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5 Sports Stars Who Have Released Music

There is a life after sport, especially when you’re a pro athlete who reached his peak long ago. Some of the biggest sports stars have made it big and decided that reaping medals and millions wasn’t good enough for them, so they decided to take a mic and sing a few tunes.

 

Here’s a list of the best athletes that got into the music business after a successful career. Some of them are good, and some didn’t stand the test of time as singers or musicians. 

 

Muhammad Ali (Boxing)

Muhammad Ali is an all-time champion in the ring, but the guy had so many other talents that he made it to the top of this list. His career as a musician wasn’t the best-known thing about him, but listening to a few of his tunes can only tell you one thing: the man could sing. His music style went from classic soul to rock and country, and one of his most famous singles is a cover of Stand By Man that sounds better than the original.

Some people think that his ability to spit rhymes to his defeated opponents paved the way to Hip-hop. This theory is believable, considering that rappers and hip-hop artists have heavily sampled his poems and rants.

 

Shaquille O’Neal (Basketball)

O’Neil is a former NBA star that won many championships in his heyday, and while you can still create your best bet with modern players, there was no one like Shaquille. He is also a fierce businessman that is still cashing on his name to this day. To create his music, he surrounded himself with the best rappers on the planet.

Not only is his rap flow pretty decent, but the music is reminiscent of the good old sound from California – think about some tunes that would have their place in a GTA game. Shaquille O’Neil releases a song once in a while, and the man still has it.

 

Yannick Noah (Tennis)

Noah’s career in Tennis had made a profound imprint in French Tennis, as the man won 23 titles and Roland Garros in 1983. However, Yannick Noah knew that life didn’t end after his heydays on the tennis court, and he was able to try at his second passion, which is music. His first single, Saga Africa, was released at the same time when he won the Coupe Davis in 1991.

 

 

Yannick Noah is now a proper singer-songwriter that writes bangers after bangers, and his songs are sung at pretty much any wedding or celebration in France. Yannick Noah is also regularly cited as the favourite personality of French people, a testament to his dazzling career in sports and on stage.

 

Tommy Guerrero (Skateboard)

While you might not think that skateboarding is an official sport, Tommy Guerrero was a pioneer in the domain and became a star in the eighties. Fans still revere him for his signature tricks that inspired the likes of Tony Hawk.

However, his musical career is just as good as his skating abilities. Guerrero has released more than twelve albums and plays various rock, funk, blues, and bossa nova, giving his music an unmistakable groove and warmth. His music is worth a listen if you’re into instrumental songs, and even if you’re not.

 

Jacques Villeneuve (Formula One)

The Formula One champion is unlikely to make it in history as a singer-songwriter, but at least he had the guts to express himself with some forgettable singles in the late nineties. Villeneuve is overall a successful man, but the music he released wasn’t exactly killer tunes. His unique French Canadian resurfaces during the song’s chorus, where he suggests that a woman should marry him. Whether the lady accepted the proposal or not is anybody’s guest.