Biography for
Iggy Pop More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

21 April 1947, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Birth Name

James Newell Osterberg Jr.

Nickname

The Iguana
The Godfather of Punk
Jimmy

Height

5' 7½" (1.71 m)

Mini Biography

Legendary Rock 'n' Roll wildman and substance abuser. Recorded a series of classic rock albums with The Stooges and later as a solo artist. Worked extensively with David Bowie.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous

Spouse

Suchi Asano	(1985 - 1999) (divorced)
Wendy Weissberg	(1968 - 1968) (annulled)

Trade Mark

Frequently performs shirtless

The "stage dive" and wild onstage antics

Raw edged Vocals

Trivia

Is said to be the 'Father of Punk Rock'

The character "Funboy" in the original The Crow (1994) was modeled after him, and he was supposed to be cast as "Funboy", but scheduling prohibited him from being in the movie. He instead appeared as "Curve" in its sequel, The Crow: City of Angels (1996).

Father of Eric Benson.

Iggy plays guitar left-handed.

Had a cameo role on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993). "DS9" producer Ira Steven Behr was at the time and is to this day a major fan.

Footage of him writhing on stage is used as the opening of and to separate segments on Australia's longest running and most popular music video show "Rage" (1987).

Computer animators on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) used his movement and body as a basis for the character Gollum.

His group, The Stooges, although never a huge commercial success, was essential in the development of punk rock. In fact, the unifying trait of all the members of what were arguably the two greatest "punk" bands, Ramones and The Sex Pistols, was their idolizing of Iggy and The Stooges.

Began calling himself Iggy while working with his first high school band, "The Iguanas."

Even though he had already created the stage name Iggy Pop, Elektra always billed him as Iggy Stooge in reference to his group, The Stooges, much to Iggy's chagrin.

The first two Stooge albums, "Stooges" and "Fun House", were recorded in a loose way. Much in the style of James Brown, Iggy wrote lyrics and a central riff and the band built music around that and improvised. Made in a very different way, "Raw Power" was written out from beginning to end by Iggy and James Williamson, and the songs were played exactly as written.

Known to people very close to him as "Jimmy."

Now famous for his crazed behavior in the late 60s and 70s, much of Iggy's craziness was fueled by his addiction to heroin. Iggy would often mutilate himself, roll around in peanut butter or broken glass, throw himself offstage (and once down a flight of stairs), bend his body like a pretzel, hump his amps, go naked, and insult the audience. Offstage, he did little else other shoot heroin and have promiscuous sex. In the late 70s, he quit heroin to save his own life and lost interest in sleeping around.

Iggy (short for "Iguana") is often compared to Jim Morrison (also known as "The Lizard" or the "Lizard King"). While Morrison's The Doors was far better known and more commercially successful than Iggy's Stooges, the Stooges sparked punk rock music. The two were comparably wild men, known for their over-the-top, destructive stage acts and hedonistic behaviors offstage. The biggest difference, of course, is that Iggy survived his wild years, while Morrison didn't. When Morrison died, the surviving Doors even tried to recruit Iggy as a replacement, but he turned them down.

The Stooges were voted the 78th Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artists of all time by Rolling Stone.

David Bowie produced The Stooges' "Raw Power" album as well as Iggy's first two solo albums, "The Idiot" & "Lust For Life". "The Idiot" Contains the original version of the song "China Girl", later covered famously by Bowie.

In the 1970s, David Bowie played keyboard on his first solo tour. He was an unannounced guest player.

He has been living with his girlfriend, Nina Alu, for nearly a decade.

When asked recently what his favorite all-time album was, his choice was Bob Dylan's "Bringing It All Back Home".

He is of Irish and English descent on his father's side, and of Danish and Norwegian ancestry on his mother's. His father was adopted by a Swedish-American family, hence the family's surname (Osterberg)

Speaks the intro to White Zombie's song, 'Black Sunshine' from their album 'La Sexorcisto'

Attended Ann Arbor Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Is friends with The Cult's singer Ian Astbury, and put in a cameo on The Cult's "Sonic Temple" record. He sings background vocals on the song "New York City".

Ex-boyfriend of actress/theatre director Irina Brook.

Personal Quotes

The most successful stuff is sold to you as indispensable social information. The message in the music is, 'We are terribly, terribly slick and suave, and if you listen to us, you can probably get a leg up in society, too.' - on modern music

Punk rock is a word used by dilettantes and heartless manipulators about music that takes up the energies, the bodies, the hearts, the souls, the time and the minds of young men who give everything they have to it. (1977)

That band could kill any band at the time and frankly can just kill any bands that built on this work since...just eat any of those poodles. - on his band The Stooges.

I don't know Johnny Rotten, but I'm sure he puts as much blood and sweat into what he does as Sigmund Freud did. (Canadian Television, 1977)

When asked by Dinah Shore what influenced his music: The industrialism in Detroit...what I heard walking around...boom boom bah - 10 cars...boom boom bah - 20 cars...I get a lot of my influence from the electric shaver...

We've been rejected seven times, and we would have set a record, I think, if it happened again. It started to feel like Charlie Brown and the football. I had about two hours of a strong emotional reaction after hearing the news. It felt like vindication. Then I kind of scratched my head and thought, 'Am I still cool? Or is that over now?' (On The Stooges's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010)

Onstage, I've been hit by a grapefruit, beer cans, eggs, spit, money, cigarette butts, mandies, Quaaludes, joints, panties, and a fist.

Studios are like hospitals. A lot of people check in and they don't check out.

Where Are They Now

(July 2005) Currently living in Florida.