Artificial Intelligence (AI) has proven that artists can live on long after they’re gone. Holograms of artists have been steadily stepping out since the 2010s. In April 2012, the late Tupac Shakur appeared on stage with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg during their Coachella performance as an avatar.
In 2022, the late rapper The Notorious B.I.G. was resurrected for a virtual-reality concert 25 years after his death on Facebook in avatar form. That year, Swedish pop icons ABBA also commemorated their final album, and their first album in 40 years, with a run of shows in London, performed by their AI-generated selves.
Videos by American Songwriter
Throughout the past decade, avatars have served more purpose beyond entertainment with digitized forms also implemented for use in science, space, and education. The global digital avatar market reached $14.34 billion in 2022, according to Grand View Research, and is expected to grow 47.1 percent from 2023 to 2030.
Within music today, these digital doppelgangers are also becoming an undying breed with artists like Justin Bieber, DeadMau5, The Weeknd, and more testing their AI forms in the metaverse. Today, more iconic artists like KISS and Elvis Presley are also transitioning into the digital world.
Here’s a look at three artists who continue to live on, long after their death—or retirement from performing—in avatar form in 2024.
Elvis Presley
Nearly 50 years after his death, Elvis Presley is getting a second life, virtually, in Elvis Evolution. Premiering in London in November 2024, the immersive show will chronicle Presley’s life, from his upbringing in Mississippi, through his early career, his life at Graceland, and his iconic run in Las Vegas. Elvis Evolution will also feature a holographic Presley performing live, along with photographs, home videos, and other archival footage.
The show will start in London before extending to Berlin, Tokyo, and Las Vegas.
[RELATED: On This Day: Elvis Presley Took Over the Pop Charts with 10 of His Songs]
Presley is no stranger to a hologram form. He previously appeared as an avatar with Celine Dion for a performance of his 1968 song “If I Can Dream” on an episode of American Idol in 2007 and again in the 2017 sci-fi film Blade Runner 2049 alongside Ryan Gosling.
KISS
Though KISS ended their physical live performances after 50 years in December 2023, the band plans to live on as avatars. The band first premiered their new forms at the close of their final show in New York City with a video featuring all four members—Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer, and Eric Singer—in their new digitized form performing their 1991 cover of the 1973 Argent song “God Gave Rock and Roll to You.”
[RELATED: 2023 Interview with Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons – ‘Forever and Ever’]
In partnership with the Swedish entertainment company Pophouse Entertainment Group, which produced the digital concerts for ABBA in 2022, KISS will be digitally immortalized long after their stage retirement.
“We can be forever young and forever iconic by taking us to places we’ve never dreamed of before,” said Simmons of the band’s avatars. “The technology is going to make Paul jump higher than he’s ever done before.”
Michael Jackson
Between the acrobatics, vivid imagery, and dance in the Cirque du Soleil show, Michael Jackson ONE, in Las Vegas, Nevada, there’s a moment when the king of pop comes to life. A holograph of Michael Jackson appears towards the end of the production for a performance of his 1988 hit “Man in the Mirror.”
[RELATED: 7 Songs You Didn’t Know Michael Jackson Wrote for Other Artists]
Michael Jackson ONE, which premiered in 2013, is the second Jackson-themed production from Cirque du Soleil, following their previous Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour, which ran from 2011 through 2014.
Photo: KISS Avatar Rendering, Courtesy of Pophouse Entertainment Group
