There has been a lot of nepo baby chat over the past few years and music is not short of children who are following in their parent's footsteps. Maybe the grievances around the offspring of our musical heroes getting into the family business comes down to the age-old British past-time of seething about the injustice of someone getting an undeserved leg-up. No, it doesn’t matter if they do deserve it, it’s not fair and we’re seething about it.
Sometimes it doesn’t even make sense. It was regularly pointed out, for example, in the early days of The 1975 that motormouth frontman Matt Healy had famous parents, with people seemingly over-estimating just how much sway the presenter of Loose Women and the former star of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet had over modern music. No-one has listened to one of The 1975’s forward-thinking pop songs and gone, ‘You can tell his dad was in Benidorm can’t you?’.
And then there’s the best demolisher of the idea of musical nepo babies of all: James McCartney. He has been making music since the mid-00s and hasn’t been able to catch a break despite being the son of Paul flippin’ McCartney. Now, if the child of Britain’s most famous ever songwriter can’t use his dad’s influence and reputation to be a success, what chance does anyone else have?
The fortunes tend to be mixed. To varying extents, Jeff Buckley, Wolfgang Van Halen, Neneh Cherry’s daughter Mabel, Willow and Jakub Dylan all forged their own path, some totally managing to escape the shadows of their folks, others not. Surely that’s the dream, getting out there and doing it on your own terms. Here’s 10 star offspring who will be hoping that’s the case...
Automotion, Villanelle
Dad: Liam Gallagher
It was a Son Of Liam double-whammy this week as both of the ex-Oasis frontman’s son announced plans with their bands. Elder sibling Lennon Gallagher’s band Automotion, an experimental art-rock group who Liam would have definitely picked on in an interview in the 90s, unveiled plans for a new EP, whilst Gene Gallagher’s fledgling group Villanelle, who have just supported Liam at his Definitely Maybe anniversary shows, announced their first UK tour.
Stella Rose
Dad: Dave Gahan
Stella Rose also did the honour of playing support to her pops – her dad is Depeche Mode singer Dave Gahan and she played before the group at New York’s Madison Square Garden last year. Her music inhabits a similarly gothic territory to her old man’s crew but takes it in a more dramatic and bombastic pop direction. In 2023, she released debut album Eyes Of Glass.
Noah Yorke
Dad: Thom Yorke
Radiohead and The Smile frontman Thom Yorke released a new mixtape on his Mixcloud account this week and very sweetly included a song by his son Noah Yorke. The track was originally released last year and shows the younger Yorke has picked up some family traits, all plaintive piano, soulful falsetto vocals and jazz-y melancholia.
Inhaler
Dad: Bono
Similarly, Inhaler frontman Eli Hewson doesn’t shy away from his family DNA. U2 became humungous off the back of Bono’s booming, earnest vocal perfect for universal anthems and Hewson Jr has tapped into it too – it’s worked, the approach giving them chart placings of 1 and 2 with Inhaler’s two albums. As you can see in the video below, he is also continuing the family tradition of thriving in big venues.
Black Country, New Road
Dad: Karl Hyde
Inventive post-rock collective Black Country, New Road do a fine line in messy, avant-garde experimenting, a lot of their songs sounding like they are about to fall over. It’s a long way from the music that vocalist and bassist Tyler Hyde’s father makes – Karl Hyde is the singer in euphoric techno pioneers Underworld.
Tye Trujillo
Dad: Robert Trujillo
Bassist Tye is quite literally walking in his father’s footsteps – Tye is currently the bassist in thrash metal dons Suicidal Tendencies, a role taken by his dad from 1989-1995. Hilariously, Robert filled in for his son at a gig in 2023 when Tye was double-booked and had to play with his other band OTTTO.
Olivia Vedder
Dad: Eddie Vedder
Olivia teamed up with her dad and former Frames man Glen Hansard for the captivating ballad My Father’s Daughter in 2023. She’s yet to follow it up with something of her own, but did come to London to play the track with her dad at his Teenage Cancer Trust slot earlier this year.
Romany Gilmour
Dad: David Gilmour
Romany Gilmour previously appeared in an episode of Downton Abbey but she’s also a singer and tapped into her lineage by taking the lead vocal on Pink Floyd dad David’s recent single Between Two Points, an atmospheric cover of a song by Manchester duo The Montgolfier Brothers.
Jack Bates
Dad: Peter Hook
Across the years, there have been certain Smashing Pumpkins’ songs that have sought to evoke the wiry, bass-playing style of New Order’s four-string icon Peter Hook. Billy Corgan has gone to the next level of late, though, enlisting Hook’s son Jack Bates on bass to inject some New Order-iness brilliance into the Pumpkins’ sound.
