3 Pop Stars Who Quit the Industry at the Height of Their Fame

These three pop stars quit the music business at the height of their fame. And their reasons for doing so make a lot of sense. Let’s take a look!

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Kim Wilde

Remember “Kids In America”? Of course you do! That jam was the song of the early 1980s. English pop star Kim Wilde gained mainstream popularity with that song, and she continued to enjoy an excellent career through the 1980s and mid-1990s. However, something interesting happened in 1995. 

After releasing the album Now & Forever that year, Wilde disappeared for more than a decade. That album didn’t do particularly well on the charts, but she had released a Top 40 record in the UK just a couple of years earlier. She was still at the height of her fame, and every pop star has a booger of an album or two. Wilde wouldn’t release another album for 11 years. In reality, Wilde married in 1996 and was focused on having children, her stage career, and a professional gardening career.

Kate Bush

This art pop legend is still deeply loved today. However, her need for privacy was a priority, and we all know privacy and fame don’t exactly mix well. From her debut in 1978 to the 2011 record 50 Words For Snow, Bush only performed on one single tour. In 2014, she performed a handful of shows in London, and in 2022, broke her silence to express how much she appreciated the resurgence of her 1985 song “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” a la Stranger Things. 

A comeback could have been in order. Instead, Bush has opted to continue to stay out of the public eye. 50 Words For Snow was a No. 5 hit in the UK, and yet, Bush has apparently retired from music since its release.

Lauryn Hill

Few people who got to experience The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill in 1998 got to the end of the album unchanged. This neo soul pop record is legendary. It’s also Hill’s only solo release, despite being a No. 1 hit on the Billboard 200.

Hill makes it to our list of pop stars who quit at the height of fame because, in the early 2000s, she mostly retreated from the music industry. She started working on screenplays in the film world, but ended up dropping out after becoming pregnant. She turned down roles in a number of films. By the end of 2000, she had completely disappeared from the public eye, citing pressures of fame becoming too much. She would later return to the music world, but has yet to release a sophomore album.

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