People of note, but not in the US?

May 8, 2009 2:57 AM

Looking for people famous in their home countries or even worldwide that the average American would have never heard of. Example: Johnny Hallyday

I was doing some reading about Johnny Hallyday, the "French Elvis", and got to wondering about other famous celebrities that are massively popular (Hallyday has sold 100 million records) that never transitioned at all to the US.

Examples don't have to be as obvious or as famous as Johnny Hallyday, just looking to learn a little more about pop culture outside of the US. Looking mostly for actors/actresses and singers/bands, but would also be interested in sports stars or other people of note if they fit.

posted by imabanana to society & culture (50 comments total)

Utada Hikaru.
posted by ryanbryan at 3:09 AM on May 8

Sir Donald Bradman is highly revered in Australia (and, I believe, India). His test cricket batting average is "statistically the greatest achievement in any major sport".

Asha Bhosle, who's made more recordings than any other singer in the world, is outrageously well-known in India.
posted by bunglin jones at 3:10 AM on May 8

A R Rahman has been an absolute legend in the subcontinent since 1992 but arguably didn't come into the American public eye until Slumdog.
posted by Ziggy500 at 3:10 AM on May 8

Um, just about all of them, I would think.

In the same way most USian soap stars and minor music acts are a mystery to me after 10 years of not living in America (about 80% of Perez Hilton's output is unintelligible, and that's not just a comment on his writing style), all but the very top international stars will be unknown in the US. I mean, I could make you a list of "famous" British people you won't have heard of, Kerry Katone and her ilk, and it would be hundreds of names long at least. This will be the same for everywhere.

A better option might be to buy foreign magazines (for UK, Heat would be a good place to start) and just have a flip through. Or check out the culture sections on non-US newspaper sites.
posted by methylsalicylate at 3:17 AM on May 8 [1 favorite]

(Kerry Katona, that is. Clearly I need to renew my Heat subscription.)
posted by methylsalicylate at 3:18 AM on May 8

True methylsalicylate, but I'm not looking for the garden variety actor or one hit wonder, someone like Hallyday has done a massive amount of business without making a dent over here. Most of the people Perez Hilton writes about haven't done anything nearly as noteworthy as selling 100 million records (putting it mildly).

So if there has to be qualifier of massive non-US success necessary to avoid naming everyone who is famous elsewhere that's fine! It's a subjective thing.
posted by imabanana at 3:27 AM on May 8

I would suggest to check the global list of the artists that sell hundreds of millions of records, and then ask yourself if you've heard of them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_music_artists

With this method, I'd guess the following artists, who sold 200 million to 499 million records each, should all be on your list:

A. R. Rahman India 1992–present
Alla Pugacheva Russia 1965–present
Nana Mouskouri Greece 1958–2008
Tino Rossi France 1929–1982
Wei Wei China 1986–present

But the list of the 200 million to 499 million records is much bigger.
posted by dov at 3:30 AM on May 8

Mohammed Rafi was a massively popular Bollywood singer.

Alemayehu Eshete, the "Ethiopian Elvis."

Fela Kuti, influential Nigerian musician.

Roberto Carlos has sold over 100 million albums worldwide.

Natacha Atlas, Euro-Arabic pop singer.

George Formby, famous English singer/comedian.
posted by applemeat at 3:36 AM on May 8

Anyone in Bollywood. Known and loved by millions of people, not just in India, relatively unrecognised in the west. I've met Uzbeks, Bhutanese and people from various parts of Africa crushing on Shahrukh Khan, listening to Lata Mangeshkar or wishing they were Amitabh Bachhan. I would argue that in South Asia at least, Lata is twice the superstar her sister Asha Bhonsle is.

Cricketers like Bradman, Brian Lara, Imran Khan are household names not just in India and Australia, but the Caribbean, Pakistan, South Africa, etc. Similarly, anyone who plays football (not the American type).

More specifically, in Pakistan, some superstars include Junoon (pioneered sufi rock), Abida Parveen (traditional music), Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (qawwali music, but has crossed over somewhat thanks to Peter Gabriel), Nur Jahan, Maula Jat (movie character).

On preview: I think number of records is not a good way of judging appeal. I am sure AR Rahman's 200 million odd doesn't include listeners in Pakistan, where Indian - and indeed most other - music is largely pirated. I think this is also true in places with a tradition of music embedded in movies.

There was also the famous Egyptian singer who was beloved all through the Arabic speaking world, but I can't remember her name for the life of me.
posted by tavegyl at 3:37 AM on May 8 [1 favorite]

I would suggest to check the global list of the artists that sell hundreds of millions of records

Except that that's slanted towards performers who do sell well outside of their countries. The Lithuanian Elvis, assuming he is not famous outside of Lithuania, will never sell enough to make that list because there are only 3.5 million Lithuanians.

If you're going to hit the lists, I would check national awards such as the Fryderyks, which are Poland's Grammy, and the Orly, which are Poland's film awards.
posted by pracowity at 3:51 AM on May 8

Sir Cliff Richard.

Trust me, you are better off not knowing.
posted by essexjan at 4:06 AM on May 8

I'm curious as to whether comedians would count in your list of acceptable celebrities; if so, there are numerous examples of comedians famous in several countries but virtually unknown in the US.

For a modern example, Adam Hills is a very well known stand-up comedian and television personality in his native Australia, but also has a large following in the UK too.

Another, less recent, example is Morcambe and Wise, who are one of the most famous comedic double-acts ever seen in the UK. I don't believe they've ever had a following outside of the UK, but were hugely influencial here in several ways, so should count according to your criteria.
posted by Inner Universe at 4:14 AM on May 8

Robbie Williams is huge in the U.K. and other places.
posted by defreckled at 4:22 AM on May 8

Sven Nys is huge in Belgium, maybe the most popular male athlete in the country right now. He collects record money just for showing up at races and even people here who know nothing about sports know his name, but I'd guess that 99.9% of Americans have never heard of him, or, in fact, his sport.
posted by dseaton at 4:22 AM on May 8

Oum Kalthoum
posted by runincircles at 4:35 AM on May 8

A. R. Rahman India 1992–present

AR Rahman won an Academy Award and has been written about in numerous magazines and papers in the US. The Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack is still on the (US) Billboard Top 100, and it peaked at #4 in March, and has sold more than 100 million records worldwide -- hardly unknown in the US.
posted by bluefly at 4:35 AM on May 8

Ayumi Hamasaki
posted by Chan at 4:42 AM on May 8

Noir Désir is a tremendously successful French rock group. They achieved a certain amount of international notoriety after the singer was convicted of the manslaughter of his actress girlfriend, but the music as far as I know didn't go beyond France. Just compare the English Wikipedia article with the French one.
posted by featherboa at 4:47 AM on May 8

Um Kulsoom, yes, that's the one. A global superstar.
posted by tavegyl at 5:58 AM on May 8

Rupiah Banda is the current president of Zambia. I'm sure he's quite famous there.

I imagine the heads of state of most countries are quite famous in there own countries, but almost entirely unknown in the US.
posted by alms at 6:17 AM on May 8

I imagine the heads of state of most countries are quite famous in there own countries, but almost entirely unknown in the US.

Wikipedia has a list
posted by robtoo at 6:27 AM on May 8

Dean Reed was an American rock n' roll singer who was hugely popular in the South America, the GDR, and the Soviet Union. (A couple books about Reed: Comrade Rockstar, Rock n' Roll Radical.)
posted by ocherdraco at 6:31 AM on May 8

Similar to Johnny Hallyday, Turkey has it's own Elvis: Tarkan.
If you like pop even a little bit, you should check him out! He's a huge thing in Europe.
posted by Lucubrator at 6:52 AM on May 8

The Tragically Hip - huge in Canada, never quite made it in the US.

Stompin' Tom Connors is a Canadian folk icon whom I'm sure is quite unknown outside of this country.
posted by davey_darling at 7:01 AM on May 8 [1 favorite]

Mark Rowswell (also known as Dashan) is a Canadian entertainer who's extremely well-known in China. According to Wikipedia "relatively unknown in the West, Dashan is perhaps the most famous Western performer in China, where he occupies a unique position as a foreign national who has become a bona fide domestic celebrity."

As an US citizen, I'd never heard of him until visiting China, and was really surprised by his level of fame (although perhaps he's more well-known in his home country)
posted by frogpondian at 7:03 AM on May 8

There are 100 in this book alone.
posted by originalname37 at 7:10 AM on May 8

Here are another ~95.
posted by originalname37 at 7:15 AM on May 8

TVXQ (a South Korean boyband) are immensely popular in Asia. Another boyband, Big Bang, are also quite popular in South Korea...and neighbouring countries too I think, but not as popular as DBSK.

There's also Rain (real name: Jung Ji Hoon), also a South Korean singer/actor, who used to be quite popular in Asia (I think he still is, although his star power has declined somewhat). You might have seen him on the Colbert Report. He did try and break into the mainstream U.S. market but he hasn't really suceeded, so I think he still fits your criteria.

As for South Korean actors, off the top of my head the most popular ones are: Lee Jun Ki, Kwon Sang-Woo , Won Bin, Hyun Bin, Yoon Eun-Hye...there are so many others I could list since SK entertainment is quite popular worldwide...if you're interested, here's a link to a Wikipedia article on Korean pop-culture.
posted by parjanya at 7:31 AM on May 8

Not so long ago, the beloved Bollywood film "god" Amitabh Bachchan - made the Number #1 slot in a BBC world service survey about all time fave global movie actors.

The UK Daily Mail (ghastly rag!) ran a snooty response piece by an actress called Joan Collins (who was known at one time in the US for her role on Dynasty) who claimed never to have heard of Bachchan! I recall that she questioned who the hell had voted him most popular.

(To be fair, I was rather surprised by the mean Collins' quotes. She is a rather smart ex-B-movie, aging sexpot - as a rule!)
posted by Jody Tresidder at 8:15 AM on May 8

Manabu Miyazaki
posted by aquafortis at 8:47 AM on May 8

For the past 20+ years, unless I'm talking to a Fellow Music Fanatic of a Certain Age, whenever I mention my devotion to Paul Weller to a fellow American I am invariably met either by stares of incomprehension or the question, "wait, so the guy in Robocop is a musician now?"
posted by scody at 9:13 AM on May 8

Etienne Daho another French pop star with numerous hits since the 80's, and in 2007 he was made an Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the minister of French Culture.
posted by kimdog at 9:31 AM on May 8

Googoosh is an iconic Iranian singer who became something of a legend after the implementation of Islamic law forbade her to ever sing again. Anyone in the USA who's heard of her probably lives near a city with a large Iranian population.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 9:43 AM on May 8

Jeremy Clarkson
Richard Hammond
James May

(It is both funny and annoying that, in order to talk to anyone about my favorite show, I first have to have the equivalent of the Fox Force Five discussion to explain to them that there is a TV show in Britain that is extremely popular, and that on this show, there are hosts, and that these hosts . . . ad infinitum. On the other hand, I suspect that I would find Clarkson in particular a lot less endearing if he were an American saying the same sorts of things that Clarkson says. When they cast Adam Carolla in the Clarkson role for the ill-fated American Top Gear, it was a bit of a wake-up call to think that if Adam Carolla is the American equivalent of Clarkson, maybe I shouldn't like Clarkson so much, and maybe that explains why so many Brits find him considerably less amusing than I do.)
posted by The World Famous at 9:53 AM on May 8

Adriano Celentano

Aka the Italian Elvis.
posted by gyusan at 10:01 AM on May 8

In no particular order:

Alessandro del Piero
Francesco Totti
Thierry Henry
Valentino Rossi
Flavio Briatore
Luca Cordero di Montezemolo
Ryan Giggs
Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (known as Kaká or Ricardo Kaká)
Ronaldinho
Paolo Maldini
Lewis Hamilton
Jenson Button
Jose Mourinho
Raúl González Blanco (known as Raúl)
posted by Zambrano at 10:09 AM on May 8 [1 favorite]

Felipe Massa
Rubens Barrichello
Fernando Alonso
posted by Zambrano at 10:15 AM on May 8 [1 favorite]

Ligabue
posted by Zambrano at 10:17 AM on May 8 [1 favorite]

Carlos Gardel is virtually a God in Argentina.
posted by jontyjago at 10:45 AM on May 8

Kathem Al Saher is the "Elvis of the Middle East".
posted by tomcooke at 11:03 AM on May 8

Don Cherry is one of the strangest, most famous, and most polarizing figures in Canada...and he's just a hockey commentator. His "Coach's Corner" segment on Hockey Night in Canada has generated all sorts of controversy.

It seems as if more and more American hockey fans know of him, especially as he has been marketing himself in the States more as of late. But his notoriety here is probably unparalleled in terms of living Canadians, which is pretty remarkable.
posted by hiteleven at 11:42 AM on May 8 [1 favorite]

I would argue that it would astound the average American that the average Japanese is better acquainted with any of the following Japanese pop culture phenomenons than the U.S. pop culture greats Americans assume have equal or greater worldwide appeal.

Note: you asked for famous, but didn't exclude annoying, so I didn't either.

SMAP
Tokoro Joji
Motoki Masahiro
Downtown
Morning Musume
Fukuyama Masaharu
Takarazuka Revue

My favorite, the quirky "Doctor Nakamatsu" in Japanese
from Wikipedia, in English
posted by vincele at 12:10 PM on May 8

How could I forget...Johnny of Johnny's Juniors.
See the fantastic article on Johnny at The Guardian
posted by vincele at 12:33 PM on May 8

Dseaton mentions Sven Nys, but I'd guess Tom Boonen is a bigger star in Belgium these days.
Even better, Eddy Merckx, generally acknowledged as the greatest cyclist ever.

Or, pick any other cycling or soccer/football star in Europe. No one knows or cares about A-Rod, but mention Lionel Messi.
posted by TDIpod at 12:39 PM on May 8

P. Ramlee and Siti Nurhaliza are icons in Malaysia.
posted by divabat at 4:56 PM on May 8

Kylie Minogue is very well known as a solo singing artist in Australia. She's probably Australia's most well known female singer, and is probably equally, or perhaps more, well known in the UK.
posted by Zaire at 11:45 PM on May 8

Cricket players are known the world over, but ask someone in America about Imran Khan or Sir Viv Richards, and you'll be met with blank stares.
posted by reenum at 8:03 AM on May 9

But I think methylsalicylate is still right--nearly every national hero, mega-best-selling musical act, beloved acting legend, classic children's novelist, etc. of Japan, China, Thailand, etc. is somebody the average American won't have heard of. :/ Skim off the Miyazakis and Nelson Mandelas and everyone else merits a "Who?" The Chinese music industry (Hong Kong and Taiwan in particular) has lots of mega-stars--Anita Mui sold over 10,000,000 albums, Teresa Teng sold more than 100 million, etc. etc. And a lot of the Chinese-language (and Japanese-language stars) are famous throughout east and southeast Asia, from Korea to Indonesia. Just looking at the respective pop music entries for various countries will get you tons of honest-to-goodness swoon-worthy superstars, some with actual talent, that most Americans will never hear of.
posted by wintersweet at 10:40 PM on May 9

Holy cow. I listed all of those Rossoneri without mentioning Filippo Inzaghi?

(nickname Pippo, or SuperPippo).
posted by Zambrano at 12:30 PM on May 10

Chris Rea. He had one adult-contemporary US hit, Fool (If You Think It's Over), back in 1978, so he's a "one-hit wonder" to an American, but in Europe he has released a number of popular pop and blues records, including a string of seven platinum UK albums between 1986 and 1994. I forgot about him until a couple of days ago when a guy here in Poland said he'd just picked up a Chris Rea CD. If that hadn't happened, I'd still have been reminded of him in December because he has one of those unavoidable pop Christmas hits, "Driving Home for Christmas," whose royalties must pay off his Christmas bills every year.
posted by pracowity at 9:40 AM on May 11