Iggy Pop - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 20/02/14 10:35 PM Iggy Pop From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Iggy Pop (/ˈɪɡi pɑːp/; born James Newell Osterberg, Jr.; April 21, 1947) is an American Iggy Pop singer-songwriter, musician, and actor.[1] Iggy's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, hard rock, jazz and blues.[2] Pop became known as 'Iggy' in high school, during which time he served as drummer for local blues band The Iguanas. He is vocalist of influential protopunk band The Stooges (Pop and the other surviving members of the group reunited in 2003),[3] having become known, since the late 1960s, for his outrageous and unpredictable stage antics.[4][5] Though his popularity has fluctuated through the years, many of Pop's songs have become well-known, including "Lust for Life", "The Passenger", "Real Wild Child", "Candy" (a duet with Kate Pierson of The B-52's),[6] "China Girl", "Nightclubbing", "Search and Destroy" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog". In 2010, The Stooges were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Iggy Pop in 1987 Background information Contents Birth name James Newell Osterberg, Jr. Born April 21, 1947 1 Early life Muskegon, Michigan, U.S. 2 Music career 2.1 Early days: 1960–1967 Genres Punk rock, protopunk, garage rock, post- 2.2 The Stooges era: 1968–1975 punk, hard rock, shock rock, glam rock 2.3 Bowie and Berlin: 1976–1978 Occupations Singer-songwriter, musician, producer, 2.4 The Arista albums: 1979–1981 2.5 The 1980s actor 2.6 The 1990s Instruments Vocals, guitar, keyboards, drums 2.7 The Stooges reunion: 2003–present Years active 1960–present 2.8 Recent career 3 Film and television career Labels Virgin, RCA, Elektra, A&M 4 Cultural references, cameos and Associated The Stooges, The Trolls, The Nymphs, miscellaneous acts The Iguanas, Slash, David Bowie, 5 Future biopic 6 Classical scholarship Deborah Harry, Blondie, Tom Waits, 7 Discography Henry Rollins 7.1 Albums Website www.iggyandthestoogesmusic.com 7.1.1 With The Stooges http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iggy_Pop Page 1 of 15 Iggy Pop - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 20/02/14 10:35 PM 7.1.2 With James Williamson (http://www.iggyandthestoogesmusic.com) 7.1.3 Solo 8 Personal life 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links Early life James Newell Osterberg, Jr. was born in Muskegon, Michigan, the son of Louella (née Christensen) and James Newell Osterberg, Sr., a former high school English teacher and baseball coach at Fordson High School in Dearborn, Michigan.[7] Osterberg was raised in a trailer park just off old U.S. Route 23 in Ypsilanti, Michigan.[8] He is of Irish and English descent on his father's side, and of Norwegian and Danish ancestry on his mother's.[9] His father was adopted by a Swedish American family and took on their surname (Österberg).[9] Music career Early days: 1960–1967 Pop as a high school senior, 1965. Osterberg began his music career as a drummer in various high school bands in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His later stage name, Iggy, is derived from one of these early bands, the Iguanas. After exploring local blues-style bands such as the Prime Movers (with brothers Dan and Michael Erlewine), he eventually dropped out of the University of Michigan[citation needed] and moved to Chicago to learn more about blues. While in Chicago, he played drums in blues clubs, helped by Sam Lay (formerly of the Paul [10] Butterfield Blues Band) who shared his connections with Iggy. The Prime Movers, featuring Pop on Inspired by Chicago blues as well as bands like The Sonics, The drums MC5 and The Doors, he formed the Psychedelic Stooges and began calling himself Iggy. The band was composed of Iggy on vocals, Ron Asheton on guitar, Asheton's brother Scott on drums, and Dave Alexander on bass. The Stooges era: 1968–1975 The seeds of Iggy Pop's stage persona were sown when he saw The Doors perform in 1967 at the University of Michigan and was amazed by the stage antics and antagonism displayed by singer Jim Morrison.[8] Morrison's extreme behavior, while performing in a popular band, inspired the young Pop to push the boundaries of stage performance. Other influences on Iggy Pop's vocals and persona were Mick Jagger and James Brown. Pop was the first performer to do a stage-dive, which he started at a concert in Detroit.[8] Other exploits of Pop include rolling around in broken glass, exposing himself to the crowd, and vomiting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iggy_Pop Page 2 of 15 Iggy Pop - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 20/02/14 10:35 PM on stage.[8] "I attended two concerts by the Doors. The first one I attended was early on and they had not gotten their shit together yet. That show was a big, big, big influence on me. They had just had their big hit, “Light My Fire” and the album had taken off.[...] So, here’s this guy, out of his head on acid, dressed in leather with his hair all oiled and curled. The stage was tiny and it was really low. It got confrontational. I found it really interesting. I loved the performance [...] Part of me was like, “Wow, this is great. He’s really pissing people off and he’s lurching around making these guys angry.” People were rushing the stage and Morrison’s going “Fuck you. You blank, blank, blank.” You can fill in your sexual comments yourself. The other half of it was that I thought, “If they’ve got a hit record out and they can get away with this, then I have no fucking excuse not to get out on stage with my band.” It was sort of the case of, “Hey, I can do that.” There really was some of that in there." Iggy Pop, 2011 [11] In 1968, one year after their live debut and now dubbed The Stooges, the band signed with Elektra Records, again following in the footsteps of The Doors, who were Elektra's biggest act at the time (reportedly, Pop called Moe Howard to see if it was all right to call his band "The Stooges," to which Howard responded by merely saying "I don't care what they call themselves, as long as they're not the Three Stooges!" and hung up the phone). The Stooges' first two albums The Stooges, (on which Iggy was credited, much to his displeasure,[citation needed] as "Iggy Stooge"), produced by John Cale; and Fun House, sold poorly. Shortly after the new members joined, the group disbanded because of Pop's growing heroin addiction. In 1971, Iggy Pop and David Bowie met at Max's Kansas City, a nightclub and restaurant in New York City.[12] Pop's career received a boost from his relationship with Bowie when Bowie decided in 1972 to produce an album with Pop in England. With James Williamson signed on as guitarist, the search began for a rhythm section. However, since neither Pop nor Bowie was satisfied with any players in England, they decided to re-unite The Stooges. It would not be a true reunion insofar as Dave Alexander, due to alcoholism, was unable to play on the record (he died in 1975). Also, Ron Asheton grudgingly moved from guitar to bass to make way for Williamson to play guitar. The recording sessions produced the rock landmark Raw Power. After its release Scott Thurston was added to the band on keyboards/electric piano and Bowie continued his support, but Iggy's drug problem persisted. The Stooges' last show ended in a fight between the band and a group of bikers, documented on the album Metallic K.O. Drug abuse stalled his career again for several years. Bowie and Berlin: 1976–1978 After the second breakup of The Stooges, Iggy Pop made some recordings with James Williamson, but these were not released until 1977 (as Kill City, credited jointly to Iggy Pop and Williamson). Pop was unable to control his drug use and checked himself into a mental institution, UCLA’s neuropsychiatric institute, to try to clean up. David Bowie was one of his few visitors there, and he continued to support his friend and collaborator. In 1976, Bowie took him along as his companion on the Station to Station tour. This was Iggy Pop's first exposure to large-scale professional touring and he was impressed, particularly with Bowie's work rate. Bowie and Pop relocated to West Berlin to wean themselves off their addictions. In 1977, Pop signed with RCA and Bowie helped write and produce The Idiot and Lust for Life, Pop's two most acclaimed albums as a solo artist, the latter with another team of brothers, Hunt and Tony Sales, sons of comedian Soupy Sales. Among the songs Bowie and Pop wrote together were "China Girl", "Tonight", and "Sister Midnight", all of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iggy_Pop Page 3 of 15 Iggy Pop - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 20/02/14 10:35 PM which Bowie performed on his own albums later on (the last being recorded with different lyrics as "Red Money" on the album Lodger). Bowie also played keyboards in Pop's live performances, some of which are featured on the album TV Eye in 1978. In return, Pop contributed backing vocals on Bowie's Low. The Arista albums: 1979–1981 Iggy Pop had grown dissatisfied with RCA, later admitting that he had made TV Eye as a quick way of fulfilling his three-album RCA contract.