Musicians who have appeared in the soundtracks of the GTA series games

Each GTA game has a huge soundtrack, which consists of dozens of tracks. Vice City radio stations play 80s hits, Los Santos plays 90s hip-hop, and the fifth Grand Theft Auto features modern songs. In this article, we talked about the most interesting musicians from the GTA games.

Grand Theft Auto 3

Conor & Jay

A musical group consisting of two people — Julie Tracy Wemyss and Craig Conner. It is noteworthy that they recorded music specifically for the GTA games. The Diner was played in the second game, as well as the Vegas Road track during a trip through the Nevada desert. In the third game, you can hear their song Change on Head Radio. Carry me off was also recorded, but it did not make it into the final version of the game. The same radio station played the song Train in Liberty City Stories.

Julia herself can be heard in in-game advertisements in various parts of the GTA series. And Craig was a full-time employee of Rockstar. He was the author of the soundtrack for the first Manhunt and voiced Willie in Grand Theft Auto 5.

Scientist

Hopeton Brown, known under the pseudonym Scientist, became famous in the 80s. It was during this period that the musician's fame peaked and his most fruitful period of activity occurred. As many as five songs from the album called Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires made it to the K-JAH radio station from GTA 3. All of them were imbued with a mystical theme — they told about vampires, mummies, zombies and various curses.

Holton himself worked for a long time as a music equipment engineer, and later became a producer. At the same time, he released albums with his own songs until 2005.

GTA: Vice City

Mongo Santamaria

Mongo Santamaria is a Cuban jazz percussionist. His compositions Mama Papa Tu and Me and You Baby can be heard on Radio Espantoso. This wave is loved by taxi drivers and gangsters from Little Havana. Mongo was one of the few musicians from whom Rockstar took two songs at once for the Vice City soundtrack.

Michael Jackson

The King of Pop needs no further introduction. Usually, discussions of Michael Jackson are limited to discussions of his skin color change or numerous scandals involving him. Let us remind you that he is, first and foremost, an outstanding musician who has won 15 Grammy Awards and has sold over a billion records.

You can hear Jackson's song Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' on Fever 105 radio, and the hit Billie Jean on Flash FM.

Ozzy Osbourne

If Michael Jackson is considered the king of pop music, then Ozzy Osbourne is the Godfather of heavy metal. For many years, he played in the band Black Sabbath, and after leaving this group, he built a successful solo career. 100 million records sold with his songs is a great result, especially for a rock artist. Ozzy's albums Blizzard of Ozz and No More Tears went platinum four times. It is also worth noting that the musician has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In the Vice City soundtrack, on the V-Rock station, you can hear the song Bark at the Moon by Osbourne. He is also the author of the Hellraiser composition on Radio X in GTA: San Andreas.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg

The San Andreas soundtrack features three collaborations between Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Radio Los Santos features "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang," "F**k Wit Dre Day," and "Deep Cover."

Andre Romell Young, better known as Dr. Dre, is one of the most successful beatmakers in the rap industry. He is considered the founder of G-funk, a style of West Coast hip-hop that emerged in the '90s. In addition to writing his own songs and music for other artists, Dr. Dre is remembered as a producer who has worked with Eminem, 2Pac, Xzibit, and Snoop Dogg.

Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., who performs under the pseudonym Snoop Dogg, is a rap artist who was noticed by Dr. Dre and helped with promotion. Andre was right — Calvin's albums turned out to be in demand among hip-hop connoisseurs, and his album Tha Doggfather was recognized as double platinum.

It is also worth noting that Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg periodically act in films. Both artists appeared in the film "Training Day", which served as one of the sources of inspiration for the plot of GTA: San Andreas.

Later, songs by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg appeared on the West Coast Classics radio station in GTA 5.

The Stellar Brothers

A group from Virginia that performed in the country genre. Its musicians often worked as backing vocals for the legendary Johnny Cash. The band was created in 1955 and ceased to exist in 2002, right during the development of San Andreas. Six years later, it was included in the Country Hall of Fame.

On the K-Rose radio station, you can hear two songs by The Stellar Brothers — Bed of Rose's and New York City.

Johnny Cash himself appeared in GTA 5 on the Rebel Radio wave. You can hear his song The General Lee there.

Ohio Players

An American musical group that performed in the funk genre. The peak of its popularity came from 1972 to 1976, when key hits were released and a contract with Mercury Records was signed. The group released new albums until 1988, but they were no longer very successful. In 2013, the Ohio Players were included in the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame.

Their songs Love Rollercoaster and Funky Worm are played on the Bounce FM station.

War

Another funk group from the 70s. She is remembered for mixing different genres — rock, jazz, rhythm and blues, reggae and Latin music. The result was an unusual combination of styles. The songs of this group were covered by many singers and groups, from Janet Jackson to Korn and A$AP Mob.

On the radio station Master Sounds 98.3 you can hear the hit Low Rider, which is included in the top 500 songs that shaped the genre of rock and roll from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And on International Funk 99 in GTA 4 you can hear the slightly less famous Galaxy.

GTA 4

Bob Marley

Bob Marley is the most famous reggae artist. It is believed that thanks to him, this genre became popular outside of Jamaica. The musician achieved popularity with the group The Wailers. During the One Love Peace Concert, he asked socialist Michael Manley and conservative Edward Seaga to come on stage. There they shook hands. It is believed that this step prevented a civil war in Jamaica.

The repertoire of the Tuff Gong radio station consists entirely of Bob Marley songs as part of The Wailers. Among them are Concrete Jungle, Pimper’s Paradise, Rat Race, Rebel Music (3 O’Clock Roadblock), Satisfy My Soul, So Much Trouble in the World and Stand Up Jamrock Wake Up & Live. Only one composition belongs to Bob’s son Stephen (Stephen Marley) — Chase Dem.

Vladivostok FM Station

Vladivostok FM radio station deserves a separate story. The DJ on it was singer Ruslana, the winner of Eurovision 2004. Only Russian songs were played on this wave. In 2008, when the game was first released, the repertoire was as follows:

• Dolphin — “Rap”;
• Basta — “Mama”;
• Leningrad — “Nikogo Ne Zhalko”;
• Kino — “Blood Group”;
• Seryoga — "King-Ring";
• Marakesh — "Wait";
• Zveri — "Apartment";
• Ranetki — "O tebe";
• Oleg Kvasha — "Green-Eyed Taxi";
• Gluk'oza — "Schweine";
• Ruslana — "Wild Dances";
• Splin — "Life Line";
• Marakesh — "Wait";
• Seryoga — "King-Ring";
• Seryoga — "Liberty City: The Invasion".

The last song is the only one that is played on Vladivostok FM today. In April 2018, the license expired and all the other tracks were replaced.

The current repertoire of the radio station looks like this:

• Ivanhoe — "Representatives";
• Ivanhoe — "Underground Life";
• Zhenya Fokin — "Noch'yu";
• Riffmaster — "Riffmaster Tony";
• Delise — "Hot Summer";
• Alexey Bolshoy — "I Hate Karaoke";
• Riffmaster — "Begu!";
• Seryoga — "Chiki";
• Seryoga — "Dobav' skorost'";
• Seryoga — "Mon ami (feat. Max Lawrence);
• Seryoga — «Liberty City: The Invasion».

It should be noted that Liberty City: The Invasion was written by Seryoga specifically for GTA 4, and its lyrics retell the story of the main character Niko Belik.

Queen

One of the most famous rock bands in history. Eighteen Queen hits occupied first places in the charts. The band's period of glory fell on the seventies and eighties. Some time after the death of lead singer Freddie Mercury, the band was already assembled as a trio, but their new albums caused a mixed reaction. The band still has hundreds of millions of fans, but they value, above all, the compositions performed by Freddie.

Liberty Rock Radio 97.8 plays the song One Vision. And in GTA 5, Los Santos Rock Radio plays Radio Ga Ga.

Grand Theft Auto 5

Flying Lotus

Steven Ellison, also known as Flying Lotus, is a rapper who debuted on the music scene in 2006 when he released an album titled "1983", named after the year he was born. At the time of GTA 5's release, he had four albums out, and he released three more after its release. Steven wrote the theme song for Adult Swim.

Steven has been a DJ on FlyLo FM, where he has released six solo songs and three duets with other artists. Three more tracks were added in the updated version of the game.

Lee Perry

Lee Perry is a Jamaican musician, one of the key figures in the reggae genre. Interestingly, his work was influenced by the spaghetti westerns of the 60s. He can be heard as a DJ on The Blue Ark radio in GTA 5. On this station, you can also hear two of his hits as part of The Upsetters and a joint song with The Full Experience.

After the release of the updated version of the game, two more solo compositions by Lee Perry appeared.

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Which performers on the radio stations of the GTA series games do you remember? Share your opinions in the comments!