# Established bands who have successfully changed lead singers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2011, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187 "2011-03-02T08:06:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/21 "2011-03-02T14:53:07Z")
King Crimson had five different singers: Greg Lake (1969-70) Gordon Haskell (1970) Boz Burrell (1971-72) John Wetton (1972-74) Adrian Belew (1981-present) ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/22 "2011-03-02T16:45:12Z")
Lots of bands change lead vox several time throughout a night. The Beatles; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Traffic; Grateful Dead; Three Dog Night; The Eagles; the Jackson 5; even the Rolling Stones let Keef sing once in a while. . . . . 😃 Santana, Frank Zappa, Robin Trower, Ted Nugent, Montrose, Alan Parson Project and the Jeff Beck Group all changed singers throughout their history. Kansas, Supertramp, Spock’s Beard and the aforementioned Genesis all soldiered on after losing a prominent voice by “promoting from within”. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/23 "2011-03-02T17:00:47Z")
Chicago, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/24 "2011-03-02T17:06:48Z")
cjepson: Chicago has always had several different members singing lead. In the early years, it was always Terry Kath, Robert Lamm, and Peter Cetera. I quit listening to them after Chicago XI, so I don’t know who the new guy are ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/25 "2011-03-02T17:34:00Z")
The Goo Goo Dolls shifted from Robbie to Johnny, if that counts. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/26 "2011-03-02T17:35:18Z")
During their heyday, Petra were one of the most successful Christian rock bands, and this included the years when John Schlitt replaced Greg X. Volz as the band’s lead vocalist. More recently, the Newsboys have experienced substantial popularity in the world of Christian music with two or three different lead singers. > [@Superdude](#): > > I’m not looking for bands that didn’t become popular/established until they replaced their original singer. Just bands that were already well-known before the replacing happened. The Moody Blues are a borderline case: they experienced some success (including the minor hit “Go Now”) with Denny Laine (later of Wings) as lead singer, but only really made it big after Justin Hayward (and John Lodge) joined the band. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/27 "2011-03-02T18:10:29Z")
Marty Balin and Grace Slick left the Jefferson Starship in the late 1970s and were replaced by Mickey Thomas for “Freedom at Point Zero” album. Grace later came back. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/28 "2011-03-02T18:16:15Z")
Menudo ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/29 "2011-03-02T20:49:07Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > **AC/DC**. How in the hell could I have forgotten AC/DC??? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/30 "2011-03-02T21:27:27Z")
The Mothers of Invention had Ray Collins in the early years, and various other vocalists – including Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan of the Turtles – over the years. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/31 "2011-03-03T00:59:13Z")
Boston. Brad Delp sang lead on their first three albums. He was replaced for the fourth album, Walk On, by Fran Cosmo because he wanted to concentrate on side projects with former Boston member Barry Goudreau, including recording with the band RTZ. He remained welcome in Boston, though, and continued to rejoin them off and on, including accompanying them on tour, until his death in 2007. He just didn’t continue to sing lead on all tracks any longer. ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/32 "2011-03-03T12:28:37Z")
Akin to Genesis, Ultravox became much more mainstream and popular after Midge Ure took over though they were influential in other ways when John Foxx was leading. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/33 "2011-03-03T12:35:39Z")
> [@DfrntBreign](#): > > Lots of bands change lead vox several time throughout a night. The Beatles … The Beatles never changed lead singer as they didn’t have one. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/34 "2011-03-03T13:26:18Z")
It’s not like that wasn’t the situation with Queen, for example. Three of the four of them took lead at different times. I’ll throw Survivor into the mix. A huge, monstrous hit with ‘Eye of the Tiger’ with the guy in the beret and then a series of large hits with the other guy. Not really my cup of tea but they seemed to be successful with the second guy. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/35 "2011-03-04T12:49:26Z")
It’s my understanding that Steely Dan enjoyed greater commercial success after Michael MacDonald jumped ship to the Doobie Brothers, but not for very long. Tommy Dorsey was pretty successful before he hired Frank Sinatra, and certainly moreso afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/36 "2011-03-04T18:30:24Z")
Styx has changed a couple of times. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/37 "2011-03-04T18:51:06Z")
Should we even try to map Fairport Convention? ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/38 "2011-03-05T07:15:39Z")
IIRC, Shalomar replaced the lead singer at least twice. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/39 "2011-03-05T07:51:24Z")
Faith No More had a minor hit (We Care A Lot) with their original lead singer Chuck Mosley, but became far better known when he was replaced by Mike Patton. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187/40 "2011-03-05T12:38:26Z")
Well, the Small Faces were very successful with Steve Marriott on vocals, and remained successful (as the Faces) when Rod Stewart replaced him. I know, some people might say it wasn’t the same band, but the only reason for the name change is that Rod Stewart is tall. The original Small Faces really WERE small; Mariott, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones were all little guys, averaging about 5 foot 5 inches. When the much taller Stewart joined, they weren’t Small any more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/established-bands-who-have-successfully-changed-lead-singers/573187.md?page=3)