15 Movie Stars Who Just Couldn’t Hack it as Musicians

Hollywood has produced plenty of actors who decided they had another career waiting for them on a stage. Some picked up a guitar, released an album, formed a band, or stepped behind a microphone with enough confidence to make the attempt seem inevitable. The results were not always quite as impressive. A few projects became memorable for the wrong reasons, while others disappeared almost immediately and left fans wondering what had happened. Being able to command a movie screen does not automatically translate into being able to carry a song, and these careers proved that point in entertaining fashion. Here are fifteen actors who gave music a serious shot but never quite convinced the world they belonged there.

Bruce Willis

Bruce Willis actually released several albums and had a genuine interest in blues and soul, but his music career never came close to matching his success on screen, making his occasional musical appearances feel like a curious side project.

Eddie Murphy

Eddie Murphy released How Could It Be in 1985 and even scored a hit with “Party All the Time,” but his attempt to become a serious pop star never developed into the second career his success suggested it might.

Steven Seagal

Steven Seagal took his blues career surprisingly seriously, releasing albums and performing with established musicians, although audiences generally remained much more interested in the martial artist and action star than the guitarist.

Russell Crowe

Russell Crowe has played in several bands and performed music for years, but his musical ambitions have remained a niche part of his career rather than becoming a major success alongside his acting.

Kevin Bacon

Kevin Bacon formed The Bacon Brothers with his brother Michael and has released multiple albums, but despite years of performing, the project remains far better known as an unusual Hollywood side career than as a major musical act.

Jeff Bridges

Jeff Bridges released country and Americana music and even earned a Grammy nomination, but his recording career never approached the cultural impact of his acting work in movies such as The Big Lebowski.

Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves played bass for the alternative rock band Dogstar, which released albums and toured internationally, but the band’s career never became anything close to the phenomenon that Reeves’ movie career eventually became.

Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp has played guitar professionally with major musicians and has been involved in several bands, but his music career has always remained secondary to the movie roles that made him famous.

Robert Downey Jr.

Robert Downey Jr. has demonstrated legitimate vocal and musical ability, including recording songs for movie soundtracks and releasing his own material, but his recording career never developed into a sustained career outside acting.

Joe Pesci

Joe Pesci’s musical career is one of the strangest on this list because he recorded lounge and pop material before becoming famous, later returning to music with jazz oriented albums that showed his interest was more than a publicity stunt.

David Hasselhoff

David Hasselhoff became a surprisingly successful recording artist in parts of Europe, but his music career never achieved anything close to the international recognition of Baywatch, making him a particularly unusual example of an actor who kept pursuing music.

William Shatner

William Shatner’s spoken word albums became famous for their bizarre delivery rather than conventional singing, turning his musical career into something of a cultural curiosity instead of a serious pop career.

Corey Feldman

Corey Feldman has spent years pursuing music with projects including Truth Movement and Corey Feldman and the Angels, but his performances have generally attracted more attention for their eccentricity than for mainstream musical success.

Macaulay Culkin

Macaulay Culkin formed the comedy rock band The Pizza Underground, which performed parody versions of Velvet Underground songs with pizza themed lyrics, becoming memorable largely because of how bizarre the concept was.