Last week former Back Street Boy Nick Carter announced that he’s about to make a movie. Funnily enough, he’ll be doing this together with Joey Fatone from ‘NSync. But compared with the regular working class heroes, musicians actually don’t make career switches that often. Besides that, they usually don’t even retire. Maybe it’s because of the constant flow of creativity, or maybe it’s just because they have the best job in the world. When they do switch careers though, most of them end up being actors. Apparently it’s a small step to shine in Hollywood after having built a reputation in the big music venues worldwide. Some musicians, however, actually leave all the fame behind and chase their dream of having a ‘normal’ job.
Unfortunately career switches of musicians do not always work out very well. Therefore, Nick Carter and Joey Fatone take quite a risk with their upcoming cinema debuts. Their movie is going to be made by production company The Asylum, which is also responsible for the Sharknado trilogy. So let’s just hope that the former teen idols’ fans admire over-top action movies as well. There’s also a trend in Hollywood where famous rappers make the move from mic to camera. Many times this concerns the typical gangster movies, in which the rappers play roles considerably similar to their already existing image. The first time a rapper starred in Hollywood was already in 1990 though, where Will Smith proved to be an awesome comic actor in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Yes, check out that intro below, it’s still legendary.
Another example of a hip hop artist whose film experiences are highly appreciated is O’Shea Jackson, Sr., better known as Ice Cube. Just like Will Smith, he managed to play many different kinds of roles. Apart from this, he also has a career in screenwriting, producing and directing now. But the combined job of a musician/actor already started decades before the existence of hip hop. Have a look at the great Elvis Presley for example. The King starred in no less than 33 different movies, which all started with Love Me Tender, released in 1956. Another example of a singer that appeared to have a definite talent for acting is Cher, who even managed to win an Oscar. Although you’d have to disregard her latest work ‘Burlesque’, which totally flopped, a harsh reality experienced by many other musicians that dared to star in movies. Watching for example Glitter, with Mariah Carey, makes you feel sorry for her.
So what if you’re a rock star and tired of touring, groupies, and drugs, but you neither like acting, nor do you want to spend the rest of your days chilling on your twenty million euro yacht in the Caribbean? 
Well, history has shown that it’s possible to make less common career switches as well. Take for example Terry Chimes, who played drums for both The Clash and Black Sabbath. During his musical career he already had a strong interest in the medical world and started taking some medical science courses. After his musical projects, he had the time to actually follow his second dream and became a chiropractor. In a way not that bizarre, because “drums are the most hands-on instruments; chiropractic is the most hands-on medicine”, as he once said to The Guardian. If you put it like that, the career switch of former Blur drummer David Rowntree might be more exceptional, as he is now a lawyer. He swopped the stage for a court and the audience for a jury and absolutely loves it.
Some others, like Moby, prefer to take it a bit easier with their second jobs though. He’s still making music, but the producer/dj is also the owner of a teahouse in New York since 2002. It’s been said he came up with the idea when he had a terrible hangover and was in the desperate need of a cup of tea. Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who, probably came up with his business idea when smoking weed. This is because he started a trout fishery and mentioned about that: “When I go fishing, I come away feeling like I’ve smoked half a dozen joints.” That’s at least quite a rock and roll reason for starting a certain business.