Crossover Stardom ─ Popular Male Music Stars in American Cinema

Crossover Stardom: Popular Male Stars in American Cinema focuses on male music stars who have attempted to achieve film stardom. Crossover stardom can describe stars who cross from one medium to another. Although 'crossover' has become a popular term to describe many modern stars who appear in various mediums, crossover stardom has a long history, going back to the beginning of the cinema. Lobalzo Wright begins with Bing Crosby, a significant Hollywood star in the studio era; moving to Elvis Presley in the 1950s and 1960s, as the studio system collapsed; to Kris Kristofferson in the New Hollywood period of the 1970s; and ending with Will Smith and Justin Timberlake, in the contemporary era, when corporate conglomerates dominate Hollywood. Thus, the study not only explores music stardom (and music genres) in various eras, and masculinity within these periods, it also surveys the history of American cinema from industrial and cultural perspectives, from the 1930s to today.

Julie Lobalzo Wright is a Teaching Fellow in Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick. She has published several articles and book chapters on film stardom and popular music and film. She is the co-editor, along with Lucy Bolton, of the BAFTSS winning Best Edited Collection, Lasting Screen Stars: Images that Fade and Personas that Endure (2016).