Live stream will be available after this brief ad from our sponsors
ContestsEvents

5 Music Icons One Win Away from an EGOT

The 2023 Primetime Emmy Awards ushered in a new addition to the EGOT club. With his Emmy win for Outstanding Variety Special (Live), Elton John has achieved entertainment’s most-prestigious honor….

Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney (6 Music Icons One Win Away from an EGOT)
Mike Coppola/Getty Images

The 2023 Primetime Emmy Awards ushered in a new addition to the EGOT club. With his Emmy win for Outstanding Variety Special (Live), Elton John has achieved entertainment's most-prestigious honor.

What is an EGOT? It is an acronym for an entertainer who has won an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Oscar and a Tony Award. Before his Emmy win, John won five Grammy Awards in his career. In 2000, he won a Tony Award for Best Original Score for Aida. Additionally, John has won two Oscars. The first came in 1994 for Best Original Song for "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from The Lion King. The second Oscar came in 2020 for "I'm Gonna Love Me Again" from Rocketman.

Only 17 other entertainers have achieved this via "competitive only" wins, which means an award had other nominees and wasn't a special "honorary" award. Among those entertainers are Rita Moreno, Audrey Hepburn, Mel Brooks, Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend and Jennifer Hudson.

The first person to ever achieve the EGOT was musical theater composer Richard Rodgers in 1962. The entertainer who most recently earned EGOT status before Sir Elton was Hudson in 2022. She was a producer of the Broadway musical A Strange Loop, which won Best Musical at the Tony Awards. Hudson's other wins include two Grammy Awards and a 2021 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Interactive Media for a Daytime Program for Baba Yaga and an Oscar in 2006 for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Dreamgirls.

An additional five entertainers achieved EGOT status with help from "non-competitive" or "honorary" wins. Those five entertainers are iconic figures. They are Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, James Earl Jones, Harry Belafonte and Quincy Jones.

A number of entertainers are one win away from the prestigious honor, including the five music icons below. Keep on scrolling to find out who!

Paul McCartney

GettyImages-614935874.jpgKevin Winter/Getty Images

INDIO, CA - OCTOBER 15: Musician Paul McCartney performs during Desert Trip at the Empire Polo Field on October 15, 2016 in Indio, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)


Ringo Starr

GettyImages-495181766.jpgNoam Galai/Getty Images

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 31: Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band perform at Kings Theatre on October 31, 2015 in the Brooklyn Borough of New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images)


Cher

GettyImages-1342588789.jpgFrazer Harrison/Getty Images

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 25: Cher attends The Academy Museum Of Motion Pictures Opening Gala at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on September 25, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)


Cyndi Lauper

GettyImages-1202156250.jpgFrazer Harrison/Getty Images

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 26: Cyndi Lauper attends the 62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on January 26, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)


Bette Midler

GettyImages-695009334.jpgJenny Anderson/Getty Images

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 11: Bette Midler, winner of the award for Best Actress in a Musical for “Hello, Dolly!,” poses in the press room during the 2017 Tony Awards at 3 West Club on June 11, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Jenny Anderson/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)

Erica Banas is a news blogger who's been covering the rock/classic rock world since 2014. The coolest event she's ever covered in person was the 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. (Sir Paul McCartney inducting Foo Fighters? C'mon now!) She's also well-versed in etiquette and extraordinarily nice. #TransRightsAreHumanRights