Names -> Better Off Solo -> Latest Entries
Sometimes a lead singer gets kicked out of a band, or leaves when their head gets too big for them. How well did they do on their own?
The 20 most recent entries are listed below. There are 125 Better Off Solo entries on the site.
Band | Name | Comments & Submittor Name | ||
| Tears For Fears | Curt Smith | Curt's most recent solo album Halfway Pleased is good. - Celeste | ||
| F.M. | Ben Mink | F.M. had moderate success in Canada during the late 1970s and early 1980s. After their split, Ben Mink went on to work with k. d. lang as her cowriter, penning numerous hits, as well as performing on other people's records such as Rush ("Losing It", from 1982's "Signals") and playing guitar on Geddy Lee's solo album from 2000, "My Favourite Headache". - P Smith | ||
| The James Gang | Joe Walsh | The James Gang were interesting, but solo, Walsh became genius. - P Smith | ||
| Fairport Convention | Richard Thompson | Thompson was shy and quiet within the band, but was a certifiable genius on guitar and as a songwriter, with a breadth of knowledge of styles that gave the band a rich texture that made them unique among folk acts (i.e. they were interesting). The band eventually broke up, and for a while Thompson recorded with his wife Linda, including the classic album, "Shoot Out The Lights". After their split, Thompson became a frontman on his own since the mid-1990s recording a series of folk/rock records of brilliant songwriting, performing and humour. - P Smith | ||
| The Steve Miller Band / Steve Miller Blues Band / Goldberg-Miller Band / Ardells | Boz Scaggs | Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs were friends in college, and Miller actually taught Scaggs how to play guitar. Later, after going through various incarnations (see the above band names) and recording the first two Steve Miller Band Albums, Scaggs went solo and had numerous top 40 hits including #1s in his own name ("Lido Shuffle") and as re-recordings by others ("We're All Alone" by Rita Coolidge). Miller did pretty well on his own too. Why Scaggs left the band is long forgotten. - P Smith | ||
| The Commodores | Lionel Richie | The Commodores were unbelievably great. I wonder though, after Richie started to become famous with his own creations, how much of the Commodores have in reality been Richie, all the time. Our retrospect is forcibly distorted, but imagining Lionel Richie as "simply" the lead-singer in a band, be it a group like the Commodores, looks like an impossibility, to me. - Athletic Ears | ||
| Supergroove (Low-Down Dirty Blues Band) | Che Ness (Che Fu) | Che Fu and his friends at Western Springs High School formed Low-Down Dirty Blues Band (later changed the name to Supergroove). The band itself only had one major hit: "Can't Get Enough", but after the band split due to creative differences, Che Fu released 4 albums with numerous NZ no.1`hits. However, Supergroove did reunite very briefly. - Rocky Mak | ||
| Destiny's Child | Beyonce | Ever since she gone solo, she became a diva, and she's been doing good without the band. - Sierra | ||
| Big Brother and the Holding Company | Janis Joplin | Her biggest solo hit, a rendition of Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee," is a work of art in my book, and better than anything she did with Big Brother and the Holding Company. - Raphael | ||
| System Of A Down | Serj Tankian | This might sound lame, but I actually think that Serj is neither better nor worse after leaving SOAD. I think SOAD, Scars On Broadway ("System" guitarist Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan) and solo Serj are equally good! - Jonathan S. | ||
| Beatles | John Lennon | John went on to have a successful solo career until he was shot dead by Mark David Chapman in 1980. In an ABC news interview he was asked if the Beatles would ever get back together. He replied that he "didn't know" if that would ever happen. - Celeste | ||
| Exile | J. P. Pennington | After leaving the band in the late 1980's, Pennington enjoyed moderate success as a solo artist, scoring a Top 30 Country hit in "Whatever It Takes". He has since re-formed Exile with guitarist Les Taylor. - Todd W. Zimmerman | ||
| LTD | Jeffrey Osbourne | I just thought he was better as a solo than he was in LTD. Of course, he was the drummer and singer, so he was kind of handicapped. - Soul | ||
| Change | Luther Vandross | Luther Vandross wasn't in the limelight until he went solo. But he did write a song for "The Wiz" called 'Brand New Day'. - Paul Warren | ||
| Free | Paul Rodgers | Yes, did have a solo career among his fronting for Free, Bad Co., The Firm , and The Law. - Richard Head | ||
| The Raspberries | Eric Carmen | Even Carmen himself said that the band was "pretty bad" in an interview. - Rash Dipdock | ||
| Digital Underground | Tupac Shakur | He was never in the limelight with this band, now look at him. He's making songs beyond the grave! - Paul Warren | ||
| Ratt | Warren DeMartini | He was a sick guitar player, Ratt was a little bit...well, limiting for his abilities IMO... - Yo Momma | ||
| Shalamar | Jody Watley | Had 6 Top Ten pop hits in the late 80's, including "Looking For a New Love" and "Real Love". - Todd W. Zimmerman | ||
| Mott The Hoople | Ian Hunter | Had a moderately successful solo career in the 80s and 90s. - Rocky |
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Below Average Dave. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.
The Top Ten Contributors To This Section
| Paul Warren (site rank #12) | 18 |
| Celeste (site rank #11) | 14 |
| princejellyfish | 10 |
| whistledog | 4 |
| oldrock | 4 |
| P Smith | 4 |
| Rocky | 3 |
| Eric | 3 |
| Lisa | 3 |
| Todd W. Zimmerman | 3 |
Submissions
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