6 Actors and Actresses Who Tried to Cross Over Into Singing

A great many actors are gifted in several disciplines of the performing arts. If you've ever watched the movie Fame,you probably have a pretty good idea of how multi-talented some of these people can be. There are many examples of cross-over artists in the entertainment industry: Eartha Kitt, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Lena Horne, Ginger Rogers, Gregory Hines, Barbra Streisand, Dana Owens (Queen Latifah), and Beyonce Knowles just to name a few. For the most part, it is a moderately enjoyable experience when highly talented creative people venture outside of their main area of practice, but...sometimes it may be a good idea for some of these people to just stick with what they do best. Here is a list of actors who have tried their hand at being rock stars; check out their work for yourselves, and you be the judge as to whether or not their efforts are a hit or a miss.

We all know Jasmine Guy as Whitley Gilbert, the snobbish, whiny, spoiled rich girl with the pronounced Southern drawl from A Different World. She made the first year of college pure misery for Denise Huxtable, and probably aggravated the heck out of Dwayne Wayne for the rest of his life. At the height of her popularity in 1990, Jasmine Guy released a self titled album under the Warner Brothers record label. The most memorable singles from her album were "Just Wanna Hold You", "Try Me" and "Another Like My Lover". I'm sort of in between on Jasmine...one thing that is strikingly evident is that Whitley Gilbert's Southern drawl is 100% genuine, it comes shining through in Jasmine's singing voice. Jasmine doesn't set the world on fire, but she doesn't put a damper on the globe either...I would rate her as a rock star near miss.

Listen to "Just Wanna Hold You", "Try Me" and "Another Like My Lover" here:
www.imeem.com/people/KkADJw4/playlist/YEz4l64Z/when_actors_try_to_sing_music_playlist/

Surely, everyone is famliar with Vicki Lawrence's turn as the belligerent but loveable Mother Harper from Mama's Family. We came to know and love Vicki from her performance in the most famous comedic variety show of all time, The Carol Burnett Show. In fact, just like The Simpson's from The Tracey Ullman Show, Mama's Family was spawned from The Carol Burnett Show. In 1973 Vicki was married to songwriter Bobby Russell, Bobby penned the song "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" specifically for Vicki to sing. In an interesting twist, Reba McIntyre covered Vicki's hit in 1991...and Reba could be considered a successful reverse cross-over (for the purposes of this article) because we all know that she can sing, but she also went on to star in a successful six year, self titled television series. I'm not exactly a country music fan, but I actually do prefer Reba's version to Vicki's; however, Vicki is the original singer for this classic story in a song. Vicki Lawrence would be classified as another rock star near miss. She didn't have the best singing voice in the world, but she definitely didn't have the worst.

Listen to both Vicki's and Reba's versions of "The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia" here:
www.imeem.com/people/KkADJw4/playlist/YEz4l64Z/when_actors_try_to_sing_music_playlist/

Who doesn't just absolutely love Tracey Ullman? Tracey is wonderful; she's intelligent, funny, and extremely talented. If you're old enough to remember, The Tracey Ullman Show was hilarious, and it brought to life a tiny little cartoon skit known as The Simpson's. In 1982 Tracey released the hit single "They Don't Know". This is definitely a rock star hit because Tracey can actually sing...one thing though: her singing style would have been far more suited to the early sixties alongside Leslie Gore's hit "It's My Party" or Shelley Fabares' "Johnny Angel". Tracey can be considered a successful cross-over artist because she released several other successful songs and a compilation album in 2007.

Listen to "They Don't Know" here:
www.imeem.com/people/KkADJw4/playlist/YEz4l64Z/when_actors_try_to_sing_music_playlist/

Bruce Willis. 'Nuff Said! Bruce Willis needs no introduction, but most of the people on this list don't need an introduction either, so I'll do an intro for Bruce as well. Bruce Willis became a household name when he and Cybill Shepherd starred together in the 80's detective show Moonlighting. Who can ever forget Al Jarreau's smooth jazz theme to Moonlighting? Bruce Willis became better known in later years as an action adventure hero in the Die Hard tetralogy. Although I did watch Moonlighting (Hello? Cybill Shepherd..), I didn't particularly care for Bruce Willis. I never even noticed him until his exceptional performance in 1999's The Sixth Sense. At any rate, in 1986 Bruce Willis released an album titled "The Return of Bruno", probably the most successful cut from that album was Bruce's cover of The Staple Singers' megahit, "Respect Yourself". Bruce Willis is definitely a rock star miss...the only good thing that I can say about this song is that The Staple Singers' voices tends to drown out Bruce's in key spots. Bruce isn't really as bad as all that...he just sounds almost exactly the same way that he does when he's talking...you know...nothing really special.

Listen to "Respect Yourself"...and as an added bonus, you will find Al Jarreau's "Moonlighting" theme here as well (because I'm a huge jazz fan):
www.imeem.com/people/KkADJw4/playlist/YEz4l64Z/when_actors_try_to_sing_music_playlist/

Eddie Murphy is a comedic genious. He busted onto the scene in the early 80's and made us generation X'ers bust a gut laughing at his antics...especially on Saturday Night Live. In 1985, Eddie released an album on the Columbia record label titled "How Could It Be". The most memorable singles from that album were "Party All The Time" and "How Could It Be". Although "Party All The Time" was somewhat of a hit, and it carried an infectious tune...I would rate Eddie as a rock star miss due to the fact that he just can't sing. Eddie's singing efforts are more comedic than lyrical...this is highly evident when he tries to hit the high notes on some of his songs.

Listen to "Party All The Time" and "How Could It Be" here:
www.imeem.com/people/KkADJw4/playlist/YEz4l64Z/when_actors_try_to_sing_music_playlist/

Gwyneth Paltrow grew up in the world of Hollywood. She is the child of well known actress Blythe Danner and director, writer, and producer, Bruce Paltrow. I think that my favorite Gwyneth movie is..well, it would probably be a tie between The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Royal Tenenbaums. Graced by birth with money, good looks, acting talent, and later in life...a genuine rock star husband, one would think that Gwyneth wouldn't need anything more. Just when we thought that Gwyneth had it all, we came to find out that she could actually sing as well. Her most well known musical performance would probably be her cover of Smokey Robinson's megahit "Cruisin"; if you haven't heard it, now's your chance to be pleasantly surprised. Gwyneth's turn at the mike is absolutely, positively, a rock star hit.

Listen to "Cruisin" here:
www.imeem.com/people/KkADJw4/playlist/YEz4l64Z/when_actors_try_to_sing_music_playlist/

You would probably be surprised at the number of other actors who have tried to make the leap from the dramatic world of theatric arts to the lyrical land of musical artistry. Some of the attempts have revealed a surprising musical aptitude...while others have begged the actor to stick to thespian endeavors and leave the singing to the singers.