English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran will not be the first musician to make an appearance on Game Of Thrones when he guest-stars in Season 7 of the show.
Besides regular cast members such as Carice van Houten (who plays Melisandre), Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton), and Raleigh Ritchie (Grey Worm), who have music careers outside of their acting gig, other singers and bands have also had cameo spots on the show.
Here are some of the most notable ones.
Sigur Ros
Appearance: Season 4, episode 2, The Lion And The Rose
The minstrels providing the music at king Joffrey Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell's wedding were none other than Icelandic trio Sigur Ros. They are seen singing and playing music before an impatient Joffrey throws coins at them to shoo them off.
The song that they sang, The Rains Of Castamere, acted as a bit of foreshadowing for the blood to come in the episode, as it is also the title of the show's famously tragic Red Wedding episode (Season 3, episode 9).
Coldplay's Will Champion
Appearance: Season 3, episode 9, The Rains Of Castamere
In the festivities leading up to the Red Wedding, Coldplay drummer Champion is featured in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment playing a, well, drummer.
Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody
Appearance: Season 3, episode 3, Walk Of Punishment
Northern Irish musician Lightbody, the lead singer of rock band Snow Patrol, is known to be a big fan of Game Of Thrones and has been spotted hanging out with its cast members on the Belfast set. He got to live the ultimate fanboy dream when he made a cameo in the series as a soldier, who leads northern lord Roose Bolton's men in singing The Bear And The Maiden Fair.
Mastodon
Appearance: Season 5, episode 8, Hardhome
Three of four members of American heavy metal band Mastodon - guitarists Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher, and drummer Brann Dailor - guested in this episode as the wildlings, the feral people who live North of the Wall. During their brief appearance, they get brutally slaughtered by the scary White Walkers.
On his experience on the series, Dailor told online music magazine Pitchfork: "I watched my best friends Brent and Bill murdered right in front of me as I myself was stabbed in the stomach and had my throat slit multiple times, and I didn't mind at all... We are more than privileged and honoured to have been a part of one of the greatest stories ever told on film, and the catering wasn't bad either."
Wilko Johnson
Appearance: Seasons 1 and 2, several episodes
Johnson, 69, an English singer and legendary guitarist once associated with rock band Dr. Feelgood in the 1970s, played royal executioner Ser Ilyn Payne - or the mute knight who chopped off Winterfell lord Ned Stark's head.
Reportedly, Johnson was due to appear in more episodes beyond Season 2, but was phased out of the show when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2013. In October 2014, he was declared cancer-free.
Game Of Thrones Season 7 premieres in Singapore on HBO (StarHub TV Channel 601) on July 17 at 9am, with a same-day encore telecast at 9pm.
