3 Rock Frontmen From the 1990s Who Found New Life as Solo Artists

Rock music was essential listening in the 1990s. Wherever you looked, it seemed like there was a new group popping up with a hot song to perform. Indeed, practically every week, there was a new act to follow with a star lead singer at the helm.

Here below, we wanted to dive into the careers of three of those lead vocalists. We wanted to highlight a trio of 90s rockers to see how their careers evolved over time. These are three rock frontmen from the 1990s who found new life as solo artists.

Chris Cornell

Chris Cornell rose to fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the grunge band Soundgarden. Indeed, in the 1990s, few bands could match the power of Soundgarden. With Cornell center stage, the band became famous for songs like “Black Hole Sun” and “Fell on Black Days”. But though Soundgarden was the first grunge group to garner a Grammy Award nomination, the band broke up in 1996, and Cornell went solo, releasing five solo albums (and three more with the band Audioslave) before he passed away in 2017.

Jack White

By the turn of the 21st century, Jack White was a mainstay in music fans’ lives. The lead singer and principal songwriter of the rock group The White Stripes, Jack was an electrified marvel. His band, along with drummer Meg White, released six impeccable records from 1999 through 2007. But then The White Stripes disbanded, and Jack went solo. Since then, he’s released seven solo LPs, along with several more via side projects like The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather.

Mark Lanegan

The Ellensburg, Washington-born grunge band known as the Screaming Trees released their first album, Clairvoyance, in 1986. Like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and others, the Screaming Trees, fronted by gravely-voiced singer Mark Lanegan, were a major part of the grunge movement in the 1990s. But it didn’t take long for Lanegan to stray and go solo. He released his debut solo album, The Winding Sheet, in 1990 and followed it up with 11 more over the next several decades. Lanegan was prolific; he performed in bands like Mad Season and Queens of the Stone Age. But as a solo artist, he was beloved.

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