Celebs who have influenced your life

IrishEyes

IrishEyes

New Member
I have always loved poetry and leaned towards songs that told a vivid story.
So when I heard Harry Chapin, I was hooked. He was such a humble man on his
ways to make the world a better place. His songs reflected people and situations
of life that touched so many around me. To me, he was the unsung hero.

Harry Forster Chapin (/ˈtʃeɪpɪn/; December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer-songwriter, philanthropist, and hunger activist best known for his folk rock and pop rock songs. He achieved worldwide success in the 1970s. Chapin, a Grammy Award-winning artist and Grammy Hall of Fame inductee, has sold over 16 million records worldwide.

Chapin recorded a total of 11 albums from 1972 until his death in 1981. All 14 singles that he released became hits on at least one national music chart. Chapin's best-known songs include "Taxi" and "Cat's in the Cradle."

As a dedicated humanitarian, Chapin fought to end world hunger. He was a key participant in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977.[1][2] In 1987, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his humanitarian work.[3]
This is a lesser known song but one that will be forever in my mind:

 

Pete Townshend. I seriously doubt I would have made it through my miserable teenage years without his songs, especially Quadrophenia. "Sea and Sand" is basically a description of my life growing up with alcoholic parents.

Until I heard his music, I seriously—naively—thought I was the only teenager in the world with low self-esteem. I've adored him for years.

 

RadishRose said:
I have admired some but none have influenced my life.
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I ran into one I wish Could Have influenced me further lol Cat Stevens. I was picking my hubby up at LAX (back when you could go to the plane lobby seating) and I saw a group of people walking towards me. In the middle up front was Cat. I froze, watching him and he saw me. He raised his finger to his lips like....,shhhhh and walked towards me. He took my hand kissed it and said "Thank You" (for not screaming his name I guess). That man was so beautiful up close like that.
 
How are you defining "celebrity" for this question? Just entertainers? Maybe sports figures because many watch sports for entertainment? But in our world for at least the last three quarters of a century people who were/are not entertainers by definition have been covered in press and treated by public in much the same way as singers/dancers/actors are.

Scientists, authors, activists, politicians, corporate executives and monarchs in countries that have them still even without the absolute authority they once had--all may spend time in fish bowl of being 'public figures'. Social media, particularly YouTube and TikTok have to some extent fulfilled Andy Warhol's prediction, or are at least making strides in giving "everyone" their 15 minutes of fame.

For that matter how are you defining "influenced"? Made a strong impression, inspired admiration, showed you what kind of person you did not want to be? Impacted your thoughts, feelings and/or actions?
 
I like Audrey Hepburn too because she was modest and elegant. I was a skinny brunette born into a decade ruled by buxom airhead blondes. It was a lousy feeling. But Audrey was an example to me of how a woman doesn't have to ooze sex every minute to find fulfillment in life.

No celebrity changed my life really, but Audrey's life improved mine and I am grateful to her for that. she was a treasure, a real "lady".

audrey pink.jpg
 
I wonder too how you define "influenced" since I definitely have a bunch of celebs I've looked up to and admired but not sure if, or how, they may have influenced me. They are all very different: Patti Smith and Barbra Streisand, a very odd pairing, for instance.
 
feywon said:
How are you defining "celebrity" for this question? Just entertainers? Maybe sports figures because many watch sports for entertainment? But in our world for at least the last three quarters of a century people who were/are not entertainers by definition have been covered in press and treated by public in much the same way as singers/dancers/actors are.

Scientists, authors, activists, politicians, corporate executives and monarchs in countries that have them still even without the absolute authority they once had--all may spend time in fish bowl of being 'public figures'. Social media, particularly YouTube and TikTok have to some extent fulfilled Andy Warhol's prediction, or are at least making strides in giving "everyone" their 15 minutes of fame.

For that matter how are you defining "influenced"? Made a strong impression, inspired admiration, showed you what kind of person you did not want to be? Impacted your thoughts, feelings and/or actions?
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Someone who is in the public eye or publicly known will do. Influenced can mean which ever way you choose, positive or negative. I really didn't have a set of rules for the answer. I went with positive myself because Chapin opened my mind and thoughts at a young age about things I wasn't thinking about back then, in that it made me look at things differently than I had at that time. I maybe would have opened up later to these things but sometimes a personality just speaks to you.
 
Angela Lansbury, in a fun way.

What would Jessica do? 🤔

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IrishEyes said:
I have always loved poetry and leaned towards songs that told a vivid story.
So when I heard Harry Chapin, I was hooked. He was such a humble man on his
ways to make the world a better place. His songs reflected people and situations
of life that touched so many around me. To me, he was the unsung hero.

Harry Forster Chapin (/ˈtʃeɪpɪn/; December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer-songwriter, philanthropist, and hunger activist best known for his folk rock and pop rock songs. He achieved worldwide success in the 1970s. Chapin, a Grammy Award-winning artist and Grammy Hall of Fame inductee, has sold over 16 million records worldwide.

Chapin recorded a total of 11 albums from 1972 until his death in 1981. All 14 singles that he released became hits on at least one national music chart. Chapin's best-known songs include "Taxi" and "Cat's in the Cradle."

As a dedicated humanitarian, Chapin fought to end world hunger. He was a key participant in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977.[1][2] In 1987, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his humanitarian work.[3]
This is a lesser known song but one that will be forever in my mind:

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This is one I have asked be played at my funeral. Loved Harry Chapin.
 
I'd say musicians had the most influence on my life. Certain songs pepped me up, calmed me down, made me think, made me feel better.

Speaking of Harry Chapin.....I once had the privilege of seeing four of my favorites, Chapin, Gordon Lightfoot, John Denver, and James Taylor perform in Detroit in, I think, 1977 or 1978, at Olympia Stadium, for the benefit of Chapin's World Hunger Year charity. Originally the tickets were quite expensive but at the last minute, they released tickets for the upper tiers at a very reasonable price, downright cheap.

No backup musicians except one other guy and themselves, on a revolving stage. It was magic. I was up in the nosebleed seats, but the magic reached all the way up there.

Oh, and I don't usually cry when celebrities die, but I will bawl my eyes out when Willie Nelson goes. It was a tradition with my late husband and I to play "On the Road Again" every time we took off for a trip. For good luck, it had to be playing on the tape player when we backed out of the driveway. There's nobody like Willie.
 
jujube said:
I'd say musicians had the most influence on my life. Certain songs pepped me up, calmed me down, made me think, made me feel better.

Speaking of Harry Chapin.....I once had the privilege of seeing four of my favorites, Chapin, Gordon Lightfoot, John Denver, and James Taylor perform in Detroit in, I think, 1977 or 1978, at Olympia Stadium, for the benefit of Chapin's World Hunger Year charity. Originally the tickets were quite expensive but at the last minute, they released tickets for the upper tiers at a very reasonable price, downright cheap.

No backup musicians except one other guy and themselves, on a revolving stage. It was magic. I was up in the nosebleed seats, but the magic reached all the way up there.

Oh, and I don't usually cry when celebrities die, but I will bawl my eyes out when Willie Nelson goes. It was a tradition with my late husband and I to play "On the Road Again" every time we took off for a trip. For good luck, it had to be playing on the tape player when we backed out of the driveway. There's nobody like Willie.
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All 4 in one show? I am envious! I saw Chapin in Long Beach, Cal. You could feel the love for that man all through the arena. Have you watched Lightfoot's documentary? Called "If You Could Read My Mind" He himself is in it, very interesting! He died shortly after filming it.
 
RedAlert76 said:
Admire is one thing-trying to become another person - never. Besides, most of those that are so admired from afar, are not whom they appear to be.
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Influence isn't always about 'admiration', which is different than just respect. And someone can 'influence' another thru bad behavior and the consequences thereof. When a public figure that someone had thought well of trashes their career, whatever it may be, and maybe their personal life as well it can send a more powerful message to young people than all the lectures of their parents, teachers & other adults.

i would also add that just as we should take a lot of the 'hype', good publicity with a grain of salt, because they are after all humans beings and most human beings have some flaws we should also take a lot of the 'negative' publicity with a grain of salt because as i mentioned elsewhere much of the public fuels the rumor mills by buying tabloids and watching shows and YT vids that do more speculation than interviews or providing 'evidence' of some wrong doing. In these days of click bait many 'sources' are more interested in getting views/reactions than in providing accurate info, so often use hyperbolic titles or thumbnails that are misleading. And social media fact checking is unreliable at best and non-existent on other platforms.
 
Jace said:
None...if you 'really checked them out'.. you'd find ...most...maybe almost all
AREN'T to be 'admired'!😉
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That could be said of many 'regular people' too. We're all humans (i think) but not everybody lives in a fishbowl with their every move and gesture being scrutinized and 'interpreted' to general public by people making money spreading rumors.

Most of us on social media have more 'control' over what others on the platforms know about us than most celebrities have over details of their lives being known.
 

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