These musicians have no one to blame but themselves. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at musicians whose personal reputations, if not careers, were completely unraveled by scandal.
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00:00 "Bro, ay bro, ay ay bro, I ain't finish, I ain't finish my sentence."
00:05 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at musicians whose personal reputation,
00:10 if not career, were completely unraveled by scandal.
00:14 "I need somebody to help me not have a big heart, because my heart is so big.
00:20 People betray me and I keep forgiving them."
00:23 "You sound like you're playing the victim here."
00:27 10. Jerry Lee Lewis
00:30 Jerry Lee Lewis always caused commotion as an early rock and roll rebel.
00:35 Incidentally, the wild child went too far by settling down with Myra Gale Brown in 1957.
00:41 "After four triumphant concerts, Lewis inadvertently referred to Myra's age at a press conference.
00:47 All hell broke loose."
00:48 The 22-year-old Lewis publicly lied about his third wife's real age, who was a teenager.
00:55 She was also his first cousin, once removed.
00:58 Just like that, Lewis publicly went from bad boy to total creep.
01:02 The subsequent concert cancellations and boycotts devastated his popular appeal.
01:07 "I had no airplay on the radio, I couldn't see anything I did wrong."
01:11 "And Jerry's records were pulled from the stations.
01:15 He was blacklisted, he could not do a TV show.
01:19 He was, he was bad news, no one would touch him."
01:23 He remained an active musician for the rest of his life, whose influential work is still
01:28 celebrated.
01:28 The man himself would never recover from his union with Brown, or its disillusion on the
01:33 grounds of infidelity and abuse.
01:36 This wasn't Lewis' last scandalous marriage.
01:39 "Jerry Lee Lewis' talent was never in doubt, but his personal life will forever
01:45 raise questions about his legacy."
01:48 9. Ryan Adams
01:51 Prolific singer-songwriter Ryan Adams has enjoyed great acclaim and clout in the music
01:56 industry.
01:56 Many fellow musicians counted on him in their own careers.
02:00 In 2019, seven women told the New York Times that this came with strings attached.
02:06 They claimed that Adams used promises of professional support to sexually and romantically
02:11 coerce them.
02:12 If they resisted, he would use social media to sully their public image.
02:16 Adams initially denied these allegations, but later took full responsibility for his
02:21 history of abuse.
02:22 Many didn't buy his formulaic apology and promise of growth.
02:26 "I find it curious that someone would make a public apology but not do it privately.
02:32 I am speaking for myself, but I have not heard from him, and I'm not looking for an
02:38 apology necessarily, but I do find it curious that someone would sort of do an interview
02:42 about it without actually making amends privately."
02:45 Some say the material he's produced since has suffered from a tone-deaf tone of self-pity.
02:50 "I don't remember, were we wild and young?
02:55 Oh, that's faded into memory."
02:58 Whether Ryan is truly remorseful, that music industry clout has dried up.
03:03 "You had a lot of A-list friends that stayed quiet when all this happened.
03:07 Did this sort of teach you who your real friends are?"
03:10 "Oh man, I got friends, I got the whole alphabet.
03:13 Sound good."
03:14 8.
03:15 Ike Turner In the early days of rock and roll,
03:18 Ike Turner was a visionary.
03:20 "He took the blues and created his own Ike Turner sound."
03:25 He really got his big break by helping his wife Tina get hers.
03:28 The couple revolutionized pop music but no longer share the same esteem.
03:32 After filing for divorce in 1976, Tina revealed that her marriage was plagued with physical
03:38 and psychological abuse.
03:40 Ike's public image, as well as his finances, were further tarnished by substance use and
03:45 legal issues.
03:46 All of this was cemented in pop culture by the biopic, What's Love Got To Do With It?
03:51 The Turners both stated that the film embellished their dysfunctional relationship.
03:59 Still, while Tina is immortalized as the queen of rock and roll, the Queenmaker's legacy
04:04 is overshadowed by cruelty.
04:06 "After the movie came out, people were like, 'Sorry, we're not going to help you.'"
04:11 7.
04:12 Tekashi 6ix9ine Daniel Hernandez stands out from a generation
04:16 of rappers who made their stage name on SoundCloud.
04:20 Unfortunately, it's not so much because of Tekashi 6ix9ine's work with big names
04:25 in the industry.
04:26 In 2015, he pled guilty to criminally sexualizing a minor in a music video.
04:31 Over the next two years, he would be implicated in or admit to a number of violent offenses.
04:36 Despite asking for time served, the judge cited a list of crimes linking Hernandez which
04:42 he said wreaked havoc across the city.
04:44 He also softened racketeering and firearm convictions in 2018 by ratting on gang associates.
04:50 After many assumed he would be free this week, Brooklyn rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine has been sentenced
04:54 to 24 months in prison and a subsequent five years of supervised release.
04:58 Hernandez left prison two years later but was labeled a snitch in his community and
05:03 an overall scumbag in the mainstream.
05:05 He dug himself even deeper with several high-profile feuds.
05:09 Otherwise, 6ix9ine's music is as low-profile as ever.
05:24 6.
05:26 CeeLo Green In both hip-hop groups and Solo Soul, CeeLo
05:30 Green was a titan of his industry.
05:32 His reputation first started to bend in the early 2010s over hostile responses to critics
05:43 online.
05:44 It broke after he was accused of sexual battery and charged with assaulting an intoxicated
05:49 woman.
05:49 Green maintained his innocence by posting that victims remember the experience.
05:54 He made so many disturbingly ignorant comments that his account was temporarily shut down.
06:07 A lackluster apology was insufficient to save one of music's most prolific stars.
06:12 The scandal cost him gigs and nearly destroyed his career on the screen.
06:16 Record sales have also suffered.
06:19 CeeLo manages to stay busy but now largely outside of public view.
06:23 Fans were devastated when the Welsh rocker's Lost Profits broke up in 2013.
06:35 The reason why was the most devastating part.
06:38 The previous year, lead singer Ian Watkins was arrested for possession of drugs and highly
06:43 obscene materials.
06:45 He eventually pleaded guilty to 10 counts of sexual activity with minors.
06:56 Watkins' abuses had been reported to police as early as 2008.
07:12 The horrific scandal has even besmirched his bandmates' legacies.
07:16 Lost Profits' music and merchandise have been basically blacklisted from the public.
07:21 Thankfully, most of its members have found success with the band No Devotion and other
07:26 beloved projects.
07:27 Watkins, meanwhile, is serving 29 years in prison for his heinous crimes.
07:40 Industrial metal pioneer Brian Warner made a career out of shocking the public as Marilyn
07:45 Manson.
07:46 His subversive brand would gradually be hidden from the mainstream over several high-profile
07:51 murders committed by fans.
07:52 He was a key subject and proponent of discourse following the Columbine High School Massacre.
08:04 "I definitely can see why they would pick me because I think it's easy to throw my face
08:10 on a TV because I'm, in the end, sort of a poster boy for fear because I represent what
08:18 everyone's afraid of because I do and say what I want."
08:21 In 2021, Manson finally lost his niche group of supporters.
08:26 Multiple people, including ex-fiancé Evan Rachel Wood, alleged years of abuse and sexual
08:32 assault.
08:32 "It's a cycle and it bleeds into so many problems in our country and our society that we are
08:38 not even aware of."
08:39 Manson has not released new material or toured since.
08:42 He's been embroiled in legal battles with his accusers, which have raised concerning
08:47 testimony against all parties.
08:49 But with disturbing evidence suggesting that Manson's horror isn't just for show, few are
08:54 still willing to defend him.
08:56 Number 3.
08:57 Gary Glitter
08:58 "I deeply regret doing what I was sent to prison for."
09:05 Paul Gadd helped broaden Glamrock's pop appeal with the flamboyant anthems and live performances
09:11 of Gary Glitter.
09:12 He'd still be an icon of the genre if it weren't for his shocking criminal history.
09:17 In 1999, Gadd was convicted of possessing obscene content and registered as a sex offender.
09:23 His career died on the spot.
09:25 Glitter served two months in prison, and upon his release, he claimed he was repentant.
09:30 After prison, Gadd tried starting anew outside of England, only to be deported and banned
09:36 from several countries for continuing to fraternise.
09:39 A conviction in Vietnam resulted in deportation to his homeland, where he was convicted of
09:44 multiple sex crimes in 2015.
09:46 Judge Alastair McQueith told Glitter, "I've read the impact statements of all three victims.
09:52 It is clear in their different ways they were all profoundly affected."
09:56 The Gary Glitter brand has now faded into obscurity, and all that's left is a criminal
10:01 rejected by the whole world.
10:03 Number 2.
10:04 Kanye West
10:06 Even more astonishing than Kanye West's renown was his downfall.
10:10 He first lost mainstream credibility with baffling statements throughout the 2000s.
10:15 This included poorly phrasing racial concerns after Hurricane Katrina, and hijacking an
10:20 award acceptance speech by Taylor Swift.
10:39 West then polarised the black community by downplaying racism and aligning with right-wing
10:43 politics through the 2010s.
10:46 This culminated in a representation of white supremacist culture in the 2020s, especially
10:51 anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
10:54 That dealt a destructive blow to West's music career, business brand, and social media
10:59 presence.
11:00 Still, he always finds a platform for his outrageous views.
11:12 Many link the rapper's antics to mental illness or mere attention-seeking.
11:17 But as West continues to dig himself into scandal, he can't even count on public pity.
11:41 Number 1.
11:44 R. Kelly
11:46 The one-time king of R&B has gone from one of music's biggest stars to one of its worst
11:58 pariahs.
11:59 R. Kelly's glamorous image first cracked in 1994 when the 27-year-old briefly married
12:05 underage singer, Aaliyah.
12:07 His indiscretions were further suggested throughout the 2000s by allegations and a hard-won legal
12:12 battle.
12:21 The public was completely divided until the subsequent decades ended their debate.
12:26 Accusations of sex cults and horrendous abuse led to widespread boycotts before the hit
12:31 docuseries, Surviving R. Kelly, healed public sympathy.
12:51 This inspired a series of trials, leading to convictions on racketeering, trafficking,
12:56 and other crimes.
12:58 Kelly began his 31-year prison sentence in 2023.
13:02 Though there's no salvaging the musician's once-celebrated art, his victims have finally
13:07 received justice.
13:08 Which scandal changed your tune about an artist?
13:11 Open up in the comments!
13:39 (upbeat music)