Iggy Pop Biography |
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James Newell Osterberg, Jr. (born April 21, 1947), better known by his stage name Iggy Pop, is an American rock singer, songwriter, and occasional actor. Although he has had only limited mainstream success, Iggy Pop is considered an innovator of punk rock, garage rock, and other related styles. He is sometimes referred to by the nicknames "the Godfather of Punk" and "the Rock Iguana", and is widely acknowledged as one of the most dynamic stage performers. Pop began calling himself Iggy after his first band in high school, The Iguanas. His direct influence extends to the present day: a Cadillac ad in rotation since February 2007 features his vocal performance on the song "Punkrocker", recorded in 2006 with the Swedish band Teddybears.
Iggy Pop was the lead singer of The Stooges, a late 1960s/early 1970s garage rock band who were influential in the development of the nascent heavy metal and punk rock genres. The Stooges became infamous for their live performances, during which it was not uncommon for Pop (who traditionally performs bare-chested) to consume narcotics, self-mutilate, verbally abuse the audience, expose himself and leap off the stage (thus being the first or among the first to "stage dive"). Countless subsequent performers have imitated Pop`s antics. Pop`s popularity has ebbed and flowed throughout the course of his subsequent solo career. His best-known solo songs include "Lust for Life", "I`m Bored", "Real Wild Child", the Top 40 hit "Candy" (with vocalist Kate Pierson of The B-52`s) and "The Passenger". A film about Iggy Pop`s life and career titled The Passenger is currently in development. |
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Trivia |
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Quotes "I don`t know Johnny Rotten, but I`m sure he puts as much blood and sweat into what he does as Sigmund Freud did." (Canadian Television, 1977) "Punk rock is a word used by dilettantes and heartless manipulators about music that takes up the energies, the bodies, the hearts, the souls, the time and the minds of young men who give everything they have to it." (1977) "That band could kill any band at the time and frankly can just kill any bands that built on this work since...just eat any of those poodles." - on his band The Stooges. "The most successful stuff is sold to you as indispensable social information. The message in the music is, `We are terribly, terribly slick and suave, and if you listen to us, you can probably get a leg up in society, too.`" - on modern music When asked by Dinah Shore what influenced his music: "The industrialism in Detroit...what I heard walking around...boom boom bah - 10 cars...boom boom bah - 20 cars...I get a lot of my influence from the electric shaver..."Trivia Began calling himself Iggy while working with his first high school band, "The Iguanas." Even though he had already created the stage name Iggy Pop, Elektra always billed him as Iggy Stooge in reference to his group, The Stooges, much to Iggy`s chagrin. Footage of him writhing on stage is used as the opening of and to separate segments on Australia`s longest running and most popular music video show "Rage" (1987). He has been living with his girlfriend, Nina Alu, for nearly a decade. He is of Irish and English descent on his father`s side, and of Danish and Norwegian ancestry on his mother`s. His father was adopted by a Swedish-American family, hence the family`s surname (Osterberg) Iggy plays guitar left-handed. In the 1970s, David Bowie played keyboard on his first solo tour. He was an unannounced guest player. Is friends with The Cult`s singer Ian Astbury, and put in a cameo on The Cult`s "Sonic Temple" record. He sings background vocals on the song "New York City". Now famous for his crazed behavior in the late 60s and 70s, much of Iggy`s craziness was fueled by his addiction to heroin. Iggy would often mutilate himself, roll around in peanut butter or broken glass, throw himself offstage (and once down a flight of stairs), bend his body like a pretzel, hump his amps, go naked, and insult the audience. Offstage, he did little else other shoot heroin and have promiscuous sex. In the late 70s, he quit heroin to save his own life and lost interest in sleeping around. Speaks the intro to White Zombie`s song, `Black Sunshine` from their album `La Sexorcisto` | ||
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