Hugh Laurie And 5 Other Incredible Actor/Musicians
Hugh Laurie
In 2011 Hugh Laurie released his debut blues album Let Them Talk, with a recent follow-up Didnt It Rain. Despite reaching the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest-paid actor in a TV drama for House, Laurie has recently admitted to preferring making music to acting, saying theres a sensual pleasure involved in making soundsthat I just cant getfrom acting. This might be controversial to those whove followed this seminal British actor since his Fry & Laurie days, but Hugh can now be called a musician in his own right, with largely favourable reviews to both albums and a command of the genre that hasnt been so widely seen for decades. Perhaps the thing that allows Lauries music to be so successful is that its at no point all about him: he plays piano, guitar and sings, and his pianistic ability in particular is often at the forefront of the masterful music, but the Copper Bottom Band he works with are more collaborators than backing musicians. The first vocals to be heard on Didnt It Rain arent even Lauries, but instead those of Sista Jean McClain. This second album has also opened up the genre count from primarily blues to also encompassing tango and elements of jazz, an experiment that wholeheartedly works. It is probably down to Lauries enthusiasm for this Americana music that it works so well. You get the impression that he never truly cared about what people thought about his musical venture and he just really, really wanted to give it a go. He has even said that he understood selling out gigs because people could go to see that famous actor, but when the first album did well he had to accept that it must be down to the actual music. Well played, Hugh Laurie. If theres a blues revival soon we might have you to thank.