The Little-Known Successful Relatives of Music Superstars

Many sons, daughters and siblings follow their famous relatives into the music industry without ever reaching the same level of stardom.

It doesn’t mean they are not successful in their own way and sometimes they become even more famous.

Mick Jagger’s brother

How do you succeed in music when your older brother is the lead singer and frontman for one of the most famous bands in the world?

Chris Jagger started out by seeming to want to trade on his brother’s name; his first album was called You Know The Name But Not The Face. That didn’t really work out so he changed musical direction, tried other artistic areas and became quietly successful doing his own thing.

Chris Jagger is four years younger than Mick and has released twelve studio albums, these days in a blues/folk/country style. He’s also a successful journalist and has written for some of the UK’s most important newspapers, and for Rolling Stone magazine. He’s also is the owner of a guitar manufacturing company, an actor, designer, and concert organiser.

Chris Jagger may not be as well-known as his famous brother but that doesn’t mean he’s not a pretty good musician. It clearly runs in the family.

Ross McManus’s son

What would you do if your dad was Ross McManus, a successful singer, songwriter and recording artist who performed as the frontman for one of the UK’s most successful orchestras of the ‘50s?

What on Earth would you do if you looked exactly like your dad but wanted to make your own way in the music industry?

You would probably decide to go into indie rock and change your name from Declan McManus to Elvis Costello. Then you could become even more successful than your dad.

Ross McManus was also a successful TV jingle writer and wrote and sang on one of the UK’s most iconic TV ads of the ’70s which was so popular it ran for around twenty years.

Ravi Shankar’s daughter

Imagine your father is Ravi Shankar, the world-famous Indian composer, and sitar virtuoso. He’s associated with the Beatles’ George Harrison and influenced many rock bands of the time, such as the Rolling Stones and the Birds who introduced the sitar and Indian styles into their music.

If you were his daughter you’d probably go into a different musical field, say jazz/blues/pop fusion? You’d probably want to change your name too. Perhaps Geethali Shankar is too obviously playing on your father’s reputation.

She went with Norah Jones, which are actually her middle names. Jones became one of the most successful jazz/pop singers in the world today, arguably more famous than her dad.

Bob Dylan’s son

If the Beatles’ children would never be able to get out of their famous fathers’ shadows, then they knew exactly how Bob Dylan’s youngest son felt.

Should you change your name like Elvis Costello or Norah Jones did? Nope, Jakob Dylan had a cantankerous streak like his father; he did things his way.

Jakob preferred English bands, such as The Clash and The Jam, and rather than trade on the Dylan name, he formed the Wallflowers playing his own style of rock. The Wallflowers and Jakob Dylan achieved success in the USA but are virtually unknown in most other countries.

There’s a lot of similarity in the two Dylan voices, although Jakob’s is richer (IMHO). Dare I say I prefer Jakob’s music to his dad’s? It’s probably that English rock influence thing.

Paul McCartney’s brother

Your younger brother is a Beatle and one-half of the greatest songwriting duo the world has ever seen.

If Michael McCartney wanted to get into the music business he had more to live up to than most. Michael went down the route of changing his name to avoid appearing to be riding on his brother’s shirttails.

He became Mike McGear and formed a three-piece singing band called The Scaffold and, again to avoid comparisons with the Beatles, they did comedy, poetry, and music.

With The Scaffold, McGear had around 20 comedy hit singles in the UK in the ’60s and ’70s. McGear was also a professional photographer and when he retired from music in the ’80s, he reverted to his real surname for his photography work.

Here’s The Scaffold’s biggest hit, Lily The Pink. Mike McGear is the one on the left with the McCartney eyes.

Less famous siblings and children

There’s obviously something in the genes of some families, The Jacksons and Carpenters etc. Many children of successful artists also make it in the music industry — Willie Nelson and his sons Lukas and Jacob, all the Beatles’ children to some degree, Leonard Cohen and son Adam, Brian Wilson and daughters Wendy and Carrie, Max Weinberg and son Jay and so on.

These all followed in their famous parent’s footprints. Some though, do it their own way.

An earlier version of this article first appeared on medium.com.