10 CELEBRITIES WHO FAILED AT A MUSIC CAREER

The Beatles, Amy Winehouse, and Beyonce are all amazing artists. They’ve conquered the musical world. Some, like James Brown and Jamie Foxx were able to traverse these roles rather painlessly, one being an amatuer boxer and the other a comic. Some, like these famous people below, were probably a little too egocentric and thought they had something they actually didn’t -- haven’t we all. Come down to memory lane with me and see what parts of history we chose to forget.

KOBE BRYANT

Kobe Bryant is a legendary basketball player with a 20 season NBA career, a five-time Lakers champion, and briefly in 2000, a rapper. Like any famous person with a huge ego, Bryant had a desire to do more. There’s nothing wrong with this, except for the fact he’s going into a new field with very little skill (Bryant was a member of a rap group called CHEIZAW in high school ) compared to basketball. Michael Jordan was guilty of this too, but at least he was self-aware to make fun of himself for being terrible at baseball. It’s pretty obvious on the first 10 seconds of listening to this song, Bryant is pretty mediocre at rapping. This line in his rap is also questionable because of Bryant’s sexual assault case: “The hunter becomes the hunted, girl, I'm preying on you.” However, he would again get into music 11 years later. In 2011, Bryant was featured in Taiwanese singer Jay Chou's single, "The Heaven and Earth Challenge."

PARIS HILTON

Paris Hilton known as the prototype for Kim Kardashian model rise to fame, for a while, wanted to be known for more than an amateur porn video and a reality show. Her song “Stars Are Wild” isn’t a bad effort. Aping Gwen Stefani, it was a pretty decent pop song. Her album Paris actually charted in the top ten in several countries including the U.S. The song "Stars Are Blind," was a worldwide hit, reaching the top ten in 17 countries. She would stay a one-hit wonder though. She signed to Cash Money Records and released several songs, including one with Lil’ Wayne. However, they wouldn’t chart as high as her debut. She most recently released “I Need You” this past February.

LINDSAY LOHAN

Apart from allegedly hitting on Tyga a couple days ago, Lindsay Lohan was trying to have a legit music career. She was a decent actress, especially in her iconic role in Mean Girls during the early aughts. Her first record Speak went platinum (it was a good time for Lohan) and peaked number 4 in the Billboard charts. However, much like most on this list, she would not reach that level of success with her sophomore effort A Little More Personal (Raw). She worked on a third record, but it was never finished. Only a few singles were released probably due to her mounting legal troubles and her waning star power. 

JENNIFER LOVE - HEWITT

Famous for her iconic 90s Horror movie roles and and t.v. work as the Ghost Whisperer, Jennifer Love-Hewitt also pursued stardom in music. Her first album, Love Songs, was released only in Japan in 1992, subsequently she became a huge star there because they love overtly shitty pop music. She released a total of 4 albums in span of ten years. However, her music never quite broke through in the U.S. market.  Her most successful single on the Billboard Hot 100 is the 1999 release "How Do I Deal," which peaked at number 59 during the peak of her career.

TYRA BANKS

She sought become a pop artist with contributions from Pharrell, Big Bert, David Foster, Rodney Jerkins, and Wyclef Jean, but it wasn’t meant to be. Banks accumulated dozens of pop-R&B songs, ballads, and inspirational tunes. However, she released only two songs. Her first song was the single “Kobe” with Kobe Bryant. She released her debut single, “Shake Ya Body,” through her show America’s Next Top Model. In the end, Banks decided she wasn’t a good enough singer, so she decided to not continue to pursue a singing career, probably for everyone’s sake. 

BRUCE WILLIS

Known for his iconic role as the macho cop in Die Hard and the movie Sixth Sense, Willis also tried his hand as a singer. Surprisingly, he was pretty successful. His first record, The Return of Bruno, actually charted pretty high on the Billboard 200, peaking 13th on the charts. The album even garnered favorable reviews. But it was short lived. Audiences didn’t warm up to Bruce’s singing careers as much as he would of liked. He released a second record If It Don't Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger but it didn’t have quite as much success as his debut album, so Willis’ shelved his singing career.

KIM KARDASHIAN

Yes, once upon a time Kim Kardashian wanted to be singer. She released “Jam” which she co-wrote with The Dream. It wasn’t a huge success. The song sold 15,000 units its first five days, but nothing ever came from it. Kanye West was involved with the music video, but it wasn’t enough to make Kim a legit star. Thankfully, she (rightly so) decided not to pursue a music career. In later interviews, Kim admitted that she should have never tried to pursue a pop career with her mediocre voice. Thankfully, she recognized that.

EDDIE MURPHY

Although known for his comedy, Eddie Murphy was pursuing a singing career. In the height of his career, three years after his legendary comedy special Delirious, Murphy released his debut “How Could It Be.” It was actually extremely successful. His single “Party All The Time” produced by Rick James (cue the blackness quotes because of the Chapelle Show and Charlie Murphy -- rest in peace blackness) it went number two in the Billboard charts. His album peaked at 26th in charts. He released two more albums and had another semi successful hit with “Put Your Mouth On Me” but his music career would wane in the early 90s and disappear. He even wrote a song which featured Michael Jackson called “Whatzupwitu,” but it was a commercial failure. He released a single featuring Snoop Dogg called “Red Light” in 2013 and is rumored to be working on a album, but nothing has been released as of yet.

MR. T

Laurence Tureaud, otherwise known as Mr. T, tried his hand in the rap game. No, he didn’t sing about bitches and hoes, but about saying no to drugs, doing homework, stranger danger, and staying in school. Yes, Mr. T released basically a motivational rap album for children. He was the rapping Wiggles in his heyday. The album even had Ice -T involved (this was pre-cop killer). He released a second record called Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool which was music off a motivational film he made. However, he would never rock the mic again after that. Treat yo mother right, foo!

JOE PESCI

Famous for being one of the Wet Bandits and as cousin Vinny, Pesci, who was in every freaking mob movie in the 90s, actually tried to be a singer at one time. It’s hard to believe since he seems more likely to punch somebody for being a funny guy, but it’s true. Pre-mob/acting days, Pesci wanted to be a singer. He released Little Joe Sure Can Sing! In 1968. It was a cover album that contained several Beatle numbers. However, nothing came of it. He tried to do a comeback record in 1999 -- based on his character in the movie My Cousin Vinny -- but it was also a commercial failure. Thank god “Yo Cousin Vinny” never became a hit.

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So there you have it. The Wet Bandit guy sang Beatles covers, Paris Hilton isn’t as talentless as we think she was (meh tho) and Kobe Bryant actually sucked at something. So don’t feel bad if you don’t succeed at something. Plenty of successful people suck too.