Do most music stars come from poor families?

[fantasyvn]

I have not compiled a comprehensive list, but my gut feeling is that most pop/rock stars come from poor, working-class families. In other words, if you grow up in a well-off families, you should forget your dream of being a famous singer.

Do you think this assumption is true?

[Tricky-Loops]

It's just that the drive "to make it big" in the music biz might be stronger if you're living in a poor family...

But even Paris Hilton is a DJ now...

(And if you're living in a rich family, they might have other jobs for you where you can earn more money!)

[BertKoor]

My gut feeling is that it doesn't matter and it's distributed evenly.

Not that long ago (less than 100 years) you had to be rich to have enough spare time and money to invest in instruments and taking lessons to become an artist.

[aciddose]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_bias

[ThoughtExperiment]

I think most music stars would like you to think they came from a poor background. I suspect the opposite is true for those stars who grew up in the sixties/seventies. I know for a fact that the only kids at my school who had electric guitars and amps were the kids who lived in semi-detached and detached private houses - whereas I, in my terraced council house, could only afford a Woolworths acoustic. At least I had stronger fingers than the posh kids

[vurt]

My gut feeling is that it doesn't matter and it's distributed evenly.

Not that long ago (less than 100 years) you had to be rich to have enough spare time and money to invest in instruments and taking lessons to become an artist.

how do you explain folk music? the blues? for example.

[RunBeerRun]

Why would that matter, kids don't go on tours. Once they're adults and on their own, they get jobs, save, and music gear is pretty inexpensive.

[robogone]

My gut feeling is that it doesn't matter and it's distributed evenly.

Not that long ago (less than 100 years) you had to be rich to have enough spare time and money to invest in instruments and taking lessons to become an artist.

how do you explain folk music? the blues? for example.

It might be the other way round though - poor people originate and make certain types of music, but when you're looking at music broadly, I think BertKoor is probably right.

There's a lot of Richie Riches making music though. Lady Gaga's parents are loaded and bought her a swanky Manhattan apartment while she was trying to make it, Taylor Swift allegedly got her record deal because her dad had enough money to become a shareholder in her record company before they signed her, Lars Ulrich's parents were loaded and sent him all expenses paid to the US to start a music career, and Dieter Meier of Yello has always been some kind of gazillionaire. I'm sure there are more, but not everyone in music started out piss poor.

[vurt]

My gut feeling is that it doesn't matter and it's distributed evenly.

Not that long ago (less than 100 years) you had to be rich to have enough spare time and money to invest in instruments and taking lessons to become an artist.

how do you explain folk music? the blues? for example.

It might be the other way round though - poor people originate and make certain types of music, but when you're looking at music broadly, I think BertKoor is probably right.

There's a lot of Richie Riches making music though. Lady Gaga's parents are loaded and bought her a swanky Manhattan apartment while she was trying to make it, Taylor Swift allegedly got her record deal because her dad had enough money to become a shareholder in her record company before they signed her, Lars Ulrich's parents were loaded and sent him all expenses paid to the US to start a music career, and Dieter Meier of Yello has always been some kind of gazillionaire. I'm sure there are more, but not everyone in music started out piss poor.

im not suggesting everyone started out poor, just that even 100 years or so ago that there where poorer people making music, id say that throughout the history of music there have been rich and poor folk at it.

[robogone]

So we're essentially saying the same thing then. I do agree that folk and blues, etc. probably do come from much poorer musicians, but yeah, a good range for most other types of music.

[RunBeerRun]

I don't think anyone ambitious was poor, maybe low earning/without an education. If you used public transportation and had no dependents it would be pretty easy. The only way you'd be "poor" is if you couldn't handle your own drug use.

[Acid Mitch]

I have not compiled a comprehensive list, but my gut feeling is that most pop/rock stars come from poor, working-class families.

Most pop/rock is working class music, which might be why more working class people gravitate towards it.

[Robmobius]

Nah... Some of the 'street music' certainly is (I use use that term broadly of course), but most of them seem to comes from a wealthy or middle class background.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule.

[jancivil]

donno, do you mean really 'most rock music stars...'?

I went to a school for a very short time that is known as a factory for opera stars and these biatches none of them seemed too working class to me.
They seemed very 'from the manor born' but maybe that's something one can learn to affect.

... They seemed very 'from the manor born',

before I get dinged on this, I realize the 'to the manner born' is Shakespeare (from somewhere, it's too high class for me to have dwelled in).
Somewhere along the line people went with 'to the manor born', which could have been hearing it wrong or could have been parodic. But this is two different things if I understand it right.

[trimph1]

donno, do you mean really 'most rock music stars...'?

I went to a school for a very short time that is known as a factory for opera stars and these biatches none of them seemed too working class to me.
They seemed very 'from the manor born' but maybe that's something one can learn to affect.

That may be the case with some. Ballet and opera singing must be pretty expensive for most middle class families as well...