William Shatner & The *uckers

William Shatner was born in Montreal in 1931 and is known first as an actor, above all for playing Captain Kirk in Star Trek. His recording career runs alongside it, beginning with the 1968 album The Transformed Man, in which he recited pop lyrics and Shakespeare over orchestral arrangements. It was long treated as a curiosity before being reassessed as something stranger and more deliberate.

The 2004 album Has Been, produced by Ben Folds, gave the approach a sharper frame: original lyrics, guest singers including Joe Jackson on a version of Pulp's 'Common People', and arrangements that treated Shatner's speaking voice as the lead instrument. He has continued to record in a similar spoken-over-music mode since, including projects built around science fiction themes and blues material, backed live by a rock band.