Here come the nepo

Release time：2024-05-07 21:54:39 Source：Culture Chronicle news portal

James McCartney and Sean Ono Lennon have come together to release a new song together, following in the footsteps of their world famous fathers.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon's sons have collaborated on a song titled Primrose Hill, which was released on Friday April 12 - and fans have gone wild for the track.

Their fathers are remembered as one of music's most powerful musical partnerships and it seems that fans are equally impressed by James and Sean's new duo.

The two men, who bare an uncanny resemblance to their fathers, co-wrote the song, which is a follow up to James' song Beautiful, which he penned with Paul.

Sean, 48, is the second child of the late icon John, while James is Paul's only son and youngest child, who he welcomed with his late ex-wife Linda Eastman.

James, 46, shared the news of the release on his Instagram, on Friday, alongside a selfie on of himself and Sean, looking eerily like their parents.

As The Beatles Offspring embark upon a new music project, they will have enormous shoes to fill - but they are not the only children of famous music industry figures who have taken their own shots in the same world as their parents.

There are countless 'nepo babies' in the music industry who have made careers for themselves after their mothers and fathers set them examples to follow - however, their projects have been met with varying success.

Here, FEMAIL takes a look at music's 'nepo babies' who proved they have talent, but haven't quite managed to emulate their parents' success...

Mabel 

Mabel is without a doubt a successful artist and will no doubt continue to excel to great heights, but at an early stage in her career, she hasn't quite matched her mother's awards cabinet yet

Mabel's mother is Neneh Cherry, a Swedish singer who has released six studio albums and has won two Brit awards

Mabel Alabama-Pearl McVey's career is still in its infancy and her star will surely only continue to rise. However, as yet, she hasn't quite achieved the same number of accolades as her famous mother.

Neneh Cherry is a Swedish singer who has released six studio albums; the first of which, Raw Like Sushi, reached number three in the UK Albums chart - just like her daughter's.

She has been nominated for a Grammy Award and has two Brit Awards under her belt - and while her daughter Mabel is certainly catching up to her mother, the young singer hasn't quite reached Neneh's heights yet.

Neneh Cherry's first album, Raw Like Sushi, reached number three in the chart - just like her daughter Mabel

Her debut single Finders Keepers, released in 2017, reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart.

This was followed up two years later with the release of her album High Expectations at number three in the Albums Chart - which later went platinum.

In 2020, just three years after bursting onto the scene, she won a Brit Award for British Female Solo Artist.

As Mabel's popularity continues to soar, she will no doubt overtake her mother - but she has a very successful act to follow.

Willow Smith

Willow Smith's singing career has earnt her thousands of fans among younger music lovers, but she hasn't quite reached her father's stratospheric fame

Will Smith, who is known for both acting and music, has won several awards during his career, including an Oscar in 2022 for King Richard

While she's had success with singles, films and appearances on Red Table Talk, Willow Smith (who goes by Willow) has yet to reach the heights of her father's fame.

Perhaps a difficult task, give her father Will Smith, 55, is one of the most famous men alive and arguably the most successful rapper and actor of a generation.

The 23-year-old started early. She hit number two in the UK charts with her debut Whip My Hair, when she was just ten.

She's also starred alongside her dad in I Am Legend as well as a voice role alongside her mother Jada Pinkett Smith, in Merry Madagascar.

Keeping it in the family, Willow also regularly joins her her mother and grandmother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, on their hugely successful Facebook Watch show, Red Table Talk. 

Lola Lennox

Lola Lennox released her debut single Wild in 2020 and has performed onstage with her mother on a few occasions

When she was 18 years old, Lola Lennox won a place at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music.

‘Classical singing is different from pop and I know more about it than my mother,’ Lola told the Daily Mail in 2009 after being accepted into the school.

‘I start at the academy in September and I’ve got there on my own. It was a tough audition and I’m really looking forward to the course.’ 

As she stressed the point she had attained her place through her own abilities, she was perhaps referring to the fact her pop singing mother, Annie Lennox, is very successful and well connected in the music industry.

First finding fame in Eurythmics in the 1980s, Annie released a string of top 10 hits throughout the decade including Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) and There Must Be an Angel (Playing With My Heart).

Lola Lennox's mother Annie Lennox achieved huge success in Eurythmics and as a solo artist

After taking a break from Eurythmics in the early 1990s, she also enjoyed a number one solo album, Diva.

Alongside her music career, Annie has become a prominent voice in the campaign to eradicate AIDS through her work on Live Aid and Live 8.

Lola has certainly enjoyed success in the music industry, but her career hasn't quite matched the stratospheric heights of her mother's.

She released her debut single In the Wild in 2020 and has performed on stage with her mother a handful of times. 

Last year, speaking to Amazing magazine, she addressed the 'nepo baby' row that scrutinised the careers of children in the entertainment industry who have famous parents.

'When you’re looking at the music I feel really lucky to have been able to witness such a strong female role model in action and also see how much purpose it gave her,' she said, referring to her mother. 

Dhani Harrison

George Harrison's son Dhani has dabbled in the music industry as a guitarist, following in the footsteps of his father

Another member of The Beatles offspring is Dhani Harrison, son of guitarist George. 

Although he's a dead ringer for his rock and roll father, with long hippy hair and a goatee beard which harks back to George's 1970s look, his music career hasn't quite managed to emulate the success of the most popular British band of all time.

He has struggled to make a success of his career in music, despite appearing alongside the likes of Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney at a tribute concert for George at the Albert Hall a year after his death from cancer in 2001. 

In 2006, he formed a band called thnewno2 in 2006. Four years later, he started another band, Fist full of Mercy. 

The guitarist has covered his father's songs, played on stage with Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney and joined several bands but never quite matched the success of The Beatles

In 2013, he joined forces with Alexa Ray Joel, daughter of singer-songwriter Billy Joel to perform some of their father's top hits for a Gap advert.

While Alexa Ray performed Just the Way You Are, Dhani gave a rendition of For You Blue.

Speaking to the Daily Mail in 2012, Dhani revealed the nepo baby criticism was something he was acutely aware of.

He said: 'Everyone's looking at me thinking, "he's got it handed to him on a plate; he got that because of his dad.'

However, despite having a very famous father, Dhani's career hasn't followed the same trajectory.

This might be down to the fact he turned down lots of offers in his younger years, holding out for opportunities that meant something to him.

He said: 'I've had every offer. But you've got to ask yourself, 'Why? What's this for'?' 

Kelly Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne's daughter Kelly Osbourne shot to fame in The Osbournes and is now hugely successful as a presenter, but her singing career didn't quite take off

There's no one in the industry more rock and roll than Ozzy Osbourne.

As the front man of Black Sabbath, he became widely known for his onstage stunts even more than for his music - having once beheaded a dove as well as biting the head off a bat during a performance.

Although he was blighted by addiction for much of his music career, Ozzy managed to achieve enormous success in the industry both with Black Sabbath and as a star in his own right.

In 2013 the band hit the milestone of selling 70 million records worldwide meaning they are one of the most commercially successful heavy metal bands of all time.

After making a name for himself in the music industry, Ozzy later became a star of the small screen as he and his family were followed in one of the earliest reality TV shows, The Osbournes.

The show followed Ozzy, Sharon, Jack and Kelly (but not oldest daughter Aimee) in expletive-laden episodes that showed their life at home.

It paved the way for Kelly to become a star just like her father - but while she has achieved enormous success in the US as a presenter, Kelly Osbourne's music career hasn't quite panned out in the same way.

She released her first studio album, Shut Up, in 2002 - the same year The Osbournes premiered. 

The album's sales were modest and reviews were mixed - however a duet with her father Ozzy, Black Sabbath cover Changes, released in 2003, drew in significantly more success and reached number one in the UK charts.

...And those that did 

Norah Jones

Norah Jones, who has nine Grammys under her belt, previously said she didn't want people to think of her in association with her famous father

Jazz artist Norah Jones's career has reached such heights that most people don't know she technically counts as a 'nepo baby'.

As of 2023, she has sold more than 50 million records worldwide and has a whopping nine Grammy awards under her belt. 

She burst onto the scene in 2002 with the release of Come Away With Me, which reached diamond status and sold 27 million copies.

It bagged her five Grammy awards alone including Best Album and Best New Artist.

Norah's full name is Geethali Norah Jones Shankar. She is the daughter of Indian sitarist and composer, Ravi Shankar.

Ravi Shankar died in 2012 after a successful music career that began in India and later saw him tour Europe and the Americas

Ravi, who died in 2012, began his career in India where he was music director of All India Radio in New Delhi from 1949 until 1956.

From there he started touring Europe and the Americas playing Indian classical music. Through touring, he became gradually more popular and met Beatles member George Harrison.

Harrison's friendship with Shankar led to an increase of Indian instruments in Western pop music throughout the 1960s.

Speaking to the Daily Mail about her father in 2012 shortly before his death, Jones said: 'I refuse to be defined by my famous dad. I hardly knew him when I was growing up and we only started a proper relationship when I was in my late teens.'

However she added they now shared a 'close, very loving relationship' and added people don't tend to think of her in association with him.

Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus shot to fame on Disney series Hannah Montana and has since broken several records and won several awards

Miley's father is Billy Ray Cyrus, a country singer who has also achieved firm success in his genre, but hasn't quite reached superstar status like his daughter

Miley Cyrus might have had a leg-up in her career by being born into a country music family, but she has far exceeded the success of her father Billy Ray.

Born Destiny Hope Cyrus, her name was chosen because her parents Billy and Tish hoped for her to succeed in life and achieve great things after she was born with an abnormal resting heart rate - and as one of the biggest pop stars in the world, she has certainly fulfilled their wishes.

Miley's early success came at 13 years old when she was cast as the eponymous character in Disney's Hannah Montana, a hugely popular show about a schoolgirl living a double life as a pop star.

The popularity of the show paved way for her own music career, first performing as Hannah Montana before embarking upon music released as Miley Cyrus. 

By the age of 16 she has become the youngest artist in history to have four albums on the Billboard 200 chart in the US.

She has two Grammy Awards, one Brit Award and holds eight Guinness World Records for her success.

Meanwhile her father Billy Ray, while a successful country artist, never reached the success his daughter Miley has managed to achieve.

In 1992 his country album Some Gave All became the best-selling record of the year in the US, but as he became a father and his children embarked upon their own careers in the entertainment industry, his music exploits took a back seat.

He starred alongside his daughter Miley as her father in Hannah Montana, which introduced him a much younger generation of fans - although, to them, he will likely always be known as 'Miley Cyrus's dad'.

Mark Ronson

Mark Ronson's stepfather is Mick Jones, the guitarist in rock band Foreigner who penned I Want to Know What Love Is, thought to be about Ronson's mother Ann

Mark Ronson was born into a wealthy family, with his father Laurence working in real estate and his mother Ann Dexter-Jones in the TV industry.

However, it's through his stepfather Mick Jones that Ronson became connected with the music industry.

Jones was the guitarist in rock band Foreigner and has penned some of the group's biggest hits.

Among them is I Want to Know what Love Is, which is thought to have been written about his relationship with Ronson's mother.

Although he was born in north west London, Ronson spent most of his life in the US, and his DJ career began in New York City when he was a student at New York University.

He has enjoyed enormous success as a DJ, producer and songwriter since becoming involved in the music industry, working on tracks like Amy Winehouse's Valerie (which became more widely known than The Zutons's original) and Bruno Mars's Uptown Funk.

While his stepfather has penned one of the greatest power ballads of all time, his success falls just shy of Ronson's total 45 award wins, including an Oscar, seven Grammys - and a Guinness World Record.

Enrique Iglesias

Enrique Iglesias's father Julio is one of the most successful Spanish artists of all time, but his success never transferred to English-speaking audiences

Enrique's career has managed to cross over from the Latin market to English-speaking audiences 

Enrique Iglesias's music career has seen him crowned one of the best-selling Latin artists of all time, as he spanned genres into dance music during his career.

He began making music in the 1990s with Mexican label Fonovisa and quickly became one of its most successful artists. 

However, by 2000 he successfully crossed over into the English language music market and signed a record deal with Universal Music Group.

Since moving into the world of pop and dance, he has released most singles in both English and Spanish, appealing to a wider audience - which has shown in his sales and success.

He is now dubbed the King of Latin Pop and, in 2016, was named by Billboard as the 14th most successful male dance club artist of all time.

Enrique's father is also a fairly successful figure in Latin music - Julio Iglesias. 

Julio has also achieved huge success in his career - however he didn't move into mainstream and English-speaking genres as his son did.

He is recognised as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top sellers in music history.

While he has outsold Enrique, he hasn't quite reached out to the same broad audience.

Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston is one of the greatest artists ever to have lived and won eight Grammys during her career

The late Whitney Houston was the daughter of Cissy Houston, a Grammy Award winner for gospel music

The late, great Whitney Houston achieved great things during her career before her tragic and untimely death in 2012.

Known for a once-in-a-generation voice with which she belted out anthems like Greatest Love of All and I Will Always Love You, she was one of the biggest pop stars in the world at the peak of her success.

Her accolades include eight Grammy Awards, 22 American Music Awards, two Emmy Awards and an induction into several music halls of fame.

In 2001, following enormous success with her first few studio albums, she renewed her record contract with Arista Records for $100 million, which to this day remains one of the biggest recording deals of all time.

After becoming one of the biggest pop stars in history, the fact that Whitney Houston was technically a 'nepo baby' is somewhat forgotten.

Not only was her mother Emily 'Cissy' Houston a singer, she also had two Grammy Awards to her name - although compared to her daughter's eight Grammys, it isn't quite so striking an accolade.

Cissy was a member of The Drinkard Singers and the founder of The Sweet Inspirations, a vocal group that recorded background vocals for Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley.

After leaving The Sweet Inspirations, she embarked upon a solo career, for which she earnt her Grammys. 

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