Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop was born on April 21, 1947, in Michigan. He is a singer, songwriter, actor, and producer. Iggy is mostly famous for such hits as “Cry For Life”, “Cold Metal”, and “Real Wild Child (Wild One)”. He is also known for his work with the band The Stooges. Iggy Pop (real name James Newell Osterberg, Jr.) is considered by many to be the first punk on Earth. Throughout his career, Iggy worked with a variety of musicians from David Bowie (who helped Pop become famous) to Goran Bregovic. Iggy Pop is famous for his wild behavior on stage. Even those people who haven’t heard his songs know about his legendary tearing apart of a chicken and stage diving (which he invented). Later, stage diving became very popular among musicians. Movie buffs know Pop for his appearance in many different films, including Sid and Nancy, Cry-Baby, Deadman, and more. In 1990’s many different rock groups created cover versions to Iggy’s songs. For example, Guns’N’Roses sang his song “Rough Power”. The characters of a famous movie Trainspotting listen to Iggy’s song “Lust for Life” and discuss Iggy’s performance.

In 1970’s Iggy suffered from drug and alcohol addiction. In 1971, he was admitted into the psychiatric hospital, where he spent 6 years. David Bowie helped Iggy get back to normal life and advised him to record a solo album. Iggy recorded his first solo album while still in the hospital. He climbed out of his hospital room’s window at night and came back in the morning. Bowie produced the album The Idiot, which was finally released in 1977 and stayed on the 72nd spot on Billboard 200 for 13 weeks. Even though the musician himself is skeptical about using his songs in the movies, they brought him popularity in 1990’s. And so did his appearance in the Nike commercial. After 1990, Iggy’s popularity started to wane. The latest song to date to make it into the Billboard Hot 100, was “The Passenger”. It was used in the Toyota Avensis ad and reached the 100th spot in the chart. Iggy Pop went a long way from a punk group Stooges to slow acoustic solo albums. He continues to perform life.