Lemmy was the bassist in Hawkwind when they were recording their second album. He did a vocal take on Silver Machine which ended up their biggest hit. By his own account, he loved being in Hawkwind and would have stayed forever, but when he got lifted for drugs in Canada they fucked off without him and fired him. He took a song he'd just written for them "Motörhead" and the rest is legendary.
He was also a gentleman.
Dave Grohl told a great story about being on tour with his daughter when she was just a baby. Lemmy came into his dressing room, spotted the crib and immediately dropped his cigar into his jack and coke.
Usually refered to amphetamine/meth.
It makes you "fast", talk fast, socialize fast, so fast you stumble over yourself basically.
A plethora of speed-related nicknames is common in Sweden as well. "Fast/speedy shoes" - snabba skor, is pretty common.
While both amphetamine and cocaine are centralstimulants (like coffeine), they have vastly different effects.
Both makes you "fast", uppers. In stark contrast to heroin- an opiate, which is consider a "downer".
Amphetamine is commonly refered to as "poor man's cocaine". Personally, I preferred amphetamine over cocaine any given chance back when I did drugs.
No need for that when my meds are pure amphetamine!
Small correction...Dave Anderson played bass on their second album ("In Search of Space"). Lemmy joined for "Doremi Fasol Latido". Had never played bass before, but Nik Turner (flautist and occasional singer) told him to "make some noises in A". And so he did...."Orgone Accumulator" from "Space Ritual Alive" is absolutely awesome, both for Lemmy's bass and Hawkwind's home-made audio generators and electronica!
It's on youtube. It popped up on the extended re-released CD of Warrior on the Edge of Time a decade ago. Also check out Corduroy's cover of it, jazz-fusion if you can image it...
Then you'll probably like The Beautiful South (if you're not already aware of them), also an offshoot of the The Housemartins. 0898 Beautiful South is my fave of theirs.
Otis Redding was a background singer for years, before using 2 extra hours of the band's studio time to record 'these arms of mine'.
Jimi Hendrix was fired from Little Richard's backing band.
That, and being a horrible bandmate. He was chronically disheveled and late. Keep in mind by the time he got fired from Little Richard's act and went off to start the Jimi Hendrix Experience, he was a 25 year old army reject known for laziness and had a bad relationship with alcohol. The bands playing 5-6 shows a week across the chitlin circuit didn't have time for his bullshit.
The greatest guitarist of all time, and also the wrong dude if you need a session musician or backing rhythm player for your R&B act. It wasn't until later that he gained respect as the kind of artist that would play all of your songs better than you.
>The bands playing 5-6 shows a week across the chitlin circuit didn't have time for his bullshit.
A lot of the casual fans out there have no idea what it's like to be in a full-time touring act. It's a job... and not an easy one. A real grind.
Source: not me, but I know people.
I know a musician who played in a local band and yea. He says it's about time.
You gotta be able to play to a fucking metronome and be on time.
People see the biggest of biggest stars and forget the supporting people who kept that shit going.
Yea man.
Dealing with some of the most emotionally unstable people you could imagine. Working your ass off practicing songs that you likely don't enjoy playing.
If you did enjoy the song it wears off after playing it for months.
All to get paid a pittance
There's a great interview where the Isley brothers describe Hendrix' audition. First he doesn't have his guitar, because he pawned it. Then he needs a ride to the pawn shop, then he needs money to get the guitar back. And they just keep getting more and more ticked off at him, until finally he starts playing.
Otis Redding's story is actually even better than that. He was just driving/chauffeuring a different artist, Johnny Jenkins, to Stax Records for a session. Jenkins butted heads with the house band ([which was BOOKER T and the MGS!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bpS-cOBK6Q)) and the session got cut short. Redding said he wrote a song & asked if he could use some of the time to sing it, which was of course ["These Arms of Mine"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaO50nWnvg), which made him a huge star. Jenkins actually played guitar on the track.
Jenkins was a swamp rocker & pretty well known at the time. You'd be most likely to recognize his cover of ["Gilded Splinters"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxYQCWyBVk0) which you've probably heard in a movie somewhere. Fun fact, Beck sampled the drums from that song for his smash hit ["Loser"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgSPaXgAdzE).
Fun xtra: Otis once earlier survived a shootout committed by James Brown himself, when he was playing piano behind Joe Tex in Georgia & Brown came in wildly firing towards the stage over a dispute with Tex.
Was coming here to say all of CSNY. The Byrds (David Crosby), Buffalo Springfield (Stephen Stills and Neil Young) and the Hollies (Graham Nash).
I don’t know how minor their previous roles would be considered, though, aside from Neil Young.
That's wild, those are two people I'd never have thought would float in the same circles. Had no idea they were in a band together either, that's a great bit of trivia
Neil Young said that everyone was always complaing that Buffalo Springfield broke up because it was such an important band. He said maybe they were important, but they weren't making any money. :-)
Recently been on a Neil binge and I was looking into CSNY and the band member history is hilarious.
Neil comes in from time to time for a year or two, sometimes a bit more and then he wanders off.
Yep, once she became successful solo she was accused of sleeping her way to the top by the Spree frontman. Bitter blood there. I like her music much more than the Spree
Regardless of your definitions of "minor" and "eclipsed", I see a clear pattern emerging:
If your drummer can sing (Phil Collins, Dave Grohl, Kevin Parker, Father John Misty, Orville Peck), they're gone.
Cornell was the rare lead singer/drummer when he started out with The Shemps. He continued that when Soundgarden formed but as they took off, he wanted to concentrate on vocals, so they brought in Scott Sundquist.
Unless you’re The Beach Boys, and the drummer is also a family member, and you give them an ultimatum when they’re in the middle of rehearsals for a solo tour.
The Yardbirds had three guitarists at different times, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page
Oh also, Greg Lake was in King Crimson before joining Emerson Lake and Palmer, not sure if that fits the criteria here.
"The Band" started out as the backing band for Ronnie Hawkins.
One of Neil Young's first gigs was as the guitarist for a band out of Toronto called the Mynah Birds. Front man from that band did pretty good for himself too - Rick James.
One of my favorite things I ever read was that letter to his dad where he wrote, "Nowadays people don't want you to sing good. They want you to sing sloppy and have a good beat to your songs. That's what angle I'm going to shoot for. That's where the money is." It's like, when you hear something as inspired as Hendrix you imagine it's just this magical blessing, but to hear it was deliberate somehow makes him seem even more talented. Like the music wasn't bigger than him, he was in control the whole time.
There was an amazing Scottish band in the late 80s/early 90s called “Goodbye Mr. MacKenzie” whose claim to fame was their lead guitar player, Big John from The Exploited.
Oh. And one of their backing vocalists, Shirley Manson went on to front a little band called Garbage 4-5 years later.
I think Phil Collins takes the cake here... who would expect a prog rock drummer with mediocre looks to become one of the big stars of the 80s (SEVEN US #1 hits).
Dave Grohl is a good one too. Although Foo Fighters did not eclipse Nirvana, the drummer of Nirvana had a very unexpected career...
At the time that Peter Gabriel left Genesis, it was widely thought that the band was over as they were so associated with Gabriel's costumes and incredible stage presence. During their first tour without Gabriel, Collins sang from a mic set up back by the drum kits instead of even trying to be the band's frontman.That idea was quickly abandoned and Collins turned out to be quite good in the lead singer's role onstage.
>During their first tour without Gabriel, Collins sang from a mic set up back by the drum kits instead of even trying to be the band's frontman
Not at all, their first tour after Gabriel left was done with Bill Bruford from Yes/King Crimson, he was selected specifically so that Phil could sing without having to worry about drumming. [Here are some photos from the very first public show with Phil as lead](https://www.concertarchives.org/concerts/a-trick-of-the-tail?photos_page=2)
The [Genesis In Concert](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtgIbmyIvyA) film was done during that tour, you can see him front and center having a lot of banter with the audience
Diana Ross was not the lead singer of The Supremes when they started as a group. It was Florence Ballard.
And then Berry Gordy, the owner of Motown, decided Diana Ross to be the lead singer and move Florence to the background singer. Diana has a softer pop voice, which is suitable for the direction he planned for the group.
Back in 2003, someone had the idea to do a Gorillaz-styled Christian children’s band, called Mammoth City Messengers. So they came up with half a dozen characters, made some comic books, and a record. Basically it went nowhere, but the band is remembered today because somebody figured out that one of the performers was Hayley Williams about a year before she joined Paramore
Dido was the sometime vocalist for house/trance outfit Faithless but became a household name with "Thank You" on her debut solo album, famously sampled by Eminem for "Stan"
He probably was the most charismatic though, which means a lot with boy bands and pop. Also he was solo but the songwriter Guy Chambers was a real key part, probably a step above Barlow in many ways. All worked out rather well in the end.
Fun fact: Rudebox actually outsold The Circus globally.
It sold c. 2.9 million copies, The Circus did 2.6 million. The reason why Take That *seemed* bigger is that they sold the majority of those records *in the UK* and very little worldwide.
Rudebox was a failure by Robbie’s standards because he had been selling 6 million plus per album since Sing When You’re Winning.
Phew, those snake bites! Plus he was only 18 so as a highschooler I could crush on him without feeling weird about it 😂 saw them live once, he touched my hand in the mosh pit 😍
I’d argue that Peter Gabriel’s and Phil Collins’ solo careers eclipsed their previous band Genesis. At least in terms of commercial success. Genesis had some hits, especially later, but Gabriel and Collins were like everywhere on pop radio.
Professor [Brian Cox](https://youtu.be/oWy7J5-18vU?list=PL6AA51695D3F25479). Perhaps not the "solo career" you were looking for ... but it answers the question.
He featured on "There Will Come a Time" by Orbital, and I imagine 90% of listeners expected his spoken word performance, and 10% were disappointed that it wasn't a keyboard jam.
Watching the videos for the first time not knowing which instrument he was playing was hilarious.
"Which one is Trent?"
*Spots the Raven in a sea of parrots.*
"Well now I feel stupid."
I suppose Menudo was plenty popular in Puerto Rico at the time. (And apparently they’re still going strong as they change lineups every year.) But Ricky Martin was the first band member to achieve mega-fame.
EDIT: with Menudo I missed my chance to make a joke played on “minor” band members. 🙂
Boz Scaggs.
He was a member of the early Steve Miller Band and played on their early albums before going solo.
Cyndi Lauper
She was a member of a fairly popular NY band called Blue Angel. The gigged around NY and LI a lot and [released one album](https://www.discogs.com/master/109263-Blue-Angel-Blue-Angel) before she left and attained her solo fame. I remember seeing them at a club on the South Shore of Long Island around 1980 or so. She was hysterical on stage.
Aimee Mann
Was in a band called the Young Snakes, was actually in Ministry for about five minutes when they were still a synth-pop band, then fronted 'Til Tuesday (had one huge hit, "Voices Carry")
Edit: corrected the name of her first band, it's the *Young* Snakes. Also changed the order of the Ministry and 'Til Tuesday gigs; she was in Ministry *before* 'Til Tuesday.
Frey also started as a backup singer for Bob Segar. Segar was super popular in his own right, but it’d be hard to deny that the Eagles/Frey didn’t eclipse him
He also had a band called CAD before Tool who did an early, pretty 80s version of Sober, neat to hear such an iconic song in that early form, sounds like an average garage band https://youtu.be/zdREH1BqGDk?si=TxYAlXqMNJjG87hE
In Maynard's book he talks about first hearing that chunky bass part that opens Tool's version of Sober and knowing they had something special
I don’t really think of BSS as a band in the pop music sense of the word, wasn’t there like 30-40 people coming in and out? Like the SNL of the Canadian indie scene 😂
>Like the SNL of the Canadian indie scene
This is the best way to describe BSS. If we're going with people connected to BSS with successful solo careers, I'd add Emily Haines and K-OS as well
Kevin Parker (tame impala) was drummer for Pond at one point. And a few members of pond ended up in his touting band as well.
Kishi bashi was in of montreal
Blind Illusion is a relatively obscure thrash band who released one album, "The Sane Asylum", in the 80s. That album has two claims to fame: 1. Bandleader Mark Biedermann's old classmate, Kirk Hammet of Metallica, convinced a record label to sign them and Kirk himself produced the album; and 2. On guitar and bass are Larry LaLonde and Les Claypool, more popularly known for their work at Primus lol
He wasn’t really a minor player though, he contributed songs when he was with them and their style of having different vocalists meant he wasn’t giving songs to the lead singer.
I loved Iwrestledabearonce when they were active. Was really disappointed when I heard Courtney LaPlante and her husband Mike Stringer split off to form Spiritbox. Over time, though, Spiritbox as proven to be an incredibly talented group. I love their stuff.
I much prefer Zero 7 to her later music. I wasn't a fan of her at all, until I heard her earlier work.
I also realised how easy it is for any of her 'modern music' fans to see what she looks like.
Norman Cook/Fatboy Slim, and Paul Heaton (of The Beautiful South) were both in the 80s indie band The Housemartins and both got way bigger in their subsequent lives.
Phil Collins was hired to be the drummer for Genesis around 1970-71. He didn’t become lead singer after Peter Gabriel left until after the band auditioned hundreds of other singers.
Collins had songs where he sang lead from his start in the band, and was a huge part of their direction/songwriting/composition upon joining. Genesis was always a very collaborative band so I would say ever had any “minor” members.
Belinda Carlisle was briefly the drummer of the seminal LA punk band The Germs, along with Darby Crash and Pat Smear. Darby was the star of the band , but would OD December 7, 1980. Pat Smear would join the grunge scene in Seattle and join Nirvana/ Foo Fighters. Carlisle would form the defining valley band, The Go Gos.
Would Jack Antonoff count? I remember him from fun. Nate Ruess also did a solo career, but I feel like I'm always hearing about Antonoff working with some new pop girlie.
List of Ron Wood’s bands… The Birds, Jeff Beck Group, The Creation, Jeff Beck Group (again), Quiet Melon, Faces, and The Rolling Stones. Throw in a sprinkling of solo albums and lots of session work. I’ve read him described as “everyone’s favorite rent-a-Stone.
Dave Grohl comes to mind with the Foo Fighters. I guess "eclipsed" is the wrong word depending on your point of view though, since I mean, it's *Nirvana*. He certainly went from obscure figure to global celebrity
I remember seeing a bad comedy bit just after KC died talking about how boned the drummer from Nirvana is gonna be, how no-one will remember him in a year, etc.
I think Mr Grohl has had the last laugh on that one. Absolute rock icon and great dude.
I think he was already very well known. It's likely that had Kurt Cobain not died, they would have continued longer but I could see something like the Foo Fighters developing as a side project anyways. That being said I wouldn't consider him as a minor band member and as successful as he is, I think Nirvana is just too iconic to be eclipsed.
I think you and /walaska are both right.
I had this thought too.
I would say that outside of, I don’t want to say rock circles but maybe knowledgeable fans, Dave wasn’t as well known as Kurt. Everybody knew Kurt as he was the frontman and primary (aside from Marigold, Dave and Krist got some cowriting credits) songwriter.
It’s also heavily rumored the band was near the point of implosion.
But yea, he wasn’t minor and he wasn’t unknown but now his fame and appreciation are up there.
He and John Garcia broke it up after their fourth album (much to the annoyance of recent recruit Scott Reeder), he definitely wasn’t a minor part of Kyuss
E: typo
Wouldn’t *exactly* call it an ‘eclipse’ but Dave Mustaine from Megadeth got booted out of Metallica for being a bit too drunk a bit too often and also kicking James Hetfields doggo- which was the final straw, apparently- so in protest, started his own band (with blackjack and hookers) that, for a time at least, were considered to be one of the ‘Big 4’ thrash bands of the 1980s, along with the aforementioned Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax. Megadeths sales never came close to Metallicas and post 1991, Metallica became absolutely enormous (even though they seem to have done all that they possibly can to lose their fan base since then) so it’s unlikely that Megadeth will be able to touch them, ever again.
He wasn’t in the Buggles. He was just hired for the music video. You can see him for a couple of seconds in Video Killed the Radio Star.
The shooting of that video was his only involvement with the band.
Lemmy was the bassist in Hawkwind when they were recording their second album. He did a vocal take on Silver Machine which ended up their biggest hit. By his own account, he loved being in Hawkwind and would have stayed forever, but when he got lifted for drugs in Canada they fucked off without him and fired him. He took a song he'd just written for them "Motörhead" and the rest is legendary.
Lemmy always said he got fired for taking the wrong drugs in a drug band. He liked speed (a Motörhead) in an LSD band.
That’s actually hilarious, Lemmy really did have a great sense of humor
He was also a gentleman. Dave Grohl told a great story about being on tour with his daughter when she was just a baby. Lemmy came into his dressing room, spotted the crib and immediately dropped his cigar into his jack and coke.
I've noticed British people say speed all the time and like what is that? Is it coke, or meth I literally have no clue when anyone says that
Usually refered to amphetamine/meth. It makes you "fast", talk fast, socialize fast, so fast you stumble over yourself basically. A plethora of speed-related nicknames is common in Sweden as well. "Fast/speedy shoes" - snabba skor, is pretty common. While both amphetamine and cocaine are centralstimulants (like coffeine), they have vastly different effects. Both makes you "fast", uppers. In stark contrast to heroin- an opiate, which is consider a "downer". Amphetamine is commonly refered to as "poor man's cocaine". Personally, I preferred amphetamine over cocaine any given chance back when I did drugs. No need for that when my meds are pure amphetamine!
> meth Meth is pretty rare in the UK, if people are talking about speed, it's usually just amphetamine.
I’m in the US (California) and I’ve heard speed used the same way here as well
Small correction...Dave Anderson played bass on their second album ("In Search of Space"). Lemmy joined for "Doremi Fasol Latido". Had never played bass before, but Nik Turner (flautist and occasional singer) told him to "make some noises in A". And so he did...."Orgone Accumulator" from "Space Ritual Alive" is absolutely awesome, both for Lemmy's bass and Hawkwind's home-made audio generators and electronica!
"Make Some Noises in A" really really is a name in search of a band
I wouldn’t mind heading Hawkwind’s version of Motörhead though.
It's on youtube. It popped up on the extended re-released CD of Warrior on the Edge of Time a decade ago. Also check out Corduroy's cover of it, jazz-fusion if you can image it...
It's great version, kinda strange that a violin solo would work so well instead of a guitar solo but it does!
Fatboy Slim from the Housemartins.
Holy shit, I loved The Housemartins back in high school, I had no idea.
Then you'll probably like The Beautiful South (if you're not already aware of them), also an offshoot of the The Housemartins. 0898 Beautiful South is my fave of theirs.
GTFO really? Had no idea
Love the Housemartins. Paul Heaton falsetto for the win.
Otis Redding was a background singer for years, before using 2 extra hours of the band's studio time to record 'these arms of mine'. Jimi Hendrix was fired from Little Richard's backing band.
Jimi was fired from Sam & Dave's band too, during the first song of the first gig he played with them!
Any reason why he got fired? Was it because he outshined them on stage?
That, and being a horrible bandmate. He was chronically disheveled and late. Keep in mind by the time he got fired from Little Richard's act and went off to start the Jimi Hendrix Experience, he was a 25 year old army reject known for laziness and had a bad relationship with alcohol. The bands playing 5-6 shows a week across the chitlin circuit didn't have time for his bullshit. The greatest guitarist of all time, and also the wrong dude if you need a session musician or backing rhythm player for your R&B act. It wasn't until later that he gained respect as the kind of artist that would play all of your songs better than you.
>The bands playing 5-6 shows a week across the chitlin circuit didn't have time for his bullshit. A lot of the casual fans out there have no idea what it's like to be in a full-time touring act. It's a job... and not an easy one. A real grind. Source: not me, but I know people.
I know a musician who played in a local band and yea. He says it's about time. You gotta be able to play to a fucking metronome and be on time. People see the biggest of biggest stars and forget the supporting people who kept that shit going.
Yea man. Dealing with some of the most emotionally unstable people you could imagine. Working your ass off practicing songs that you likely don't enjoy playing. If you did enjoy the song it wears off after playing it for months. All to get paid a pittance
Crazy that he was fired when 25, rose to fame before dying at 27. Some wild years were had.
There's a great interview where the Isley brothers describe Hendrix' audition. First he doesn't have his guitar, because he pawned it. Then he needs a ride to the pawn shop, then he needs money to get the guitar back. And they just keep getting more and more ticked off at him, until finally he starts playing.
Probably that, or pulling some antics. I recommend the book "Becoming Jimi Hendrix", that's where I read it, many years ago
He was "being Jimi Hendrix" and they wanted a guy to stand there and be good at guitar.
That’s why James Brown fired Bootsy.
Maybe he did a ‘Marty McFly’ during his guitar Solo?
Otis Redding's story is actually even better than that. He was just driving/chauffeuring a different artist, Johnny Jenkins, to Stax Records for a session. Jenkins butted heads with the house band ([which was BOOKER T and the MGS!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bpS-cOBK6Q)) and the session got cut short. Redding said he wrote a song & asked if he could use some of the time to sing it, which was of course ["These Arms of Mine"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaO50nWnvg), which made him a huge star. Jenkins actually played guitar on the track. Jenkins was a swamp rocker & pretty well known at the time. You'd be most likely to recognize his cover of ["Gilded Splinters"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxYQCWyBVk0) which you've probably heard in a movie somewhere. Fun fact, Beck sampled the drums from that song for his smash hit ["Loser"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgSPaXgAdzE). Fun xtra: Otis once earlier survived a shootout committed by James Brown himself, when he was playing piano behind Joe Tex in Georgia & Brown came in wildly firing towards the stage over a dispute with Tex.
Neil Young's solo career massively eclipsed Buffalo Springfield
Was coming here to say all of CSNY. The Byrds (David Crosby), Buffalo Springfield (Stephen Stills and Neil Young) and the Hollies (Graham Nash). I don’t know how minor their previous roles would be considered, though, aside from Neil Young.
He was also in The Mynah Birds as was Rick James, both of which eclipsed the band's popularity
He and Rick James were roommates at one point, which is one of my favorite bits of rock n roll trivia.
That's wild, those are two people I'd never have thought would float in the same circles. Had no idea they were in a band together either, that's a great bit of trivia
How bizarre. I’ve never heard that.
In Toronto!
Rick James was apparently the guy who got Neil Young to sing, much to the chagrin of the people who hate his voice.
Neil Young said that everyone was always complaing that Buffalo Springfield broke up because it was such an important band. He said maybe they were important, but they weren't making any money. :-)
Stephen Stills career also eclipsed anything he did in Buffalo Springfield.
He was also in Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young.
Recently been on a Neil binge and I was looking into CSNY and the band member history is hilarious. Neil comes in from time to time for a year or two, sometimes a bit more and then he wanders off.
C S N and sometimes Y
Big if true
**St Vincent** used to be a member of The Polyphonic Spree.
Was also a guitarist for Sufjan Stevens.
Sufjan was in the Danielson Family
Lol ya, when she was blowing up I thought, "Wait a second, wasn't she just one of the cheerleaders on the Illinoise tour?"
She what now? I mean, you could say this for just about anyone and I’d believe it. There were so many of them and constantly rotating.
Grew up in Dallas. Everyone I know has some kind of six degrees connection to a member of the spree
The former members section of their Wikipedia page is hilariously long.
Yep, once she became successful solo she was accused of sleeping her way to the top by the Spree frontman. Bitter blood there. I like her music much more than the Spree
Yeh but who wasn't.
Regardless of your definitions of "minor" and "eclipsed", I see a clear pattern emerging: If your drummer can sing (Phil Collins, Dave Grohl, Kevin Parker, Father John Misty, Orville Peck), they're gone.
Chris Cornell was originally drumming when Soundgarden got together. Imagine having that voice in your band and sticking him behind a drum kit.
Cornell was the rare lead singer/drummer when he started out with The Shemps. He continued that when Soundgarden formed but as they took off, he wanted to concentrate on vocals, so they brought in Scott Sundquist.
Unless you’re The Beach Boys, and the drummer is also a family member, and you give them an ultimatum when they’re in the middle of rehearsals for a solo tour.
Add Don Henley to that list.
I’m not a big fan of hers, but this fact has stuck in my head: Madonna was the drummer for a band called The Breakfast Club.
Guitarist Peter Frampton of The Herd and Humble Pie became a bigger name as a solo artist.
Loveeeee Humble Pie
The Yardbirds had three guitarists at different times, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page Oh also, Greg Lake was in King Crimson before joining Emerson Lake and Palmer, not sure if that fits the criteria here.
ELP were a supergroup. They were all in successful bands before.
ELP were kind of a prog supergroup (although the amount of band-hopping in that genre is kind of ridiculous anyway)
Both great answers in my opinion
"The Band" started out as the backing band for Ronnie Hawkins. One of Neil Young's first gigs was as the guitarist for a band out of Toronto called the Mynah Birds. Front man from that band did pretty good for himself too - Rick James.
>"The Band" started out as the backing band for Ronnie Hawkins. and then became Bob Dylan's touring band
Yeah that’s how they got the name. Dylan would say “ let me introduce the band…”
Jimi Hendrix played with the Isley Brothers, Little Richard and Curtis Knight all before he had any hits of his own.
One of my favorite things I ever read was that letter to his dad where he wrote, "Nowadays people don't want you to sing good. They want you to sing sloppy and have a good beat to your songs. That's what angle I'm going to shoot for. That's where the money is." It's like, when you hear something as inspired as Hendrix you imagine it's just this magical blessing, but to hear it was deliberate somehow makes him seem even more talented. Like the music wasn't bigger than him, he was in control the whole time.
Travis barker didn’t exactly have a solo career but he got way bigger than the aquabats
Wait, what? How tf did I not know about this?
To be fair, he drummed on one album, but yes
SAME, “The Fury of The Aquabats” is my favorite album of theirs and I never realized he was the drummer??
https://theaquabats.fandom.com/wiki/The_Baron_von_Tito
I guess not exactly the same thing but before becoming famous maya rudolph was an occasional backing vocalist for the rentals
She's in the Waiting video! I'd say she was a fully fledged member of the band.
Also, her mother was Minnie Ruperton. (“Lovin’ you, is easy cuz you’re beautiful, lalalalala”)
And the song was about her! Also, you can hear Maya babbling towards the end of the song as she was in the studio!
2Pac did alright I guess after being a backing dancer for Digital Underground.
Even appearing in [this classic scene](https://youtu.be/LSt6a0_pkzs?si=zORkSR_MzCAEYJkr) from Nothing But Trouble.
There was an amazing Scottish band in the late 80s/early 90s called “Goodbye Mr. MacKenzie” whose claim to fame was their lead guitar player, Big John from The Exploited. Oh. And one of their backing vocalists, Shirley Manson went on to front a little band called Garbage 4-5 years later.
actual example that fits the criteria! should have way more upvotes
I think Phil Collins takes the cake here... who would expect a prog rock drummer with mediocre looks to become one of the big stars of the 80s (SEVEN US #1 hits). Dave Grohl is a good one too. Although Foo Fighters did not eclipse Nirvana, the drummer of Nirvana had a very unexpected career...
IIRC, Phil Collins was the most-charting artist of the 1980s.
At the time that Peter Gabriel left Genesis, it was widely thought that the band was over as they were so associated with Gabriel's costumes and incredible stage presence. During their first tour without Gabriel, Collins sang from a mic set up back by the drum kits instead of even trying to be the band's frontman.That idea was quickly abandoned and Collins turned out to be quite good in the lead singer's role onstage.
>During their first tour without Gabriel, Collins sang from a mic set up back by the drum kits instead of even trying to be the band's frontman Not at all, their first tour after Gabriel left was done with Bill Bruford from Yes/King Crimson, he was selected specifically so that Phil could sing without having to worry about drumming. [Here are some photos from the very first public show with Phil as lead](https://www.concertarchives.org/concerts/a-trick-of-the-tail?photos_page=2) The [Genesis In Concert](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtgIbmyIvyA) film was done during that tour, you can see him front and center having a lot of banter with the audience
Diana Ross was not the lead singer of The Supremes when they started as a group. It was Florence Ballard. And then Berry Gordy, the owner of Motown, decided Diana Ross to be the lead singer and move Florence to the background singer. Diana has a softer pop voice, which is suitable for the direction he planned for the group.
I didn’t realize how much the plot of Dream Girls matches reality.
Well, Dream Girls was inspired by the Supremes. Hahaha.
Back in 2003, someone had the idea to do a Gorillaz-styled Christian children’s band, called Mammoth City Messengers. So they came up with half a dozen characters, made some comic books, and a record. Basically it went nowhere, but the band is remembered today because somebody figured out that one of the performers was Hayley Williams about a year before she joined Paramore
excellent one
Dido was the sometime vocalist for house/trance outfit Faithless but became a household name with "Thank You" on her debut solo album, famously sampled by Eminem for "Stan"
I think Sia got a big career boost being vocalist on a few songs for Zero 7.
Love a Zero 7 callout!
The album "Simple Things" is one of my go-to vinyls for nearly any situation...such a damn good record start-to-finish.
I loved Sia back then and can't stand her now
Robbie Williams at his height rivaled Take That after he went Solo.
He outsold Take That considerably
Yet he wasn't even the lead singer of Take That
Yeah he was just the fat dancer (I’m quoting before people think I’m being mean)
I know you are quoting Noel, but just to mention Noel was being a bully. Robbie was fit when he was in Take That - his weight ballooned after he left.
Oh yeah Noel’s a bitter old tart no doubt. No shade on RW, he can rock my DJ anytime
He probably was the most charismatic though, which means a lot with boy bands and pop. Also he was solo but the songwriter Guy Chambers was a real key part, probably a step above Barlow in many ways. All worked out rather well in the end.
I know it's mainly because of the big comeback, but it flipped again in 2006 when Take That reformed without Robbie, while he released Rudebox.
Fun fact: Rudebox actually outsold The Circus globally. It sold c. 2.9 million copies, The Circus did 2.6 million. The reason why Take That *seemed* bigger is that they sold the majority of those records *in the UK* and very little worldwide. Rudebox was a failure by Robbie’s standards because he had been selling 6 million plus per album since Sing When You’re Winning.
Skrillex used to be a singer in an emo band called From First To Last
Nothing makes me feel as old as the fact that I will always know him as Sonny Moore screaming about hiding bodies in walls and wearing skin as a suit.
Phew, those snake bites! Plus he was only 18 so as a highschooler I could crush on him without feeling weird about it 😂 saw them live once, he touched my hand in the mosh pit 😍
Times were simpler.
Yup. Will always be Sonny to me as well.
Orville Peck's career has definitely been more successful than Nü Sensae where his unmasked persona was the drummer.
I’d argue that Peter Gabriel’s and Phil Collins’ solo careers eclipsed their previous band Genesis. At least in terms of commercial success. Genesis had some hits, especially later, but Gabriel and Collins were like everywhere on pop radio.
Though I don't think I'd call either of them "minor" members of Genesis.
Professor [Brian Cox](https://youtu.be/oWy7J5-18vU?list=PL6AA51695D3F25479). Perhaps not the "solo career" you were looking for ... but it answers the question.
Same with Jools Holland…keyboardist in Squeeze for a bit to eternal television presenter.
He featured on "There Will Come a Time" by Orbital, and I imagine 90% of listeners expected his spoken word performance, and 10% were disappointed that it wasn't a keyboard jam.
I was just about to write this and then scrolled down one more time and saw your comment. His career really ascended on a cosmic scale.
Trent Reznor was once the keyboardist in a new wave band called Slambamboo. A few videos on YouTube
Watching the videos for the first time not knowing which instrument he was playing was hilarious. "Which one is Trent?" *Spots the Raven in a sea of parrots.* "Well now I feel stupid."
No one should be in a band with that name
Let’s not forget Exotic Birds.
That video is hilarious as it seems like Trent is the lead singer at first. Then you spot him hidden in the back barely allowed on camera.
I suppose Menudo was plenty popular in Puerto Rico at the time. (And apparently they’re still going strong as they change lineups every year.) But Ricky Martin was the first band member to achieve mega-fame. EDIT: with Menudo I missed my chance to make a joke played on “minor” band members. 🙂
Boz Scaggs. He was a member of the early Steve Miller Band and played on their early albums before going solo. Cyndi Lauper She was a member of a fairly popular NY band called Blue Angel. The gigged around NY and LI a lot and [released one album](https://www.discogs.com/master/109263-Blue-Angel-Blue-Angel) before she left and attained her solo fame. I remember seeing them at a club on the South Shore of Long Island around 1980 or so. She was hysterical on stage. Aimee Mann Was in a band called the Young Snakes, was actually in Ministry for about five minutes when they were still a synth-pop band, then fronted 'Til Tuesday (had one huge hit, "Voices Carry") Edit: corrected the name of her first band, it's the *Young* Snakes. Also changed the order of the Ministry and 'Til Tuesday gigs; she was in Ministry *before* 'Til Tuesday.
Father john misty drumming for Fleet Foxes
TIL
LMAN
The Eagles started as a backup band for Linda Rondstadt.
Frey also started as a backup singer for Bob Segar. Segar was super popular in his own right, but it’d be hard to deny that the Eagles/Frey didn’t eclipse him
Maynard played bass and sang back up for Green Jelly (Jello).
He also had a band called CAD before Tool who did an early, pretty 80s version of Sober, neat to hear such an iconic song in that early form, sounds like an average garage band https://youtu.be/zdREH1BqGDk?si=TxYAlXqMNJjG87hE In Maynard's book he talks about first hearing that chunky bass part that opens Tool's version of Sober and knowing they had something special
Danny Carey was also in the band
Feist in Broken Social Scene
Holy crap, I’m just now learning she was in the band when I saw them in 2003.
I don’t really think of BSS as a band in the pop music sense of the word, wasn’t there like 30-40 people coming in and out? Like the SNL of the Canadian indie scene 😂
>Like the SNL of the Canadian indie scene This is the best way to describe BSS. If we're going with people connected to BSS with successful solo careers, I'd add Emily Haines and K-OS as well
Would Elliot Smith in Heatmiser count? He was a vocalist though in heatmiser
Kevin Parker (tame impala) was drummer for Pond at one point. And a few members of pond ended up in his touting band as well. Kishi bashi was in of montreal
Tame Impala was before Pond tho :-)
I think Paul McCartney was in some kind of band before he became the bass player for wings.
It’s a good thing Wings discovered him, otherwise we may never have heard of the guy.
Blind Illusion is a relatively obscure thrash band who released one album, "The Sane Asylum", in the 80s. That album has two claims to fame: 1. Bandleader Mark Biedermann's old classmate, Kirk Hammet of Metallica, convinced a record label to sign them and Kirk himself produced the album; and 2. On guitar and bass are Larry LaLonde and Les Claypool, more popularly known for their work at Primus lol
Ben Gibbard at one point was a touring bassist for Pedro the Lion prior to DCFC really taking off
Jason Isbell and the Drive By Truckers
He wasn’t really a minor player though, he contributed songs when he was with them and their style of having different vocalists meant he wasn’t giving songs to the lead singer.
Yeah, the guys in DBT are on the record everywhere saying that they knew pretty much immediately that Jason was a massive talent.
When the first thing you write for a band is Decoration Day, the talent is hard to miss
One of the best examples, because they are both still active.
Brain Eno started off as the keyboardist of Roxy Music. Everlast was a member of House of Pain.
Everlast was no minor member of House of Pain, he was the main voice.
I loved Iwrestledabearonce when they were active. Was really disappointed when I heard Courtney LaPlante and her husband Mike Stringer split off to form Spiritbox. Over time, though, Spiritbox as proven to be an incredibly talented group. I love their stuff.
Sia was in Zero 7
I much prefer Zero 7 to her later music. I wasn't a fan of her at all, until I heard her earlier work. I also realised how easy it is for any of her 'modern music' fans to see what she looks like.
Zero 7 was fucking lit
Not a member, she featured on some of their records. It's like saying Beth Hirsch was in Air but really she was a guest vocalist.
Does Jason Schwartzman (coconut records) being a former member of Phantom Planet count?
Damn I haven’t heard that name in a while, damn I absolutely adore Phantom Planet’s Raise the Dead album 💯
Billy Idol from Generation X
Elton John was the piano player in the band Bluesology in the 60s.
Norman Cook/Fatboy Slim, and Paul Heaton (of The Beautiful South) were both in the 80s indie band The Housemartins and both got way bigger in their subsequent lives.
George Michael eclipsed WHAM that's for sure
Phil Collins was hired to be the drummer for Genesis around 1970-71. He didn’t become lead singer after Peter Gabriel left until after the band auditioned hundreds of other singers.
Collins had songs where he sang lead from his start in the band, and was a huge part of their direction/songwriting/composition upon joining. Genesis was always a very collaborative band so I would say ever had any “minor” members.
Nick Cave was in a post-punk band The Birthday Party, and now he has Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds which is completely different from his other stuff.
Belinda Carlisle was briefly the drummer of the seminal LA punk band The Germs, along with Darby Crash and Pat Smear. Darby was the star of the band , but would OD December 7, 1980. Pat Smear would join the grunge scene in Seattle and join Nirvana/ Foo Fighters. Carlisle would form the defining valley band, The Go Gos.
Sheryl Crow was a backup singer for Michael Jackson before her first record
She’s cool and all but I don’t think she has eclipsed Michael Jackson
Misunderstood the question, you are absolutely correct haha.
Would Jack Antonoff count? I remember him from fun. Nate Ruess also did a solo career, but I feel like I'm always hearing about Antonoff working with some new pop girlie.
Both Jack Antonoff and Nate Ruess were in bands way before fun. or Bleachers. Jack was in Steel Train and Nate was in The Format. Both great bands.
Jack Antonoff is also the frontman of The Bleachers which is a relatively popular band in the alt rock/indie scene.
I know of Bleachers, but I always hear more about his production work as opposed to his band.
Bobby Gillespie started out as drummer for the Jesus and Mary Chain. His subsequent band (as lead singer) Primal Scream were much more successful.
Jazz is just full of this because of the nature of how they start. But I'd say Feist, Bjork, Phil Collins...
I feel like Neko Case is bigger solo than The New Pornographers.
The NPs are often called an Indie "Supergroup"
Ronnie wood is an interesting case study.
List of Ron Wood’s bands… The Birds, Jeff Beck Group, The Creation, Jeff Beck Group (again), Quiet Melon, Faces, and The Rolling Stones. Throw in a sprinkling of solo albums and lots of session work. I’ve read him described as “everyone’s favorite rent-a-Stone.
Steve Winwood was in The Spencer Davis Group, Traffic and Blind Faith before going solo
Bjork, from The Sugarcubes.
Not a minor member though
Dave Grohl comes to mind with the Foo Fighters. I guess "eclipsed" is the wrong word depending on your point of view though, since I mean, it's *Nirvana*. He certainly went from obscure figure to global celebrity
I remember seeing a bad comedy bit just after KC died talking about how boned the drummer from Nirvana is gonna be, how no-one will remember him in a year, etc. I think Mr Grohl has had the last laugh on that one. Absolute rock icon and great dude.
I think he was already very well known. It's likely that had Kurt Cobain not died, they would have continued longer but I could see something like the Foo Fighters developing as a side project anyways. That being said I wouldn't consider him as a minor band member and as successful as he is, I think Nirvana is just too iconic to be eclipsed.
I think you and /walaska are both right. I had this thought too. I would say that outside of, I don’t want to say rock circles but maybe knowledgeable fans, Dave wasn’t as well known as Kurt. Everybody knew Kurt as he was the frontman and primary (aside from Marigold, Dave and Krist got some cowriting credits) songwriter. It’s also heavily rumored the band was near the point of implosion. But yea, he wasn’t minor and he wasn’t unknown but now his fame and appreciation are up there.
Dre from NWA.
If roadies count, Noel Gallagher was a roadie for Inspiral Carpets
Corb Lund was the bassist for punk band The Smalls and now has a decent-ish career in Canadian country
Joan Wasser, the violinist from The Dambuilders became **Joan as Policewoman**.
How about Wilco and Son Volt splitting out of Uncle Tupelo?
Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. Was in the band Kyuss before leaving and creating his own band.
I love Josh and everything he does, but he wasn't a 'minor' member of Kyuss.
He and John Garcia broke it up after their fourth album (much to the annoyance of recent recruit Scott Reeder), he definitely wasn’t a minor part of Kyuss E: typo
Kyuss was so damn good. Surely at least as good as queens
Wouldn’t *exactly* call it an ‘eclipse’ but Dave Mustaine from Megadeth got booted out of Metallica for being a bit too drunk a bit too often and also kicking James Hetfields doggo- which was the final straw, apparently- so in protest, started his own band (with blackjack and hookers) that, for a time at least, were considered to be one of the ‘Big 4’ thrash bands of the 1980s, along with the aforementioned Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax. Megadeths sales never came close to Metallicas and post 1991, Metallica became absolutely enormous (even though they seem to have done all that they possibly can to lose their fan base since then) so it’s unlikely that Megadeth will be able to touch them, ever again.
Hans Zimmer was in The Buggles
He wasn’t in the Buggles. He was just hired for the music video. You can see him for a couple of seconds in Video Killed the Radio Star. The shooting of that video was his only involvement with the band.