10 Unlucky Musicians Who Narrowly Missed Out On Making It Big

10. Mick Barnard - Genesis

After the departure of founding member Anthony Phillips, Genesis were on the lookout for a guitarist who would help them craft their run of four classic progressive rock albums before lead singer Peter Gabriel's departure in 1974.

The band originally settled on Mick Barnard, a 22-year-old guitarist who auditioned for the prog rock godfathers in late-1970 as Phillips' replacement. Mick was instrumental in the next stage of the group's career before their breakthrough album, 1971's Nursery Cryme, was released.

During his tenure, Barnard played over thirty shows with Genesis, and appeared with the quintet on their very first television appearance. Mick was even involved in the creation of a Genesis classic, The Musical Box, which was written and debuted during Barnard's tenure.

Mick Barnard was ousted in early 1971 in favour of Steve Hackett, who would complete the classic line-up of Genesis. No audio recordings or photos exist from Barnard's time with the progressive ensemble, and their first TV appearance featuring Barnard is missing from the BBC's archive.

After his dismissal, Barnard fell into obscurity, only ever giving one interview in 2006 about his time with Genesis and missing the break of a lifetime.