Artists whose Solo Career Rivals the Group They Were Originally Apart Of

Submitted by podizz on Mon, 10/20/2008 - 10:55
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  1. Michael Jackson (Jackson 5)
  2. Eric Clapton (The Yardbirds)
  3. John Lennon (The Beatles)
  4. Dr. Dre (NWA)
  5. Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath)
  6. Jeff Beck (The Yardbirds)
  7. George Harrison (The Beatles)
  8. Neil Young (Buffalo Springfield)
  9. Curtis Mayfield (The Impressions)
  10. Sam Cooke (The Soul Stirrers)
  11. Diana Ross (The Supremes)
  12. Paul McCartney (The Beatles)
  13. Janis Joplin (Big Brothers & the Holding Company)
  14. Peter Frampton (Humble Pie)
  15. Les Claypool (Primus)
  16. Justin Timberlake (N'Sync)
  17. Ice Cube (NWA)
  18. Method Man (Wu-Tang)
  19. Peter Tosh (The Wailers)
  20. Lou Reed (The Velvet Underground)
  21. Wyclef Jean (The Fugees)
  22. Lauren Hill (The Fugees)
  23. KRS One (BDP)
  24. RZA (Wu-Tang)
  25. Bobby Brown (New Edition)
  26. Peter Gabriel (Genesis)
  27. Lionel Ritchie (The Commodores)
  28. GZA (Wu-Tang)
  29. Raekwon (Wu-Tang)
  30. Phil Collins (Genesis)
  31. George Michael (Wham!)
  32. Sting (The Police)
  33. Beyoncé (Destiny's Child)
  34. Ghostface Killah (Wu-Tang)
  35. Don Henley (The Eagles)
  36. Brian Eno (Roxy Music)
  37. Gwen Stefani (No Doubt)
  38. Fergie (Black Eyed-Peas)
  39. Natalie Merchant (10,000 Maniacs)
  40. Boz Scaggs (Steve Miller Band)
  41. Linda Ronstadt (The Stone Poneys)
  42. Billy Idol (Generation X)
Ubik10/21/2008

Just came in here to make sure Peter Gabriel was on the list. Thumbs up! Some of these I didnt even know went out on their own or were even a part of a band in the first place (Les Claypool for instance)

I really have to disagree with you on Gwen Stefani though. Id REALLY rather have No Doubt back.

JAMOOL10/21/2008

A few I can think of:

Nick Lowe, of Rockpile and Brinsley Schwarz, had a really nice solo career.
Bjork from the Sugarcubes, a band which is only really notable for once having Bjork in it...
Todd Rundgren, originally of the Nazz, which released three albums to Rundgren's three hundred
Cornelius, originally of the somewhat-popular-in-Japan group Flipper's Guitar, achieved much greater success on his own.
Also, the Yellow Magic Orchestra members have something like 200 solo albums between the three of them, and Sakamoto is known more as a film composer these days than a member of YMO.
Gary Numan/Tubeway Army *might* count, except Tubeway Army was nothing more than a vehicle for Numan anyway.
John Foxx (originally of Ultravoxx)
Robert Wyatt of Soft Machine had a lucrative solo career that's pretty much consistantly amazing.
Mike Doughty of Soul Coughing had a neat solo career as well, although it's tapered off a bit.
David Byrne continued producing more albums past his Talking Heads days and is still going strong, although his popularity is nowhere near what it was.
Stan Ridgway's post-Wall of Voodoo career was nowhere near as popular, but he's released way more albums and branched out a lot more than his former band ever did.

TenthAvenueFreezeOut10/03/2010

John Cale (of The Velvet Underground).