Acts that came to prominence when their members were in their 30s or 40s?

Omar Souleyman is 48.

Open Mike Eagle just put out his most prominent album so far and he's 33, which is like 57 in rap years.

Robert Quine -- in his 30s as a Voidoid, near 40 circa The Blue Mask.

Lucinda Williams

Vi Subversa was 41 when she formed Poison Girls in 1976

Michael Gira was 34 when Swans major label debit came out

lots of old blues folks probably fit in here

swans came to prominence before that.

Danny Brown

Howlin' Wolf was 41 when he started recording for Sam Phillips in 1951. The Wolf was 55 when The Rolling Stones got him on the TV show Shindig in 1964.

Muddy Waters was in his late 30s when he started recording for Chess in the early 50s.

Papa John Creach came into prominence in his mid-50s, when he started playing with Hot Tuna and Jefferson Airplane. He released his first solo album in 1971, at the age of 54.

Just realized that Dean Garcia of Curve was 34 when their first singles were released.

Ian Dury was in his late 30s when the Blockheads had their big hits.

Great, now I've got "Papa John Creach, I'm in trouble deep" stuck in my head.

Lead Belly - born in 1888, first recordings in the 1930's

And there's tons of other blues artists who recorded a few sides for small labels before being discovered by a wider (whiter) audience decades later - from Mississippi John Hurt to RL Burnside

and I guess artists who came to prominence after death would be a whole other category - but that could include Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, etc.

Doc Watson played Newport Folk Festival in 1963 when he was 40.

MIA is 39 today, holy shit.

So, she was 29 yrs, 8 mos when Arular came out. Close enough.

Rufus Thomas (first Top 40 hit age 46)

A borderline case, but Ben Folds Five's breakthrough album, Whatever and Ever Amen, came out when Folds was 30.

The Hold Steady (thirties), Sleaford Mods (forties).

Shawn Colvin was 41 when Sunny Came Home became a hit.

Marnie Stern (31 when she released her first album)

MIA is 39 today, holy shit.

So, she was 29 yrs, 8 mos when Arular came out. Close enough.

She first came into prominence with "Galang" though, a couple of years before Arular came out. Or at least that's how I first heard about her, when people here at ILM were bigging up "Galang".

it was still her debut album, and on a major in the US - that beats a (better) mixtape and ILM chatter tbf.

"prominence" for mia either = 'galang' (crit love, internet stardom) or 'paper planes' (actual stardom, sales, tv)

Deana Carter (30 when "Strawberry Wine" hit).

Sarah McLachlan just misses the cutoff by about 6 months with Surfacing.

2 chainz claims he's 31 but is probably 35 (see fader profile by noz)
Tuneyards is 34 or something

I'm uncomfortable with the fact that I find this thread comforting

isn't fumbling towards ecstasy her breakthru? surfacing is when she briefly became a megastar but she was having hits - 'possession', 'i will remember you' - before that.

he'd had minor hits before then, but Rick Springfield didn't have his biggest US hit until he was 32.

also, Martin Page was never huge and really only had a brief moment, but "In the House of Stone and Light", which did well on the adult contemporary charts (our local station loved it, even though it sounded Sting-lite to me), came out when he was 35. it was from his debut album too.

also, Goo Goo Dolls had been plugging away for years and had minor alt rock hits, but didn't have a big (crossover) hit ("Name") that cemented them as popular until 1995, when Johnny Rzeznick was about 9 months shy of 30, and bass player Robby Takac was already 30.

isn't fumbling towards ecstasy her breakthru? surfacing is when she briefly became a megastar but she was having hits - 'possession', 'i will remember you' - before that.

FTE was kind of a niche singer-songwriter hit -- 2.8 million per Wikipedia -- but Surfacing was mega -- 16 million, #2 US Billboard, two top 5 singles, countless soundtracks.

And it transformed her from a farty, randy goth into a gauzy ASPCA Ur-mother figure.

imo this topic is only interesting if we're talking about people who had no public profile at all until their '30s or something. really huge number of acts plugged away with minor renown through their 20s and then peaked after 30, not that remarkable. but like, Mark Sandman turned 40 the month Morphine released its first album. that's interesting.

also a personally inspiring topic to me, as a 32-year-old who just sent his first album off for mastering.

Three of the four members of The Church were in their thirties by the time they finally scored an international hit (with Under the Milky Way).

i think the shins fit some dude's criterion; new slang was written when dude was 30 and still based in like Albuquerque or whatever

Joe Cocker always *sounded* like he was in his 70s

so is it fairer to say that "inspiration" or "peak creativity" have a half-life, or that they are more or less fixed to your age?

the dude from Protomartyr everyone likes to describe as "middle class / working guy / disheveled accountant / etc" is 36-38 (can't remember) and had never been in a band before this. just got to know those other guys, started attending their practices and rambling to their songs, and, boom, indie star.

not sure if someone mentioned him upthread but some dude's refocus (which i agree with) reminded me of him.

Keep forgetting that Martha Davis (of The Motels) started as a working musician in 1971. She was 31 when "Only The Lonely" and "Take The L" became hits.

and that reminds me of robin lane, who started working as a musician in the late '60s, and was 32 or 33 when robin lane & the chartbusters' debut album came out. they weren't as prominent as the motels, but they were a major label band who were a big deal in the northeast at least and were getting mtv play. (the 11th video ever shown on mtv, according to the internet.)

I recall around 2004/2005-ish finding it interesting that almost all of my favorite rock bands from that era were in their thirties. Of Montreal, Spoon, MF Doom and Queens of the Stone Age all had earlier releases, but they weren't really on my radar until they were older musicians.

Keep forgetting that Martha Davis (of The Motels) started as a working musician in 1971. She was 31 when "Only The Lonely" and "Take The L" became hits.

29 when Total Control was a hit though

I thought Seasick Steve would be the first name on the thread. He was in his 60s.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, June 25, 2014 7:55 PM (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

He's just about over sixty now.

Lemmy was 30-something when Motorhead started becoming a big deal. Which is pretty inspiring if you're a 20-something who's accomplished nothing

yeah, but he'd been the bassist in hawkwind during his mid-to-late twenties, and was the vocalist on 'silver machine', their biggest chart hit

so i guess it's inspiring if you're a twentysomething who's already enjoyed success and would like to go on to achieve even more in your thirties

He's just about over sixty now.

75 according to Wikipedia. Apropos of nothing much, I saw him outside a restaurant in Malmo a few weeks ago - eating not playing guitar.

I thought Seasick Steve would be the first name on the thread. He was in his 60s.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, June 25, 2014 7:55 PM (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

He's just about over sixty now.

― Mark G, Thursday, September 29, 2016 11:14 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, just reading this about him on the Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/sep/29/seasick-steve-session-musician-ramblin-man-book

I usually could not give less of a shit about (ugh) "authenticity" - but watching his breakthrough clip from 2008 with the knowledge that he's a session musician and not in any way a former hobo, can't help but find it massively insulting, both to the audience and to actual homeless people. Why did people ever fall for this bullshit?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNoPNC3ebYQ

I think Daevid Allen was well into his 30s when Gong got going.