# Members of successful bands who "dropped out" of the biz?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/members-of-successful-bands-who-dropped-out-of-the-biz/841593>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 10, 2019, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/members-of-successful-bands-who-dropped-out-of-the-biz/841593 "2019-10-10T14:34:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![breezman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@breezman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breezman)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2019, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/members-of-successful-bands-who-dropped-out-of-the-biz/841593/61 "2019-10-13T15:28:04Z")

</div>

Ron Blair was the original bassist with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He left the band in 1982 because he wanted to spend more time with family than he’d be able to if he went on tour. He was replaced by Howie Epstein. After about 20 years (and the passing of Epstein), Blair rejoined the band.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [October 13, 2019, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/members-of-successful-bands-who-dropped-out-of-the-biz/841593/62 "2019-10-13T15:37:26Z")

</div>

> [@Cell\_Guy](#):
>
> She went back to school and got her J.D from Harvard.

Good for her. I’m not the world’s biggest Donnas fan, but they had some decent songs, and she was the object of my little crush.

ETA: David Lee Roth famously worked as an EMT for a while after leaving Van Halen.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2019, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/members-of-successful-bands-who-dropped-out-of-the-biz/841593/63 "2019-10-13T22:13:23Z")

</div>

I wonder if Gregg Rolie’s lack of post-Journey fame is intentional.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/members-of-successful-bands-who-dropped-out-of-the-biz/841593/64 "2019-10-17T22:37:08Z")

</div>

> [@Shoeless](#):
>
> Thanks for this post **gaffa**. I was going to mention John “Willie” Wilcox earlier but I was kinda sketchy on the details and his Wikipedia page wasn’t a lot of help. I recall that he also worked for Bell Labs at one time, but honestly don’t remember if that was before or after Utopia.

Roger was a demo artist for _Moog_ and _ARP_ before joining _Utopia_. I saw him demo the ARP _Odyssey_ at _Quigley Music_ in Kansas City, and one of his best demos was a steam train starting up, coming up to speed and blowing the whistle. He later did it for the opening of the song _Station to Station_ on Bowie’s tour. Here he is with Adrian Belew:

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/WSQHFUe6Y5s/maxresdefault.jpg "David Bowie - Station to Station (Live 1978)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSQHFUe6Y5s)

Willie developed a surround sound slot machine that sampled Michael Jackson’s music and all those noises he used to make.

And of course Todd was a bigger geek than either of them.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/members-of-successful-bands-who-dropped-out-of-the-biz/841593.md?page=3)