The original version of The Human League was a trio of Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh plus vocalist Phil Oakey - he was their second choice after potential vocalist Glenn Gregory turned them down.
Phil Oakey would eventually take over the band and after adding lots of new members had their breakthrough hit Don’t You Want Me?
Meanwhile Ware and Marsh finally hooked up with Gregory and formed ***Heaven 17 ***whose breakthrough hit was Temptation.
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When singer Carl McCoy left Fields of the Nephilim the remaining members recruited Andy Delaney and continued as the Rubicon.
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George Michael is basically Wham! without Andrew Ridgeley. Unencumbered by George, Andrew had a solo career and released a couple of singles and a poorly reviewed album. Hopefully history will appreciate his true worth.
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Any given line-up of the Doobie Brothers is The Doobie Brothers of the previous line-up plus or minus one guy, eventually reaching the point where the Doobie Brothers is Patrick Simmons minus everyone else.
And before you point it out, the Doobie Brothers post-One Step Closer aren’t the Doobie Brothers. They’re a cover band.
We’re counting duos??
Okay, Kenny Loggins is Loggins & Messina without Jim Messina.
When singer King Diamond left Mercyful Fate to form his own solo band (eponymously named King Diamond) his original lineup consisted of three ex-Fate members: guitarist Michael Denner, bassist Timi Hansen, and himself. Denner was eventually replaced by Mike Wead, who joined the reunited Mercyful Fate in 1997. Drummer Snowy Shaw also played in both bands. So, over the course of time, both bands shared enough members to form a complete lineup, though not all of them were together at the same time.
Talk Show was Stone Temple Pilots with singer Dave Coutts in place of Scott Weiland.
The soundtrack to Ray Davies’ film Return to Waterloo was released in the US as a Ray Davies solo album. The musicians consisted of the then-current Kinks lineup minus brother Dave Davies.