Living the rockstar life seems easy-peasy but little do we realize that a lot of blood, sweat, tears and hard work has gone into getting that coveted spotlight. Many famous musicians struggled plenty before making it big. Here are some of them and the stories of their hardship:
– Elvis Presley. It’s been ages since he passed away. But even today today, the very name of Elvis Presley makes $55 million in a year. But he wasn’t so fortunate when he first started out. After his very first performance, his manager fired him and advised him to go back to driving a truck since he felt Elvis was not talented enough for the music industry.
– Kailash Kher. At present, he has the whole country swooning to his melodious voice, but Kailash Kher has had his fair share of struggles. Before his major break through, Kailash Kher lived on a railway platform in Mumbai. He ran away from his house and learned music from 15 different teachers before moving to Mumbai, where he lived a life he could never imagine.
– The Beatles. Who can ever forget the infamous dialogue by John Lennon that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus, but when they started out, they faced a lot of problems. In fact, a recording label went ahead and said, “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” Disagree much?
– Asha Bhosle. Today, she has given her voice to over 12000 songs, however, when she started out, things were not easy. In a candid interview she said, “No one helped me. I would go begging for work. It was not easy as I had no godfather or someone to help me. A lonely person tends to make mistakes, it is always better to have someone to guide you. I had no one.”
– Beethoven. In his younger days, he struggled with the violin. Even though his heart lay in composition, he found it hard to practice the violin and neglected his practices. Most of his teachers felt that he was hopeless and wouldn’t have a career in music composition. However, this turned for the better and he composed some of his best works despite having a hearing impairment.
– Sonu Nigam. Hailing from a lower middle class background, Sonu Nigam’s journey has been anything but easy. When he started out, he would stand outside music directors’ offices for hours without any food or water. He faced a lot of humiliation and had a lot of insecurities before getting his actual breakthrough.
– Jay-Z. As a young boy, Jay-Z always had big dreams for himself. He saw himself as a famous rapper, but the world did not agree. During his struggling days, he was refused a deal with almost all major labels. Everyone refused to sign him on. However, that didn’t stop him since he went on and started his own music label, Roc-A-Fella Records.
– Madonna. Before all the fame and glory, Madonna was just a high school drop out. After leaving school, she moved to New York city where she worked as a waitress at a Dunkin’ Donuts. But apparently, she didn’t last too long there. Not even one entire day.
– Mohit Chauhan. After getting his masters degree in Geology, Mohit denounced the 9-5 life and moved to Delhi to pursue music. Here’s where he formed Silk Route and enjoyed a fair amount of success before the band broke up. For a few years, he was out of commission until he made a comeback with the song “Guncha” in 2005 from the movie “Main, Meri Patni Aur Woh.
– Andrea Bocelli. Born with a poor eyesight, Andrea, an Italian classical tenor, recording artist and singer-songwriter, lost his eyesight at the age of 12. However, his setback didn’t stop him from chasing his dream. Because of his love for music, he was forced to moonlight as a piano bar performer before he was discovered at the age of 33.
There’s no doubt that musicians have to struggle a lot before making it big, but thankfully they all got there in the end.