Robert Downey Jr., Jennifer Love Hewitt and More Stars Who Wanted to Branch Out Into Music

Sure, they have enviable careers on the big and small screens, but these celebs hoped for music-biz success too.

Kylie Jenner

“I’ve been talking about this since I came out of the womb … Like, I wanted to be a pop star,” the 28-year-old — who’s dubbed herself King Kylie — said after appearing as a featured artist on Terror Jr’s song “Fourth Strike”. Admitting she’d previously lacked the “confidence” to pursue singing, the mom of two added, “I don’t want to look back on life and have any regrets.” Still, the reality star may not want to quit her day job: Her performance wasn’t a hit with listeners!

Scarlett Johansson

The Oscar nominee has collaborated with some pretty heavy hitters — including David Bowie — in her singing efforts. The late music legend dueted with her on her first album, which was filled with covers of Tom Waits songs. She met Bowie at a party, where she jokingly asked him to join her in the studio and was shocked when, months later, he did. “I get this call from [my producer], and he was like, ‘You’ll never guess who I have in the studio right now,’” the 41-year-old recalled to Interview Magazine, adding, “I just, you know, basically peed myself when I found out.”

Russell Crowe

In 1970, the 61-year-old was given his first guitar. “I didn’t have the guitar because I wanted to sing somebody else’s songs,” he told GQ. “I thought, this is an interesting thing to do, to express myself. And that’s really funny when you apply that to a 6-year-old kid.” The Gladiator actor has been in bands since the 1980s, when he paid rent by busking on the street, and released several albums and toured with the Aussie band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts before they disbanded in 2003. Now he performs as part of Indoor Garden Party, which released Prose & Cons in 2024.

Robert Downey Jr.

In 2004, the Marvel star released his debut album, The Futurist, telling talk show host Ellen DeGeneres that it felt like a risk. “I couldn’t blame it on anybody else if it sucked this time,” the actor, now 60, joked, adding, “I’ve been, since I was 12 or so, playing piano, and then I started composing a bit. I’ve been inspired by so many musicians over the years, to be able to do it … was really satisfying.” Though the album debuted at No. 121 on the Billboard 200 and sold around 16,000 copies its first week, Robert never released a follow-up.

Jennifer Love Hewitt

She actually was a pop star — in Japan! The 46-year-old had a hit there with her 1992 album Love Songs. When her 2002 single “BareNaked” climbed to No. 6 on the charts in Australia, the Party of Five alum gushed in an interview with Rosie O’Donnell, “It sounds silly, but it’s kind of like the best time of my life right now. I feel very blessed and lucky.”