These celebrities were in bands before they got famous for something else
[This was my weekly column for GlobalNews.ca. – AC]
It’s a rite of youth to believe that you have what it takes to be a rock star. Bands are formed, gigs are played, and maybe some recordings are made. But then life interrupts and those dreams of rock’n’roll stardom are pushed aside for other things. Here’s a list of celebrities who for a brief moment fancied they had a future in music.
1. Creed Bratton from The Office
Creed Bratton, the quality assurance officer at entirely fictional Dunder Mifflin, was formerly a William Charles Schneider, a musician-will-travel back in the 1960s. By the time he joined up with The Grass Roots in 1965, he’d changed his name to Creed Bratton. Over the next several years, the band had eight charting singles, with Bratton writing a number of songs for the band. He was kicked out of the band in 1969 and stumbled into acting 10 years later. After bouncing around with some small TV and movie roles (as well as releasing some solo material), he was cast in The Office in 2005 and was with the show throughout its entire run.
2. Chuck Woolery of Love Connection
The Love Connection host (and up until recently, a COVID-19 denier; he changed his tune when his son contracted the virus) had a pre-game show career in a late-1960s psych-pop group called The Avante Garde. You’d have to be a real student of the Billboard charts to know this, since their most successful of their three singles topped out at number 40. Check out this performance of Naturally Stoned on Hugh Hefner’s Playboy After Dark show.
Oh, and there’s more. LOTS more.
