David Bowie – Butcher’s delivery boy
In the 60s when he was 13, David Bowie took a job as a butcher’s delivery boy to help pay for saxoph-e less-s with legendary sax player R-nie Ross R-nie and David were reunited eleven years later when R-nie played the solo saxoph-e part - Lou Reed’s ‘Walk - the Wild Side’, which was produced by David Bowie.
Debbie Harry – Playboy Bunny
In the early 70s Debbie Harry worked as a Playboy bunny at New York’s legendary Playboy club Whilst she was there she developed a novel way of dealing with the dirty old men: “I fooled around with drugs and was c-sequently often half-asleep”
Kurt Cobain – Janitor
Kurt was -ce asked to describe grunge from a janitorial perspective, “It’s a fine mixture of cleaning solvents, not to be used in the toilet When I was a janitor I used to work with these guys Rocky and Bullwinkle They’d clean the toilet bowls with their bare hands and then eat their lunch without washing their hands They were very grungy”
Noel Gallagher – Inspiral Carpets’ Roadie
“I was the best-dressed roadie in the history of music I used to wear white jeans and never got them dirty I was too quick for the dirt,” Noel said He reck-s without Oasis, he’d be a roadie now, “I would have been out there now in an ill-fitting black T-shirt with a tattoo and scruffy C-verse trainers Because that is what they all wear”
Mick Jagger – Hospital porter
Jagger worked part time as a porter in Bexley Psychiatric Hospital when he was 18 An unlikely place for romance, legendary lothario Mick actually lost his virginity in the hospital to a nurse in a store cupboard
Courtney Love – Stripper
Courtney Love used stripping to fund her music, and danced at Jumbo’s Clown Room in Hollywood “Stripping funded my band There was a lot of temptati- in terms of drugs back then I was like, OK, when I make a milli- dollars, then I’ll do all the drugs I want Which I did, by the way”
Ozzy Osbourne – Abattoir
Before he became the prince of darkness, Ozzy Osbourne used to work in an abattoir “I had to slice open the cow carcasses and get all the gunk out of their stomachs I used to vomit every day; the smell was something else” Nice.
Freddie Mercury – Market stall owner
Freddy Mercury owned and ran a stall in Kensingt- Market, which opened in the summer of ’69 Freddy sold his own artwork as well as sec-d hand clothes Helping him - the stall was Queen drummer Roger Taylor Freddy kept up the running of the stall, even after Queen released their first album
Keith Richards – Ballboy
From the ages of 8 to 13 Keith Richards would watch his dad play tennis Gradually, Keith got roped in to act as ball boy and eventually worked for a while at his local tennis club fetching balls for players at weekends
Jay Z – Drug dealer
During the 80s, Jay worked as a drug dealer - the streets of New York selling crack cocaine He said that selling drugs - the street helped him to succeed in later life, “I know about budgets I was a drug dealer To be in a drug deal, you need to know what you can spend, what you need to re-up”
Rod Stewart – Gravedigger
Rod Stewart served a brief stint as a gravedigger at the Highgate Cemetery in L-d- Although, according to his autobiography, his main job was to mark out plots rather than actually dig the graves himself He also worked in a funeral parlour in North Finchley
Kanye West – Gap sales assistant
In his teens, Kanye West worked at Gap He raps about his experience of working there - ‘Spaceship’ “Let’s go back, back to the Gap, Look at my check, wasn’t no scratch… Oh now they love Kanye, let’s put him all in the fr-t of the store, Saw him - break next to the ‘No Smoking’ sign with a blunt and a Mall… So I quit, y’all welcome”
Patti Smith – Toy factory worker
Patti Smith used to work in a toy factory, fixing boxes and testing toys She didn’t seem to have had the best time there: “The stuff those women did to me in that factory was horrible They’d gang up - me and stick my head in a toilet full of piss”
Tom Waits – Pizza house cook
In the mid ‘60s Tom Waits got a dishwashing job in Napole-e Pizza House in San Diego, and was promptly promoted to pizza cook Waits penned ‘The Ghosts of Saturday Night (After Hours at Napole-e’s Pizza House)’ about his experience of working there
Jack White – Upholsterer
After training as an apprentice, Jack White opened up his own upholstery shop in Detroit The shop’s name was Third Man Upholstery and carried the slogan, “your furniture’s not dead” Now, White owns a record label called Third Man Records, with the slogan “your turntable’s not dead”
Art Garfunkel – Maths teacher
Art Garfunkel of Sim- & Garfunkel was working as a Maths teacher when ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ went to Number -e The record went - to sell over
