Seven actors who've released their own albums

Not many people know that Hammer horror and Lord Of The Rings star Christopher Lee had a second career as a heavy metal vocalist. According to Mark, "As well as being a fantastic actor, Lee was genuinely a cultural polymath."

Lee is just one in a long line of stars, from Bette Davis and Robert Mitchum, to Russell Crowe and Minnie Driver, who have been tempted to try their hand in the record business. Whether they've chosen calypso, poetry, country and western, soul ballads or rock and roll, the results have been sometimes surprising, sometimes cringe making and sometimes just utterly puzzling... Here are seven of those actors to have released their own albums.

The Transformed Man, William Shatner’s 1968 debut, remains one of the most eccentric records ever released. Boldly going where no man had gone before, he included spoken versions of songs like Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds and Mr Tambourine Man, interspersed with readings from Shakespeare. George Clooney chose Shatner’s Lucy as one of his Desert Island Discs as an incentive to build a canoe and escape! Subsequent albums include Has Been, Seeking Major Tom and Ponder The Mystery, with contributions from Mick Jagger, Brian May, Peter Frampton and Rick Wakeman.

Luther star (and potential next James Bond) Idris Elba has "a massive fantasy to be a musician". His eclectic and edgy 2015 album Murdah Loves John features eight tracks exploring and inspired by his hit BBC One TV series. He says, "I’m trying to give my fans and people that love film and music a very interesting perspective into both worlds." Among those musicians featured is Tom Meighan of Kasabian. Elba recently supported Madonna on her Rebel Heart tour.

Featuring songs by legendary singer-songwriter Tom Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan, and including vocals by David Bowie, Scarlett Johansson’s 2008 album Anywhere I Lay My Head is one of the more curious and interesting entries in this list. Her husky vocal style was compared by some to Nico of The Velvet Underground fame, although others were less impressed – "a faintly goth Marilyn Monroe lost in a sonic fog" was how Rolling Stone magazine described her. The album has sold around 25,000 copies worldwide, making it a modest cult success.

Pinkett Smith very publicly boycotted the Oscars this year over the diversity row, but in 2005 she herself was the subject of death threats when her metal band Wicked Wisdom were added to the line up for Ozzfest. Sharon Osborne had seen them perform in an LA nightclub and liked what she heard: "I was blown away. When you see and hear Jada with her band it's apparent that she has nothing but love and respect for this genre of music." Wicked Wisdom released their only album in 2006, with husband Will Smith acting as executive producer.

Willis is one of a number of Hollywood hardmen who have turned singers – others include Clint Eastwood, Lee Marvin, Steven Seagal and Russell Crowe. His 1987 covers album The Return Of Bruno had backing from Booker T. Jones, The Pointer Sisters and The Temptations. One of the most commercially successful actor LPs, it reached No. 14 in the US. His version of Under The Boardwalk was a big hit here in the UK – getting to No. 2 and becoming the 12th best selling single of the year. Yippee Ki-yay…

Notorious Hollywood bad girl Lindsay Lohan had a big hit with her 2004 album Speak, which sold a million copies in the USA alone. She co-wrote five of the tracks including the song Over, which was the only track to be released as a single in the UK. Lohan returned to the music scene last year when she turned up on the Duran Duran album Paper Gods and appeared on stage with Simon Le Bon at the O2 in December.

Perhaps the single strangest album ever released by an actor remains Crispin Glover’s The Big Problem ≠ The Solution. The Solution = Let It Be. Still best known for playing Marty McFly’s ultra-nervous dad George in Back To The Future, Glover fell out with the director following the first film and successfully sued the producers after a likeness of him was used without his permission in the sequel Back To The Future 2. This extraordinary 1989 concept album consists largely of narrated prose with eerie orchestrated music behind it. One highlight is his bizarre cover version of the Nancy Sinatra hit These Boots Are Made For Walking – it has to be heard to be believed…