I thought he/she was black/male/female/white etc..

last time I quote "The Golden Girls", I swear.

hahahahahaha, classic!

I remember being shocked to discover that Billie Myers (of Kiss The Rain fame) was a woman.

Oh, yeah: First few times I heard "Old Time Rock And Roll" I thought Bob Seger was black. Hard to believe there was ever a "first time" for hearing that song - one of the most tiresomely over-played ever. In fact, it's hard to recall a time when it wasn't associated with the nauseating sight of Tom Cruise dancing in his underwear. But I'm getting off the subject...

I know most of this thread is going on voice, but the first time I saw Brother Ali at First Ave I was standing way in the back and thought "OK, burly bald white dude with formidable mic skills. Yay, Mpls has a Bubba Sparxxx!" Then I found out he's an albino African-American.

that's what Chris Evans said, drumroll

a couple years back someone played me a song from Fever by Kylie Minogue and I asked if it was something from the new Saint Etienne.

Some time in about 1988 I was under the impression the Pixies had one female singer with a very strange voice. I guess I only heard "Gigantic" and a bunch of Black Francis' shriekier moments before I saw a photo. Boy was my face red!

Hanson totally own, though.

I still don't know if Pat Place is a man or woman. The photos I've seen make him/her look very androgynous.

Also, I know Dave Brubeck is white, but I've never seen photos of the backing band. Are Paul Desmond and the rest of the group black or white?

Paul Desmond is white. If you're talking about Brubeck's group circa "Time Out", the bassist Eugene Wright is black and the drummer Joe Morello is white. The latter has the same last name as that Rage Against the Machine guitarist, don't know if they're related.

When I first heard "Son of a Preacher Man", I thought Dusty Springfield was black.

Before I found out her name, I thought Tanita Tikaram was a man. And I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one.

I thought Company Flow was all-white, because they sounded like that.

When I first heard Slug, the Athmosphere rapper, featuring on an All Natural track, I thought he was black. Then I bought an Athmosphere LP, and changed my mind, I thought this dude has to be white. However, according to AMG he's mulatto.

http://massimobernardi.blogs.it/Immagini/lewistaylor.jpg

Whoops.

ask Larry David!

wow, I thought Rick Astley was a large black man as well.

lol raceroll

kimya dawson

well, it wasn't a race or gender thing, but i could have sworn to god that Jana Hunter was a wispy woman with long, stringy hair, her eyes always sort of sleepy.

anyway... i also thought that about rick astley. perhaps because they always used to play the single close to Luther Vandross.

luther vandross is rather white himself

i thought david sedaris was an 80 year old woman

I thought Steve Winwood (circa 60s) was black.

I'm not even going to say how old I was when I finally determined Tracy Chapman's gender.

I had no idea that Paul Wall was white for the first year that Still Tippin was on the radio.

The first time I heard "Californication" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers I thought, "Oh, Tracy Chapman's got a comeback single!" Which is a nice yin to the yang of my -- and a lotta people's -- first Tracy Chapman exposure.

o_O

wau

Geddy Lee for the win.

awhile ago i thought bobby caldwell was black

i wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy
xp

I was sure Ali Campbell of UB40 was black for a couple of years.

even though the first time i heard the dude from death vessel i was watching him perform live, i was still convinced there was a woman backstage who was really singing.

i know him and he does!
xxp

lol

jeff hanson owns this thread

I'm still not entirely convinced that Jermaine Stewart was a man.

I remember watching the video for "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off", trying to figure out if he was a man or a woman.

Trina. I listened to Diamond Princess on repeat for a month and assumed she was white from the get go.

Funny, I always thought your violin was a flugelhorn...

Wait! also, I know! Brett Dennen! That dude is a chick, and I won't hear any different.

I also thought Boy George was a woman the first time I heard "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me," except in my case, I was watching the video. So I thought he was a particularly homely woman.

I may be dreaming, but I seem to remember some review of "Sign O the Times" where the reviewer didn't realize that Camille was Prince sped-up.