Iggy Pop

Detroit

James Newell Osterberg Jr. was born in Muskegon, Michigan, on April 21, 1947. He began as a drummer in Ann Arbor high school bands, among them the Iguanas, and then joined the Prime Movers, who gave him the nickname Iggy for his time in the Iguanas. With Ron Asheton on guitar, Scott Asheton on drums and Dave Alexander on bass, he formed the Psychedelic Stooges, and the band signed to Elektra in 1968. John Cale produced their first album in 1969, and Don Gallucci produced Fun House in 1970. Both sold poorly. After Raw Power in 1973, the Stooges played a final show at Detroit's Michigan Palace in 1974.

Berlin

In 1976 David Bowie took Pop on tour, and the two then moved to West Berlin. In 1977 Pop signed to RCA and made two albums with Bowie as co-writer and producer, with Pop usually supplying the lyrics. The Idiot came out on March 18. It was recorded at the Château d'Hérouville in France and in Munich, then mixed in Berlin. Bowie composed most of the music, and Pop described the result as a cross between James Brown and Kraftwerk. It holds Nightclubbing and China Girl. Rolling Stone's John Swenson called it the most savage indictment of rock posturing ever recorded. In Britain it reached number 30, Pop's first top 40 album there. Pitchfork later placed it at number 96 on its list of the best albums of the 1970s, and it has been cited as an influence on Joy Division, Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails.

Lust for Life followed on September 9, recorded at Hansa Studio by the Wall in May and June with a touring band that included Ricky Gardiner, Carlos Alomar and the brothers Tony Fox and Hunt Sales. Pop said the whole album was written, recorded and mixed in eight days. It holds the title song, Lust for Life, and The Passenger. It reached number 28 in Britain and number 120 in the United States, and RCA gave it little promotion. Pitchfork put it at number 64 on the same 1970s list, and Stacey Anderson called it a mission statement for the ages.

After Bowie

A live album drawn from the two 1977 tours, TV Eye Live, came out in May 1978. Pop then moved to Arista and made New Values in 1979, with James Williamson producing. It reached number 60 in Britain. In 1983 Bowie's own version of China Girl reached number two in Britain and number ten in the United States. Bowie then co-wrote and co-produced Blah-Blah-Blah in 1986. Its single Real Wild Child (Wild One), a cover of a 1958 Johnny O'Keefe song, reached number 10 in Britain. Brick by Brick in 1990, produced by Don Was, brought his only top 40 hit in the United States, Candy, a duet with Kate Pierson. In 1996 Lust for Life was used in the film Trainspotting and was reissued as a single, which reached number 26 in Britain.

Later work

Pop reformed the Stooges after the 2003 album Skull Ring, and the group made The Weirdness, recorded by Steve Albini, in 2007. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 2010. In 2016 he released Post Pop Depression, made with Josh Homme, Dean Fertita and Matt Helders and recorded in 2015. It became his first top 20 album in the United States and his first top five album in Britain. NME's Matt Wilkinson called it "an intelligent, sassy garage rock record". Pop told the Guardian that year that he had sent Homme a description of exactly how The Idiot and Lust for Life were made.

He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in January 2020 and the Polar Music Prize on May 25, 2022. Every Loser, produced by Andrew Watt, followed in January 2023. In 2024 he re-recorded The Passenger as a duet with Siouxsie Sioux.