214 replies to this topic

[Chris Bloom]

The Slim Borgudd thred got me thinking, what other musicians have tried their hand at motor racing?

Here are the ones I recall:

Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) - Aston Martin powered Group C car with Pink Floyd manager Steve O'Rourke in the mid-eighties.

Mark Knopfler - Did some historic sports car races in the mid-eighties. Also broke his arm in a celebrity support race for the 1986 Australian GP.

Andrew Ridgley - Other half of Wham! Oh Dear! French Formula 3 driver! Oh dear oh dear!

Slim Borgudd - Abba Drummer, and possibly the most succesful 'Cross-over artist'. Also has his own thread on TNF!



;)

There must be more......

Chris

[Erd]

The lead singer from Faithless dose the Ford Fiesta Credit cup

[fines]

The former lead guitarist of "Eddie's Buzzing Hornets" was once Formula One World Champion...

[Stefan Ornerdal]

Chris Barber was a famous jazz musician in the late fifties and he drove some F2 and sportscars in Britain.

George Harrison had some outings in Historic Racing in the seventies.

And the other way round - Kenny Brack has formed a rock band with fellow CART-driver Patrick Carpentier!

Stefan

[Vitesse2]

Johnny Claes was a jazz musician too ...

And pre-war there was Billy Cotton, band-leader and Austin 7 racer. All together now:

"Wakey-wake HI!!!"

And hasn't Jay Kay from Jamiroquai raced?

[William Hunt]

ELIO DE ANGELIS was a brilliant classical piano player. He was so gifted that he was even aproached by record companies. But unfortunately it wasn't to be...Elio was an intelligent & sensitive character with his heart at the right place...We dearly miss people like him in F1 nowadays.

[Jerry]

Phil Hill graduated from USC with a degree in music.

[Mike Goodell]

Yes, I once heard that Phil Hill was a classical pianist. Anyone know if he still plays?

[Bernd]

Originally posted by Erd
The lead singer from Faithless dose the Ford Fiesta Credit cup

Yes Maxi Jazz. The song She's my baby (Sunday 8PM) is all about his love for his Escort Cosworth and hard motoring in general. Great Stuff

Gilles Villeneuve was a talented Trumpeter.

[jk]

Damon Hills is a below average guitar player, but he CAN play the damn thing! Kenny Bräck is not to bad on a guitar either.

[FLB]

Gilles Villeneuve was admitted to the Conservatory in Québec City as a clarinettist (sp.?), but chose not to go.

There were two members of a heavy metal band (Motley Crüe? Iron Maiden?) in Indy Lights in the early 1990's.

[Rob G]

FLB,

It was Motley Crue who had a couple of members strap themselves into Indy Lights cars. I'm sure one of them was Vince Neil (the singer), but I can't remember who the other one was.

[josh.lintz]

I know he wasn't a musician, but didn't Jackie Stewart cut an album after retiring?

[Chris Bloom]

If we are also going to count drivers who became who were part time musicians then I must add Guissepee Campari.

Guiseppe was due to retire after the 1933 Italian GP and take up a career as an Opera singer. Unfortunatly he hit some oil during practice for that race resulting in an accident that killed him.

Chris

[Criceto]

Don't forget Chris Rea. Not only does he wear his love for Ferrari on his sleeve, he did commission the recreation of the Sharknose 156 for his film "La Passione".

Pity the movie's so awful...!

But he also races in historics, usually in David Piper's Ferrari 330P, and he has even run in a BTCC race, where I think he put a BMW 318i Super Tourer into the gravel at Donington's Redgate.


On the Pink Floyd involvement in motor sport, don't forget that Nick Mason races several times a year in Historics, running a Birdcage Maserati, a 250F, a BRM V16, a Ferrari GTO and an Ulster Aston Martin.

Less well known is the fact that Nick persuaded lead singer/guitarist Dave Gilmour to have a go in the early nineties, and he ran a P25 BRM in a few meetings. Apparently Dave managed to do little more than frighten himself, and he went on to find a safer way of passing his time.

He now barnstorms a P-51D Mustang World War II fighter plane instead!

[Darren Galpin]

Mark Knopfler also raced a single seater in the British Monoposto championship in the early 1990s.

[Jerry]

Mike,

Yes Phil Hill is a classical pianist who still plays. He also restores antique pianos and collects the old player ones and their rolls.

He also has a classic car restoration business.

[LittleChris]

Wasn't Tommy Lee the other Motley Crue driver.

Gilles was also a very good jazz pianist and he & Elio entertained the boys during the 1982 South African GP strike.

Also during the late 80's I believe there were a few GP drivers including Stefan Johansson & Andrea De Cesaris who used to play together in a band now & then

[Tony Kingston]

Does anybody remember the "Grand Prix night of Stars" (I think that is what it was called). Must have been about the time of the British GP in '76 or '77. Star of the show was James Hunt playing the trumpet.
Notable exception was Lauda who said he was there to race not fool about on stage.

[LittleChris]

Tony,

I remember it. Hunt was barefoot in jeans & a tee shirt if I remember rightly, whilst all the other drivers turned up looking like penguins !

[Tomoko]

Keith Duffy - a member of boys' group Boyzone races in rally and Porsche Supercup at Sliverstone recently.

Satoru Nakajima recorded a CD as a singer in Japan in 1990 or 1991... well, it was too far from "not bad" I don't know why he had an offer, or a company offered him... maybe the prsident was a big fan of him???

[Rainer Nyberg]

If we go the other way, where racedrivers turned to musicians then I have a LP (it is an analogue information source used predominantly in the pre-1980s) where the good old boys of NASCAR from the 1970s are singing (or at least are trying to!) country standards like "Hey good looking"....

[Martyj]

Dick Smothers, one half of the Smothers Brothers, played upright bass and drove in the Contenential Series (F/5000) in the early 70's. But not at the same time.

[Chris Skepis]

Alvin Lee , once called the world's fastest rock guitarrist from Ten Years After used to race historic cars with Nick Manson.
Does anybody knows the name of the band and the song on the MGM Grand Prix film, when Nino Barlini goes to the night club after the Monaco race? It does not appears on the film credits.

[MOTORSPORT RESORT]

I'll post a quote on page 81, of "" Life with Graham....Bette Hill 1978

.....The most beautiful person I ever met at any race meeting-"Francois Cervert". He gave up a promising career as a concert pianist to become a racing driver........

Who know's where life take's us.


speedy@f1power.com

[Jerry Lee]

Conductor Guy Lombardo was a fairly successful Gold Cup Power Boat racer years ago.

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Chris Skepis
Alvin Lee , once called the world's fastest rock guitarrist from Ten Years After ....

Alvin Lee?? Pah!!! HENDRIX LIVES!!!

Girl band Atomic Kitten currently sponsor a car in the European Le Mans Series ...

[Mike Argetsinger]

Brian Johnson - lead singer for AC/DC.

[mhferrari]

Wow, I didn't know that about Elio de Angelis and Gilles Villeneuve.
I read about Campari on 8W, quite sad.

[Chris Skepis]

Hey Vitesse
I also prefer Hendrix to Alvin Lee but I never heard that Jimi raced anything but his mind. If he did, he probably raced the LSD-Climax up to 1968 and then by 69 he got his very fast LSD-Cosworth:lol:
Anyway nowadays my favorite rock guitarrist is Kevin Shields from the Irish band called My Bloody Valentine. Just listen to one of their songs called "Only Shallow". It's "Born To Be Wild" for UFO pilots.

[William Dale Jr]

Originally posted by Rainer Nyberg
If we go the other way, where racedrivers turned to musicians then I have a LP (it is an analogue information source used predominantly in the pre-1980s) where the good old boys of NASCAR from the 1970s are singing (or at least are trying to!) country standards like "Hey good looking"....

NASCAR driver Dick Brooks recorded the country song 'Wizard of the Wheel', not sure whether he was a singer or a driver first, but I reckon he was the latter first Quite a good song, I love it.

Also, country duo Brooks & Dunn race a team of those Legends cars in the States, or so I'm told.

Many Australian singers have had a race, but usually only in Celebrity Races, such as the one Mark Knopfler broke his arm in....

And Mike, when was Brian Johnson lead singer for AC/DC?

[AyePirate]

Originally posted by William Dale Jr
when was Brian Johnson lead singer for AC/DC?

1980-present

[Eric McLoughlin]

Although better known as a boxer, Barry McGuigan also had a go at being both a singer AND a racing/rally driver, both meeting with fairly unspectacular results. His dad had been a very well known singer in Ireland, representing us in the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest (and coming 4th too).

Chris Rea's other automotive passion is the Caterham Seven (I'm always looking for excuses to plug these cars). He has raced them with moderate success on occasions and has featured one on the cover of his album "Auberge". He also wrote the forward to Chris Rees' book "Caterham Sevens" and says that his wish is that someday someone will devise a method of getting a V12 Ferrari engine into a Seven.

Did not the orchestra leader Montovani race in the 50's?

How about extending the thread to actors. I can think of Paul Newman and Rowan Atkinson straight away. Although Steve McQueen, James Dean and James Garner were all interested in motorsport and fast cars, did they ever actually race?

[David McKinney]

McQueen and Dean definitely raced: McQueen was second at Sebring one year, in a Porsche.
I'm sure that particular Mantovani never raced. There were several people of that name racing in the 1950s but they were Italians, while the bandleader was English. (Yes, I know he was born in Italy, but he lived in England from the age of 16)

[Per Swanholm (Ferrari)]

The swedish singer pop phenomen Per Gessle has a big heart for motorsport, but I don't think he's ever entered a race. (He ownes a Ferrari though.;)

[Per Swanholm (Ferrari)]

Sorry, forgot an & between the singer and pop... Hope you understand what I mean.

[William Dale Jr]

McQueen drove in the 1969 Sebring 12 Hour (I think) with Peter Revson, and finished second! Mind you, apparently Revson did most of the driving.... I remember a story that Mario Andretti told about that race, about Revson doing most of the driving but McQueen (if he won) got more attention. Andretti said that he wouldn't mind getting beaten by Revson/McQueen, but he didn't want to lose to McQueen, if that makes sense to anyone - It's half past midnight here and that doesn't help my already poor memory :yawn:

[fines]

Masahiko Kondo raced for several years in the Japanese F3 and F3000 championships. Another actor-turned-racing driver is Roberto Vallone.

[Darren]

And the link between My Bloody Valentine and motoring is that Bilinda Jane Butcher drove taxis to keep the band afloat whilst Kevin built the dream studio. Still waiting for the next album... What about Keith from the Prodigy and his British Ducati campaign?

[Chris Skepis]

Darren
It wasn't Belinda who drove cabs. It was bassist Debbie Googe. I think she returned to cabs after My Bloody Valentine broke up.
I heard that Debbie and Colm O'Ciosog are out of the band. If they release something in the future, it will be only Kevin and Belinda.
There is another british band that I really like which I bet they must be comected to motor racing somehow. They are called Swervedriver and all of their songs are about cars and the pleasures of driving them. Their first album "Raise" is truly amazing.

[Niky]

There is a pop band in CART, no so bad I must admit!!!!

"Over the years, musicians ranging from Donny Osmond to Ted Nugent have occasionally put their driving skills to the test in Pro/Celebrity races. Now a pair of Champ Car drivers have traded setup sheets for sheet music, plugged in and cranked the amps up to "11."

"Kenny Brack and Patrick Carpentier don't aspire to finger a fretboard faster than Eddie Van Halen, out-drum Neil Peart or produce an album that outlasts Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" on the Billboard charts. But they do look forward to leaving their racing aside for a few hours every week to work on their musicianship and have fun. Hey, racing drivers have hobbies, too.

"And with a little help from their friends at CART, Brack and Carpentier have found a unique way to moonlight. They debuted as R.P.M. (Racing Powered Music) at Wayne Gretzky's Sports Bar in Toronto on Friday night before about 1,500 fans, jamming out a seven-song set.

"The group features Brack on lead guitar and Carpentier on drums, supplanted by Mo Nunn Racing's PR guru Laz Denes on bass guitar and Elizabeth Fornal on vocals.

"Fornal, who works in CART's Marketing Department, is the quiet leader of the group. She's also no stranger to singing in front of much larger crowds, having sung the "National Anthem" at several FedEx Championship Series races over the past couple of years."

Info from www.cart.com / By John Oreovicz

[Darren]

Colm and Debbie are definitely out of the band - Colm's last project was the Warm Inventions with Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star fame. Let's try bands named after cars: entrant number one, Galaxie 500. Or videos featuring decent cars: try Mazzy Star's Fade Into You with a lovely Citroen DS.

[David M. Kane]

Marty Reeves, the C and W singer did several NASCAR races. He did
a fairly good job.

[Chris Skepis]

Darren,
I remember one video clip on Mtv featurring The Amps ( one of Kim Deal's (Pixies) alternative bands (she had a few). I don't remember the name of the song, but on the clip, Kim was (apparently)really racing a Barber-Saab on a oval track. Did you ever see this clip ?

[dbltop]

marty robbins drove several nascar races,but ive never heard of marty reeves. robbins was famous for "devil woman" . thats also what he called all his race cars

[Darren]

Don't remember the vid, but I think only Tipp City and Pacer would have been shown.

And now for some nostalgia - musicians being actors being car racers. In this case, Dennis Wilson (Beach Boys) and James Taylor in Monte Hellman's Two Lane Blacktop.

[Darren]

Not necessarily a racing musician, but a potential racing music producer and engineer: Phil Schier. He's mostly noted for his production and engineering work with Captain Beefheart and Quincy Jones, but Sterling Morrison of the Velvet Underground claims that Phil was the Velvets' road manager in 1967 and had been Lou Reed's room-mate at Syracuse University. However, Sterling also claims that Schier was "Formula 1 race driver and general car freak". No F1 career to my knowledge, so what was his racing experience?

[Gary C]

Didn't drummer Cozy Powell (God bless 'im) race a few things in the mid to late 70's??

[ensign14]

Marty Robbins had a number one hit in the US Pop Chart in the 50s with 'El Paso'. I think he died of cancer in 1982, about a month after his last race.

Mike Curb, owner of Curb Records (and head of the Mike Curb Congregation band) owned Richard Petty's car for a couple of years in the 1980s. The Congregation was most well known for 'Candyman', the Sammy Davis song from the Willy Wonka film, pop pickers.

And does Ted Field (longtime entrant of Danny Ongais in sportscars and Indycars - even the odd F1 race) have anything to do with Interscope Records? His teams were all called Interscope Racing.

[AdrianM]

Robbie Williams wishes he was a racing driver if he's Supreme video clip is anything to go by.
It is a great clip though with great footage.