Which musicans became successful later in life?

Some stars get found and release music and 17 yet others find fame, but do not achieve real success til much later in life.

• Sheryl Crow – 32. After being a school teacher, jingle singer and backup vocalist (for Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder) throughout her 20s, she released her debut album at 31 and didn’t get a massive hit until a year later with “All I Wanna Do.”
• Andrea Bocelli – 38. One of the best selling singers of all-time, Bocelli was 34 when he released his debut album, but it wasn’t until his third did he reach worldwide success with Sogno which went cracked the top 10 in 10 countries.
• Louis Armstrong – 64. Louis Armstrong, although a renowned trumpeter-performer for decades, was 64 when his best-selling album Hello, Dolly!, was released.
• Dolly Parton: Parton first gained fame as a country singer in the 1960s, but she continued to release successful albums and singles for decades, eventually becoming one of the most successful and influential musicians of all time.
• Bob Dylan: Dylan first gained fame as a folk musician in the 1960s, but he has continued to release successful albums and singles throughout his career, winning numerous awards and accolades.
• Leonard Cohen: Cohen began his career as a folk musician in the 1960s, but it wasn’t until the release of his album “Songs of Leonard Cohen” in 1967 that he gained widespread recognition. He continued to release successful albums and singles throughout his career, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.
• Sia – 41. Sia worked as a backup singer for various artists including Jamiroquai and lent vocals to the English downtempo group, Zero 7’s records before releasing albums under her own name. It wasn’t until she was 41 did she get her first #1 single.
• Paul Simon: Simon first gained fame as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel in the 1960s, but he has continued to release successful solo albums and singles throughout his career, winning numerous awards and accolades.
• Johnny Cash: Cash first gained fame as a country singer in the 1950s, but he continued to release successful albums and singles for decades, eventually becoming one of the most influential and respected musicians in the world.
• Debbie Harry – 31. Debbie Harry worked as a secretary and dancer before her breakthrough. She was 31 when Blondie released their first album, and not until a few years later did they see worldwide success.

More A list of musicians who were a bit older when they found success

Tom Sholz of Boston. 28 when the band formed, 29 when the first album came out.

Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth. 28 when they formed, 30 when the first album released. 37 when they got on a major label.

Dan Wilson – 37. Dan Wilson was 37 when his first hit, “Closing Time,” was released with his band Semisonic (and he was 46 when he won his first Grammy for cowriting six songs on the Dixie Chicks’ Album of the Year Taking the Long Way).

Sting of The Police. 26 when they formed, 27 when the first album released. Stewart Copeland is a year younger. Andy Summers was 35 when they were formed, though he had a bit of success before that.

Debbie Harry of Blondie. 29 when they formed, 31 when the first album released.

James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem. 32 when they formed, 35 when the first album released.

Chris Adler of Lamb of God apparently started playing drums around 21, can’t find concrete information though.

Michael Fitzpatrick of Fitz and The Tantrums was 38 when the band formed, 40 when their first album released.

Members of the Cars. Ric Ocasek was 32, Benjamin Orr was 29, and David Robinson was 27 when they formed. Two years later they released their debut album.

Danny Brown was 29 when his first album came out.

David Guetta was 35 when his first album came out.

Bill Withers was 33 when his first album came out.

Members of Mastodon. Troy Sanders was 27, Bill Kelliher was 29, Brent Hinds 26 when they formed, first album came out 2 years later.

The two youngest members of The Ramones were 25 when their first album released.

Brian Johnson had minor success before joining AC/DC at 33.

Serj Tankian was 27 when System of a Down formed, 31 when their self titled debut released, 34 when they finally made it big with Toxicity. There’s a bit of an age gape between him and the others though.

Leonard Cohen was 33 when his first album released.

Chuck Berry was 32 when Johnny B Goode released.

Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices. 26 when they formed, 30 when the first album released, 35 when they got their first real success.

Rammstein members were a bit older when they became successful. Five of them were between 27-31 when they officially formed in 1994. Their first big album was released three years later.

Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind. 29 when they formed, 33 when they first album released.

IDLES were in their early 30s when their first album came out according to a comment I read.

Jesse Hughes of Eagles of Death Metal. 26 when they formed but 32 when Peace, Love, Death Metal released. A lot of people bring up the fact that Josh Homme basically helped them get big, which is correct, though Jesse did write the songs.

Dio was 33 when Rainbow formed, 38 when he joined Sabbath, 41 when Holy Diver released.

Art Alexakis of Everclear was 31 when their first album came out.

Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother was 29 when their debut came out.

Shawn Crahan was 30 when Slipknot’s debut album released, Jim Root was 28 when he joined Slipknot.

Wayne Coyne was 41 when the Flaming Lips released Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Though they weren’t some obscure band before that.

King Buzzo was still young when he started the Melvins but was 29 when Houdini released.

Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. 28 when the band formed, 36 when Brothers in Arms released.

Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest. 27 when he joined, 33 when British Steel (probably their first big record?) released. He also started playing guitar a bit later and ended up becoming incredibly good.

John Cronise of The Sword. 27 when they formed, 30 when their debut album released.

Wayne Static of Static X. 29 when they formed, 34 when the debut album released.

Sheryl Crow was 31 when her first album came out.

Ed Roland of Collective Soul. 30 when their debut released, nearly gave up on pursuing music beforehand.

Phil X. Had a brief stint with Triumph in his mid 20s and has done a lot of session work, but was in his 40s when he joined Bon Jovi. He had some fame from Fretted Americana videos as well though.

Steel Panther members were all in their late 30s/40s when they started getting successful.

Scott Reeder joined Kyuss at 27. He’s one of the best bassists in the world and was one of the bass players who auditioned to join Metallica.

Chad Smith of RHCP. 27 when he joined the band.

Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood of Fountains of Wayne were both 29 when the band formed.

David Lowery and Johnny Hickman of Cracker. 30 and 31 respectively when they formed, first album released two years later. 2nd album with “Low” was a year after that. Bassist Davey Faragher was also 33 when they formed but did do session work before that.

Cyndi Lauper was 30 when her first album released

Jean-Paul Gaster, drummer for Clutch. 28 when they formed, 30 when their first album released.

Ray Manczarek of The Doors. 26 when they formed, 28 when the first album released.

Mick Mars of Motley Crue. Either 25 or 29 when they formed, his real age isn’t clear.

Anvil. Their documentary is worth a watch, it gives a look at a band that should have been bigger but ended up going through many Spinal Tap esque moments. Probably the best look at how depressing and frustrating a lack of success can be, though you have to respect how hard they still tried to keep going.