---
title: "34 Interesting Facts About Musicians"
url: https://www.kickassfacts.com/musicians-facts/
date: 2017-08-10
modified: 2017-08-10
lang: en
author: "jazz"
description: "Here are 34 Interesting Musicians facts. 1-5 Musicians Facts 1. Approximately 10,000 attended the funeral of Hawaiian musician, Israel Kamakawiwoʻole. - Source 2. Tom Lehrer, a musician known for biting..."
categories:
  - "Fact List"
  - "People"
image: https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/musicians.jpg
word_count: 1291
---

# 34 Interesting Facts About Musicians

Here are 34 Interesting Musicians facts.

## 1-5 Musicians Facts

[![](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Israel_Kamakawiwoʻole.jpg)](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Israel_Kamakawiwoʻole.jpg)Image credit: en.wikipedia.org

1. Approximately 10,000 attended the funeral of Hawaiian musician, Israel Kamakawiwoʻole. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Kamakawiwo%CA%BBole#Death)

2. Tom Lehrer, a musician known for biting satire stopped performing because "Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel peace prize." - [Source](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2000/jul/31/artsfeatures1)

3. Jesse Rae, a Scottish funk musician dresses as a Scottish Centurion, and his career ended largely due to his mistrust of the English. - [Source](https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/may/12/cult-heroes-jesse-rae-scottish-funk-highland-warrior-kilt-claymore)

4. Joseph Haydn, a classical music composer, wrote a musical piece in which the musicians gradually leave the stage until 2 violins are left in the end. - [Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guFtLJjRuz4&feature=youtu.be&t=21m29s)

5. The first streaming [music](https://www.kickassfacts.com/25-kickass-and-interesting-facts-about-music/) service started in 1897. Users in New York could pick up their phones and connect to the Telharmonium, a central hub that would pipe music being played live by two musicians playing 24 hours a day. - [Source](http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-telharmonium-was-the-spotify-of-1906)

## 6-10 Musicians Facts

[![](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Peeweesplayhouse.jpg)](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Peeweesplayhouse.jpg)Image credit: en.wikipedia.org

6. Musician Mark Mothersbaugh described work on Pee Wee's Playhouse as "Really chaotic. They'd send tape on Tuesday, I'd write music on Wednesday, record music on Thursday and we'd watch it on TV Saturday. Instead of writing an album once a year I was writing an album's worth of music in one week." - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pee-wee)

7. Musician Jack Johnson donated 100% of his 2008 tour profits to charity. His tours since have donated to and supported many environmental charities local to where the band plays. - [Source](http://johnsonohana.org/about)

8. Legendary jazz musician Charles Mingus wrote a little how-to essay on teaching [cats](https://www.kickassfacts.com/30-kickass-and-interesting-facts-about-cats/) to use the toilet. - [Source](http://mingusmingusmingus.com/mingus/cat-traning-program)

9. Hitler loved Irish music and invited an Irish musician to play for him in Berlin in 1936. However there was no room for the musician to sit, so Hitler ordered an S.S member on his hands and knees to act as a chair so the Irishman could perform his music. - [Source](https://www.irishcentral.com/news/adolf-hitler-the-irish-folk-music-fan-237759701)

10. Sujeet Desai is an accomplished musician born with [Down syndrome](https://www.kickassfacts.com/down-syndrome-facts/). Sujeet plays seven instruments and graduated from high School with honors from the Berkshire Hills Music Academy in Massachusetts. He travels worldwide to do inspirational solo music performances and self-advocacy workshops. - [Source](http://www.candomusos.com/profile-sujeet-desai.php)

## 11-15 Musicians Facts

[![](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Tommy-Johnson.png)](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Tommy-Johnson.png)Image credit: en.wikipedia.org

11. The Tommy Johnson character in O Brother Where Art Thou was based on a real musician of the same name, who claimed to have sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads in exchange for his mastery of the guitar. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Johnson_(musician)#In_Fiction)

12. On the British series The Nightly Show, musician John Legend sang some of chef Gordon Ramsay’s greatest insults, including “How the f*ck did you burn ice cream?” and “You put so much oil in this, the U.S. wanted to invade the f*cking plate.” - [Source](https://www.eater.com/platform/amp/2017/4/3/15161110/gordon-ramsay-john-legend)

13. In 2015, 1000 musicians played 'learn to fly' by foo fighters together in the town of Cesena, [Italy](https://www.kickassfacts.com/25-kickass-and-interesting-facts-about-italy/) in an effort to get the band to come to their town and play. The band responded and came to the town to play a 27-song-set, starting off with 'learn to fly'. - [Source](http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/foo-fighters-play-27-song-set-to-the-1000-learn-to-fly-rockers-in-italy-a6720481.html)

14. Daryl Davis, a black musician, was able to interview and even befriend many [Ku Klux Klan](https://www.kickassfacts.com/the-ku-klux-klan-facts/) members, and was able to get some of them to leave the Klan. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daryl_Davis#Writing_career_and_dealing_with_racism)

15. In 1998, musician David Bowie launched a dial-up [Internet](https://www.kickassfacts.com/30-kickass-interesting-facts-internet/) Service Provider known as "BowieNet", which came with its own email and exclusive content. The service lasted till 2006. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie#BowieNet)

## 16-20 Musicians Facts

[![](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Billy_Squier.jpg)](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Billy_Squier.jpg)Image credit: en.wikipedia.org

16. Musician Billy Squier effectively derailed his career by releasing a video for the song 'Rock Me Tonite' that had him dancing around in a pink shirt. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Me_Tonite#History)

17. Michael Jackson composed songs despite not playing any instruments. He would build each element of a track with his voice, so pitch perfect that studio musicians could match chords to his singing. - [Source](http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/the-incredible-way-michael-jackson-wrote-music-16799)

18. The [UK](https://www.kickassfacts.com/30-kickass-and-interesting-facts-about-london/) Parliament has a cross-party rock band consisting of 4 MPs called "MP4" and were the first musicians to perform in the 900-year-old Westminster Hall. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP4_(band))

19. Jimi Hendrix and James Brown were both backing musicians for Little Richard early in their careers. When Richard couldn't make some shows because of a scheduling conflict, James Brown would fill in by impersonating Richard. - [Source](http://www.songfacts.com/facts-little_richard.php)

20. After the [death](https://www.kickassfacts.com/25-interesting-facts-about-death/) of musician Gram Parsons, his manager and assistant stole his body from an airport and an unsuspecting patrolman helped them load it into a hearse. They then took the body to Joshua Tree National Park, covered it with [gasoline](https://www.kickassfacts.com/25-kickass-interesting-facts-about-gasoline-and-oil/), and set it on fire. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Gram_Parsons)

## 21-25 Musicians Facts

[![](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Korlaorgan.jpg)](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Korlaorgan.jpg)Image credit: en.wikipedia.org

21. John Roland Redd was an African-American musician who pretended to be an Indian named musician named Korla Pandit from 1944-1998. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korla_Pandit)

22. The oldest musicians ever in to have a hit on the charts were the Zimmers in 2007 with their version of "My Generation". Lead singer Alf Carretta was 90, drummer Buster Martin was 100 and the combined age of their 40 members was 3120 years(average age of 78). - [Source](http://www.thecavanproject.com/12-oldest-musicians-ever-charts/)

23. Marc Cohn, the musician behind the 1991 hit song "Walking in Memphis," was shot in the head in an attempted carjacking in 2005. He was released from the hospital 8 hours later. - [Source](http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Entertainment/story?id=1049460)

24. Sir Anthony Hopkins was a musician before becoming a world class talent in acting. This is his composition performed, for the first time, by Andre Rieu and his orchestra. - [Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8QmV8wxEeE&feature=youtu.be)

25. The lyrics to Percy Sledge's "When A Man Loves A Woman" were completely improvised by Sledge on the recording. He improvised so well that his the session musicians assumed that he had pre-written lyrics. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_a_Man_Loves_a_Woman_(song))

## 26-30 Musicians Facts

[![](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Maria_Anna_Mozart.jpg)](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Maria_Anna_Mozart.jpg)Image credit: en.wikipedia.org

26. Mozart had a sister (Maria Anna) who was also an accomplished musician and composer, sometimes even receiving top billing. She was no longer taken on tour with her famous brother once she reached "marriageable age". - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Anna_Mozart)

27. The Funk Brothers were a group of session musicians who played on virtually all Motown recordings from 1959 - 1972. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Funk_Brothers)

28. The musician Gary Numan, who had the hit "Cars" in 1980, became an accomplished aerobatic display pilot and performed at airshows. He finally hung it up after having kids. - [Source](http://www.magnetmagazine.com/2010/10/23/gary-numans-fascination-airplanes/)

29. Critics complained that Indian musician Daler Mehndi's music was only popular because his videos featured beautiful women. Mehndi's response was to create a video featuring only copies of himself green-screened in, leading to the creation of the "Tunak Tunak Tun" video. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunak_Tunak_Tun)

30. Before he became Jon Bon Jovi, aspiring musician John Bongiovi made his recorded debut in a somewhat inauspicious manner, singing on a Star Wars-themed Christmas album. The song was called 'R2-D2, We Wish You a Merry Christmas.' - [Source](http://ultimateclassicrock.com/jon-bon-jovi-star-wars-christmas-album/)

## 31-34 Musicians Facts

[![](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/JohnnyDepp.jpg)](https://www.kickassfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/JohnnyDepp.jpg)Image credit: en.wikipedia.org

31. Johnny Depp dropped out of high school to become a rock musician, and when he attempted to go back to school two weeks later, the principal told him to follow his dream of being a musician. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Depp)

32. During the Revolutionary War, fife and drum players would wear colors opposite from what their regiment wore in order to be easily distinguished as an unarmed musician. If a continental soldier fighting in the war had a blue coat with red cuffs, a musician would wear a red coat with blue cuffs. - [Source](http://www.fifeanddrum.army.mil/kids_fife_drum.html)

33. Musician Moby's real name is Richard. He calls himself 'Moby' after Moby Dick, which was written by his great-great-great-great uncle. - [Source](http://www.biography.com/people/moby-20799757#synopsis)

34. It is common for musicians to use [cocaine](https://www.kickassfacts.com/cocaine-facts/) to maintain high-quality performance. - [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance_abuse#Musicians)