When you read the word ‘rock star’ what are the phrases that spring to mind? ‘Fame’? ‘Glamour’? Anything but ‘post-graduate degrees’, right? Well, apparently notRecently, I saw a snippet on Queen’s Brian May pursuing a degree in astrophysics. Yes, you read that right…astrophysics.
That got me thinking. So, I scrounged around a bit and looked some stuff up. You would be surprised at the sheer number of artistes with degrees in higher education.
For example, in 1969, Brian May was just another college boy. In fact, he was the college boy who was expected to make it big in life. Not as a musician, but as a scientist. Studying interstellar dust clouds, May was midway through his research when Queen hit the big time. He dropped his doctorate studies to tour with band full time, which must have seemed like a good choice at the time. Thirty-three years, sixteen studio albums and about a million awards and accolades later, he returned to the Imperial College, London, to complete his PhD. He will receive his doctorate as soon as his thesis is approved, most likely in August.
Tom Morello, ex-Rage against the Machine, and of Audioslave fame, graduated from Harvard with a degree in Political Science. He is known to be quite the social activist. Most rockers end up in jail for DUI charges or drunken behavior; Mr. Morello gains time in the slammer for holding protest marches. He prefers to get through to the public through his music. His alter ego, the Night-Watchman, performs at all Morello’s political gatherings. The only catch is that instead of the intense rocker everyone’s used to, he’s a peaceful, serene performer.
Scott Stapp attended Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee and Valencia in Orlando and got himself an associate’s degree in the arts. He then transferred to Florida State University where he met some fellow rockers and formed the Grammy award-winning band Creed.
Dave Farrell, better known as ‘Phoenix’, bassist for the Nu-Metal band, Linkin Park, was awarded a degree by the University of California, Los Angeles. Okay, so maybe you wouldn’t have guessed that, seeing him thrashing about on the stage, but it just proves that if you put your mind to something, you CAN do it.
And that, my friends, brings us to someone we all know – Shakira. Yes, I know she’s not a ‘rock’ artist, nor does she act like a drunken, two-legged donkey on stage, but still. Not many people know that, despite being a blonde and a pop performer, she has an IQ of 130 and can speak 6 languages fluently.
Here are a few more that will surprise you—and one or two that won’t. Art Gurfunkel, the vocal half of old-time folk duo Simon & Garfunkel, took a BA with majors in art history. Not satisfied with such a soft degree he then took masters in mathematics. And mind you, these degrees were from no less than Columbia University.
Possibly the most interesting entertainer-academic is not a musician but an actress. Danica McKellar, who played Winnie Cooper in the landmark TV show ‘The Wonder Years’, is a mathematician. Danny studied at UCLA, and majored in maths. While at college, she co-authored a paper with along with a professor and a fellow student. The paper was titled ‘Percolation and Gibbs States Multiplicity for Ferromagnetic Ashkin-Teller Models Z2’. Don’t ask. Interestingly, she is also the author of a book titled Math Doesn’t Suck: How to Survive Middle-School Math without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail, which is apparently intended to encourage girls to enjoy and succeed at maths.
However, a fascinating case is one that didn’t really happen. Once upon a time there was an academically brilliant young boy growing up in a small town called Dartford in England. He entered the London School of Economics on a scholarship, studying for a degree in finance. However, after a just a year, he dropped out and became a musician. He ended up leading a group called The Rotating Pebbles. Or maybe it was called The Tumbling Rocks. Something like that, anyway.
I guess what these people are trying to tell us is – stereotypes don’t limit you. Nor do careers. You may be a rock star, an actress, a belly dancer even one of those guys that clean movie theatres at night, but it shouldn’t stop you from pursuing your education. If you don’t believe me, ask Dr. Brian May.
Mali*
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