Brian Mansfield
Worst Pre-Fame Jobs: No. 19
Trent Tomlinson: Carpet Cleaner
Tomlinson sings about having 'One Wing in the Fire,' which apparently is preferable to having two nostrils near some of the carpets he used to clean. "I would have to pour hot steam on really awful stains, like cat pee," he says...
Worst Pre-Fame Jobs: No. 18
Kimberly Roads: Green Bean Picker
Before hitting the big time with Little Big Town, Roads spent a summer picking green beans for two dollars a bushel. "It takes forever to pick a bushel of green beans!" she says.
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Worst Pre-Fame Jobs: No. 17
Clint Black: Newspaper Solicitor
Black, who had a Top Five hit in 1990 with 'Nothing's News,' sold subscriptions for his hometown newspaper, the Houston Post, when he was 14. "One time, a man slammed his door in my face and screamed, 'I don't want no damn paper,'" Black told Reader's Digest...
Worst Pre-Fame Jobs: No. 16
Blake Shelton: Tape Dubber
Shelton held two well-publicized day jobs: one painting houses (clients included 'Heartbreak Hotel' writer Mae Boren Axton) and another making copies of cassette tapes. Shelton has said he preferred painting houses...
Worst Pre-Fame Jobs: No. 15
Garth Brooks: Boot SalesmanMost people know Brooks as the best-selling artist in music history. Before all that, though, he was a hillbilly Al Bundy, managing a boot store. He kept the job until shortly before the release of his first record...
Worst Pre-Fame Jobs: No. 14
Philip Sweet: Mall Maintenance Man
The Little Big Town singer used to work at a Nashville mall doing custodial work, such as cleaning bathrooms, after closing time. "It would get pretty gruesome after a days worth of customers," Sweet says. "I didn't hang around long there...
Worst Pre-Fame Jobs: No. 13
Dale Wallace: Furniture Upholsterer
The Emerson Drive keyboardist earned money for the down payment on his first keyboard by working in his parents' upholstery shop when he was 13. "It was long, hard work," Wallace says,"and I remember that it was in a basement with no windows...
Worst Pre-Fame Jobs: No. 12
Clay Walker: Tire Factory Janitor
Early on, Walker worked in a sweltering tire factory. But he wasn't even on the line -- he just cleaned up. Walker also sold shoes and worked as a motel night clerk before landing his record deal.
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Worst Pre-Fame Jobs: No. 11
Steve Earle: Car Wash Attendant
Before he came to Guitar Town, the hard-core troubadour worked at a Houston car wash during the gas crisis of the '70s. The manager gave Earle a .25 automatic to carry in his coveralls, in case testy motorists got out of hand...
Worst Pre-Fame Jobs: No. 10
Joe Nichols: Steak SalesmanThe guy who once sang 'What's a Guy Gotta Do' hustled frozen meat out of the back of a truck in the 100-degree Nashville heat one July. "It was so apparently bad that by the end of the day, we would walk halfway up the driveways and people would just come outside and shake their heads, 'No, get back in the truck," Nichols says...