What 25 famous musical acts looked like at the start of their careers

Backstreet Boys came as a fivesome at the height of their fame. But the group was just a duo when starting out, composed of cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson. They two sang in local church choirs and state fairs, covering R&B bands, which influenced their later work with Howie Dorough, A.J. McLean, and Nick Carter.

Beyonce is a one-named solo artist today. But when she started out, it was in the girl band Destiny's Child, which was famous in its own right before setting Beyonce on the path of global domination she has taken since.

From "Piano Man" to "Vienna," Billy Joel is known for his power ballads. But that hasn't always been the case. When Joel launched his career, it was as a member of the band Attila, which performed heavy metal songs.

Bob Dylan is not only one of the most famous singers in the world, he's also won a Nobel Prize in literature for his songwriting in 2016. But fame wasn't on the agenda early in his career. A native of Minnesota, his interest in music began as a member of several different bands. After going solo and moving to New York in 1961, Dylan wandered around New York City's Greenwich Village, performing in tiny clubs and cafes before landing a record contract.

Britney Spears is one of the most famous pop singers in the world today, known as much for the fight over her conservatorship as she is for her music. But when Britney was a teenager, she captured the public's attention with a stint on The Mickey Mouse Club—along with future boyfriend Justin Timberlake—before shocking and riveting the world with her turn as a sexy schoolgirl in her breakout single "Baby One More Time."

From "American Girls" to "Mr. Jones," Counting Crows are known for songs that hew to the rock 'n' roll template. But the band actually got its start as an acoustic duo, influences of which can still be heard on songs such as "Round Here."

The Cranberries began as an all-male band struggling to break through the music scene in the early 1990s. It wasn't until bandmates found a female singer, via an advertisement, and recorded the single "Linger" with her that the band found its footing and shot to fame.

Dolly Parton is the grand dame of country music. Her success is the result of many years of hard work, which started at an early age. When Parton was just a teenager, she earned herself a spot on stage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, and made several recordings. But they were not early hits, and it would take Parton years longer to become a household name.

Elvis was one of the biggest superstars in American music, hitting it big in the postwar era with his distinctive croon. When he was first starting out, however, he had to work odd jobs to make ends meet. Elvis traveled around the South singing where he could while working these jobs. His first record was "That's All Right," but his first hit was "Heartbreak Hotel."

Eminem, otherwise known as Marshall Mathers, has said he began rapping at 4. He cut his chops in rap battles—an era memorialized in the film "8 Mile"—but struggled to gain traction, performing in basements and underground clubs. It wasn't until he concocted an alter ego—Slim Shady, who said whatever he wanted—that his music really took off.

The Grateful Dead has one of the most paradoxical names in music. Before the group started touring under that famous moniker, the band was called the Warlocks, which itself derived from an earlier jug band called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions.

Jay-Z can command the attention of the world any time he drops a new single. That wasn't always the case. When he was first starting out, he actually went so far as to create a record label before dropping a song, which guaranteed that he would get it made.

Many singers and musicians transition from music into acting. Jennifer Lopez went in the other direction. The pop diva's earliest work was on screen, with a film debut at 16, and subsequent work that eventually led to her big break in "Selena," which helped her cross over into music.

Johnny Cash became known as an iconic American country, folk, and rock singer in the 1950s. But he actually got his start abroad. Cash taught himself to play the guitar and write songs while stationed in Germany serving in the U. S. Air Force.

These days, Kanye West gets more headlines for his controversial and antisemitic statements than for his music. Before his solo career, he started in a group aptly titled The Go Getters, which was composed of numerous Chicago-area rappers.

One of the most famous singers in the world today, Madonna Ciccone is also one of the wealthiest. That hasn't always been the case. When Madonna moved to New York City in the late 1970s at 19, she had just $35 in her pocket. That didn't stop her. She became fast and close friends with some of the most famous artists of the time before she skyrocketed to fame, including Keith Haring and Andy Warhol.

Miley Cyrus has become known for her sometimes wild behavior, including pole dancing at the Teen Choice Awards. She shot to fame via a more wholesome route, by nabbing the lead role in the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana.

The Ramones shot to fame in the 1970s at the rock club KGBG in the East Village of New York. The punk rock band got its start in decidedly less glamorous venues—the group's roots were laid across the East River in Forest Hill, Queens.

Rihanna is an icon known all over the world for her edge and style. But she started off her career slightly less in the spotlight. Rihanna was originally one of three members of a girl band she started with two classmates. When they got an audition for a producer visiting Barbados, where Rihanna was born and raised, he spotted her talent, and her solo career took off.

The Spice Girls were so famous in the 1990s that they starred in a box office smash movie based entirely on themselves and their fame. Although their interpersonal dynamics and message of "girl power" were a key part of their appeal, the group actually came together inorganically. They started out as strangers, who had all answered an ad in 1993, seeking to manufacture a girl band.

Taylor Swift has had a charmed and illustrious career, even becoming the youngest person ever to strike a record deal, which she did when she was 14. What was her first job? She worked at her family's Christmas tree farm, where her job was to pick insects off the trees.

Famous for producing mega-hits like "Mamma Mia," which spawned a 1999 musical of the same name, ABBA formed in Sweden in the early 1970s. After finding moderate success in their home country, the pop quartet skyrocketed to international fame once they won the Eurovision song contest in 1974 with their song "Waterloo." A string of chart-topping tracks followed, and by 1976, ABBA had become a household name worldwide.

Long before brothers Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb spread "Saturday Night Fever" around the world, the trio performed as kids in small venues in the U.K. and, later, the Redcliffe Speedway in Australia. It was here that the brothers caught their big break, playing music for local radio stations and appearing on TV shows like "Anything Goes." Originally known as the BGs (the initials of two of the brothers' early supporters), the Gibbs rebranded as the Bee Gees and secured their first record label contract in 1963, paving the way for decades of future hits like "Stayin' Alive" and "You Should Be Dancing."

Perhaps best known among American audiences for '90s ballads like "My Heart Will Go On" and "Power of Love," Québécois artist Céline Dion recorded her first song, "Ce n'était qu'un rêve," at just 12 years old. From there, her career soared—she signed with manager René Angélil (whom Dion would later marry) in 1981 and went on to win gold at the Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo. In 1983, Dion made her first TV appearance in France, singing on the show "Champs-Élysées."

Mariah Carey's Grammy Award-winning career started in her childhood, when she began singing and writing original songs. At the age of 19, Carey signed with Columbia Records (later Sony) after giving one her demo tapes to a label executive. Later, Carey's 1990 self-titled debut album spent 11 weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 and launched her into the limelight, leading to wildly successful hits like "Always Be My Baby," "Fantasy," and, of course, "All I Want for Christmas Is You."