Who was the first musician to be knighted?
There’s always been a moral conundrum surrounding whether artists should accept a knighthood from the Royal Family, an institution that is the physical embodiment of the establishment. Most iconic British musical figures of a certain age now have a title, including Paul McCartney and Elton John, but neither of them were the first to be honoured.
When Mick Jagger accepted a knighthood and became Sir Mick Jagger in 2003, it caused a rift with his fellow Rolling Stone, Keith Richards. The guitarist was incensed by his bandmate’s decision and fumed in an interview: “I went fucking berserk when I heard. I thought it was ludicrous to take one of those gongs from the establishment when they did their very best to throw us in jail and kill us at one time.”
Meanwhile, David Bowie shared the same position as Richards and rejected the opportunity when The Queen came calling. Initially, Bowie was offered a CBE in 2000 but had no interest in accepting their offer. Three years later, they returned with an upgraded offer of a knighthood, but Bowie’s position remained unchanged.
Explaining the rejection during an interview with The Sun, Bowie said: “I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don’t know what it’s for. It’s not what I spent my life working for. It’s not my place to make a judgment on Jagger, it’s his decision. But it’s just not for me”.
It wasn’t until 1986 when a musician first accepted a knighthood, and since then, many others have followed suit. While Cliff Richard was the first artist to receive the prestigious honour purely for their contribution in 1995, technically, Bob Geldof was the first musician to accept a knighthood.
Admittedly, Geldof wasn’t awarded the prestigious honour for his work with The Boomtown Rats. Instead, it was for his instrumental contribution to Band Aid and Live Aid, which raised millions to tackle the famine in Ethiopia. As Geldof is Irish, it was an honorary knighthood rather than an ordinary knighthood. In 2007, U2 singer Bono received the same honour.
Controversially, Geldof handed back his Freedom of the City of Dublin award in protest over Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who received the same prize in 1999 and her in-action against the torture of Rohingya Muslims.
In a statement, Geldof said: “Her association with our city shames us all and we should have no truck with it, even by default. We honoured her, now she appals and shames us. In short, I do not wish to be associated in any way with an individual currently engaged in the mass ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people of north-west Burma.”
However, despite Britain’s indefensible actions on the international stage this century, Geldof didn’t feel compelled to hand back his knighthood. His decision sparked outrage about his conflicting stances, including an angry statement from the Mayor of Dublin.
