Musicians Who Became Mega-Successful Before They Hit 21

A select few of the most famous musicians of all time ascended to their lofty or even legendary status well before they were adults, becoming established and confirmed stars prior to their 21st birthdays. While pop and rock music are historically youthful pursuits, geared toward the young and often made by the young to celebrate the virtues of youth, the artists behind classic pop and rock hits were usually a bit past adolescence when they found success. But not always. Some people are lucky enough to figure out exactly what they want to do at an early age, and they happen to be extremely good at it. The result: They're mega-stars in the world of music before they're even legally or technically adults. 

While most of the human population is only just starting their careers at the age of majority, a few young geniuses from music history were already household names who'd sold millions of records. Here are five stars who 1) became a big deal, and 2) turned 21 — in that order.

While most British Invasion bands of the 1960s aimed to rock hard and look cool while doing so, one of the most explosively successful acts of the movement racked up their hits while embracing folk, humor, and elements of traditional British music. That was Herman's Hermits, who reached the Top 40 with 18 singles between late 1964 and early 1968. The five-piece's frontman and ready-made teen idol was Peter Noone, who sounded playful and flirtatious on massive hits like "I'm Into Something Good," "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat," and the outright silly "I'm Henry VIII, I Am." Herman's Hermits contended with the Beatles for visibility and even gave movies a try — 1966's "Hold On!" — but while the Fab Four had four superstars, this band pushed Noone hard. He was only 17 when they had their first U.S. No. 1 hit in 1965 with "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter."

Herman's Hermits landed their last major hit in 1968 — the year Noone marked his 21st birthday — with "I Can Take or Leave Your Loving." After the group called it quits, Noone went on to have a successful solo career as a recording artist and actor. 

In the 1970s, Stevie Wonder won the Grammy Award for album of the year three times for his genre-bending masterpieces "Innervisions," "Fulfillingness' First Finale," and "Songs in the Key of Life." He accomplished all of that before the age of 30. And before all of that, Wonder had already built a reputation as one of the most successful hitmakers of the 1960s. 

One of the highest-profile acts aligned with Motown Records, Wonder made it to the Top 40 of the pop chart 20 times before he reached legal adulthood in May 1971. The multi-instrumentalist churned out exuberant confirmations of the goodness of life and astonishing love ballads, too. Numerous classics were among them, such as "For Once in My Life," "Uptight (Everything's Alright)," and "My Cherie Amour." It all started for Wonder in 1963. His first hit single was his first of 10 career No. 1 smashes: "Fingertips (Part II)." When it ruled over the Hot 100 for three weeks in August 1963, Wonder was just 13 years old.

The Jackson 5's unlikely meteoric rise started when Motown Records contracted the quintet in 1968. 1970 virtually belonged to the Jackson 5, a bubblegum-pop-meets-R&B group that sang, harmonized, danced, and played some of their own instruments, too. In that one year, "ABC," "The Love You Save," and "I'll Be There" all hit No. 1 on the pop chart. While the Jackson 5 was marketed as a boy band with all five brothers, who ranged in age from 9 to 19 in 1970, getting media attention, the star of the group was undoubtedly their lead singer and second-youngest sibling. Michael Jackson had a powerful voice, killer dance moves, and tons of charisma, and his high-pitched vocals and dazzling talents put him in the spotlight. Jackson's parallel solo career took shape in 1971, and by late 1972, he had scored Top 10 hits with "Got to Be There" and "Rockin' Robin" and hit No. 1 with the tender ballad "Ben." 

As an adult, Jackson would go on to score more No. 1 hits in the '80s than anyone else and record the best-selling studio album of all-time, 1982's "Thriller." He was already a veteran professional at that point; Jackson had turned 21 years old back in August 1979.

During her reign as one of the biggest pop stars on the planet in the late 1980s, Debbie Gibson was an actual teenager making the kind of music that teenagers bought and enjoyed, to such an extent that she set records. Gibson debuted in 1987 with "Out of the Blue," an LP that spawned five Top 30 singles, including "Shake Your Love," "Staying Together," and "Foolish Beat." When the latter reached the No. 1 slot on the Hot 100 in June 1988, Gibson was 17 years old, making her the youngest performer to ever sing, write, and produce unassisted a chart-topping hit. Gibson's second album, 1989's "Electric Youth," kept the hits coming, including "Lost in Your Eyes," which held the No. 1 spot for three weeks. 

"Out of the Blue" and "Electric Youth" both sold millions of copies in the U.S., while the 1990 LP "Anything Is Possible" sold only about half a million. The title track from that record was Gibson's last Top 40 hit, released in 1990; the singer wouldn't turn 21 until the following year.

Steve Winwood's first group was a Birmingham, U.K., project called the Ron Atkinson Band. Winwood was only 8 years old at the time, but he was already playing piano, guitar, and drums. After a stint in another local act, the Muff Woody Jazz Band, Winwood joined some much older musicians in the Spencer Davis Group at the age of 15. He was appointed the blues rock band's lead singer due to his soulful voice and piano skills. With Winwood's voice blasting through, the Spencer Davis Group generated a few classic '60s soul pop smashes, like "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "I'm a Man," both in 1967. When those songs reached the Top 10, Winwood was all of 19 years old.

Around that same time, Winwood teamed up with Dave Mason, Jim Capaldi, and Chris Wood to create Traffic. The psychedelic, progressive, jazzy collective was best known for the rock 'n' roll standard "Feelin' Alright" and the acclaimed albums "John Barleycorn Must Die" and "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys." During his time in Traffic, Winwood joined Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker of Cream in the supergroup Blind Faith, a one-hit wonder who released a single album and then vanished. Winwood recorded Blind Faith's sole LP around the time of his 21st birthday.