If you were to ask the average man (or woman) in the street about moustaches they would probably suggest that they had gone out of style during the youth-obsessed Fifties. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the style-conscious world of popular music. But there is a small elite of performers who, despite the vicissitudes of fashion and the difficulty of maintaining good grooming on tour, have rocked the manly moustache.

In honour of Movember, the moustache growing charity event that raises funds and awareness for men's health, we take this opportunity to salute them:

25: Tupac Shakur

The doomed rapper’s wispy beginner moustache may have blossomed into something more substantial but for that fateful night in 1996. Shakur’s musical career has burgeoned since his demise but his moustache remains forever a lost promise.

24: John Bonham / Led Zeppelin

With a wispy boyishness that belied Bonzo’s awesome tub-thumping power the Bonham moustache was a strangely paradoxical affair. Rarely has a more manly performer sported such a frankly inadequate moustache.

23: Bryan Ferry

The blink-and-you-missed-it Ferry pencil moustache from 1976 graced the cover of his third solo album Let’s Stick Together. Although a short-lived project it was quite possibly an influence on Midge Ure’s widely admired 1979 effort.

22: Will Smith

Is that a moustache, Mr Smith, or have you just had a cappuccino? Will’s wisp may be a desperate attempt to make the baby-faced rapper/actor look like an adult, but his admirable resolve in hanging on to the moustache through more than two decades of music and cinema success deserves at least some recognition.

21: Frank Beard / ZZ Top

The ultimate ironic facial hair. Frank Beard is famously the only member of Texan surrealist boogie outfit ZZ Top without a beard. But he does have a moustache. That’s no accident.