16 Popular Songs That Were Inspired By Famous People

Artists are able to find inspiration in some odd places. For example, legendary guitarist Carlos Santana has credited the angel Metatron for much of his musical accomplishment.

In plenty of cases, though, people are the compelling inspirations for works of art, including many of the popular songs we know and love.

1. Pattie Boyd

Model and actress Pattie Boyd met the Beatles on the set of their film A Hard Day’s Night, and she would become George Harrison’s wife. Boyd also became the creative juices for the Beatles, Harrison, and Eric Clapton (who would also marry Boyd after she split with Harrison).

Among the songs credited as Boyd-inspired are Clapton’s “Layla,” the Beatles’ “I Need You,” and Harrison’s “So Sad.”

2. Heath Ledger

The unexpected passing of promising actor Heath Ledger inspired the song “Perth” by Bon Iver. The band’s lead singer, Justin Vernon, was spending time with a friend of Ledger named Matt Amato.

During that three-day span, Ledger passed away. Seeing the toll that the loss had on Amato inspired the song, which is named for Ledger’s hometown in Australia.

3. Rosanna Arquette

Actress Rosanna Arquette is the inspiration for multiple songs. Arquette’s time dating Toto keyboardist Steve Porcaro proves that a love interest is always sufficient inspiration for a song — and that song is “Rosanna.”

Arquette is also reportedly the scion of Peter Gabriel’s hit “In Your Eyes,” an absolute jam featured prominently in the film Say Anything. If you’re a rock musician with writer’s block, see if Rosanna Arquette is available for a date.

4. George W. Bush

Rapper Eminem made a career of spraying insults and invectives towards anyone who issues even a perceived slight in his direction. However, Americans and music fans alike took notice when Eminem’s “Mosh” became an anti-war anthem upon its release in October 2004.

Marshall Mathers unfurls a direct verbal insult to the sitting president, leaving no doubt that Eminem would not be serving as an Army spokesperson any time soon.

5. Erykah Badu

Erykah Badu had a landmark year in 1997 with hit songs like “On & On” and “Tyrone.” This was also the year that she had a child with André “André 3000” Benjamin of OutKast fame. It was also the year that the couple split up.

Three years later, Benjamin and OutKast released the single “Ms. Jackson” from their fourth album, Stankonia. The lyrics, directed toward Badu and her mother, explore the chaos surrounding the couple’s failed relationship and their attempts to navigate raising a child together.

What did the real Ms. Jackson think of the song? According to Badu: “Baby, she bought herself a ‘Ms. Jackson’ license plate.”

6. Gwyneth Paltrow

They say music can be therapy, and Coldplay’s Chris Martin took the saying literally with his band’s 2005 hit “Fix You.”

The song was a message to his then-wife, Paltrow, who was working through the loss of her father and feeling the brokenness that comes with losing someone dear to your heart.

7. Linda McCartney

If I give you the name “Linda McCartney,” you can probably guess which artist used her as inspiration. Hint: he’s British, and his first name is Paul.

The former Beatle’s reverence for his late wife is exemplified in the songs “The Lovely Linda,” “Two of Us,” and “Maybe I’m Amazed.”

8. Vince Neil

During the early days of Mötley Crüe’s career, the band embraced the gender-bending aesthetics of glam rock pioneers such as David Bowie and the New York Dolls. So it might not be too surprising to find out that Aerosmith’s 1987 hit, “Dude Looks Like a Lady,” was inspired by a case of mistaken identity between the band’s vocalist, Stephen Tyler, and Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil during a night out.

According to Desmond Child (one of the song’s co-writers), Tyler “had seen a girl at the end of the bar with ginormous blonde rock hair, and the girl turned around, and it ended up being Vince Neil from Mötley Crüe.”

9. Eminem

Eminem has been the subject of multiple rap lyrics, including exchanges with fellow MC MGK. However, a 2002 song from Christina Aguilera seems like a shot across the bow of the S.S. Mathers.

The man who has referred to himself as a Rap God had to have been taken off guard when Aguilera penned the song “Can’t Hold Us Down” as a hostile response to Eminem’s own prodding. Christina did not take kindly to Eminem’s taunts in the smash hit “The Real Slim Shady.” Though Eminem took a shot at basically every pop star of his era, Aguilera is apparently not one to let bygones be bygones.

10. Marsha Hunt

The name “Marsha Hunt” is hardly a household commodity, but it carries more significance in rock history than most realize. Hunt was a singer who had a months-long fling with Mick Jagger that produced a child.

The romance also produced the smash hit “Brown Sugar,” which is a staple of any self-respecting Stones fan’s rotation.

11. Peter Fonda

During a break from their 1965 tour, the Beatles hosted a slew of like-minded cosmic explorers at their Beverly Hills rental, including Peter Fonda, folk singer Joan Baez, and Roger McGuinn and David Crosby from the Byrds. During an intense exchange between Fonda and John Lennon, Fonda revealed a scar from a deadly gunshot wound from his childhood.

He repeatedly insisted, “I know what it’s like to be dead.” Lennon, disturbed, responded with, “You’re making me feel like I’ve never been born.”

The conversation became the basis for “She Said She Said” from The Beatles’ Revolver album. George Harrison later summed up Fonda’s demeanor in The Beatles Anthology: “He was very uncool.”

12. Christie Brinkley

Billy Joel’s penning of the song “Uptown Girl” about Christie Brinkley is exactly the kind of romanticism that allows a tired-eyed pianist to shack up with a supermodel.

Brinkley’s starring role in the “Uptown Girl” music video removes all doubt about who the song is about.

13. Britney Spears

As you may have heard, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears had quite their fair share of drama upon breaking up circa 2002. Timberlake’s mega-hit “Cry Me a River” was a not-so-thinly-veiled form of closure.

Spears returned with her own haymaker (several of them, actually) by dragging Timberlake in her memoir The Woman in Me. When they called it “pop” music, we don’t think they meant it in the boxing sense. Don’t tell these two that, though.

14. Courtney Love

Kurt Cobain’s ex, Courtney Love, has claimed that the Nirvana song “Heart-Shaped Box” is about her private part. Love has a history of erratic behavior, but it stands to logic that the legendary grunge frontman would pen a song about his love interest’s point of interest.

Courtney Love performed with the bands Hole, Faith No More, and Pagan Babies. Even with her own musical career, it had to have been flattering to have grunge’s most famous frontman pen a ballad in her honor.

15. Andrea Bertorelli

When you see a famous rock star singing a song about a lady, you don’t always have to look far for the muse who inspired the ballad. In the case of Phil Collins, the muse was Andrea Bertorelli. Or, more accurately, his ex-wife Andrea Bertorelli.

Collins’ hit “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” is reportedly inspired by his crumbling marriage. Bertorelli and Collins’ disputes have carried on, as she took legal action in response to claims made in her ex-husband’s autobiography.

16. Katy Perry

Millennials recognize the Gym Class Heroes’ “Cupid’s Chokehold” as an infectious pop hit that radio listeners couldn’t avoid for well over a year. The group’s lead singer, Travie McCoy, was dating Katy Perry when the song came to be, and Perry even appeared in the music video.

If you had the good looks or good fortune to be dating Katy Perry circa 2005, you’d have written a song about her, too. You’d be a fool not to.