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It might make you sick to hear it, but some of our most successful musical heroes could also have made it as sporting icons, too. Pity those behind them in the queue when the talents were getting handed out! Here are ten examples...

Rod Stewart

Rod was once a young football hopeful, spending a period on trial with London side, Brentford. But he didn't like the fact he had to clean the first team players' boots and then he fell for music. However the raspy rocker has carried on a tradition of kicking footballs into the crowd at his shows ever since.

Jack Johnson

A 17-year-old Johnson was a surfing prodigy. The highlight of his pro career came at 17 when he was the youngest finalist at the prestigious Surfline Masters competition in Hawaii. Ironically it also ended his time in the water after a nasty wipeout required more than 100 stitches in his head. He gave up competitive surfing to make films, to which he added some of his own tunes which was the accidental launch pad for his music career.

Mark Owen

The Take That star's first ambition as a youngster was to be a footballer. Showing no interest in music at school, he went on to have trials with Huddersfield Town, Rochdale and even the mighty Manchester United before a groin injury ended his hopes of making the grade.

Julio Iglesias

As a young man, Iglesias was one of the top young football players in Spain, earning a spot as goalkeeper for the mighty Real Madrid. But in September 1963, he lost control of his car and was paralysed from the waist down. During four years of intensive rehabilitation, a friend gave him a guitar to help him exercise his injured fingers. Doctors thought Iglesias would never walk again, but he did, and in 1968, he entered a tune he wrote about his accident in a song competition. The rest is history.

Clarence Clemons

The E Street Band sax player was all set for a career in the NFL rather than in Bruce Springsteen's band. Clemons went to Maryland State College on football and music scholarships but his career as an athlete hit the skids, quite literally. The day before he was scheduled to trial with the Cleveland Browns, he suffered a serious injury in a car accident. Thankfully, he was a pretty good sax player, too.

Luciano Pavarotti 

The lifelong Juventus fan played in goal for the junior team of his local club, Modena, who play in the Italian second division. He was given a trial by the senior side, who apparently stuck him out on the wing. Pavorotti's mother convinced him to ditch football in favour of becoming a teacher but then he found his singing voice.

Charley Pride

In the '50s, Pride was a pitcher in the Negro Leagues while trying to make his way into Major League Baseball. Pride played with minor league teams, but he never made the big leagues, which persuaded him to pursue a career in music. He went on to become one of the first black country stars.

Conway Twitty

In 1954, this young baseball outfielder was offered a contract by the Philadelphia Phillies straight out of high school. But before he could sign, the Army called him up and by the time he was discharged, the emergence of Elvis had inspired him to be a rock star instead. After initially pursuing rock 'n' roll, Twitty gravitated toward country music, where he scored 50 No. 1 songs.

Nicky Byrne

The Dublin-born Westlife singer played in goal for Leeds United's 1997 FA Youth Cup winning team. After his two year contract expired, he played in trail games for Scarborough and Cambridge United before returning to join Dublin club Shelbourne. He represented the Republic of Ireland at U15, U16 and U18 levels.

Elan Lea

The South African singer is a big star in his homeland but as a teenager he was as passionate about football as he was about music. Playing for a string of local clubs, he then was asked to travel to England for a trial with Ipswich Town. However, a conversation with a fellow trialist who talked about working in McDonald's if he failed to make the grade put Elan off so he returned home to concentrate on his music career. The young player who put him off turned out to be none other than England striker, Darren Bent.