I read it and immediately thought of Peter Wolf's post J Geils outing (one big hit and then...). ...

Phil Collins.

ummm. george michael.

Rob Thomas. Second solo album will be coming out in a few months. However, it looks like he his going to try to balance a solo career and also put out albums with his band.

I'm not an expert, but isn't Matchbox 20 just Rob Thomas and a bunch of guys, thereby making the solo/band distinction a little dubious.

huh? you mean like every other band with a lead singer?

Heck, I just found out the other guy's names in Tom Petty's band. Who else is in the E Street Band besides Bruce, his wife, and the guy from The Sapranos.

Rob Thomas. Second solo album will be coming out in a few months. However, it looks like he his going to try to balance a solo career and also put out albums with his band. How many artists can you think of that have gone solo yet also remain with their band and produce albums? Obviously, Vedder is giving it a try. Any others?

besides those mentioned, i'd vote:

rod stewart (mostly)

what do you mean? rod was a solo artist before he joined the faces.

Wasn't Rod in the Jeff BEck Group before the Faces and his solo career?

George Michael was in a Group/Duo not a band. There is a difference.

Even Phil Collins has not sold as many records as Genesis.

I think Lionel Richie is the best example of someone who was more successful as a solo artist. I cannot think of a better example than him.

Jacko?

I'm pretty sure about that. Even in the 80s, when Collins became a superstar, Genesis had close to a dozen major hits. I think Invisible Touch was the best selling album of any of their catalogs.

I realize this is an unusual view, but I've always liked the first album by David Jo, Thunders/Heartbreakers, and Sylvain Sylvain more than the actual Dolls records. Same for relatively oddball stuff like Buster's Spanish Rocketship, Stations Of The Cross & Live At Max's, Hurt Me, and the Harry Smith recs

that is not correct. phil has sold over 33 million records on his own...genesis 21 million.

"that is not correct. phil has sold over 33 million records on his own...genesis 21 million."

I think they have both sold many times that.

* Rob Halford goes industrial with 2. Bet he's tried to erase that from his brain. His Pantera rip-off band Fight wasn't good for much, either.

* Bruce Dickinson's solo albums... Lawd, those were awful. "Dive! Dive! Dive!" WTF was Bruce smoking?

those numbers are straight from riaa, current as of this year.

I think RIAA numbers count US shipments, not worldwide sales.

There's a reason for the term 'Lead Singer's Disease' and not 'Bassist's Disease'. Here's a few more examples:

* Rob Halford goes industrial with 2. Bet he's tried to erase that from his brain. His Pantera rip-off band Fight wasn't good for much, either.

* Tarja Turunen cops a diva attitude that makes Diana Ross look like Mandy Moore and is told to GTFO from Nightwish. She's going nowhere now while they are finally gaining traction in the US.

* How many times did Yes break up because of Jon Anderson?

* Sascha Koneitzko essentially killed KMFDM in 2000, turning it into his project and driving out En Esch and Gunther Schulz, who were equally vital to the band's early sound.

* Bruce Dickinson's solo albums... Lawd, those were awful. "Dive! Dive! Dive!" WTF was Bruce smoking?

To toss in another out of obscurity example as d_gauss suggested, how about Nuge? He was with The Amboy Dukes, who had one hit, then went solo and lasted a whole lot longer than they did.

Ditto Lemmy. Motorhead is far more significant than Hawkwind.

The two Halford albums after 2 and Fight were much better than anything Priest was doing at the time.

Ditto Bruce's solo albums AFTER the aforementioned Tattooed Millionaire. Skunkworks, Accident of Birth, Chemical Wedding and A Tyranny of Souls were amazing.


How about King Diamond? His solo albums did much better than the Mercyful fate stuff.

you just HAD to bring up kmfdm, didn't you?! that one still hurts...

Lots of Country folks that were in bands. Remember The Tractors? Yeah, some guy named Keith Urban sang for them!

Sorry FOW, that's not correct. Urban was never in The Tractors.
They were a band of studio vets from Tulsa that Arista signed in the early 90's. Great band but never really took off.
Urban's band was The Ranch.

Also, Vince Gill hasn't done too bad since leaving Pure Prairie League.

Ooops! Thanks Zoo,my bad. I think I even saw The Ranch open for Little Texas in LA too. I meant well..

what do you mean? rod was a solo artist before he joined the faces.

wrong. rod was in long john baldry's band; then he joined the Jeff Beck Group, which also featured Ron Wood. After they left that band, he and Ron Wood joined the Faces. This was after he turned down an offer from the band cactus. THEN he signed to Mercury to do a solo album (which featured ron wood on it). It was almost simulateneously but he wasn't a solo artist before joining the faces. his debut solo album came out just months before the first faces album but he was already a member before cutting the solo debut.

Willis, you didn't like Wyman's solo hit "Je Suis Un Rock Star"?!

Other folks who arguably shouldn't have gone solo: Roger Waters and Richard Ashcroft, though certainly they've done some quality work as solo artistes.

Yes, I loved most of the first album, esp. Come on People We're Making It Now, and Money to Burn. I still play them.

Didn't the police pick him up in a primary school or something about 2 years ago? He was in an altered state and wouldn't leave the premises, though he didn't hurt or threaten anyone. A few of the toddlers even got to ask him questions like, "Are you really a rock star?"

I always thought Iggy Pop was pretty damn successful on his own.