Artist, Entertainer, or Musician?

[Willie G. Moseley]

I have a personal credo that all entertainment is optional, including music. The fact that so many types/genre of musical entertainment are around, though, means that sometimes there can be differences between someone who's an "artist", a "musician" or an "entertainer." That third term has more of a "visual" connotation ("showman") than the first two, however, IMO, butt a lot of music can be entertaining, of course.

The thing is, over the decades I've listened (and watched) guitarists and bassists who were definitive examples of each of those terms as well as combinations of the terms. Selected personal opinion examples include:

ARTIST/MUSICIAN/ENTERTAINER: B.B. King, Bob Brozman, Tommy Emmanuel

MUSICIAN/ENTERTAINER: Ted Nugent, Billy F Gibbons

ARTIST/MUSICIAN: Robert Fripp, Eric Johnson, Steve Howe, Mark Knopfler, Michael Manring

(and it's hard to figure how someone could be an artist and entertainer combined)

ENTERTAINER: Kiss (always been more about what it looks like rather than what it sounds like)

MUSICIAN: Lemmy (does what he does in his selected genre very well)

ARTIST: Laurie Anderson (musically, I don't get it)

Songwriting figures into the mix as well, I suppose---RE: Knopfler---and the 2000 Knopfler concert the Missus and I attended was great fun, but there were times when Knopfler went almost catatonic ("I thought he was going to start drooling", my wife said) before pulling off an amazing riff...so MK might also creep into the "entertainer (visual)" facet as well.

Other nominees in any categories?

[killerteddybear]

Turn the idea around- is all music meant to be entertainment?

[Michael_]

Ideally you should be an artist in the studio, a musician when you practice, an a entertainer on stage. maybe, thats what id go for.

[tomteriffic]

Ideally you should be an artist in the studio, a musician when you practice, an a entertainer on stage. maybe, thats what id go for.

OH, you mean like Buddy Guy!!

Actually those were lines of Ibanez guitars and basses in the 70's and 80's...

[atquinn]

Steve Vai:

1. He can play really fast, so he must be a MUSICIAN

2. Lots of people don't like his music so he must be an ARTIST

3. He plays his guitar with his teeth live and has a fan to blow his hair back so clearly he is an ENTERTAINEER

By these same standards, I can only claim to be an ARTIST (however, the fan I ordered is coming in any day now, so I should be able to upgrade to ARTIST/ENTERTAINER status soon).

-Austin

[Jeff R]

and has a fan to blow his hair back

Coffee up the nose. LOL

[edgar_allan_poe]

MUSICIAN/ENTERTAINER: Ted Nugent, Billy F Gibbons

Couldn't *disagree* more.... Anytime a person creates an original piece, it is a work of art. Hence...these guys are artists.

[JohnnyB]

Whe was in his prime Eddie Van Halen had it all. As a musician he could comp with the best of them. His innovative solo work was artistry, and his ability to connect with the audience and draw a crowd of 20,000 into what he was doing demonstrated his ability as an entertainer.

Some performers are such good entertainers it obscures what good musicians and artists they are or were. Cab Calloway was an extremely animated entertainer, creating a lot of energy on stage, but he was a great bandleader and had a great eye and ear for spotting talent and showcasing it. For example, he discovered tenor sax great Ben Webster.

You can't discount that being a good entertainer is an art in itself. It's the ability to draw the audience into what you're doing artistically and engage them fully in that.

[md2020]

Hi Willie G. - I divy it up in a similar way, with just a slight difference:

In a perfect world, a performer would be able to (in no particular order):

- Sing

- Write

- Play

- Look good

- Have "star" quality.

So I understand what you're saying -- when asked which performers are considered to be primarily Writers, one would think of people like Tom Petty and Don Henley instead of the Nuge and Billy G. The flipside of that of course is that neither Petty nor Henley is known for having a command of an instrument, nor are they known for the kind of exertion on stage as is Ted.

About the only performer I can think of who has it all is Prince. I'd like to add Peter Frampton and Paul McCartney to that list, but Frampton (to his credit) was maybe a little too modest to have oodles of star quality, and McCartney (right or wrong) isn't considered a Player.

[tobereeno]

yeah, if you were to come up with a name for the absolutely well rounded player/entertainer, that'd have to be Prince. Writes good songs, looks/acts like a star, plays everything, and plays it well.

[BCR Greg]

musician....Mozart.

Artist.........Escher

Entertainer.....Jenna Jameson

Yup.

[JohnnyB]

Prince... Writes good songs, looks/acts like a star, plays everything, and plays it well.

Well enough that the January 2000 issues of Guitar Player, Bass Player, and Keyboard Player all had Prince on the cover, playing those respective instruments.

Of course, there was also that "Party like it's 1999" tie-in.

And he's also been pretty influential as a talent developer -- Morris Day, Apollonia, Vanity, Carmen Electra, and no doubt others.

Also wrote Manic Monday sung by the Bangles and Nothing Compares 2 U sung by Sinead O'Connor.

[HamerHokie]

We can name a bunch of guitarists who were 'artists and musicians' but never got the 'entertainer' thing down.

Roy Buchanan

Danny Gatton

Jeff Beck (!)

Jimmy Page (without Robert Plant, he's lost onstage)

All these guys need(ed) a great frontman. Some never had one and ended up taking their own lives in frustration over their careers.

[JohnnyB]

We can name a bunch of guitarists who were 'artists and musicians' but never got the 'entertainer' thing down.

Roy Buchanan

Danny Gatton

Jeff Beck (!)

Jimmy Page (without Robert Plant, he's lost onstage)

All these guys need(ed) a great frontman.  Some never had one and ended up taking their own lives in frustration over their careers.

Well put. Unlike his fellow Yardbirds, Eric Clapton reinvented himself as an entertainer, with a big dose of guidance from Delaney, who convinced him he should sing. Delaney produced his first, self-titled solo album in 1970. Once Eric had that album and some supporting concerts under his belt, he was well on his way.

There's a similar thing with actors who don't want to become stars or celebrities, such as Harrison Ford.