BY MIKEY MIGO
There are those who take the long hard route of forming a band and practicing in their garage. They play the same songs over and over again and finally get a shitty bar gig to perform at. This slowly snowballs and the songs get better, the crowds get bigger, and the venues become more respectable. This is all in hopes of landing that big record deal. It may happen, but in most cases it won't.
Then there are those whose parents got them onto a television show at an early age. Granted in some cases these child celebrities will actually do what the above paragraph described, but all in all they have it a little easier than most. Their namesake is already marketable and if their show was on longer than two or three seasons then odds are there is already a built in fan base.
Today I wanna take a look at the music careers of a few former child actors. Some may surprise you and some are so obvious that my brain shut off two paragraphs ago.
WHO: Justin Timberlake/Brittney Spears/Christina Aguilera
SHOW: "MMC : The Mickey Mouse Club"
Before she shaved her head, let her baby drive, and started speaking like Madonna Brittney Spears was a mainstay on Disney's "MMC". Before he was one of the most successful pop singers of all time, Justin Timberlake was on this show. Before she became a pop superstar and grew really big um… vocal cords, Christina was on "MMC" as well. It's hard to separate these three into their own categories. We all know who these three are and the prominence they all had on pop music of the late 90s and now (well, in two of their cases). It's hard to keep yourself reminded about the origins of these world famous entertainers and even harder to believe they all came from the same show. There were more too. Keri Russell, Ryan Gosling, and others went on to do their own thing on primetime television or make really great movies.
WHO: Fergie
SHOW: "Kids Incorporated"
From 1984 till 1989, this little girl named "Stacy Ferguson" was on a children's show about a rock band. I was very young during this time period, but my pop culture memory would not allow me to forget this show. In retrospect it seemed really low budget and cheap looking, but as was the times. It was just like apples and oranges when you compare her image from the 80's show till now. It's hard to take someone as being "hip" and "ghettoish" when they were wearing neon colors when I was still diapers. She wasn't the only one on the show to go on to show off their talents as the show featured Jennifer Love Hewwit as well. They'd basically just perform whatever songs were hot on the charts at the time, which I guess was good practice for someone who'd eventually be making her own hit songs.
WHO: Hillary Duff
SHOW: "Lizzie McGuire"
Before "Hannah Montana" there was "Lizzie McGuire". With some research, there were only 65 episodes but at the time it caused a tidal wave of hysteria. Hillary Duff played the character "Lizzie McGuire" for only two years but I don't think anyone can argue the side that say's the show isn't the sole reason she's a household name. She would go on to date the guy from "Good Charlotte" and make a few albums. It seems most of her younger fan base moved on to Hannah and the older ones moved on to something with more edge and substance. Still, she hasn't gone off the deep end like over Disney Divas, so she has that going for her.
WHO: Drake Bell
SHOW: "The Amanda Show"/"Drake and Josh"
This guy is just starting to get more mainstream attention as the lead in "Supehero Movie", but he's been around for awhile. I believe the first time I saw Drake Bell was as "Young Rob" in one of my favorite movies, "High Fidelity". Apparently he was also on "The Amanda Show" with Amanda Bynes, but I think most people know him from the hit Nickelodeon show "Drake and Josh". He has released two albums already and has another on the way. It may not be Metallica, but the tweenage girls and sheltered teens seem to love his shit. Good for him and even better for him that he's breaking into movies and trying to be more "edgy".
WHO: Alanis Morissette
SHOW: "You Can't Do That on Television"
Remember that show from the 80's where people would get slimed? Yeah, there were a few, but the one we're talking about was "You Can't Do That on Television". Back in the day there was an aspiring little actress named "Alanis Nadine" who got on "Star Search" and more importantly for this column, got on this Canadian based television show. She was part of a nifty ensemble cast, but when the show was reaired in later days Nickelodeon actually just showed the episodes with her in them. If you get a chance to see this show give it a few minutes and see what many mid 20 adults grew up on. Sorta sad, huh.
WHO: Raven-Symoné
SHOW: "The Cosby Show"/"Hanging With Mr. Cooper"/"That's So Raven"
Raven has to be at least semi-famous for the WWE to bring her in for a one minute spot at Wrestlemania 24. She started off on "The Cosby Show" as the cute little "Olivia", but would then go on to become an indentured servant to the Disney Gods. Raven got her own show on Disney called "That's So Raven" and had success with her "Cheetah Girls" stint. Now she's graduated to theatrical released Disney movies. People can say whatever they want about her appearance, but in the right setting she's entertaining and has the potential to have the most "serious" career of this specific generation of Disney Divas.
WHO: Nick Cannon
SHOW: "All That"/"The Nick Cannon Show"
Yeah, yeah… he's also the star of "Wild 'N Out", but there's a lot more to this guy's backstory. He's actually a Nickelodian alumni from way back. He got his start on "All That" like a few others in this column have and like Drake Bell he got his own spin off show creatively entitled "The Nick Cannon Show". He's most famous for his adult show on MTV, but he's been putting out music since the early parts of this decade. I won't even lie about it; I really dug that "Gigolo" song that Nick had with R Kelly from a few years back. I almost used it as my entrance music for wrestling is how much I did like it. Hopefully, you've skipped over this paragraph by this point.
I never said I was a fan of these people, but I do know I'll get a lot of shit for this column. Still, you'd be lying or horribly sheltered if you didn't grow up and watch at least one or two of these people. Who would have expected these people to blow up the way they did? Sometimes it's fate, luck, destiny, or just great marketing. That's for you to decide.
What children stars of today do you think will impact pop culture in the future?
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