Nicest / most personable musician you've met?

A girl I studied English literature with met Iggy Pop backstage at a summer festival. She didn't know it was Iggy but they ended up having a discussion about Shakespeare. He was polite and well read and never hit on her or anything and it was only later that a friend told her it was as Iggy.

 

Michael Nesmith.. so very nice.. I was on a cloud for days

 

I was lucky enough to have a lunch w a group of friends and Bono. Went on for most of the afternoon and we all enjoyed plenty of wine. He couldn't have been nicer and more engaged. Lots laughs. We even took a dip in the sea. We were all at the same restaurant that night and he picked up the tab for the 7 of us.

My experience with Sting was quite the opposite.

 

Toy Caldwell, Tim Schmitt, John Cowan, Artimus Pyle, Bela Fleck(lots of bluegrass guys, actually). I ran into Timothy Schmitt in FAO Swartz in NYC. He knew I had recognized him and actually spoke first. Toy Caldwell was at a gig my band was playing and introduced himself during the break. Of course I already knew who he was. He ended up sitting in with us.

 

I met a ton of artists when I lived in Tampa and helped run a record store. We had a bunch of in-store events and I received lots of all-access passes. Some of the most welcoming and humble people I met who seemed genuinely interested in chatting and hanging out were:

Nuno Bettencourt - This was backstage when they opened for Kiss in 1990. I think playing in arena settings was still very new for him and he was nervous as hell. My friend from the record store and I chatted with him for like half an hour. Gene and Paul came in for a few minutes but they could hardly be bothered.

Faith No More - We hosted an in-store just as The Real Thing was starting to explode...they were opening for Billy Idol. This started a bit of a loose friendship with Mike Patton as he added me to an insider list to receive very exclusive FNM items like promo artwork and future backstage passes even for Mr. Bungle. In fact, for Bungle's next tour he let me choose his on-stage apparel for the Tampa show...of course I went for the gimp mask and some crazy bondage gear. There was a giant pile of crazy stuff to wear jammed in the corner of the backstage area.

Lush - Super cool, we also hosted an in-store. We smoked an entire bag of weed in one giant Check and Chong joint later backstage at the show.

Warrior Soul - This was for that crazy tour with Public Enemy, Gang Of Four and Sisters Of Mercy. Hung out backstage for a long time and killed a bottle of cheap whiskey with them. I was a huge fan and had a blast. Andrew and a few others from Sisters came in and I was in such awe I could barely muster a "hi." Andrew was cooler than anyone in the room.

Beastie Boys - I had backstage passes for their Ill Communication tour and I took the singer in my band at the time. It was so weird as we were the only two people there and we thought it was a bust. All of a sudden they appear along with MTV VJ Duff. It was just the 6 of us hanging out until they took the stage. The coolest part was following them out like I was part of the group, through the crowd and finally parted as they stepped onto the stage and we stayed on the side to enjoy the show.

 

Jorma

 

Can we hear your Sting story?

 

Drank a few beers with John Entwistle in a bar in Dearborn, MI in the 1980s. Splendidly down to earth guy.

 

Gently goes, he may have been stung?