Artists whose peak period was middle-age

Barry White?

Fela Kuti

imo Kate Bush... Wuthering Heights was great and all, but she really didn't start producing a constant stream of quality stuff 'til her 4th & 5th albums

Underworld. 92-95 being their middle period.

PJ Harvey's headed that way on the strength of the last two albums.

I'd say Aerial is the only album Kate Bush has produced in middle age so far.

Derek Bailey

The Stranglers and the House of Love (or at least Guy whatshisname)

Chadwick. He was only early thirties though when the House Of Love made their best records.

Chas & Dave

hanson will peak in 15 years

Chris Eckman

Lee Scratch Perry

James Brown

Louis Philippe

Wendy Carlos

the average age of Sonic Youth's members was 35 when they released their highest selling album (Dirty).

classical would probably be cheating right?

Many of the greatest classical composers were actually past middle age when they composed their best work.

Otherwise, The Police? Or at least Andy Summers.

Those (i.e. not myself) who consider Peter Gabriel's solo work to be superior to his Genesis work may also go for him.

Personally, I think Aerosmith peaked in the middle age, but I know the majority will disagree with me.

Lieutenant Pigeon

I think Aerosmith peaked in the middle ageS

Lol, bands are old joek.

James Brown

ugh can't believe this didn't occur to me. duh

Well, Gregorian chants surely peaked in the middle age. :)

personally i'm planning to peak around 43

Guess I'd better shoot for late 50s

Madonna released Ray of Light at age 40, and Confessions on a Dance Floor at age 47. Those are my two favorite records of hers, though she definitely had quite a run of awesome songs in her late 20s/early 30s.

how old were Vital Remains when they put out Dechristianize?

in any case, them...

XX-Post My favourite Madonna album was "Like a Prayer", but she had turned 30 then, so I guess that may count as middle age if you stretch it a bit.

(And those two albums, plus "Music", are awesome as well - all three clearly made when she was middle age)

Which brings me to Kylie Minogue btw. If her age at the time of "Fever" and "Body Language" counts as middle age.

Scorpions

I consider "The Visitors" to have been ABBA's peak, by which time three of the group members were in their mid 30s.

personally i'm planning to peak around 43

― adult music person (Jordan), Tuesday, March 29, 2011 5:27 PM (48 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah this is a good inspiring thread for any musician who hasn't done anything of particular note yet in their youth

Joseph Haydn composed many of his most famous and acclaimed works after he turned 60s,

Bach's "Die Kunst der Fuge" is by many considered to be the definitive culmination of his fugue work. He started work on it at 65 and worked on it until his death at 75.

Ella Fitzgerald did the first of her famous Songbook series of LPs at about age 39 and all the other great stuff she did on the Verve label post-dated that

Peggy Lee did "Fever" at age 38 and her second phase on Capitol Records, which was full of interesting work, stretched from her late '30s to her early '50s... though whether that was her peak period is highly debatable

Tina Turner certainly belongs on this thread...

jandek

the besnard lakes' latest album is an artistic triumph and the two main members are both (well) over 40

outrageous cherry are old as fuck and still putting out awesome recs

Scott Walker already been mentioned, but he comes to mind as someone who may well have peaked in old age - he's 68 now and as relevant to the modern music scene as he's ever been.

Outrageous Cherry

In two bands...Matthew Smith is great in the Volebeats too.

I'd say Aerial is the only album Kate Bush has produced in middle age so far.

― The Louvin Spoonful (WmC), Tuesday, March 29, 2011 2:51 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

Yeah, once again it my own failure to read the first post of the thread.... I was thinking in terms of middle of career age versus actual age.

like when somebody said Radiohead upthread I thought it was blasphemous that King of Limbs (they're pretty much middle-age NOW) could be their career high-light, but then summing their entire discog together, found that OKC & Kid A fit right into the middle of their career. anyways.

i've never put a hyphen inside "highlight" in my life until now

--Scott Walker already been mentioned, but he comes to mind as someone who may well have peaked in old age - he's 68 now and as relevant to the modern music scene as he's ever been.--

man, fuck that guy. wisconsin was bad enough before.

I have this half-baked idea that most artists lose their melodic gifts as they age; there are exceptions but I feel like it's true in most cases.

really? I feel like if anything artist decline at that age typically has more to do with creative fatigue or ego or ambition or pretentious experimentation or running out of things to say lyrically than losing the ability to write melodies.

well, I did say it was half-baked. But I'm thinking of Springsteen, Townshend, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits, Petty, McCartney, Elton John, Brian Wilson, Prince, Bowie.

yeah...it's possible some of those guys simply don't write tunes like they used to but i feel like in most cases there are distinct other issues. if i had a better understanding of melody i wish i could really break it down and examine that theory, though, it's interesting.