Pop Idols and Lolitas - I need a list
May 14, 2010 8:07 AM   Subscribe

I'm looking to generate a cross-cultural list of famous young talents (singers, actors, dancers younger than ~20, from any time in history) that are/were widely considered to be precociously charming. Idols and starlets, if you will. Is/was there a Russian Donny Osmond? An Indian Justin Timberlake? Who's the quintessential Morning Musume girl?
posted by xo to Media & Arts (18 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: There's Jordy, who, at the age of four, had a #1 in France for 15 weeks.
posted by griphus at 8:14 AM on May 14, 2010


Best answer: Alla Pugacheva is/was pretty much Russia/USSR's Sweetheart. Not sure who to compare her to, but at least to me, she's pretty much synonymous with "Russian Musical Legend."
posted by litnerd at 8:18 AM on May 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Ricky Martin is certainly one of the Justin Timberlakes of the Latino world, launching his career with the established boy-band Menudo around the age of 14 before going solo and achieving quite a bit of success and attention outside the Latino music world as an adult. Both Menuda and Martin started off in Puerto Rico, but they both quickly became pan-Latin American phenomenon.
posted by drlith at 8:20 AM on May 14, 2010


Best answer: Mitsou from Quebec when Bye Bye Mon Cowboy was released.
posted by saucysault at 8:33 AM on May 14, 2010


Best answer: In France again, Johnny Hallyday, France Gall, Lio and Vanessa Paradis had their first hits at 17, 16, 18 and 14 respectively and went on to successful music careers. One of Hallyday's early hits was indeed a French cover of "A teenage idol" (by Ricky Nelson).
posted by elgilito at 8:55 AM on May 14, 2010


Best answer: Brooke Shields. She was 14 in those Calvin Klein ads, then "Pretty Baby." If you're going with the "jailbait" flavor of "Lolita", I'd go with Brooke Shields.
posted by macadamiaranch at 9:22 AM on May 14, 2010


Best answer: Nikita Mikhalkov was probably around 18 (and looked even younger) when filming an excellent and popular "I step through Moscow".
posted by rainy at 9:33 AM on May 14, 2010


Best answer: Lena Zavaroni was Scottish and a big star with a big voice at the age of 10. (Linked to Wikipedia because all the other sites on her seem to have autoplay music.) She was a sweet little thing with a bow in her hair.
posted by vickyverky at 10:23 AM on May 14, 2010


Best answer: Nazia Hassan was huge in Pakistan in the 80s. She had her first hit at 16.
posted by neroli at 10:55 AM on May 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


Best answer: For better or worse, Sandy and Junior would definitely qualify as Brazil's Donny and Marie Osmond.
posted by umbú at 12:07 PM on May 14, 2010


Best answer: I've always had a soft spot for Googoosh, the Iranian diva.
posted by yellowbinder at 12:51 PM on May 14, 2010


Best answer: Billie Piper was the youngest artist ever to debut at number one in the UK singles chart in 1998.
posted by ellieBOA at 1:02 PM on May 14, 2010


oops, she was 15 at the time!
posted by ellieBOA at 1:02 PM on May 14, 2010


Best answer: Joselito from Spain in the 40's and 50's.
posted by stavx at 1:19 PM on May 14, 2010


Best answer: What about Alanis Morissette?
posted by SisterHavana at 4:16 PM on May 14, 2010


Best answer: Also via Latin America - a few examples include Thalía, Paulina Rubio, Luis Miguel, Chayanne, Pedro Fernández, and Lucero.

Korea's BoA.
Japanese-American Utada Hikaru
posted by cmgonzalez at 8:49 PM on May 14, 2010


Best answer: From the Middle East, Fairuz.
posted by ambient2 at 1:09 AM on May 15, 2010


Response by poster: Awesome, thank you! There is a lot of YouTube in my future. Thanks especially for the Jordy link -- his wiki led me to an incredible "boy soloists" database that will be as useful as it is creepy.
posted by xo at 6:20 AM on May 15, 2010


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