Wham! Without googling, I couldn’t have told you who the guy that isn’t George Michael is. Not a clue.
The Judds. I saw Wynona in concert last year and I don’t think her music suffered without her mother.
The Eurythmics. Again, if Annie Lennox went on tour, I don’t think anyone would miss what’s his name.
I thought about Simon and Garfunkel but since Garfunkel sang their biggest hit almost as a solo, I’m not counting them but I’m willing to entertain the idea.
Another vote for Sonny and Cher. She had all the talent.
Another anti vote for Simon and Garfunkel. Paul Simon is a songwriting genius, but his best sound was when he sang with Art Garfunkel.
What about The Captain and Tennille or The Carpenters? I think The Captain was great at making music but not at singing. Karen Carpenter’s brother arranged and crafted great songs for Karen’s amazing voice and excellent drumming.
Beat me to it (them?). But you’re right; I can’t think of a Carpenters’ song that doesn’t feature Karen’s lead vocal. Same for the Captain and Tennille; it was always Toni Tennille’s voice on lead. If Richard Carpenter and Daryl Dragon were heard vocally, it was as part of the backup chorus.
Not to take away from Richard Carpenter or Daryl Dragon, of course. Great composers and musicians, both of them. But vocals were not their strong suit, so they wisely decided to let Karen and Toni, respectively, handle those. Which those ladies were more than capable of doing.
Having found one mildly entertaining video of Mojo Nixon singing “Elvis is Everywhere”, I’m going to conclude, without the bother of any other investigation which might unduly prejudice my lack of actual knowledge, that Skid Roper is the afterthought of the duo.
Are you following your own rules? They weren’t a singing duo. Only Lennox sung.
Unless you mean merely “a duo that involved singing”.
Dave Stewart co wrote and produced The Eurythmics’ music. In pop music, “Producer” often equates to “The person who creates the music while allowing pretty boys and girls to front the band”.
I don’t know enough about the way The Eurythmics worked to comment for sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the key element in their success.
Dave Stewart sang on at least a few of Eurythmic’s albums according to liner notes. I don’t think he ever sang lead, though. I would put his singing contributions on par with Daryl Dragon’s and Richard Carpenter’s: their singing didn’t rise to the level where they’d be considered singing duos, they just backed up their respective leads.
Bachman and Turner is one I have to disagree with. I won’t say that Turner has as successful a career as Bachman, but if you went to see Bachman and Turner perform in 2010 (see the 2012 BD of their 2010 performance at the Roseland Ballroom), you’d know that Turner handled the majority of the vocals (as well as playing decent bass while he sang). Randy was there mostly for his guitar skills.
I’m not dissing Randy at all. He can sing just fine.
Turner was the primary vocalist for BTO. He is definitely the lead vocalist on “Let It Ride,” but Randy does provide vocals on many songs, including “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.”
In any case, I don’t think either one “overshadows” the other.
I guess I can’t speak for your experience, but if I’m listening to the radio I probably hear “Takin’ Care of Business” or “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” about a hundred times more frequently than “Let It Ride” or “Roll On Down the Highway”.
I get it, but my point was that Fred Turner is most certainly not an “afterthought.” I agreed with just about every duo that was proposed upthread except this one.
Personally, I also believe Turner to be a much better vocalist overall.
(When my older brother was playing in a cover band in the early 80s, the other members would only let him sing “Taking Care of Business” because his singing was so bad. I couldn’t disagree.)
For the first half of their career Dean was often sent on errands to get him out of the studio so other people could sing his parts (wandering the halls of Western Studios he somehow stumbled upon a Beach Boys session and wound up as the lead vocal on “Barbara Ann”.) I’m not sure who said it but there is a quote along the lines of “as a singer Dean Torrance is a great graphic designer”. His one Grammy is for an album cover.
In the second half of their career, after Jan’s debilitating car crash, Dean continued to record and release Jan & Dean records without Jan’s participation (Jan’s brother posed for the covers).
When Jan could physically stand on stage again, the duo returned to touring but on several occasions Jan’s - and often Dean’s - mics were turned way down allowing the backing band to carry the vocals.