Older Musicians Who Made It

Sheryl Crow studied at the University of Missouri and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Composition, Performance and Education. After this she worked as an elementary school music teacher. Since she worked a regular job she only had time to do gigs on the weekends. She also wrote jingles for companies such as Toyota and McDonalds on the side.

Her first debut album was rejected by the label she was signed with. Sheryl Crow was born in 1963. It wasn't until her late 20's that she was beginning to get involved in the music industry. Finally, in 1994, Sheryl Crow won the Grammy awards for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "All I Wanna Do"; Record of the Year for "All I Wanna Do"; and Best New Artist. By this time she was 31 years old. We'll call her the "baby" on this list.

When Bonnie Raitt was a little girl whe lived in an apartment complex behind Cherokee studios in West Hollywood. She would hang around the studio and pick up gigs here and there for doing back up singing work. All the musicians that she worked with were impressed with her.

Rate majored in African Studies in college. One day a prominent blues promoter, Dick Waterman, came to her university's radio station. Raitt went to meet him and they soon became good friends. She eventually left college to hang out with Dick Waterman and his circle of blues friends.

In 1970 she was performing at the Gaslight Cafe in New York and she was seen by a reporter from Newsweek who spread the word about her. In 1977, Raitt had her first commercial success with the hit "Runaway".

However, Raitt did not meet up to the expectation of her record label, Warner and was dropped from the label in 1983. Her peak commercial success came in 1989 with her 10th album Nick of Time. By this time Rate was 40 years old. This is when Bonnie Rate really became known to the mainstream public.

If you read about Raitt's history in more detail you will see that she has had a lot of tough times in her life and I think we really have to respect her perserverance to hang on through all those lean times.

Highlight:
•First mainstream success with the album "Nick of Time" at age 40

Speaking of Bonnie Raitt, one of the most beautiful songs ever written, "I Can't Make You Love Me", was written by Mike Reid. This guy really inspires me. He was a music major college, but also an exceptional athlete. So much so that he was drafted by the Cincinatti Bengals in 1970 and played on their team until 1974.

After Mike's football career he went on to pursue his love for music. He had already been playing in Utah, Dallas and Cincinatti's orchestras and in 1984 he won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song with "Stranger in My House", which was recorded by Ronnie Milsap. At this time Mike Reid was 37! His song, "I Can't Make You Love Me", written along with Allen Shamblin came out in 1991. At this time Mike Reid was 44! "I Can't Make You Love Me" is ranked #331 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Being a fitness guy and musician myself, Mike Reid's life story is a great source of inspiration. It shows us two things: 1. Fitness buffs can be creative and musicians can be athletic, and 2. After one career has finished in our lives it is okay to move on to a totally different career.

Highlights:

• First Grammy Award for Best Country Song at age 37
• All time greatest song, "I Can't Make You Love Me" written at age 44

One of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard in my life, "Canto Della Terra" is sung by Andrea Bocelli. Bocelli study law in college and worked as a court appointed lawyer. It wasn't until her was 34 years old that he made his first demo which wound up in the hands of Luciano Pavarotti's. Bocelli picked up his first record contract a year later and began touring. Bocelli became widely known in the US in 1995 with his song "Time to Say Goodbye" with soprano Sarah Brightman.

Highlights:

• First record contract at age 35
• First major hit at age 37

Alwyn Lopez "Al" Jarreau born March 12, 1940, is an American singer. He is the only vocalist in history to win the Grammy Awards in three separate categories: Jazz, Pop, and R&B. He has won the Grammy Awards 7 times within a span of four consecutive decades - the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

Jarreau got his master's degree from the University of Iowa and worked as a rehabilitation couselor in San Francisco. At that time he performed in a jazz trio in the evenings. It wasn't until Jarreau was 28 that he made jazz his primary occupation and thus he headed down south to Los Angeles and started performing in well known clubs and eventually getting exposure on TV from the Johnny Carson show and the likes.

In 1975, Jarreau was working with pianist Tom Canning when he was spotted by Warner Bros. Records and soon thereafter released his critically acclaimed debut album, We Got By, which catapulted him to international fame and garnered him a German Grammy Award.

Highlight:

• Debut album at age 35