One of the best things about CBC's Searchlight contest is that it's open to artists of all ages, and we get some awesome entries from the very young as well as the very old.
Age can be intimidating. Youth is unfairly prized in music because young faces are easier to market. And we're all familiar with famous prodigies — Mozart wrote his first symphony at age eight; the Beatles created their entire catalogue before any of them turned 30.
But the truth is so few people are lucky enough to make music for a living, there's no formula for it, and you can start at any age. We've compiled a list of 10 artists who started late, were discovered in middle age or just took a while to get going.
Check them out in the gallery above, and vote in CBC's Searchlight competition.
Listen to the Searchlight 2015 stream