How 5 European stars earned a living before becoming famous
Antje Binder / adJanuary 15, 2016
Before achieving fame, many celebrities worked in odd jobs. Before her hit single "99 Red Balloon," German pop star Nena thought she'd be making jewelry for the rest of her life.
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How 5 European stars first earned a living before they became famous
Before achieving fame, many celebrities earned their money in rather down-home jobs. But can you guess how these European celebrities paid the bills before they got famous?
Image: Getty Images/Afp/Ben Stansall
Nena, the goldsmith
Back in the 70s, she was still known as Gabriele Susanne Kerner. Like most parents, hers also wanted her to learn a decent trade. Nena fulfilled the parental expectations and started training to become a goldsmith in 1977. At the same time, she also discovered her musical talent. Everybody knows what followed next - an impressive pop music career.
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Ozzy Osbourne, the butcher
Raised in the industrial city of Birmingham, it's not surprising that Ozzy Osbourne dabbled in work with his hands before taking to the stage. His father was a steel worker, his mother worked in a car factory. The future shock rocker did odd jobs as a plumber and a limer, helped out in a funeral parlor, and then spent time working as a butcher.
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Tom Jones, vacuum cleaner salesman
Tom Jones' affairs are legendary. But before the ladies threw bras onto the stage during concerts, the British pop singer made ends meet by going door to door selling vacuum cleaners in his small native Welsh town of Pontypridd. He needed the money to feed his young family. Then he started to sing in pubs, where his talent was discovered.
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Sean Connery, pool attendant
In his youth, Sean Connery, the most famous James Bond actor, frequently changed jobs in order to support his parents. The Scotsman was employed as a milkman, a bodybuilder and a lifeguard. Even back that, he was popular with the ladies when he was hanging out on Portobello beach close to his hometown, Edinburgh.
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Rod Stewart, the gravedigger
According to rumours, Rod Stewart's father was responsible for his first job. He wanted his son to earn money with his own hands instead of playing either soccer or guitar. So Stewart delivered newspapers and even helped out at London's Highgate Cemetery - presumably in order to overcome his childhood fear of death.
Image: Getty Images/Afp/Ben Stansall
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Only very few stars have been born as stars. Most celebrities now standing in the limelight once had a tough time to make ends meet and worked numerous odd jobs.
From milkman to millionaire
Ozzy Osbourne took on a variety of odd jobs before finally settling down as a shock rocker. Singer Tom Jones and actor Sean Connery also bounced around a bit before discovering their callings. Connery grew up in humble circumstances, born in Edinburgh as the son of a cleaning lady and factory worker. He would later go on to become one of the world's most successful actors and earn the title "Sexiest Man of the Century" - not to mention being knighted by the Queen.
At the age of 13, Connery left school to earn money to support his family. He started of as a milkman, then worked with the Royal Navy, drove an excavator and a horse-drawn carriage, and held jobs as a printer and furniture polisher. He even earned a bit of money lifting weights.
Selling fast food today, tomorrow a superstar
It's often difficult to verify the rumours about celebrities' modest beginnings. After all, heartbreaking rags-to-riches stories have a good chance of becoming bestsellers. It's quite tempting for biographers to add some unusual jobs to the list - or to ignore less noble activities. And yet, it is true that many stars, like Sean Connery, once started out at the very bottom before landing their first coup in a Hollywood blockbuster.
We present five celebrities whose original professions are hard to guess. Next time you order a burger in a fast-food-chain, watch out for potential future stars among the servers.
