Best solo career

[Stoneage Dinosaurs]

Ditto the Robert Wyatt mentions but i reckon his other Soft Machine bandmate Kevin Ayers deserves a mention too.

Only recently learned that St Vincent used to be in the Polyphonic Spree (who i haven't heard enough of to really compare with her solo stuff)

[mobias]

Peter Gabriel has done pretty well for himself outside Genesis.

Was Kate Bush ever in a band?

Don't think so. She was only 19 I think when Wuthering Heights came out.

[wosl]

David Sylvian's solo work eclipses what he did in Japan.  Gram Parsons' solo stuff at least keeps pace with the best of the work he did in the ISB, Byrds and Burritos, and he'd have surely kicked on, and in a different direction or two, had he lived.

[Lordofthefiles]

Is it Gene Clark?

[Shit Good Nose]

Personal favourite: Roddy Woomble. I like most of his solo albums

Preferred Uncle Bulgaria.  His debut album was the shit.  And it was called The Shit as well.

[the science eel]

Is it Gene Clark?

I prefer pretty much everything I've heard (No Other, the albums with the Dillards and the Gosdin brothers) to the Byrds. But I'm not a major Byrds fan.

[Maurice Yeatman]

Aztec Camera pretty much was just Roddy Frame after their first two albums, wasn't it?

True enough, the original core band had gone, but he and other musicians were still Aztec Camera and toured as such. It wasn't like Paddy McAloon doing albums as Prefab Sprout, despite being the only musician on them.

[purlieu]

Was Kate Bush ever in a band?

Don't think so. She was only 19 I think when Wuthering Heights came out.

From March to August 1977, she fronted the KT Bush Band at public houses around London – specifically at the Rose of Lee public house (now Dirty South) in Lewisham. The other three band members were Del Palmer (bass), Brian Bath (guitar), and Vic King (drums).

Not sure if they really count as they were just a live thing.

On the subject of short-lived early bands, Madonna started out in a punk band called The Breakfast Club - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6jBID2G-qM

[Natnar]

Was Kate Bush ever in a band?

Depends if you count Ferry Aid as a band or not.

Does George Michael count though since Wham was mostly him. I'd say the same about Paul Simon as well.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I'd say the same about Paul Simon as well.

Art Garfunkel's beautiful voice would probably have quite a lot to say about that.

[Nowhere Man]

The answer in my mind, or at the very least very near the top, is Sam Cooke.



In 1957 he left the gospel group The Soul Stirrers for a solo career and pretty much formed a definition of what soul music could be, writing many songs that have since become standards of the genre. In many people's minds he's the man who largely invented soul.

You Send Me
Chain Gang
Cupid
Twistin' The Night Away
Bring It On Home To Me
Nothing Can Change This Love
Another Saturday Night
A Change Is Gonna Come
Shake ect

In the meantime he was breaking down commercial barriers many black singers had to deal with back then and hugely influencing and leading the way for the likes of Otis Redding, Smokey Robinson, Al Green, Aretha Franklin ect.

as well as a million other gems, his voice just gives me fucking chills
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEBlaMOmKV4

Plus he has what may be the best (or at least one of the best) Live albums i've ever heard:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiI-4RQGnWE&list=PLhGi2-Vddb2UZzbg5duUrDZkEbZ4b-7Vm&index=3

[chveik]

Alan Vega
Martin Rev
Iggy Pop
Michael Gira
Lydia Lunch
Jay Reatard
Dieter Moebius

[bgmnts]

Has to be Jacko surely?

[Sebastian Cobb]

Boosty Collins

[Jockice]

Sophie Ellis Bextor is still famous, although I doubt anyone listens to theaudience records anymore.

I listened to their album about six weeks ago.

[wosl]

And who's this powering through the field?...Rundgren!

[rue the polywhirl]

David Bowie of 'David Bowie' fame and also of 'Fame' fame was in a school band before he shot to solo success with hits such as Space Oddity, Life on Mars? and Fame.

Elton John was a member of rap posse John Master Five but left to pursue his own career, leaving Long John Baldry, Long John Silver, King John I and John Lennon to pick up the pieces and carry on as a four-piece.

[rue the polywhirl]

I reckon Jesus had probably the best solo career out of them all. Was in Nazareth, then he formed his own 12-strong group with him as leader. Then things hit a rocky patch with him having to go it alone and being crucified before a 180 degree critical re-evaluation of his work and status. The king of comebacks, the son of god and he's immortalised in an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

[hummingofevil]

What about rap groups? Hard to tell where the line is but I would argue GZA's Liquid Swords is better than the original WTG stuff. Dre? Or a slightly less well known outside rap circles one Big L's stuff was way better than the rest of DITC before the daft sod got murdered and that. Any other obvious ones? Eminem doesn't really could as D12 only really made it big after he did so still think of it essentially as an Eminem vehicle.

Kool Keith? I prefer his solo work to Ultramagnetic M.C.s (well the 50% of it that is great and not the 50% that is a bit shit).

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

Cher

Sonny & Cher is a group!

[Jockice]

I reckon Jesus had probably the best solo career out of them all. Was in Nazareth, then he formed his own 12-strong group with him as leader. Then things hit a rocky patch with him having to go it alone and being crucified before a 180 degree critical re-evaluation of his work and status. The king of comebacks, the son of god and he's immortalised in an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

When I was a little kid I used to think Nazareth and The Carpenters were the same group. Because Joseph was a carpenter from Nazareth. Or something like that. i haven't read the bible for a while. Although I did see Boo Hewerdine from The Bible last week. But that's another story.

[biggytitbo]

Macca had a number one solo album in 1970, and a number one album in 2018  - 48 years apart, with many number one singles and albums in between. I believe he was in a band before that, so it's him clearly.

[mrpupkin]

All of that is just a footnote to Beatles though, whereas Jacko went totally off the wall and up the stairs

[Monsieur Verdoux]

it's John Cale for certain. still a largely underrated treasure trove

[biggytitbo]

All of that is just a footnote to Beatles though, whereas Jacko went totally off the wall and up the stairs...

...and into the kids bedroom unfortunately.

[mrpupkin]

Allegedly

[Monsieur Verdoux]

hang on how come no-one has said Curtis Mayfield?

[thecuriousorange]

EDIT

Nermind.

[Pingers]

I would like to put my hand up for Kristin Hersh. Throwing Muses were utterly great, and although her solo output hasn't been quite up to that mark it has been consistently excellent and also quite varied within the constraints of guitar and voice. Plus, she pioneered a way of crowd funding her studio time to give her total control and independence in her output.

[Captain Crunch]

And 50footwave is very successful too, didn't she say it was the most downloaded indie thing at one point?

I'm – predictably – voting  for Thurston Moore who has a knack of not just putting out great stuff but performing with some great people too.  Mad as a snake as well.