The Sound of Youth: 12 Rare Photos of Celebrities in Their High School Band Days (13 photos)

A passion for music often starts at an early age, and school bands and marching orchestras frequently serve as the launching pad for future icons—and not just musical ones. Take a look back at future rock legends jamming in their school rehearsal rooms and hip-hop stars getting their start on the cymbals.







Lil Wayne, one of the best-selling hip-hop artists of all time, played the cymbals in his school band as a kid.





Actress and producer Jennifer Garner was a self-described band geek in her youth, playing both the saxophone and the clarinet.



Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, future husband of bombshell Pamela Anderson, got behind the drum kit at a tender young age.



Future actress Eva Longoria was not only a beauty and a straight-A student in school, but also the drum majorette for her marching band.



As a child, future Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain played on a Mickey Mouse drum set. In the school band, however, he stuck to a standard kit.



British actor Ewan McGregor played the French horn back in his school days.



Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the Moon, attended high school back in the 1940s—where he played the tuba in the school band.



American jazz singer and pianist Norah Jones was deeply immersed in music during her school years, studying both piano and saxophone.



Future 42nd U.S. President Bill Clinton was also a member of his school band in the early 1960s. Can you guess his instrument of choice? The saxophone!



Steven Spielberg was picked on in school, often for being the only Jewish kid in his class—and likely for being a flute-playing nerd.



Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor also played the saxophone in his high school band.



And a surprising curveball: Russian TV host Andrey Malakhov, who spent his childhood practicing the violin.