Jack White, lead singer and guitarist of the White Stripes, recently announced that his original career plans did not lie in music.
He was originally accepted into one of Wisconsin's seminaries to become a priest. Instead of seminary, he decided to attend a public school, plugged in his new guitar amp and the rest is history.
Thankfully, he got his hands on a guitar, strummed a few notes, and his destiny was not in preaching, but in rocking.
Like Jack White, many other musicians start off in a different career before trying music-but they abandon these past jobs or aspirations when their musical talent is realized.
Indie duo Mates of State might have a unique sound, but their careers did not originally start in music. The married couple of Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel were involved in other things before establishing Mates of State.
Kori taught grade school, and Jason conducted cancer research. Luckily fate brought them together placing Kori behind her red Yamaha organ, Jason behind his drum-set and both singing vocals with interesting harmonies. It's a good thing they ditched their day jobs, since they are becoming a popular duo amongst an underground crowd.
Another one of the independent greats also started out with a career in the health field. Singer and guitarist John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats started his career as a psychiatric nurse in California. In the early '90s, Darnielle recorded his music to a cassette tape and changed from a nurse to a musician.
His past work remains influential in music, especially his latest record, We Shall Be Healed. The Mountain Goats are scheduled to release a new record April 26. While Darnielle no longer sees patients, listening to his music is healing, insightful and uplifting.
Samuel Beam, singer/guitarist of Iron and Wine, started out professor of screenwriting at the International Fine Arts College in Miami. His flawless songwriting skills coupled with his raw acoustic guitar displays his creative genius. While his music rocks, his lectures must have been equally as thrilling.
Some musicians started off with hopes of a different artistic endeavor. Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, did not start out as a singer, but originally pursued a film major at UCLA. There he met up with future band mate Ray Manzarek. While Manzarek appreciated Jim's unique approach to film, classmates and professors believed they were far too abstract and remained largely unappreciative.
Meeting Manzarek allowed Morrison to harness his creative energy in his music, writing and onstage antics. Without film school, these two would have never met.
Finally we come to one of music's most talented and experimental musicians-Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix enlisted in the Army at age 17. This decision does not seem as though Jimi's first love was music, nor does it seem characteristic of the Jimi Hendrix we equate with Woodstock and the Monterey Pop festival.
Hendrix served as a paratrooper for a little over one year, but was discharged after he hurt his ankle. Just think, if not for a bum ankle, he may have been fighting abroad in Vietnam rather than protesting the war at Woodstock.
Many people have inherent musical talent and walk right into a music career at a young age. This is the case of many of the greatest musicians that we know today. There are exceptions-many times, a career in music was accidental and people stumbled upon it after toiling about for years in other jobs.
Good thing some of these accidents and odd coincidences occurred, or else we would not experience some great sounds and bands here today.
