In the holiday movie Fred Claus, Vince Vaughn plays Fred, the bitter older brother of Santa Claus. In one scene, he goes to a group counseling session with the brothers of Sylvester Stallone, Bill Clinton, Alec Baldwin and others to vent his frustration. Today is the 60th birthday of David Knopfler. You might recognize the surname, the same as older brother Mark, who became famous as the guitarist and singer for Dire Straits.
After playing on the first three Dire Straits records with his brother, David left the band and pursued a solo career as a musician, author, producer and poet. He had moderate success with his recording career, releasing a string of records over the last 20 years, but nothing compared to the success of brother Mark.
On his birthday, we soothe David with a list of seven other lesser known rock music siblings.
7. Rich Robinson
"Young" Rich Robinson, as his older brother, Chris, calls him, was as much the backbone of southern roots, jam band the Black Crowes as his older sibling, but being the guitarist put him behind the more charismatic character of his brother both in the band and in their solo careers. Their fights also happen to be the stuff of rock and roll legend.
6. Richard Carpenter
Unfortunately, Karen's brother is mostly thought of as a tagalong to his silky-voiced sister. Many found he pair's relationship to be creepy and her death of anorexia along with his drug addiction at the same time didn't help matters. Still, he was part of one of the most successful recording duos of the '70s, even if most people only remember his sister.
5. Malcolm Young
The irony of Malcolm Young, brother to wild and wooly guitarist Angus from AC/DC is that, is that, by all accounts, AC/DC is Malcom's band. Most everyone knows the crazed guitar-slinging antics and schoolboy wardrobe of Angus, but the guy that runs the show when it comes to the band is the rhythm guitar-playing sibling. Go figure.
4. Tom Fogerty
Having an overbearing sibling is tough enough, but being in a band with him must be hell. Tom Fogerty was one of the founding members of Creedence Clearwater Revival with brother John. But, despite fully participating in the band as a guitarist and back up singer, few of his songs saw the light of day. Still feuding with his brother, he left the band in 1971. His modest solo career was over by the mid-70s when he retired to Arizona to collect CCR royalties. He passed away in 1990.
