Famous Singers’ Unknown Side Hustles

Musicians, whether composers, conductors or performers, have throughout history made extra money whilst pursuing a wished-for long-term career. For those without the privilege of staying afloat in a very competitive sector, an income stream from teaching, Uber driving, dog-walking and other sources, ensures their economic and creative survival, since most musicians will earn much less than their peers working in other industries.

Many famous singers have been fortunate enough to earn a good living from their music, though some had side hustles in the past that few know about. Here are some of the artists and their side hustles, which provided growing resilience as well as artistic inspiration.

Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins) - Pro-Wrestling

Billy Corgan is most well-known as the lead of The Smashing Pumpkins, an alt-rock band that has been performing on-and-off with varying other band members coming and going since 1988. Since August 2020, the group has released three singles from their new album “Cyr”, to be released in November 2020, whilst Corgan also has a side hustle in pro-wrestling.

In 2017, Corgan took over ownership of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), a professional wrestling promotion company in the US, via his company Lightning One, Inc. In October 2020, Corgan said he plans to bring back the NWA Powerrr series, ranked in the top five wrestling shows by fans.

Terry Chimes (The Clash) - Chiropractic

Terry Chimes, the drummer on the first The Clash record who also stepped in when their later drummer was battling addiction before drumming for Black Sabbath and Billy Idol really did not need to side hustle but found his calling after his shoulder locked up after an incident at a bowling alley. Cured by a chiropractor, Chimes was so impressed he enrolled on a chiropractic course in Bournemouth, hiding his identity until the rerelease of “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” which blew his cover. He now owns a chiropractic clinic and occasionally drums for The Crunch.

Macy Gray (R&B artist) – Blackjack and poker player

Macy Gray is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and actress who has a net worth of USD 20 million. The Grammy Award winner and ‘I Try’ singer, once won USD 28,000 playing Blackjack in one night and loves to play poker online, making the most of welcome offers at casinoregistrationbonus.com and in-person when she is in Vegas. Gray, 45, is passionate about gambling and often participates in poker tournaments as a side hustle.

Dave Rowntree (Blur) – Motivational speaker

Dave Rowntree, the drummer from Blur over the last three decades, is also a solicitor in criminal law since 2012, pilot and serves as a councillor for the Labour Party in Norfolk County Council. Whilst Blur is his main source of income, he also has an animation studio and in 2020 he started a side hustle as a motivational speaker His talks are about “pivoting careers”, “following dreams in challenging industries and working with a team in a high-pressure environment.” and he’s also taking horticultural theory exams for the sheer joy of it and may even present at the Chelsea Flower Show in the future.

Roger Daltrey (The Who) - Fishing

The lead singer of The Who, Roger Daltrey had a side hustle in both farming and fishing, with a trout farm on his East Sussex estate where he was hands-on with everything. Lakedown Trout Fishery is still in business, open to those usually more interested in fishing than the man famous for the scream on Won’t Get Fooled Again and other songs from the band.