Posted by: clariniano on: January 24, 2011
(note: I’m looking to expand this list, especially among the athletes and scientists)
Famous people who play musical instruments or sing
Actors:
Woody Allen, clarinet—in fact he’s an excellent player, has a number of videos of him playing clarinet on Youtube
Whoopi Goldberg—piano and voice (she does in the Sister Act movies)
Julia Roberts (clarinet)
Steve Urkel, Accordion
Dick Van Dyke (clarinet)
Jim Carrey (clarinet)
Holly Hunter—took several years of piano lessons
Hugh Laurie–piano and voice
Steve Martin, banjo
Stephen Spielberg, clarinet
Christina Aguilera (voice, though she did learn clarinet as well)
Harpo Marx (mostly harp and piano, though could play several instruments)
Charlie Chaplin (voice (and piano?))
Meryl Streep, violin (in Music of the Heart)
Political Leaders:
Bill Clinton, saxophone
Bill Gates, trombone
The children of Barack Obama—both their children are taking piano lessons, there was a feature about it a few years ago.
Benjamin Franklin, flute
Alan Greenspan, clarinet
Stephen Harper, current Canadian Prime Minister, piano
Ramon Hnatshyn, past Governor-General of Canada, bass clarinet
Condoleeza Rice, piano
The late Jack Layton, Canadian political leader, New Democratic Party (NDP), guitar
Professional Atheletes:
Jack Nichalson (pro golfer), piano
Bernie Williams, (baseball, New York Yankees), guitar; he also recorded an album
Eddie Basinski, (baseball;, Brooklyn Dodgers),violin–fiddle style
Denny McLain (baseball; Detroit Tigers), organ
Matt Lashoff (hockey), guitar; he also released an album
Zachary Yuan (NHL hockey player, (new) Winnipeg Jets), piano
Scientists:
Albert Einstein, violin
Other:
Winner of Miss USA Pagent–piano–she played it as part of the contest!
Ludwig Wittgenstein (philosopher)–piano
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, philosopher (flute?). There are known musical compositions by him.
Regis Philbin, talk show host, author, media personality–singer
