It either works or it doesn’t. It can be a major leap of faith for a musician to leave the comfort of being a member of a really successful band in search of pastures new in the form of a solo career. Without the backing of the musician’s band members it can be a daunting prospect to try and achieve. But if the artist is the brains behind the outfit and wrote most of the music for their group it usually means they have it in them to pen a great solo record.
And that is exactly what the following 5 singers were able to achieve.
5. Richard Ashcroft (The Verve)
The Verve were a massive Indie Rock band. However they were prone to the odd break up every now and then. This was – as their famous song goes – a Bittersweet Symphony as it meant Ashcroft could work on his solo material. The songwriter released his first album – “Alone With Everybody” in 2000 where it peaked at the number one spot. Two singles on the album – “A Song For The Lovers” and “Money To Burn” both reached the top 20 in the UK singles charts.
His following album was entitled “Human Conditions”. It too did well, peaking at number 3 in the charts and included the fantastic “Check The Meaning”. Ahscroft carried on this success when his third album “Keys to the World” took second place in the charts. “Break the Night with Colour” was the stand out tune on that record.
The artist’s latest record didn’t do quite as well but still managed to garner some fairly positive reviews.
Song to listen to: Check the Meaning
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6 Comments
You should do an article of 5 members of great rock bands who had unsuccessful solo careers. I’ll give you Billy Corgan for free.
Yeah that’s a good idea, I’m having a tougher time thinking of musicians that were unsuccessful as opposed to successful in solo careers for some reason.
Decent list. As much as I’m a fan of Stone Roses, I’d probably say I even enjoyed Ian Brown’s solo stuff more. Plenty of other musicians from successful rock bands who went on to do well on their own: Ozzy Osbourne, Sting, Paul Weller, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Robert Plant, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed… The list goes on.
How about Serj Tankian? Or is that too heavy for rock? I’ll give you another unsuccessful one: Pete Wentz (although it’s not really solo) and Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy.
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds is one of my favorite groups. He is not the nicest person in the world but he is still a good musician and I think he is better than his brother’s group.
You could add John Squire (Stone Roses) to your list of unsuccessful artists (in their own right). Great guitar on “Marshall’s House” but unfortunately he can’t sing for toffee.
You could add Bernard Butler “People Move On” to this list. Now that boy can sing.
Imagine, however? Mawkish pap, I’m afraid. Lennon did much better, let’s be honest.