James Newell Osterberg, Jr., known professionally as Iggy Pop (born April 21, 1947), is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He was the vocalist of influential proto-punk band The Stooges, who reunited in 2003, and is well known for his outrageous and unpredictable stage antics.
Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the course of his career, including garage rock, punk rock, hard rock, art rock, new wave, jazz and blues. Though his popularity has fluctuated through the years, many of Pop's songs have become well-known, including "Lust for Life", "The Passenger", "Real Wild Child (Wild One)", "Candy" (a duet with Kate Pierson of The B-52's), "China Girl", "Nightclubbing", "Search and Destroy" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog".
Iggy began his music career as a drummer in various high school bands in Ann Arbor, Michigan, including the Iguanas, who cut several records such as Bo Diddley's "Mona" in 1965. His later stage name, 'Iggy', is derived from the Iguanas. After exploring local blues-style bands such as the Prime Movers (with brothers Dan and Michael Erlewine), he eventually dropped out of the University of Michigan and moved to Chicago to learn more about blues.
While in Chicago, he played drums in blues clubs, helped by Sam Lay (formerly of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band) who shared his connections with Iggy. Inspired by Chicago blues as well as bands like The Sonics, MC5 and The Doors, he formed the Psychedelic Stooges, the band was composed of Iggy on vocals, Ron Asheton on guitar, Asheton's brother Scott on drums, and Dave Alexander on bass.
In 2010, The Stooges were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.