12 US rock stars you didn't know were Lebanese!

posted on: Jul 23, 2015

Legendary US radio DJ Casey Kasem died last June, leaving a long-reaching legacy in American modern music. He not only entertained radio listeners as the host of popular music countdown shows, but was also an effervescent voice-over actor. (He was Shaggy in the “Scooby-Doo” cartoon series!) Kasem was just one of many Lebanese entertainers “instrumental” in American modern music.

Born Kemal Amen Kasem in Detroit in 1932, he was the son of Druze parents from Lebanon and enthusiastically embraced his Arab roots. He promoted Lebanese artists, supported Lebanese charities, and collaborated with other Lebanese-Americans on his varied productions. His colleague and boyhood pal Don Bustany, another talent with “Bei-roots,” created and produced the radio programs that shot Kasem to stardom.

The 1960’s “British Invasion” radically changed American music, but an earlier (and arguably more influential) “Lebanese Invasion” helped position American popular music as central on the world stage.

Lebanese-Americans make up about one percent of the US population, but they’ve been key contributors to the country’s arts and sciences for over 100 years, emerging as leaders in the pop music scene. Their contributions were often sublime, sometimes teetering on kitsch — but always influential to future artists ranging from Frank Sinatra, to Etta James, to Michael Jackson.  

Here are just a few of the more famous ones

Source: www.albawaba.com