During the 8th and 9th centuries of the Abbasid era, the expansion of the Islamic empire brought foreign musicians, new musical styles, and new instruments to the court. These were soon integrated with existing musical traditions, and music became an essential part of courtly entertainments. As standards for musicianship and performance were negotiated, a new class of celebrity musicians emerged whose exploits, accomplishments and artistic output inspired a diverse range of literary reaction. Literary representations of musicians and their status within the court culture of the 9th and 10th century Abbasid courts reflect varying degrees of social discomfort between the fact of their fame and the stigma of their chosen profession. The profession of music was regarded as unmanly and ignoble, as, prior to Islam, the majority of professional musicians were women. When it became acceptable for men to be professional musicians, their choice of profession still carried social limitations. These limitations can be seen not only in accounts of performances, but in descriptions of individual musicians and texts on musical training, all of which frequently include specific social instruction. Narratives of musicians follow a distinct path. Those who wished to be regarded with respect managed their fame through a careful performance of propriety. After a successful career, musicians then would renounce their profession and retire from public life. This renunciation did not always prevent them from performing; rather, it allowed them to step back into that role when it suited them, or when asked, without stigma. This transition is a common thread in stories of respected musicians, and the sources represent this transition as a form of penitence. The act of removing oneself from public life was especially important to former singing girls (qayna, pl. qiyan), who were frequently (in)famous for their dual role as musician and courtesan. Representations of singing girls often relate their passage from slave origins to celebrity, culminating in the ending of their professional career through a redemptive event such as retirement, repentance or death. In this paper, I will outline the basic themes which appear in 9th and 10th century musician narratives, and then compare representations of celebrity, propriety and repentance in the stories of five well-known musicians. I will then discuss the function and purpose of this type of narrative in the social contract between audience and musician, and how social performance was intrinsically linked to musical performance.