Lionel Richie is still making records. Very bad ones, actually, but they are records.
The Band
They did The Last Waltz and called it quits and have had the integrity to make it stick. I read that one or two members have died and so a “reunion” or “comeback” seems pretty unlikely. Makes the music they made during thier time special and unique if you ask me. (and you did, so there)
The answers to all lifes mysteries will become apparent when you have mastered the art of pissing up rope.
OTOH, Mrs. FtG went to a performance of The Band years after The Last Waltz. (I was out of town at the time.) The did indeed get together in some form (usually without Robertson) and toured several times after “retiring”.
Big difference between “one hit wonders” ala Rick Astley and people who retire at the top of their game (for example Barbra and Celiene Dion etc). Also a difference between people who never actually retired officially but just went out of fasion despite having been established stars.
They even released (minus Robertson) a very good album called Jericho in 1993.
Well, there’s Jim Morrison…
(;))
Bill Wyman walked away from The Rolling Stones a few years ago.
A possible entry is Thomas Dolby, whose last album was a soundtrack to a computer animation film in 1994 or so. Since the early 90’s he’s been in charge of Headspace, a computer music software company. He did release a live album of very small performances (private invitation to friends only) on his own earlier this year, but all the material was old and it was distributed by himself on his website (so it’s not like he’s back in the biz now). So he wasn’t big in the business when he quit, but he does have a new career that is rather successful.
Mike Berry, The drummer for REM - after his brain aenurism(sp)
retired from the band, he walked away, and has a farm in Georgia.
Grace Slick, so far. I guess as long as she’s still alive you can’t say for good, but I believe she said on The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder, in no uncertain terms, that she would never perform again.
slacker: Morrissey’s actually touring this year, unfortunately he’s not going to be anywhere near me.
Bill Berry. (Mike Mills is the bassist. Possible conflation of names there.)
The Beatles
Even under enormous pressure to reunite, they never did. Even when all four were alive, they never recorded together. That was 12 years.
Actually, I think he’s getting ready to tour America and Europe, but I can’t be completely sure. It’s just a rumor I heard on the internet.
I don’t know if he qualifies for stardom, but Rod Evans was the lead singer for Deep Purple early on. He left the band, supposedly because Ritchie Blackmore had it in for him. He then made 2 albums in the late '60s-early '70s with a somewhat interesting but almost totally ignored band calling themselves Captain Beyond. Foolishly, he became involved with a Deep Purple “reunion” tour–he being the only former band member in the reunion. After a messy court battle over that fiasco, he dropped out of sight. No one seems to know where he went or what he is doing, but the consensus is that he went to California & became a medical assistant.
I think it is a shame because, IMHO, he has a wonderful voice. I have both of the Captain Beyond albums on which he is the lead vocal. I particularly like their song “Sufficiently Breathless”.
Ok so it’s Bill Berry, I knew it was the drummer for REM,
the point is, he retired and stayed retired.
Not like some of these other Lame-Ass People who were retiring and a couple years later they come out, with an album or tour.
It’s the “should I stay or should I go” syndrome.
Van Halen…oh wait…that’s right, they got dropped from their label. I guess that’s the way the industry persuades a group to “retire”.
I assume you mean after The Beatles broke up, correct?
I wouldn’t say there was enormous pressure on them to reunite, more like the enormous and I mean trulyimmense amounts of money they were offered. If I recall correctly, one promoter offered them somewhere in the area of $200,000,000 for 1 concert at Shea Stadium in 1975. They were also offered guarantees of $1.2 billion for a 30 date concert tour in 1977.
And that was back when that was actual real money.
I have tickets to see him September 3rd…maybe I’ll ask him if he’s retired 
Now that you mention it…ABBA got offered a billion big ones to tour a couple years ago and they turned it down.