Steve Carell / Usher
Musical Guests
From SNLWiki
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Musical Guests
The Musical Guest are pretty important to the show, though not seen very much during an episode. When they do, it's always a hit.
Britney Spears
- 5/13/00
- 2/02/02
- 10/18/03
Oops, she did it again, and again, and then again. No, we’re not talking about blowing bubbles with her chewing gum on national TV. We’re talking about the three appearances that pop icon Britney Spears made on Saturday Night Live, including the one that, at age 18, made her the youngest person ever to appear as both host and musical guest in the same episode.
So just how did Brit Brit manage this feat? Read on…
The self-proclaimed “country” Britney Spears was born in Louisiana in 1981. As a child, she competed in gymnastics competitions and studied dance. After appearing in several off-Broadway shows as well as an appearance on Star Search, she was cast by the Disney Channel for their “New Mickey Mouse Club,” alongside fellow future stars Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling, and Justin Timberlake, who she would famously date for four years.
1998 saw the release of her first single, “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” and her recording career skyrocketed from there. A string of hit singles and albums followed, along with a lucrative deal inked with Pepsi, but it’s the tabloid quality of her personal life that has really gotten the public’s attention in recent years, culminating with her 2006 appearance on a now-infamous interview on NBC with Dateline’s Matt Lauer.
Tom Waits
- 4/9/77
Cult figure Tom Waits made only a single appearance on Saturday Night Live, but he’s worth mentioning here because it’s Tom Waits, the singular oddball of rock, pop, jazz, blues, standards, and... well... trying to categorize him is impossible, so we’ll skip over that and get right on with some biographical information.
Waits came into this world in 1949 in Southern California, and had the taxi driver take him right from the maternity ward to Times Square… or at least he famously quipped that he did. His musical career started when he was in his teens, hanging out at L.A.’s famed Troubadour Theater and playing there on Monday open mic nights. It didn’t take him long to get signed, and at the age of 21 he released his first album, “Closing Time,” a melancholy record filled with barroom songs of broken hearts and lost love. A string of critically acclaimed, if not commercially successful, albums appeared throughout the ‘70s along with appearances in a number of movies. However, Waits remained an underground figure, known mostly through covers of his songs by The Eagles and Bruce Springsteen.
In the 1980s, his music took a dramatic turn, owing more to American jazz, standards and Kurt Weil-style cabaret music than to rock ‘n’ roll. Albums like “Swordfishtrombones” and “Rain Dogs” were hailed as masterpieces and gained Waits a loyal following among music fans and music makers alike.
Waits has continued to remain vital, an impressive feat in the fickle music business and in our fast-changing times. Collaborations with avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson produced three acclaimed stage shows and accompanying albums. And with his recent album, “Real Gone,” Waits has taken his music in yet another surprising direction.
His appearance on SNL is a true testament to the rich variety of musicians that have graced Studio 8H over the decades.
Beck
- 1/11/97
- 1/9/99
- 12/4/99
- 2/15/03
- 4/16/05
Enigmatic indie figure Beck burst onto brooklynn the music scene with the song “Loser.” Though largely derided as a one-hit wonder, Beck went on to prove his critics wrong by producing a number of critically acclaimed albums since, with another set for release in the fall of 2006.
Beck’s background, to some at least, may seem as enigmatic or as strange as his music. His mom is a visual artist while his father is a musician – both are Scientologists, as is Beck. Before hitting the major leagues with “Loser,” Beck traveled extensively and often performed as a “busker” – a street musician – as both a way of earning money and honing his craft.
Returning to Los Angeles, he gained a small following in the local underground scene, a following that earned him the attention of producer Carl Stephenson and Bong Load Custom Records, a Los Angeles-based indie label. Beck soon made a deal with Geffen Records, which released his first mainstream album, “Mellow Gold,” in 1994.
The album “Odelay” appeared one year later, followed by “Mutations.” 2002 saw the release of the seminal album “Sea Change,” arguably Beck’s finest work to date. SNL was there to capture Beck at the outset of his career with repeated musical guest spots, affording SNL fans the opportunity to watch as he grew as a recording artist. No doubt, the SNL stage has not seen the last of Beck Hansen.
