Random Childhood Homes Of Famous Musicians (16 items)

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  (#1) Johnny Cash

  • Dec. at 71 (1932-2003)

  Country music legend Johnny Cash grew up in a New Deal agrarian community in Dyess, AR, which was established in 1934. His family moved to the new town when Cash was just a small child.

  The Great Depression caused great financial difficulties for Cash’s family, and he spent his early years working in the cotton fields on the family farm. His experience with growing up in poverty in the Deep South is a consistent theme in his music. His 1959 song “Five Feet High And Rising” describes a traumatic childhood experience in Dyess, where a terrible flood forced his family to leave their home.

  Cash's family home, Farm No. 266, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.
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  (#2) Freddie Mercury

  • Dec. at 45 (1946-1991)

  Freddie Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara, spent many of his childhood years in Zanzibar . However, the validity of the house claiming to be the "Freddie Mercury's Zanzibar Home" is unconfirmed, even by its current owners.

  When Mercury was a teenager, his family emigrated to Feltham, a suburb west of London. Even as a teenager, Mercury was flamboyant and expressive. He regaled the neighborhood with his loud guitar practice, immaculately designed outfits, and what would soon become his inimitable vocal abilities. Mercury met his future Queen bandmates while living in this home.

  The people of Feltham still remember young Freddie Mercury with great fondness. Though the Bulsara family no longer resides in the home, it was awarded an English Heritage blue plaque in 2016.
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  (#3) Kurt Cobain

  • Dec. at 27 (1967-1994)

  After a confident introduction to the real estate market in 2013, Kurt Cobain’s childhood home in Aberdeen, WA, stood vacant for five years, much to the confusion and chagrin of the upscale Beverly Hills firm trying to sell it. Despite the frequent price drops and abundance of relics from Cobain’s youth, no one was buying. People began to wonder if the house was haunted.

  Though it serves as a priceless museum of Cobain’s life, the dingy old cottage still carries the tremendous weight of his memory. Cobain lived a normal, well-adjusted childhood until his parents divorced when he was 9 years old. He became an angry, troubled teenager who lived a transient lifestyle accompanied by substance use and petty crime.

  Cobain left the house in 1987, but his family diligently left his contributions to the space intact, such as the graffiti from his childhood bedroom. After a $300,000 price drop, the home was finally purchased in 2018.
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  (#4) Elvis Presley

  • Dec. at 42 (1935-1977)

  In 1934, Vernon Presley took out a $180 loan to build a small house in Tupelo, MS. Less than a year later, Elvis was born. Soon after the birth of their son, the Presley family fell upon hard times, and their home was repossessed a few years later when it became obvious that they would not be able to repay the loan.

  Fortunately, the greater Presley family was close, and the family continued to live alongside their relatives in Tupelo until Elvis was a young teenager. Many Presleys moved to Memphis in search of a better financial situation, where Elvis began to develop his career in music.

  Today, the original house in Tupelo operates as the Elvis Presley Birthplace landmark. It is available for tours alongside the Elvis Presley Museum and the Assembly of God church where he gave several of his first performances.
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  (#5) Kendrick Lamar

  • 31

  Kendrick Lamar’s music is deeply rooted in his hometown of Compton, CA. When he accepted the key to the city in 2016, Lamar said, “Everything that I do is a reflection of how I felt when I was younger.”

  In search of stability and a fresh start, Lamar's parents moved to California from Chicago in 1984. Three years later, Kendrick was born. His emotional connection to Compton is reportedly bittersweet. He has fond memories of riding bikes, house parties, and many close friendships that he still maintains despite his fame. However, he witnessed multiple slayings throughout his childhood, and the LA Riots were some of his first conscious memories.

  The ranch-style three-bedroom home was available for rent in 2016, utilizing its cultural history as a major selling point. Lamar and his family still live in the Los Angeles area.
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  (#6) Paul McCartney

  • 76

  Paul McCartney lived in this home throughout his teenage and young adult years, and this house is often regarded as the birthplace of The Beatles.

  Following the passing of his mother when he was 14 years old, McCartney developed a friendship with future bandmate John Lennon, who also lost his mother at a young age. McCartney taught himself the Spanish guitar, trumpet, and piano while living here, and some early Beatles tracks such as "When I'm Sixty-Four" were written and composed there.

  The house is owned by the National Trust, and has retained or restored its original interiors from McCartney's youth. It is available for tour, alongside John Lennon's childhood home at Mendips.
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  (#7) John Lennon

  • Dec. at 40 (1940-1980)

  Called “Mendips,” the home that John Lennon grew up in was owned by his aunt, Mimi Smith. After a tumultuous falling out between his absentee father and remarried mother, Lennon went to live with his aunt, who he regarded as a mother.

  Lennon was a precocious troublemaker with a penchant for grotesque drawings and pranks. He was eventually able to harness this energy into music, as he began playing in various bands throughout high school. When he was 16, he struck up a friendship with a young Paul McCartney, which resulted in their long and lucrative songwriting career as The Beatles.

  Mendips was added to the National Trust after Yoko Ono purchased the property in 2002. It is available for tour, alongside Paul McCartney's childhood home.
• 

  (#8) The Notorious B.I.G.

  • Dec. at 25 (1972-1997)

  Christopher Wallace, the arbiter of the original East coast hip-hop style, grew up in Brooklyn, NY. His alleged "one-room shack" was actually more of a three-bedroom apartment, though the neighborhood is hardly recognizable from the Clinton Hill of Biggie's youth.

  Wallace's mother, Voletta, worked two jobs to send him to private school. Though he showed promise in his English class, he often skipped school and began selling drugs at the age of 12, leading to legal troubles that followed him throughout his life.

  In 2013, Wallace's childhood home hit the competitive New York market. Valued at hundreds of thousands more than its worth during his life, it sold for $825,000.
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  (#9) Ray Charles

  • Dec. at 74 (1930-2004)

  Ray Charles Robinson was born in Albany, GA. His family moved to Greenville when he was a young infant, and he lived in this house until he began attending the School for Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, FL, at the age of 7. At the school, he learned to read and play music, and to write and arrange it in Braille. His mother passed when he was 15.

  The house was small and rustic, with no electricity or plumbing. The Robinson family would pump well water by hand, and they used a wood-burning stove. The house decayed over the years, and was slated for demolition in 2006 - until Elesta Pritchett, the mayor of Greenville and Charles’ childhood friend, campaigned to buy and repair the historic landmark.

  The house was restored and became open to the public in 2009. In front of the house, there is a commemorative plaque celebrating Ray Charles’ memory. Pritchett provides personal tours by appointment.
• 

  (#10) Beyoncé Knowles

  • 37

  Before she was one of the most influential female artists of all time, Beyoncé lived in a French Traditional home in Houston, TX. The Knowles family resided in this home until Beyoncé was 5 years old.

  Beyoncé grew up with her parents, Tina and Mathew Knowles, alongside her younger sister, Solange. Her parents were both actively involved with her musical projects as she rose to fame - her mother designed costumes for Destiny’s Child, and her father was their manager.

  Knowles’ talents were apparent very early in her life, as she began performing by the time she was in elementary school. When she was 7 years old, she won a local talent competition with her rendition of John Lennon's "Imagine," beating competitors who were in their mid-teens.

  The house drew great public interest when it was listed for sale. While the listing mostly describes the amenities and location, it begins with a single exclamation: "BEYONCÉ!"
• 

  (#11) Janis Joplin

  • Dec. at 27 (1943-1970)

  Janis Joplin did not have a great relationship with her hometown of Port Arthur, TX. As a child, she was bullied for her appearance and ostracized for her love of blues music, an anomaly in the wealthy white town. Weeks before her overdose, Joplin returned to Port Arthur to attend her high school reunion enshrouded in feathers and accompanied by media, “just to jam it up their a**es.”

  While it took Port Arthur many years to publicly recognize Joplin for her cultural contributions, her childhood home was recognized as a historic landmark in 2008. Several relics from her early life are preserved there, and her name is written in the cement in front of the home. 
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  (#12) Bruce Springsteen

  • 69

  Bruce Springsteen’s artistry is the embodiment of the spirit of working-class New Jersey, and his willingness to remain true to his roots is the major appeal of his music. While he asserts he would "never live in Freehold again," he acknowledges how important the town was to his musical career.

  Springsteen spent his earliest years raised by his grandmother, Nana McNicholas. After the traumatic death of her own young daughter, her indulgence of young Springsteen lacked physical and emotional boundaries. After his grandmother passed, he went to live with his parents where he maintained a poor relationship with his father.

  His early interest in guitar and songwriting was a way to cope with his traumatic home life. Springsteen's steadfast dedication to becoming a "rock god" paid off, affording him the opportunity to process his feelings about Freehold and his father to great adoration from a global audience.

  Springsteen's childhood home on Institute Street sold for $255,000 in 2018.
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  (#13) Taylor Swift

  • 29

  Taylor Swift grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Wyomissing, PA. She began to make music at a young age, performing in local talent competitions and even singing the Star-Spangled Banner at a Philadelphia 76ers game when she was 11 years old.

  Her family had a musical background - her grandmother was a professional opera singer. In the hopes of Taylor establishing a country music career, the Swift family moved from Pennsylvania to Nashville, TN, when she was a teenager.

  The Pennsylvania home was last sold in 2013, and Century 21 Gold Agent Lisa Tiger’s pitch was careful to make sure potential buyers knew the home’s musical history:

  A Grand 3 story Classical revival home has been painstakingly restored and was home to Taylor Swift, who lived here for 10 yrs before moving to Nashville to become a star!…The formal DR leads to a bright Study with FP (Taylor played her guitar here)…
• 

  (#14) David Bowie

  • 72

  While David Bowie's many personas seemed as though they were not of this world, young David Robert Jones grew up in a modest, down-to-earth flat in Brixton, England.

  He was interested in music at a young age. Inspired by major personalities such as Elvis Presley and Little Richard, Bowie learned how to play the ukulele, tea-chest bass, piano, and saxophone by the time he was in high school.

  The home on Stansfield Road has received little attention for its historic value. Some dedicated Bowie fans have visited the neighborhood throughout the years, but the house has never received any formal commemoration.
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  (#15) Bono

  • 58

  Bono, born Paul David Hewson, is a Dublin native. While Bono’s home has been a popular tourist destination for U2 fans over the course of his career, it became the source of international intrigue when “Cedarwood Road” from Songs of Innocence was forcibly planted on every iPhone in 2014.

  Bono describes the home as a regular three-bedroom house in an "lower middle class" neighborhood. His mother passed when he was young, so Bono grew up with his father and brother in a "macho" environment.

  Bono's long standing issues with his father and the neighborhood were major sources of inspiration for his music, as reflected in the lyrics of “Cedarwood Road”:

  It was a war zone in my teens

  I’m still standing on that street

  Still need an enemy

  The worst ones I can’t see

  You can, you can

  The neighbors were confused by the “war zone” designation. Local native Vera Murphy says, “We’re at the entrance to the estate and we see a lot, but I never saw a war zone, hand on heart.”
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  (#16) Mick Jagger

  • 75

  Mick Jagger grew up in Dartford, England, a suburb of London. Jagger was the oldest of two boys, and grew up in a comfortable middle class family. A talented student, Jagger was well liked and popular in school. He developed an interest in music at a young age, and was gifted his first guitar when he was 14 years old.

   

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