It's hard to believe that some of the biggest names in Hollywood worked a regular 9-5 job. Like many of us, several pop stars we know and love held down odd jobs here and there to make ends meet, whether it was working in the fast-food industry, driving a truck, or working in retail.
Stars like Nicki Minaj, Pink, and even Madonna worked everyday jobs before they became who they are today. While they are regarded as some of the most talented stars in the world, they were once just like us and worked extremely hard to make it to the top.
10 Nicki Minaj
Before Nicki Minaj became one of the biggest female rap stars, she was working as a waitress in New York City at Red Lobster. The rapper worked at the seafood restaurant when she went by her first name, Onika, but admitted that she wasn't the best employee.
Minaj also worked at a phone company, while she was still concentrating on her career in music. She admitted that she even thought about going back to a regular 9-5 job after she had no money and no food to eat, but thankfully, she landed her dream career.
9 Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris is one of the most popular DJ's in the world, but before he got to where he is today, this record producer was working at a supermarket, stocking shelves, according to Planet Radio. The star also worked at a fish factory and had dreams to become a professional soccer player.
However, music appeared to be his true passion, and as a teenager, Harris was recording music in his bedroom. In 2007, his debut album, I Created Disco saw major success, and the rest is history.
8 Brandon Flowers
Brandon Flowers is best known as the lead singer and keyboardist of The Killers, but before he hit it big, he was working in Las Vegas to make ends meet. The musician was working in hotels as a bellman, initially wanting to pursue a career in golf, which seems totally out of Flowers' realm.
However, his life changed drastically after responding to an ad in a local newspaper by Dave Keuning, who would become The Killer's guitarist, and the pair formed the rock band in 2001.
7 Johnny Cash
Before Johnny Cash gave the world classics like "I Walk the Line," and "Big River," this Arkansas native was working odd jobs to make money. According to his biography, the country star was in the United States Air Force as a radio intercept operator, and then later worked in an automobile factory and even was a door-to-door salesman.
Cash got his big break in 1955, in Memphis, Tennessee, the "birthplace of rock and roll," and he would have no idea how influential he would become in music.
6 Pink
Pink hit the music scene in 2000, when she released her debut song, "There You Go," and since then, she's become a household name. But, before this songstress was showing off her acrobatics on stage, she was flipping burgers in McDonald's, with the star sharing that having a job no matter what it was, gave her "financial independence."
Pink shared, "It was important to my family that I make my own money. I was a drive-through girl at McDonald's. I had a Janet Jackson microphone - I had power."
5 Jack White
The White Stripes didn't get famous overnight, with the band's lead singer and guitarist Jack White having a secret love for a specific craft before getting big into music. According to NPR, when the singer lived in Detroit, Michigan, he re-upholstered furniture and actually loved doing it, before he made it big.
Talking to NPR, the singer talked about his former profession, sharing, "I wanted to talk to people with trade jobs and make records with them. I wanted to do more records with carpenters, electricians, people who specialize in even more bizarre traits that are off the beaten path."
4 Madonna
Madonna's music has been heard around the world, but before she became the icon she is today, this songstress was working a regular 9-5 job to make a living. After she quit college in Michigan, she made her way to New York City, in 1977, with just over thirty dollars and a head full of dreams, according to Notable Biographies.
While in the Big Apple, Madonna worked at a Dunkin' Donuts but admitted that her time there only last a week because she was playing around with the store's jelly machine, according to Cheat Sheet.
3 John Legend
John Legend actually had a pretty solid career before he became one of the biggest artists in the U.S. Before hitting it big in Hollywood, Legend graduated from the University of Pennslyvania and went on to work in corporate, at a Boston Consulting Group, according to CNBC. However, the singer admitted that it wasn't his true passion in life.
"I couldn't shake my passion for music," Legend said in a speech in 2014. Even though it took him years to break into the music scene, he ended up meeting Kanye West thanks to a former college friend, who later produced his first record, Get Lifted.
2 Elvis
Even Elvis Presley held down a number of jobs before blessing the world with songs like "Hound Dog," "Suspicious Minds," and "All Shook Up." In high school, to make some extra money, Presley and his friends started a lawn business. His next job would be working as a movie theater usher, then an assembler at a furniture manufacturer, and operating a drill press at Precision Tool.
In 1955, Presley made over $25,000 in earnings, and the next year, when he hit it big in Hollywood, he made over $282,000. By 1958, he would make over a million dollars a year, according to Graceland.
1 Kanye West
As a teen, Kanye West worked at the Gap in Chicago and even rapped about his time working for the retail store in "Spaceship" off his album, The College Dropout. He raps, "Let's go back to the Gap, Look at my check - wasn't no scratch, So if I stole, wasn't my fault, Yeah, I stole - never got caught."
Interestingly, after making it big, West made a deal with the retailer to sell his fashion brand Yeezy, which will be in stores this year.