The 25 Most Successful Solo Acts

[RoseMary]

Hey, Fergie from Black Eyed Peas just released an "enhanced" version of her solo album. One thing you gotta admit, she sure is busy.

Musicians go solo because they can. Usually because they're the singer in the band and fans always identify with the singer. And the money's better. Why split the money with the bass player when you can hire someone for scale? No one cares who the bass player is--unless he's also the singer. Then he goes solo anyway. Most bands are doomed to break up anyhow. Or they spend less time together. Not like the old days when they were all in the van together in a valiant all-for-one effort. Money changes everything. Lack of money changes it, too. And screwing around with your bandmate's girlfriend doesn't help either. Those things end badly.

Solo success, however, is not guaranteed. Look at Mick Jagger. He's been trying to leave the Rolling Stones for years.



25) Bobby Brown--New Edition: Chuck D of Public Enemy once called rap the "Black CNN." If that's true, then Bobby Brown with "My Prerogative" was acting as The Electric Company on PBS. After a stint in New Edition and before a marriage to Whitney Houston, Brown helped enforce "New Jack" which was considerably better than Mick Jagger's attempt at Freejack.

24) Peter Frampton--Humble Pie: His rise was short and sweet. One minute he's a guitar player in Humble Pie. The next thing you know he's headlining stadiums and has a double-live album that everyone between the ages of 9 and 20 is required to own by law. Some of the mail-away record companies simply send the thing without asking.


23) Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, Pras Michel--The Fugees: The Fugees didn't stay together very long. But they've reunited a bunch of times. And Lauryn Hill was even on the cover of Time magazine after her solo album proved that she was the future of music. Except she hasn't made a new studio album since. So maybe the future of music is all about waiting. Axl Rose would agree.

22) Buster Poindexter--New York Dolls: David Johansen tried to become a superstar with the New York Dolls by wearing women's clothes and makeup. That didn't work. He tried a solo career as a young, urban hipster. That didn't work. He finally had a hit covering a bunch of old tunes by the Animals, reminding people how good Eric Burdon is. Then he hit upon becoming a schmaltzy lounge act and the world was at his feet. It proves the William Blake theorem (it was in a fortune cookie, actually): "Stupid will be what gets you ahead." There's hope for me yet.


21) Curtis Mayfield--The Impressions: The great thing about early '70s funk wasn't just the amazing clothes. It was how these guys (Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye) who'd always been shackled by their record company (you know, the man!) were given free reign to do whatever they wanted and rather than just indulge in wind noises and 30-minute instrumentals, they delivered music that made them even more successful. Curtis Mayfield managed to turn a film score--Superfly--into his own artistic statement.

20) George Michael--Wham!: Hands up, who wouldn't want to get caught in a men's room with this guy? You'd have stories to tell the grandkids, that's for sure. Whenever I look at Andrew Ridgeley, I think, "If I had any luck, I'd end up that guy." Which is to say, the guy standing next to the guy who had a career after he stopped talking to me.


19) Elliott Smith--Heatmiser: Did Elliott Smith ever intend on going solo? Or did it just happen to him, just as he ended up at the Academy Awards singing his little "Miss Misery" song only to get a pat on the head from Celine Dion? Even his tragic death, shrouded in mystery (was he stabbed or was it self-induced?), feels like an accident. Just like his songs sound like something that almost isn't there. He was like the Casper the Friendly Ghost of indie-rock.

18) Dr. Dre, Ice Cube--N.W.A.: You would've thought in the beginning that Ice Cube and Eazy-E would've been the obvious stars. This Dre guy didn't seem to figure that prominently. He was less a rapper than a producer and who figured that producers would ever be where the money was at? Starpower was at the mic, supposedly.



17) Natalie Merchant--10,000 Maniacs: Of course, Natalie would ditch the group. They didn't do anything a complete bunch of studio hacks couldn't do better. No one can name another member of 10,000 Maniacs, except maybe their parents.

16) Lionel Richie--Commodores: When you're going to make a career out of singing mushy ballads, it's best to do it person to person. It's feels more personal that way.



15) Gwen Stefani--No Doubt: Who didn't see this one coming? She had diamonds in her eyes from the beginning and sticking around with a bunch of nice guys wasn't going to cut it when hogging the whole spotlight was calling. Her solo career has been far more successful than her husband, the guy we know as the guy from Bush.

 

[RoseMary]

14) Ol' Dirty Bastard, Ghostface Killah, RZA, GZA, Raekwon, Masta Killa, Method Man, U-God, Inspectah Deck--Wu Tang Clan: Now this is ridiculous. How did these guys agree on anything? Too many cooks? It wasn't like a series of Top Chef where they eliminate one every week. They were all in it for long haul, until ODB checked out. Wu Tang figured there was strength in numbers and I guess if you have this many guys in a band, no single person has to work too hard. Except the guy in charge of taking attendance.



13) Sam Cooke--The Soul Stirrers: Gospel music was a natural fit for Sam Cooke. But he wanted to reach more people and while God's a great subject for song, he's never been a consistent draw on the pop charts. People prefer songs about girls. So Sam sang about girls. He liked them, too.

12) Lou Reed--The Velvet Underground: Lou Reed has never been described as a nice guy. He might be a doll. But I've never heard anyone say it. Most people describe him as being difficult. His years with the Velvet Underground were fraught with disagreements and a great tension that led to even better music. On his own, he's been all over the map, playing with a wide variety of excellent musicians--many of whom have also been described as difficult. Easy music is overrated anyhow.



11) Fergie--Black Eyed Peas: Once a child actress and then a member of the Black Eyed Peas, Fergie instinctively knew that people watched their videos to watch her. So, why not give the people more of what they wanted?

10) Brian Eno, Bryan Ferry--Roxy Music: What happens to a band with too many weirdoes? They eventually get tired of dealing with each other and go solo. Eno, of course, decided to make music that was abstract and weird and required notecards. Ferry opted to sing other people's songs from time to time and play with his hair. Eno was very successful with his experiments and became a big time producer for Talking Heads and U2. But he was never able to match Ferry with the hair.



9) Ozzy Osbourne--Black Sabbath: This was a matter of what to do next. His old band didn't want him. They found a shorter guy who took up less bus space. Ozzy's wife got tired of him sitting around the house and made him get a job. Since he realized he wasn't the type to sit in an office and shuffle papers, and this is before there was an internet and you could score your degree online, Ozzy decided to try a solo act. And his wife decided to manage it to make sure he didn't screw it up.
Diana Ross--The Supremes: You could tell by the look in her eye that there was no way she wasn't going solo. She already got top billing in the band and the girl group thing could only go so far. She had to go solo. There was only so much room in the mirror, after all.



7) Beyoncé--Destiny's Child: It's every musician's dream to make music and keep as much of the money as possible. It's also a lot of fun to become more successful than your former bandmates. You can invite them to meet you at expensive restaurants that you know they can't afford. Because you're still famous and rich!

6) Don Henley, Glenn Frey--The Eagles: Not content with making oodles of money together, they decided to stop liking each other and make it on their own. Smart parents teach their children independence. Smart managers drive wedges in groups and double their money.



5) Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins--Genesis: Both of these guys were in Genesis, though I wonder if they ever spoke about this fact. "You, too, mate?" Gabriel went on to make experimental videos and music that tested reality. Phil Collins had his music on Miami Vice. While yet another guy in the band went on to become a mechanic or something.

4) Sting--The Police: By looking and acting more serious than the other members of the band and by never passing up an opportunity to publicize his music, whether performing it with Puff Daddy or listening to it in an expensive sports car in a TV commercial, Sting's career is high in preservatives. Now that going organic and green is all the rage these days, maybe Stewart Copeland will have a chance.


3) Neil Young--Buffalo Springfield: Hard to imagine this ornery old guy being a team player. But he also participated in Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, a most unlikely sounding law firm specializing in asbestos litigation. With Neil, you just never know. He might've ended up a member of the Traveling Wilburys if his number had been listed.

 

[RoseMary]

2) Paul McCartney--The Beatles: Before becoming a regular star in Divorce Court, Paul McCartney was in an incredibly successful band called Wings! Before that he played bass in the Beatles and shared the stage and songwriting credits with a fella named John Lennon. Quite a few songs became hits. Many were covered by other artists like Guns n' Roses and Billy Joel. Why do these things keep happening to McCartney?



1) Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake--Mickey Mouse Club: Hey, everybody, it's the triumvirate from hell! Three former Mickey Mouse Mouskateers come into our lives and then reemerge many years later in a scarier, altered form. They've made science fiction movies about this stuff and it always ends badly. But they sure can dance!

 

[sputnik]

it pains me to see ****ty 'musicians' like britney, timberlake, fergie, gwen stefani, bobby brown and beyoncé on the same list as real artists like lou reed, brian eno, elliott smith and curtis mayfield.