Being a musician and being an actor can have more similarities than one might imagine. In the case of some of these artists, their stage presence and public personas take much of the same gravitas and attention as committing oneself to a scripted part. Some musicians seem to dip their toes into the rushing streams of cinema in an attempt to capture that parallel challenge. Sinking into the part of a character onscreen has to be nothing but helpful for the artistic minded and performance inclined. Others seem to be drawn by specific projects, or film directors have sought them out specifically and cleverly
because of their well-known persona. I need to set out some ground rules for how this list is constructed. There are plenty of artists out there that could qualify for discussion of some form of multi-faceted career. However, the people featured here fall under some specific distinctions: Must be a prominent role. This rules out any kind of short and sweet cameos (i.e Jack White as Elvis in Walk Hard, Chris Isaak in Silence of the Lambs) or even less significant supporting roles like Mariah Careys impressive but ultimately smaller part in Precious. The musician must be primarily a musician. A couple of choices may seem to blur the line, but we will get to that. Basically, the Will Smiths and Mark Wahlbergs of the entertainment business are ruled out, because at this point they seem to have chosen a clear path. These are great performances. I would love to honor the likes of say Aaliyah and 2Pac, but I cant say Id honestly vouch for their acting performances. Here are 10 carefully chosen lead performances by musicians.
10. Mick Jagger in Performance (1970)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFxfn3LakeM The Rolling Stones always upheld a reputation as more bad boys than their other world famous Brit Invasion friends The Beatles. Though both bands spent plenty of time doing bad things, The Stones had no problem keeping an especially wild personality on the frontline. Running back and forth across the stage the past 50 years as a self-proclaimed Monkey Man, Mick Jagger has set the bar high for the likes great performers. Jaggers experience with film is best remembered with the Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg film Performance. Outside of this film, he held a few notable roles, including the infamous and now denounced Ned Kelly. Jagger also seemed to have a knack for
almost being involved with great projects, including Rocky Horror Picture Show, Fitzcarraldo, and A Clockwork Orange. Maybe those almosts strengthened his drive to stay in music, as The Rolling Stones remain one of the most popular bands in the world (now celebrating their 50th anniversary). In Performance, Mick Jagger plays Turner, a mysterious performance artist who watches over a sort-of surreal safehouse in London. Chas, a vicious gangster, comes to stay with him whilst hiding from a massive police investigation, and the two make a bright clash as they identify the performance in one another. Though, that sounds a little too cut and dry, because Performance is in itself a performance piece. Turner allows for Jagger to show what he would have probably done well with in both Frank-N-Furter of Rocky Horror and Alex of Clockwork.