alt=Lottie Elizabeth JohnsonNote: This article originally published Feb. 11, 2023. It has been updated.
He’s known as Hawkeye, an Avenger and master archer.
He’s starred in the “Mission Impossible” series and “The Bourne Legacy.”
He’s inspired fans with his resilience and positive outlook following a severe snowplow accident on New Year’s Day that landed him in an ICU.
And apparently, Jeremy Renner is a singer — a fairly good one, too.
In a recent post on Instagram, Renner revealed he is working on new music.
“My family was my first love, and then music,” the 52-year-old actor told People magazine in 2019. “Acting came into my brain around 20. Music has always been my first love as far as something other than my family.”
Renner said he taught himself to play the piano, guitar and drums. He recalled creating instruments out of cardboard when he was 12 — and charging his sister and all of her friends a dollar to come hear him play.
“I think I made five bucks!” he told People.
In 2018, Renner collaborated with Sam Feldt on the song “Heaven (Don’t Have A Name),” per Billboard. He released three original songs as part of an ad campaign for Jeep in 2019. The following year, he released his debut EP, “The Medicine,” which has seven tracks. He released another seven tracks on his second EP, “Live for Now,” later that year.
“I’ve always found music to be one of the few things that unite people in a pure way,” the actor wrote on Instagram, announcing his first EP just a few weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic, per Vulture. “Common ground can be hard to find in today’s world, but music has remained a constant for me. To feel deeply, to dance fervently, and live together is more present now than ever.”
Renner has 20 million followers on Instagram, so it’s not like his announcement didn’t reach a lot of people. But information about his music career is surprisingly hard to come by.
He has managed to attract somewhat of a decent following, though: His music video for “Main Attraction,” which hit YouTube three years ago, has 10 million views. His song “The Best Part of Me,” which features his daughter in the music video, has more than 2 million views. His rendition of “House of the Rising Sun” has more than 1 million views.
According to the entertainment site TheThings, Renner’s fellow “Avengers” stars Scarlett Johansson and Brie Larson have also dabbled with music, so perhaps an “Avengers” musical — which actually makes an appearance in the “Hawkeye” series — will one day come to fruition.
In the meantime, enjoy some of Renner’s most popular music, which TheThings describes as a mix of Imagine Dragons and Queen. As Evan Romano wrote for Men’s Health, “Once you hit that little triangle button that sets the video in motion, you (become) immediately entrenched in the bizarre world of Jeremy Renner, Musician. It’s something like ‘The Matrix’: Once you enter, there’s no turning back.”