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This
article courtesy of Vince
Hemmingson, Vanishingtattoo.com
The Vanishing Tattoo,
www.vanishingtattoo.com web site first started tracking the online
popularity of tattooed celebrities in 2001 through search engine inquiries
and web site proliferation while compiling the Internet's largest photo
archive of tattooed celebrities and historical figures. http://vanishingtattoo.com/celebrity_tattoos.htm
At that time celebrity women, largely actors, singers and models, were
far and away the most popular tattooed celebrities. Since then male
wrestlers, athletes and Hip-Hop artists have made their presence felt
in mainstream popular tattoo culture. In 2005 The Vanishing Tattoo web
site had 475 million hits, 60 million page views and over 7 million
unique visitors. Approximately 60% of the traffic to the site came from
the United States, 5% from Canada and the remainder from some 170 countries
around the world, including the Vatican.
The following is a list of the Top Twenty Five Tattooed Celebrities
in 2005. These eleven women and fourteen men share little in common
beyond their relative youth - their median age is only 26, their high
media profiles as celebrities and the fact that they are tattooed, although
strangely enough, one of the top tattooed celebrities in 2005 does not
yet even have a tattoo! Now that's star power!
1. Angelina Jolie - Is far and
away the most popular tattooed celebrity on the Internet since we began
tracking tattoo web statistics over five years ago. Oscar-winner Jolie
is an unabashed tattoo enthusiast, collector and aficionado. This thirty
year old gifted actress is blessed with stunning good looks, has at
least a dozen tattoos, and shows no signs of slowing down her collecting
of body art.
Her tattoos are a reflection of her personality, exotic and with more
than just a hint of dangerous sensuality. This is a women with an edge
and a true lover of body art. A woman who professes she likes to play
with knives in bed and who doesn't hesitate to have the name of the
man she loves tattooed on her. And when he exits stage left, she doesn't
hesitate to have it lasered off just as quickly.
Angelina has made the tribal dragon one of the most popular tattoos
for women, and sparked an intense interest in the traditional tattooing
of Southeast Asia. Jolie has large numbers of web sites devoted to her
worship and her popularity shows no signs of waning as she puts her
own personal spin on the emerging genre of female action-stars. Jolie's
tattoo commitment apparently extends to her retaining her own make-up
artist whose sole job it is to cover-up her extensive body art, a process
rumored to take over an hour.
And as far as Internet searches for tattoos go, the burning question
that tattoo enthusiasts want answered is this, "When and with what
design is Brad Pitt going to get tattooed?"
2. Nicole Richie - A search for
Nicole Richie's tattoos turns up hundreds of entries on Google. The
twenty-five year old Richie is far more adventuresome in the body art
department than her The Simple Life cohort Paris Hilton and hasn't been
shy about hiding her nipple-piercing either. Richie can take solace
in the fact that when it comes to tattoos, she is far more popular online
than a certain young Hotel heiress we know. The actor and The Simple
Life star has at least nine tattoos, including a pair ballerina slippers
- her father Lionel Richie wrote her a song, Ballerina Girl - and wings
on her back, to go along with the aforementioned nipple piercing.
3. 50 Cent - "Fiddy-cent",
the thirty-year old Rapper, Record Producer and aspiring actor, is the
most popular tattooed man on the planet these days, he is in fact a
cultural phenomenon. Every mention of his name in the news spikes searches
and interest in his tattoos. His media feud with former associate and
protege The Game, shot the formerly obscure musician into tattoo search
prominence.
Fifty has extensive body art, including complete coverage of his back,
a piece that has to be one of the world's most well-known tattoos. The
South Side Fifty back-piece on 50 Cent has become a signature, nearly
as recognizable as his face and his music. He is also America's most
controversial music star because of his glorification of the gangster
thug life, in which his extensive tattoo must be said to play a major
role. Many African-Americans are limited by their skin tone to getting
body art done primarily using black ink, but that has in no way limited
the quality of 50's tattoos.
4. Britney Spears - This twenty-five
year old singer, Mom and sometime actress has tattoos of a fairy on
her lower back, a small daisy circling her second toe on right foot,
a butterfly leaving a vine on left foot, and a flower with Chinese symbol
for mystery in middle on lower stomach. She also has three Hebrew characters
on back of her neck - a Kabala connection perhaps? - a pair of pink
dice inside left wrist, and apparently others....
Spears also has a pierced belly button and a pierced right nipple. Like
her fashion sense and matrimonial record, you sometimes wonder what
compels Spears to do what she does when it comes to tattoos. By getting
an odd assortment of small tattoos all over her body, she runs the risk
of looking like someone has gone crazy with a rubber-stamp. Her tattoos,
the butterfly, fairy, Chinese symbol and others, do not show a terrible
amount of imagination or originality. They are the same tattoos picked
off the wall by a million other teenage girls in a thousand tattoo parlours
in every Mall and Trailer Park in middle America.
Husband Kevin "K-Fed" Federline is tattooed as well.
5. The Rock - Dwayne Douglas
Johnson, born in 1972, the thirty-four year old has a Brahma bull tattoo
- he is a Taurus - tattooed on his right biceps and a large Polynesian-style
tattoo piece on upper left arm and shoulder. Johnson, who is part Samoan,
has claimed that the Polynesian tattoo is a traditional Samoan piece,
but it more closely resembles Marquessan tattooing than the traditional
Samoan Pe'a. The Rock chose the tattoo specifically to pay homage to
his ethnic heritage.
Johnson first gained popularity as a standout in the world of wrestling.
In the WWE, (World Wrestling Entertainment) before becoming The Rock,
Johnson was known as Rocky Maivia, in homage to his father, Rocky Johnson,
and his maternal grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia. Since his entry
into acting, Johnson continues to be known simply as The Rock.
6. Alyssa Milano
- Not far behind Jolie is the amazing Alyssa Milano in popularity in
tattoo searches. The thirty-four year Milano is no longer the little
girl we all remember from 'Who's the Boss'. Although her acting career
is perhaps less stellar than Jolie's, Milano has worked steadily in
a string of lower-budgeted films and is once again a television star
on 'Charmed'. And this is a woman who has over forty web sites devoted
to her. She has seven tattoos that we know of, some of them beautiful
work, and that have been fully revealed in photos taken of her by paparazzi
at various topless beaches and resorts around the world.
7. Eminem - The thirty-three
year old Marshall Bruce Mathers III is another cultural phenomenon.
Eminem, a Grammy and Oscar-winner, is one of today's most popular and
controversial rapper. The Rapper, producer, and actor has dog tags tattooed
around his neck, a large mushroom on his left shoulder, his daughter's
name,"Hailie Jade", a gothic style bracelet on his left wrist,
"Slit Here" on his right wrist, a D on his right forearm,
a 12 on his left forearm, one tattoo standing for Eminem on one side
of chest, one tattoo standing for Slim Shady on the other side, a design
on right bicep, and several others...
8. David Robert Joseph Beckham -
The thirty-year old soccer star is widely regarded as the most recognized
footballer in the world. "Becks" is as famed for his lifestyle,
famous-in-her own-right celebrity wife, Victoria (who also appears on
this list), trappings of wealth, media attention and marketing potential
as he is for the quality of his crossings and ability to hit free kicks
and corners from long range. Beckham has the words "BROOKLYN"
(son's name) across lower back, "ROMEO" (other son) above
a well-known crucifixion scene on upper back, wife Victoria's name in
Hindi, the Roman numeral VII (7 was his Man United jersey number) on
the underside of right arm and other tattoos. Beckham wrote extensively
of his tattoos and what they meant to him and their symbolic value in
his autobiography, My Side".
9. Pamela Anderson - You can't
talk about tattooed celebrities much longer, especially beautiful ones,
and not mention thirty-eight year old Pamela Anderson. This former Playmate,
Bunny of the Year and Baywatch Babe helped change television and she
was an undeniable phenomenon at the beginning of the Internet explosion.
Anderson has been a top ten tattoo Internet search for as long as there
has been an Internet. Go figure. Lately her search numbers have been
declining and the reason may be that she's been in the public eye so
long that interest in her is beginning to wane. Anderson has some wonderful
black work as skin art, and I am particularly impressed with her back
piece. Her barbed-wire arm band spawned thousands and thousands of imitators.
And imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Ex-husband Tommy Lee
also makes the tattoo list.
10. Drew Barrymore - Rounding
out the Top Ten in the skin art and popularity contest is Drew Barrymore.
The thirty-one year old Drew Blythe Barrymore has sported body art for
more than a decade. Like Alyssa Milano, we all remember Barrymore growing
up in front of the camera, starting of course with ET. Better yet, Ms.
Barrymore is so comfortable with her skin and it's many decorations
that she posed for a famous Playboy pictorial in the January 1995 issue.
As a result she has some of the best photographed tattoos of any celebrity
in the public eye. Barrymorehas at least five tattoos that we've seen
so far. Who knows what the future holds for one of our favorite actors,
producers and Angels?
11. Robert "Robbie" Peter Maximillion
Williams - The popular thirty-two year old British Pop
Star has a spectacular Maori design on his left arm, a Celtic cross
on his right hip, a lion with "BORN TO BE MILD" inscribed
underneath it and "ELVIS, GRANT ME SERENITY" above it on his
right arm. The handsome crooner also has musical notes and Beatles lyrics
tattooed on the small of his back, A Saint holding a cross with the
name "JACK FARREL" (his grandfather) underneath it on the
inside of his right arm, the word "MOTHER" on the outside
of the same arm, and the French words "Chacun A Son Gout"
(everybody has there own unique style and Robbie is apparently no exception)
on top of his chest, and several others. What sets Williams apart among
celebrity tattoo enthusiasts is the large number of Memorial tattoos
dedicated to members of his family, a sentimental side to his flamboyant
public persona.
12. Christina Maria Aguilera
- The twenty-five year old Pop Star has "Xtina" prominently
tattooed on the back of her neck, what appears to be a small flower
on her left wrist, an unusual looking design on the inside of her left
forearm, a rumored design on the small of her back, and an unknown tattoo
just below her bikini line. As well-known for her unorthodox fashion
style as her four octave vocal range, Aguilera also has numerous piercings
to go with her body art, including her left nostril, a labret, her right
nipple, and reputedly several genital piercings
13. Travis Barker - The thirty-one
year old musician is best known as the former drummer of band Blink
182. Barker has a large checkered-flag design on both sides of his neck,
a large banner inscribed with "Can I Say" across his collar
bones, the outlines of nude women on opposite sides of his upper chest,
a large "Boom Box" radio on his stomach, a large design on
his mid-lower back, both arms sleeved - meaning that they are covered
in tattoo designs for their entire length - (one arm contains a Virgin
Mary dedicated to his mother), and his left leg has a logo from a Descendents
album.
14. Tommy Lee Bass - Best known
as Tommy Lee and erstwhile husband to beautiful blonde cultural icons
Heather Locklear and Pamela Anderson, this Rocker and drummer for the
metal band Motley Crue has too many tattoos to list, but including a
huge "Mayhem" arced across his stomach. The forty-three year
old Lee has what amounts to a tattoo body suit and sleeves, and both
of his ex-wives have tattoos.
15. Pink - The twenty-seven year
old Alecia Beth Moore is a Pop Star with a unique sense of style. The
singer has a shooting star and angel on the back of her left shoulder,
"what goes around comes around" tattooed on her right wrist,
"tru luv" a little higher up her, tattooed on her upper left
thigh is "Mr. Pink", an oriental style dragon. Pink also has
a cartoon cat on her lower stomach, and the barcode from the album Missundaztood
just below her hairline on back of her neck. Rounding out her rather
eclectic collection of tattoos are a frog on her left foot, the Japanese
kanji symbol for luck/happiness on her right ankle, an infinity sign
on her hip, a red star on her hand, and her Father's and brother's army
dog tags on her left foot, in addition to several others... Take a deep
breath! Pink recently married moto-cross racer Cory hart, who is heavily
tattooed and who owns the Huntington-Hart Tattoo shop in the Palms Casino
in Las Vegas featured in the reality television show, "Inked".
16. Sarah Michelle Gellar - The
twenty-eight year old Gellar has very few tattoos, but talk about the
power of the Internet! Although Buffy the Vampire Slayer has gone into
re-runs, Gellar still gets tremendous number of searches. Buffy has
the Chinese symbol for integrity on the small of her back and the Tao
symbol for patience on her ankle. She also has over a hundred and fifty
sites that can't get enough of this gorgeous Vampire Slayer. She is
married to Freddie Prinze Jr. who is also tattooed.
17. Paris Hilton - Heiress and
socialite, star of The Simple Life, Hilton once had boyfriend Back Street
Boy Nick Carter's name tattooed on her right buttock (since removed
by laser). That's it. Her place on the list of Top Twenty Five Tattooed
Celebrities probably has more to do with her penchant for losing track
of her home movies and her fiance du jour than anything else. Her name
is an interesting barometer of popular culture.
18. Brad Pitt - see Angelina
Jolie. Forty-two year old William Bradley "Brad" Pitt does
not even actually have a tattoo that we know of. Such is the power of
celebrity. Pitt's relationship with Angelina Jolie has created so much
heat, and rumours that he might be getting a tattoo have been so fast
and furious that it has catapulted him onto the list of Top Twenty Five
Tattoo Celebrities in 2005. The rumoured tattoo is apparently a piece
of Arabic script, but we have yet to see any hard evidence of it.
19. Bam Margera - Twenty-six
year old Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera, is an actor and pro skateboarder
who has a heart-a-gram symbol tattooed on his lower stomach, and a large
tattoo design on his right side. A fixture with the MTV and Jackass
Generations.
20. Victoria Caroline Beckham
- The thirty-two year old former Spice Girl (Posh Spice) has five stars
on her lower back -one for each family member, and her famous husband's
initials DB - yes, that David Beckham - on the underside of left wrist
21. Johnny Depp - This Oscar-nominated
Actor has many, many tattoos, and was an enthusiast of body art long
before it's pop cultural renaissance. As in so many things, the forty-three
year old Depp was far ahead of the curve in matters of fashion, style
and personal taste. He famously changed a tattoo dedicated to his then
flame Winona Ryder, from "Winona Forever", to "Wino Forever".
22. Bow Wow - Eighteen year old
Shad Gregory Moss, has a large clown tattooed on his left shoulder,
along with small initials on his right arm and several others. The young
rapper released his first album, Beware of Dog, at the age of thirteen.
Bow Wow was a successful recording artist, if something of a novelty
originally, but he has continued his success as he has matured.
23. Method Man - Thirty-five
year old Clifford Smith has a tattoo on his left arm that appears to
be the word "LIFE or DEATH", depending on which angle you
look at it. Method Man is a rapper and member of the Hip Hop collective,
Wu-Tang Clan. He is also well-known for his work both as a solo artist
and with frequent collaborator Redman, as well as for recent forays
into acting.
24. The Game - Twenty-seven year
old Jayceon Terrell Taylor raised his media profile the old fashioned
way, by publicly feuding with another celebrity. But in this case, the
feud with 50 Cent was between mentor and protege and few have the profile
that 50 Cent does. The result was that the Grammy nominated The Game
received a huge amount of public and media attention and the attending
Internet buzz that goes with the territory. The Game is considered by
many to be a driving force in bringing back the West Coast Hip Hop scene,
in direct competition to his East Coast counterparts. Both of Taylor's
arms are heavily tattooed and he has his name on his neck as well.
25. Mike Tyson - Among the many
celebrities who are prominently tattooed, thirty-nine year old Mike
Tyson's tattoos are particularly interesting. He has been very articulate
about the symbolism and what he proclaims are the profoundly personal
nature of his tattoos, featuring among others Arthur Ashe, Che Guevera
and Mao Zedong. Tyson has stated that his tattoos are powerful personal
totems.
Tyson's Maori-inspired facial tattoo created quite a furor when it was
done several years ago. Within mainstream pop culture it turns out,
there are still a few tattoo stigmas left to be broken. Mike Tyson has
pushed the celebrity tattoo envelope in a completely new direction.
Just out of the top twenty-five tattooed celebrities were Christina
Ricci and Lindsay Lohan.
