugged away with minor renown through their 20s and then peaked after 30, not that remarkable. but like, Mark Sandman turned 40 the month Morphine released its first album. that's interesting.

also a personally inspiring topic to me, as a 32-year-old who just sent his first album off for mastering.

Three of the four members of The Church were in their thirties by the time they finally scored an international hit (with Under the Milky Way).

i think the shins fit some dude's criterion; new slang was written when dude was 30 and still based in like Albuquerque or whatever

Joe Cocker always *sounded* like he was in his 70s

so is it fairer to say that "inspiration" or "peak creativity" have a half-life, or that they are more or less fixed to your age?

the dude from Protomartyr everyone likes to describe as "middle class / working guy / disheveled accountant / etc" is 36-38 (can't remember) and had never been in a band before this. just got to know those other guys, started attending their practices and rambling to their songs, and, boom, indie star.

not sure if someone mentioned him upthread but some dude's refocus (which i agree with) reminded me of him.

Keep forgetting that Martha Davis (of The Motels) started as a working musician in 1971. She was 31 when "Only The Lonely" and "Take The L" became hits.

and that reminds me of robin lane, who started working as a musician in the late '60s, and was 32 or 33 when robin lane & the chartbusters' debut album came out. they weren't as prominent as the motels, but they were a major label band who were a big deal in the northeast at least and were getting mtv play. (the 11th video ever shown on mtv, according to the internet.)

I recall around 2004/2005-ish finding it interesting that almost all of my favorite rock bands from that era were in their thirties. Of Montreal, Spoon, MF Doom and Queens of the Stone Age all had earlier releases, but they weren't really on my radar until they were older musicians.

Keep forgetting that Martha Davis (of The Motels) started as a working musician in 1971. She was 31 when "Only The Lonely" and "Take The L" became hits.

29 when Total Control was a hit though

I thought Seasick Steve would be the first name on the thread. He was in his 60s.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, June 25, 2014 7:55 PM (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

He's just about over sixty now.

Lemmy was 30-something when Motorhead started becoming a big deal. Which is pretty inspiring if you're a 20-something who's accomplished nothing

yeah, but he'd been the bassist in hawkwind during his mid-to-late twenties, and was the vocalist on 'silver machine', their biggest chart hit

so i guess it's inspiring if you're a twentysomething who's already enjoyed success and would like to go on to achieve even more in your thirties

He's just about over sixty now.

75 according to Wikipedia. Apropos of nothing much, I saw him outside a restaurant in Malmo a few weeks ago - eating not playing guitar.

I thought Seasick Steve would be the first name on the thread. He was in his 60s.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, June 25, 2014 7:55 PM (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

He's just about over sixty now.

― Mark G, Thursday, September 29, 2016 11:14 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, just reading this about him on the Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/sep/29/seasick-steve-session-musician-ramblin-man-book

I usually could not give less of a shit about (ugh) "authenticity" - but watching his breakthrough clip from 2008 with the knowledge that he's a session musician and not in any way a former hobo, can't help but find it massively insulting, both to the audience and to actual homeless people. Why did people ever fall for this bullshit?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNoPNC3ebYQ

I think Daevid Allen was well into his 30s when Gong got going.

Cast King

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gzIeHe-wz4

Joseph Spence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alfqX3WRJP0

Re Daevid Allen - he formed both Soft Machine and Gong before his 30th birthday, though you could say their best known work was done when he was in his mid-30s.

maybe; Lonnie Johnson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8fyb9vpIc0

why not indulge......inappropriately?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxze3nn_z3E&index=4&list=PLVxivsPLLXBCkjsCw78vzpcxm7OhIEu95
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QIjYQYNezY

I'm uncomfortable with the fact that I find this thread comforting
― unknown pleasure zone (uptown churl), Saturday, July 19, 2014 10:37 AM (two years ago)

for some reason I thought Jim Croce didn't get into music until his 30´s, but I checked and actually he died at 30 :(

There's a bit of chat on the web casting doubt on the reliability of this new Seasick Steve biog. Interested parties can read up for themselves but suffice to say that I wouldn't necessarily take everything Bob Stanley says in that Guardian article (via the biog) to be 100% accurate.

Cap'n Save-a-Hobo

lol I didn't know much of anything about this but the wikipedia talk page for Steve is a fun place

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/reluctant-icon/Content?oid=6010

So if a guy has to pretend that among other things he's 10 years older than he really is, does it prove that there's an 'uncool dad/mom' period for musicians roughly between the ages of 35-50 where they stop being taken seriously and just have to ride it out until they're pension-age and can cast themselves as roguish elder states-people? I'm thinking about the big-hitters of my youth - people like Damon Albarn and Stephen Malkmus whose cred seems to be at an all-time low at the moment, but I'm sure will bounce back in about 10 years' time.

would that be the Albarn with a music group that has a new tour coming up

I don't think anyone has to pretend they're older necessarily it's just:
- studio guy wishes he could get back to the basics
- Jack White, bunch of other acts make blues riffs and back-to-basics production cool
- guy adds a decade to his age to make it seem like he was an unknown, broke contemporary of people from the age people in younger acts think were cool
- profit!

it's easier to add years than remove them from your age typically, although people do the latter all the time

I think there are probably more acts coming to prominence in their 30s than we think of, mostly because of the age deflation that goes on.

Sia's entire public image is more of an artistic statement but at least a small part of her incognito act is due to her not wanting to put her face/age/etc out as the defining characteristic of her music

I just learned Sturgill Simpson is 41 and was in his mid 30s when Metamodern came out

The B-52s. I was surprised to learn (in this Pitchfork piece) that Kate Pierson was born in 1948, had been a full-on hippie, etc. (Though the other band members are older; Fred Schneider seems to be second-oldest surviving member, born in 1951). So some of them were just scraping 30 when they formed the band, and Pierson & Schneider were both around 40 (give or take a few years) when Cosmic Thing broke big.

*though the other band members are younger...

Debbie Harry was 36 when "Rapture" came out