Booking Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop Biography

Legendary musician Iggy Pop was born James Newell Osterberg in 1947 in Michigan. As a young man, Osterberg played around the Ann Arbor area with local bands before moving to Chicago to study the blues in greater depth. In Chicago, he chose blues clubs for his outlet, and met up with Sam Lay, Ron Asheton, Dave Alexander, and Scott Asheton. Together they formed the Psychedelic Stooges and Osterberg began calling himself Iggy.

The Psychedelic Stooges debuted on 1967, to the shock of the audience as they watched Iggy scream and contort himself onstage, in addition to gouging his own skin and performing other odd activities, including rubbing peanut butter all over himself. Despite their unusual stage presence and antics, Elektra Records signed them in 1968. Iggy Pop and the Stooges (as their name was eventually reduced to) released three albums together before disbanding: The Stooges (1969), Fun House (1970), and Raw Power (1973.) The mid-1970’s were difficult for Iggy, who was plagued by drug addiction and legal entanglements, but David Bowie, determined to rescue the talented performer, took him with him on his tour of Europe in 1976.  Together, they launched Iggy Pop’s solo career, producing the albums The Idiot and Lust for Life, both released in 1977, and Iggy signed with Arista Records.

From there on out, an endless stream of albums came from Iggy Pop, including: New Values (1979), Soldier (1980), Party (1981), Zombie Birdhouse (1982), Blah Blah Blah (1986), Instinct (1988), American Caesar (1993), Naughty Little Doggie (1996), Beat ‘Em Up (2001), Skull Ring (2003), and Preliminaires (2009.) Over the decades, Iggy Pop morphed into not only an accomplished performer, but also a performer who reached a cult-like status. Iggy found himself immortalized in the film Velvet Goldmine, inspired by the Bowie-Pop relationship, and a tribute album, We Will Fall: The Iggy Pop Tribute, included such notable musicians as Joan Jett and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Iggy Pop continues to perform and record well into the new millennium and—although his antics have softened somewhat—his live performances still delight and entertain his fans. In 2015, he composed the theme song to the film Bill, the Galactic Hero, and in the following year, he released the album Post Pop Depression, bringing himself a second Grammy Award nomination, this time for Best Alternative Music Album. Iggy Pop was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2017, for the song “Gold,” which wrote and recorded for Stephen Gaghan’s film of the same name.