3 Icons Who Sang Backup in the 1990s and 2000s Before Making It Big

You gotta start somewhere. That’s true for anyone trying to make a name for themself in the world or for anyone trying to get better at something like art or performance. Before you’re great, you have to be bad in the beginning. Indeed, you have to walk before you run.

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Below, we wanted to examine that very fact by looking at the careers of three famous artists who, before they made it big, were backup singers for other better-known performers. Indeed, these are three icons who sang backup in the 1990s and 2000s before they were stars.

John Legend

Before John Legend was crooning his way to billions of solo streams, appearances on The Voice, and myriad awards from the Oscars to the Grammys, he was a backup singer and hook writer for rapper and producer Kanye West. Legend, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, began singing on albums like College Dropout in 2004. And it was that exposure that helped propel Legend to release records like Get Lifted later that year.

Katy Perry

Before she was a globally known artist, Katy Perry released her debut album, a Christian LP called Katy Hudson. The record didn’t sell well, and Perry went through several rocky fits and starts in her career. As she was figuring out her path forward, she sang backup on songs like Mick Jagger’s 2004 offering, “Old Habits Die Hard”, and P.O.D.’s 2006 single “Goodbye For Now”. She even performed that tune with P.O.D. on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. Then in 2008, she became Katy Perry.

Mary J. Blige

After recording a cover of Anita Baker’s “Caught Up In The Rapture” at 17 years old, Mary J. Blige’s mother’s then-boyfriend played the song for an A&R rep for Uptown Records. That rep sent the song to Andre Harrell, who was the label’s CEO. A year later, in 1989, Blige signed with Uptown, becoming the youngest and first female artist for the outfit, and she sang backup vocals for artists like Father MC on his 1990 song, “I’ll Do 4 U”.

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