Artists successful here but not in their country

LMLM Posts: 63,318
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Random thought but i was thinking about the likes of Anastascia, The Scissor Sisters, Kelis and Eva Cassidy. All four of these are american but actually had their most success in the UK more than they did where they are actually from.

Are there any examples of international acts who are more successful in the UK, but not so much from their own home place?
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  • mimicolemimicole Posts: 50,909
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    Apparently The Killers aren't as successful in the States as they are over here.
  • LewnaticcLewnaticc Posts: 3,933
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    Cher Lloyd. It seems she's enjoying quite a bit of popularity in the states. So much so that they don't even bother marketing her over here.
  • Zack06Zack06 Posts: 28,304
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    Nicole Scherzinger. Totally not successful in the US as a solo artist, but definitely successful in the UK. Rihanna is also far more successful chartwise in the UK than in the US.
  • ashtray88ashtray88 Posts: 1,531
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    Some other examples are Lana Del Rey, Nicole Scherzinger and erh Ruby Wax..(my mind went blank for a third person).

    On the flip side, I know the band Bush are quite successful in the US but aren't very well known here.
  • ashtray88ashtray88 Posts: 1,531
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    Lewnaticc wrote: »
    Cher Lloyd. It seems she's enjoying quite a bit of popularity in the states. So much so that they don't even bother marketing her over here.

    I really think her US success is getting exaggerated. She had one surprise hit with "Want U Back" and her album has done ok but hasn't had any other single success. I guess we'll have to see how her second album does.

    She's actually doing pretty well in Australia and New Zealand though.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 123
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    Anastacia did better in Europe than the US
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,304
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    Led Zeppelin biggest one I can think of... the US embraced them alot more than here. I think they got some success over here later though.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,086
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    Alexis Jordan
  • finklyfinkly Posts: 669
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    Scott Walker is much more popular over here than in the US.
  • The22ndRachelThe22ndRachel Posts: 652
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    Zack06 wrote: »
    Nicole Scherzinger. Totally not successful in the US as a solo artist, but definitely successful in the UK. Rihanna is also far more successful chartwise in the UK than in the US.

    She's not from the US though...
  • Zack06Zack06 Posts: 28,304
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    She's not from the US though...

    I know that, but the US is her main market, she moved there when she was 16 and is signed to a US record label as her main label. Her home market is very small, and I'm not sure if they even count sales figures etc there...
  • farscapefarscape Posts: 2,902
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    Enrique Iglesias has had a very bizarre career in his birth country of Spain.

    He started off singing in spanish in the mid nineties and became one of Latin Americas biggest pop idols but for some reason his music wasn't that well recieved in Spain and the press was pretty harsh about him.

    Ironicaly it was his first English album that gave him his first hits in Spain. Starting with "Bailamos" he had multiple #1 singles and multiplatinum album sales, postive media reception etc. It seemed he'd finally made it there.

    His followup, Escape and the single "Hero" both debuted at the top of the charts but fell fairly swiftly and while it did okay many of the press pointed to the drop in sales in comparison in a bit of jeering way. His Spanish LP Quizas and the special single for Spain did the exact same thing. He hadn't had a meaningful hit in Spain for years until his last album which was bilingual. Again ironicaly it's the dance driven english songs like "I Like It" that are hitting big over there. He's even done his first concert in Spain in over a decade too.

    While he seems to be in a good place there currently he's undeniably much bigger in the UK and US, Latin America and most places than the country of his birth.
  • FMKKFMKK Posts: 32,074
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    Blondie were far bigger stars here than they were in America, at least at first. They eventually broke through in the States but their earlier success came in the UK.
  • SemieroticSemierotic Posts: 11,131
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    British faux-grunge band Bush sold more than 10 million records in the US in the mid-90s... and bugger all here.
  • KodazKodaz Posts: 1,018
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    FMKK wrote: »
    Blondie were far bigger stars here than they were in America, at least at first. They eventually broke through in the States but their earlier success came in the UK.

    While that's true, it wasn't the UK that gave them their commercial breakthrough originally, it was Australia.
  • Toy_HeroToy_Hero Posts: 11,358
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    Kelly Rowland seems to have done better here than in the states
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,488
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    will.i.am, both solo and with the Black Eyed Peas, does better over here
  • FMKKFMKK Posts: 32,074
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    Kodaz wrote: »
    While that's true, it wasn't the UK that gave them their commercial breakthrough originally, it was Australia.

    Interesting. I was watching a documentary re-run about Blondie recently and they seemed to mention the UK most. I think it was a British production though.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,163
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    farscape wrote: »
    Enrique Iglesias has had a very bizarre career in his birth country of Spain.

    He started off singing in spanish in the mid nineties and became one of Latin Americas biggest pop idols but for some reason his music wasn't that well recieved in Spain and the press was pretty harsh about him.

    Ironicaly it was his first English album that gave him his first hits in Spain. Starting with "Bailamos" he had multiple #1 singles and multiplatinum album sales, postive media reception etc. It seemed he'd finally made it there.

    His followup, Escape and the single "Hero" both debuted at the top of the charts but fell fairly swiftly and while it did okay many of the press pointed to the drop in sales in comparison in a bit of jeering way. His Spanish LP Quizas and the special single for Spain did the exact same thing. He hadn't had a meaningful hit in Spain for years until his last album which was bilingual. Again ironicaly it's the dance driven english songs like "I Like It" that are hitting big over there. He's even done his first concert in Spain in over a decade too.

    While he seems to be in a good place there currently he's undeniably much bigger in the UK and US, Latin America and most places than the country of his birth.

    Well, for the failure with spanish language in his homeland, there is a reasonable cause.

    He has only a medicore singing voice but his father is Julio Iglesias and he has sold 300 million records with his crooner voice comparable with Neil Diamond in the US or Engelbert Humperdink in GB.
  • farscapefarscape Posts: 2,902
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    rbautz wrote: »
    Well, for the failure in spain, there is a reasonable cause.

    He has only a medicore singing voice but his father is Julio Iglesias and he has sold 300 million records with his crooner voice comparable with Neil Diamond in the US or Engelbert Humperdink in GB.

    Surely that's an explanation of why you personaly don't care for him but it doesn't really pan out as an explanation to this. There are Singers with mediocre vocals that have been very sucessful worldwide. The idea that he's unfairly compared to his father sounds reasonable in theory as a lot of acts with parents in the biz struggle with this but Enrique never really has not to mention that it would apply to every country.

    In Latin America he was initialy compared to Julio but it didn't stop him from instantly becoming and still being a huge star there that started to outsell his father back in the 90s.

    When he launched his mainstream career he got comparisons to Julio at first too but he still went on to have a lot of success.

    It also doesn't really explain the arbitrary nature of his success or lack of thereof in Spain. If it was simply that the media there feels he pales in comparison to Julio then surely his level of "success" would be more or less constant but he seems to be huge at at times and nonexistant at other times with no real rhyme or reason - even if it's the exact opposite in the rest of the world.

    It's just very odd.
  • Steve35Steve35 Posts: 2,468
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    Zack06 wrote: »
    Nicole Scherzinger. Totally not successful in the US as a solo artist, but definitely successful in the UK. Rihanna is also far more successful chartwise in the UK than in the US.

    Isn't she from Barbados?:confused:
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,074
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    Although both went on to do well WW Didn`t both Backstreet Boys & NSync first start off in Europe before breaking through in the states?
  • musicjukebox123musicjukebox123 Posts: 745
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    Yeah both did well in Europe first as pop music only came back in fashion in the States in 1997 with Spice Girls and Hanson and followed by BSB and N sync.
  • Zack06Zack06 Posts: 28,304
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    Steve35 wrote: »
    Isn't she from Barbados?:confused:

    I refer you to post #12 :yawn:
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 716
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    Lana Del Rey has to be the biggest 'recent' example. Born To Die is multi Platinum in a lot of countries in Europe, Australia, New Zealand etc. The US is faaaaaaaar behind but she will eventually get a million there.
    Lewnaticc wrote: »
    Cher Lloyd. It seems she's enjoying quite a bit of popularity in the states. So much so that they don't even bother marketing her over here.

    She's had one hit, another chart entry and a mediocre selling album that hasn't even sold half the requirement to go GOLD. She is defiantly more successful over here with a #1 and a further top 10 hit and another top 30. Her album is also close to platinum.
    Alexis Jordan

    Didn't realize she was American?? Just looked her up. :eek:
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