So it’s fairly common for members of somewhat successful bands/groups go on to be just as big stars, if not bigger, as solo artists. How many instances have there been of the reverse? That would be someone who had released records under contract as a solo artist that would later go on to be more well-known as a member of a very famous band just as much as being a solo artist. However, I’d prefer to find people who were never known as members of bands and only solo artists before joining a mega-famous grop, and then had their musical careers become more defined by that group. The two examples I have don’t really do that.
First example: Joe Walsh. Even if you believe Joe and not the record label that his work with Barnstorm was with the band and not solo, he did have a solo album definitely not with Barnstorm in 1974 before he joined the Eagles. (And the second Barnstorm album had Rocky Mountain Way, one of his more well-known solo songs.) That solo album did feature some of the Eagles, but it was before he was invited to join them. However, Joe was originally known as being a member of the James Gang, and he did some well-known solo work after joining the Eagles as well.
Second example: Neil Young. Joined CSN to form CSNY after having released at least one (and maybe two, depending on how you count “Neil Young with Crazy Horse”) solo album. Originally became known through Buffalo Springfield, and almost certainly more famous for solo work than with CSNY at this point.
Yes, I know that it’s probably going to be impossible that an artist who was once cutting albums under their own name wouldn’t keep doing so after becoming part of a bigger band, but in both of the above examples, their solo work after their big push to stardom with the mega-group are about as well-known as the work they did in the mega-group, and there’s no reason why that would need to be - their following solo work could have easily flopped.
I’d really like someone to point out someone who was clearly known as a solo artist and not a member of a group, like say James Taylor, Billy Joel, or Elton John, who after their first modest success joined a group more popular than them, and then didn’t have anything of a solo career afterwards. Anyone who fits the mold of Walsh and Young works for me though: cut a solo album, then joined a massively popular group (whether massively popular at the time they joined, or eventually). It’s probably hard to find such people unless you already knew their history, since you’d generally be aware of them as a member of the group and not during their earlier period as an independent recording artist.
Oh, I remember seeing Springsteen live, and saying “Is that Nils Lofgren?” (it was kind of funny, Nils had a song “Jump”, and the album cover had him flipping over backwards while playing electric guitar… which he did that night, off a baby trampoline on stage (as a member of the E Street band).
And some second-hand examples… meaning that I’ve heard about Davy Jones and Robert Plant doing solo work in their younger days, but have never researched it.
ETA: Most of The Traveling Wilburys had a solo career before.
(This one guy did a concert for Bangaladesh, and I was so happy that he finally found some success as a Wilbury…)
There’s a New Zealand singer, Jon Stevens, who did very well as a solo act when he was just a teen, but he didn’t hit wider appeal until he moved to Australia and joined the band Noiseworks. He’s jumped around since then, such as doing stage musicals and for a time he even fronted INXS post-Hutchence.
I would say Joe Satriani, but I think his solo work is much better known/more successful than Chickenfoot. Wiki says he’s the bestselling instrumental rock guitarist of all time. He did that solo.
Montrose was pretty huge as I recall, at least out west. Hell, they played T-Car Speedway one year!
That’s really a tough one, and no easy example comes to mind. Some that might qualify:
Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe in Rockpile. They both had solo releases before they recorded as Rockpile, but it’s arguable if Rockpile was more successful than their former solo outings.
Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Gene Clark of the Byrds. They all had played solo at the folk circuit of the time before forming the Byrds, but I don’t think they had ever released a solo recording before the Byrds.
Alex Chilton. Sure, he was first known as the teenage singer of the Box Tops, but between leaving them and forming his greatest band Big Star, he went solo for two or three years. The solo recordings he did in that time remained unreleased, but got released numerous times later after his stint with Big Star.
Another example, probably not well known outside of Germany: Frank Farian had a big Schlager hit in Germany with his solo single “Rocky”, which gave him the money and means to model the group Boney M. He never was an “official” member of the group, but in fact he WAS the group, writing the songs (or picking covers), arranging, producing and providing all male vocals.
Davy Jones had a Billboard Hot 100 hit in August 1965, with the single “What Are We Going To Do?” He was signed to Colpix Records and released an album, called (to the chagrin of another rising star) David Jones. The following year, he became the fourth most musically talented member of The Monkees.
This was who I thought of when I saw the thread title. And I still can’t think of a better example.
But here’s one that might fit: Mark Oliver Everett, aka E. He released a couple of (good, IMHO) solo albums before going on to form the band Eels, with which he’s had a fair amount of success.
John Renboune and Bert Jansch had solo albums before forming Pentangle. Danny Thompson and Terry Cox had recorded with Alexis Korner. Though Jacque McShee did vocals on albums, she is the only one who hadn’t recorded on her own.
