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Before becoming one of the foremost names in hip-hop, Onika Tanya Maraj—a.k.a Nicki Minaj—was an aspiring thespian at New York City's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School. Upon graduation, Minaj struggled to maintain her acting career, and pivoted her focus toward music instead. In recent years, has surfaced, proving she was clearly committed to the craft.  

Nine-time Grammy winner Sheryl Crow graduated from the University of Missouri (also known as Mizzou) in 1984, where she majored in music, performance, and education. Despite her formal training in composition, she later claimed that

The British singer and songwriter behind "Lights" studied drama at the University of Kent for two years before being . At the , Goulding quickly dropped out to pursue music full-time. The rest is folktronica history.

Hootie & the Blowfish who met as freshmen at the University of South Carolina in the mid-1980s. The band earned a massive following around campus before taking the world stage in the 1990s. To honor the group on its 25th anniversary, the university in the shape of a guitar pick.

OneRepublic lead vocalist Ryan Tedder and guitarist Zach Filkins , where they played on the same soccer team. The two started jamming together that same year, though they would soon part ways to attend different colleges. After in Oklahoma with a degree in public relations and advertising, Tedder moved to Los Angeles, and convinced Filkins to do the same.

By the age of 8, Ariana Grande for the Florida Panthers hockey team, so it's no surprise that this pop princess skipped out on a traditional education. At 13, she to star in a Broadway play. However, the school continued to send her lessons, and she graduated in 2012.

After , singer Gwen Stefani attended Fullerton College and then transferred to California State University, Fullerton. It was during this time for her brother's band, No Doubt. By the mid-1990s, the band was on top of the world.

Unbeknownst to his famous father, Latin sensation Enrique Iglesias around Miami when he was in high school. He then attended the University of Miami with the . When the lure proved too strong to resist, Iglesias dropped out of college to become a full-time musician.

Back when he was known as Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, musician The Weeknd studied at West Hill Collegiate Institute and Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute in Scarborough, Toronto. In 2007, he dropped out of high school and took off with his friends, later claiming that he because he "left one weekend and never came back home." With education still on his mind in 2017, to help the University of Toronto launch a class on the ancient language Ge'ez, spoken in the Horn of Africa.

The members of Boyz II Men met in the mid-1980s when they were students at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (also known as CAPA). Decades later, the group returned to the school to perform a concert, with member Shawn Stockman saying "this is where it all started." In 2017, the city of , located just a block away from the school.

A certifiable prodigy, Celine Dion began as a girl. At 12, she , and kicked off an extraordinary career. In 2008, Dion from Université Laval in Quebec City.  

This multi-talented artist attended Las Vegas Academy from the ninth through 11th grades before getting kicked out for breaking a window. In a , Ne-Yo wondered if the school dean used the broken window as an excuse to expel him because she "had it out for [him] anyway." He ended up graduating from Rancho High School the following year.  

Frontman Brad Arnold founded this Mississippi-based rock band when he was still a student at East Central High School in the mid-1990s. During math class, he wrote what would eventually become While Arnold and the band continued to hone their craft, .

Singer Michelle Williams was the only member of Destiny's Child to attend college. In addition to her long-running passion for music, Williams pursued a degree in criminal justice at Illinois State University before dropping out. She met Kelly Rowland and Beyoncé Knowles in 1999, and joined Destiny's Child soon after.  

On his hard-earned path to glory and fame, singer at Access to Music, a U.K.-based independent training provider. He also studied for a brief time at . In 2015, Sheeran received an from the University Campus Suffolk in Ipswich.  

Scottish DJ Calvin Harris was once a named Adam Richard Wiles at Dumfries High School. According to a former teacher, Wiles preferred to on his laptop. It was spare time well-spent, to say the least.

A musical prodigy from a young age, Canadian rock icon Alanis Morissette attended Glebe Collegiate Institute by day and during her teenage years. She was also successful as a . Instead of going to college, Morissette , and launched a wildly successful career.  

Recognizing her teenage daughter's talent and passion for music, Adele's mother enrolled her in the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology. While still a student, that soon caught the attention of executives at XL Recordings. Four months after graduation, she signed her first record deal.  

Singer Chris Kirkpatrick wasn't just the oldest member of NSYNC, he was also the only one to continue his formal education past high school. He and before joining a doo-wop group called The Hollywood Hi-Tones. After , Kirkpatrick teamed up with the other members of NSYNC to make pop history.  

When most kids her age were entering high school, Selena Gomez was playing one of the lead roles on Disney Channel's "Wizards of Waverly Place." It's then no wonder that the future pop star was homeschooled in the midst of her meteoric career. On the day she received her high school diploma, in the movie she was working on by sheer coincidence. 

Pop phenom Ke$ha attended Franklin High School and Brentwood High School before dropping out at 17 to pursue music. Don't take that to mean the famously wild singer isn't educated or intelligent; on the contrary, it's been reported that she scored 1500 (out of a possible 1600) on her SATs, and .

Rapper Pitbull—born Armando Christian Perez—attended South Miami Senior High School and graduated from Miami Coral Park High School. Rather than go to college, he to indisputably successful results. When not dropping singles, he , a sports-focused charter school in Miami.

What did Backstreet Boys and NSYNC have in common besides the obvious? Both groups included a from the class of 1993. For Backstreet Boys, that member was Howie Dorough, who in the college's music department.

Canadian superstar Justin Bieber was on top of the world by 2012, but that didn't stop him from at 18 years old. Completing his studies as he toured around the world, Bieber reportedly . 

Some things were complicated for this Canadian-born singer, but leaving high school behind was probably not one of them. After signing a $1.25 million , Lavigne dropped out of Napanee District Secondary School to work on her first album. That album became "Let Go," platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Nelly (born Cornell Iral Haynes Jr.) never went to college, but he did attend University City High School in Missouri. He and St. Lunatics with his high school friends. Nelly's former group mates would later appear on his successful debut album, "Country Grammar."

Hip-hop artist Chris Brown is remembered fondly at Essex High School in Virginia, where he used to . In 2004, Brown dropped out and moved to New York to pursue a career in music. Fame and alike have marked his controversial rise to fame.

Given rapper Eminem's affinity for complicated wordplay, it might come as a surprise that the real-life Marshall Mathers failed . Mathers would that he "didn't go to school. [He] couldn't deal." By the age of 17, he dropped out to cultivate his true passion.

Jenny from the block before enrolling at Baruch College in New York City. It took just one year of studying law to convince Lopez that her true calling was dance. She dropped out of college to . 

On dropping out of Florida's Lake Brantley High School at the age of 17, Matchbox Twenty leader his "regu­lar life was in such disarray that going (to school) seemed ridiculous." Troubles within his family, including a parent with substance abuse problems, contributed to a hectic life. In the time since, Thomas , but never attended college.

This multi-platinum pop star wrote his , and began attending performing arts schools around the same time. A diverse set of skills eventually brought him to the prestigious American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in New York, where he was selected as one of the school's top five tap dancers. He was also the only student at the time to be cast in an international commercial for AMDA.   

Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger got under the skin of various authority figures in his youth. As documented in the song "Photograph," Kroeger used to , and even spent time in a juvenile detention facility. Despite the obstacles, he went back to graduate high school before hitting the road with his bandmates.

As early as age 7, Beyoncé Knowles was with her innate talent for singing and dancing. She was subsequently , a music magnet school in Houston. While concurrently launching to fame as part of Destiny's Child, she , and then Alief Elsik High School.  

Hip-hop star Flo Rida (born Tramar Lacel Dillard) went to Miami Carol City Senior High School, which counts . After graduating in 1998, Dillard studied international business management at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada, . He also briefly attended Barry University in Miami before , this time to explore his passion for music.

Madonna Louise Ciccone—or Madonna for short— at Rochester Adams High School in Michigan. Recognizing her talent, the University of Michigan offered her a dance scholarship in 1976. She attended college for two years before , where she pursued a career as a professional dancer.

Like her siblings, Janet (Damita Jo) Jackson began performing as an actress and singer at a young age. After giving public school a fair shot, she switched over to Valley Professional School, where . Jackson graduated in 1984, then in the TV series "Fame" that same year.  

This natural-born singer and soon appeared on "The Mickey Mouse Club." Drawing envy from her classmates as she continued to snag the spotlight, Aguilera faced bullying at North Allegheny Intermediate High School. As a result, her mother pulled her out in the ninth grade and .

As a teenager, The Black Eyed Peas leader will.i.am (born William James Adams Jr.) was to John Marshall High School in affluent West Los Angeles. It was there he , better-known today as apl.de.ap. Before striking it big in the music scene, at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles.

As any true fan is likely to know, Lady Gaga (born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta) is as intelligent as she is talented. Upon graduating from an all-girls Catholic high school, she attended New York University's exclusive Tisch School for the Arts, . Lady Gaga is also an , hence her reputable skills as an actress.

Usher is yet another pop star who wasted no time in shining, releasing his first album at the age of 15. Around the same time, he , which specializes in cultivating talent. To pay it forward, Usher later , a 10-year program that puts underprivileged youth on the track for success.

His name is Peter Gene Hernandez, but audiences know him as Bruno Mars. A talented youth in Honolulu, Hawaii, the future Grammy winner attended President Theodore Roosevelt High School. When not in school, for friends and family.

This wildly successful songbird at Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, New York, because she was always cutting class. After graduating, Carey moved to Manhattan and while pursuing a career in music. She also before making it big as a singer.     

Born and raised and Texas, Kelly Clarkson at Burleson High School and before graduating in 2000. College was quite simply never in the cards for the ambitious singer and future "American Idol" winner. As Clarkson once : "I didn't want to go to college. My goal was to be a major recording artist."

While pursuing a career in Nashville, the pop music icon also attended Hendersonville High School for . Given the nature of Swift's songs, it's safe to assume she gathered plenty of inspiration and material during the two-year stint. After her star took off, Swift , a private Christian school that allowed for homeschooling, and accommodated her hectic touring schedule.

After performing as a Mouseketeer as a teen, Britney Spears returned to her home state of Mississippi and enrolled in private school Parklane Academy. Like something straight out of her debut music video, the , "I was so bored...I wanted more." Fun fact: she for the school basketball team.

A starbound performer if there ever was one, Justin Timberlake was last seen in a school hallway when he attended E.E. Jeter Elementary School in Tennessee. According to , the future pop star was "a straight-A sixth-grader." After landing a role on "The Mickey Mouse Club" at 12, it was nothing but .

Katy Perry dropped out of Dos Pueblos High School to pursue a career in Christian music at the age of 15. She , and also music program. Nevertheless, the multi-platinum singer "could really use a better education."

Four of Maroon 5's original members in Los Angeles, recording an album under the name Kara's Flowers. When the album flopped, the band members parted ways to continue their respective educations. For frontman Adam Levine and guitarist Jesse Carmichael, that meant attending Five Towns College in Long Island, New York, where they soaked up urban styles that would later influence the band's sound.

True to her edgy persona, Pink (born Alecia Beth Moore) was at Central Bucks High School West in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She would eventually ditch high school altogether and obtain her GED. Later, she attended the Moore College of Art and Design, to pursue music.

Robyn Rihanna Fenty dropped out of Combermere School in Barbados at the age of 15. By that time, she'd already and formed her first girl group. After being , Rihanna moved to the U.S. to fulfill her destiny.