“I’m going solo!”
Videos by American Songwriter
Those are the infamous last words of countless singers who’ve quit their bands, hoping to find even greater success on their own. Sometimes, the result is a thriving solo career. Other times, those singers find themselves unable to reclaim the fame they’d enjoyed as a member of a larger group.
Let’s take a look at the some of the singers who took a triumphant leap toward solo stardom that either matched or surpassed the success of the bands that made them.
1. Don Henley (member of Eagles)
After the Eagles broke up in 1980, Joe Walsh was first out of the gate with a solo album. Glenn Frey followed. But it was Don Henley’s solo career that made the biggest impact. From 1982 to 1990, hits like “Dirty Laundry,” “Heart of the Matter,” “The Boys of Summer,” and “End of the Innocence” all camped out on the Billboard Hot 100, showcasing the work of a songwriter who’d learned to evolve his style with the times.
Henley didn’t chase after trends during the 1980s, but he did find a way to reshape the country-rock music he’d been making with the Eagles to suit a new decade obsessed with synth-pop, dance-rock, and adult contemporary ballads. All the while, he still sounded like Don Henley.
2. Belinda Carlisle (member of The Go-Go’s)
Before The Go-Go’s topped the Billboard 200 in 1982 with their debut album, Beauty and the Beat, no female rock band had reached No.1 in America. Five years later, frontwoman Belinda Carlisle returned to No. 1 with “Heaven Is a Place on Earth,” her biggest hit as a solo star. “Mad About You” and “I Get Weak” also reached the Top 5, turning Carlisle into one of the era’s leading ladies.
Part of the appeal was her voice, which trembled with emotion and seemed to suit the decade’s emphasis on over-the-top, passionate pop. But Carlisle had some serious punk credentials, too—not only as a member of The Go-Go’s, whose New Wave success was prefaced by several years in Hollywood’s punk community, but also as a brief member of the Germs. Her chameleonic character made her the most successful Go-Go’s alumna.
3. Harry Styles (member of One Direction)
As a member of One Direction, Harry Styles’ talents were underutilized by a boy band whose artistry, image, and social media posts were strictly controlled by Columbia Records. It wasn’t until 2017—when his first single as a solo act, “Sign of the Times,” became a Top 10 hit in more than a dozen countries—that the world was introduced to a singular pop star who blurred the boundaries between genres, generations, and gender norms.
When it comes to sheer numbers, Styles has a long way to go before he rivals One Direction’s tally of 70 million albums sold. Even so, his run of chart-topping albums makes him one of the most successful solo artists in modern music, and songs like “Adore You,” “Watermelon Sugar,” and “As It Was” are far more timeless than One Direction’s fluff.
4. Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins (members of Genesis)
When Peter Gabriel left Genesis’ roster during the 1970s, the band’s prematurely balding and pleated-khaki-pant-wearing drummer might have seemed like an unlikely replacement. Phil Collins successfully ushered Genesis into a new era, though, pushing the group toward pop-friendly territory without abandoning their out-of-the-box artistic ambitions. Like Gabriel, he eventually launched a solo career, but he did so without leaving the band.
[RELATED: The 15 Best Quotes from Phil Collins]
In America, no other artist had more Top 40 hits during the ’80s than Phil Collins. Meanwhile, Gabriel also hit his commercial stride during the same decade, with songs like “Sledgehammer” and “In Your Eyes” becoming defining hits of the era. And incidentally, Genesis co-founder Mike Rutherford also found success outside the band with Mike + the Mechanics, landing three Top 10 hits in America with “Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground),” “All I Need Is a Miracle,” and the No. 1 hit “The Living Years.”
5. Michael Jackson (member of The Jackson 5)
Michael Jackson was barely 11 years old when he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969, performing “I Want You Back”—his first No. 1 hit as a member of The Jackson 5—with a purple fedora and a voice that belied his young age. He launched a solo career three years later, but it wasn’t until the 1979 hit “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” that his songwriting skills matched his vocal power.
Unwilling to leave his brothers behind (or, more likely, strong-armed by his father into bringing the Jackson 5 along for the ride), Jackson continued to tour with his brothers for years, even replacing a potential Thriller tour with a 1984 tour in support of the Jacksons’ own album, Victory. Decades later, Michael’s legacy includes an uncomfortable mix of wildly creative pop music and wildly inappropriate behavior with children, which complicates the way we remember him. Even so, no member of any group has launched a solo career with so much commercial success and critical acclaim.
6. Gwen Stefani (member of No Doubt)
Gwen Stefani was the focal point of No Doubt from the very start, singing hit songs like “Just a Girl” and “Spiderwebs” with an exaggerated, wobbling vibrato that set the band apart from its alt-rock contemporaries. Maybe it was inevitable that such a charismatic performer would launch a solo career, but few could have predicted the success she’d enjoy with the No. 1 hit “Hollaback Girl” and the No. 2 smash “The Sweet Escape,” both of which flirted with hip-hop, showcased Stefani’s songwriting, and sold more than 5 million copies in America alone. Did anyone else navigate the shift from ’90s alt-rock heroine to early-Aughts mainstay as well as Stefani? (If you can name someone…don’t speak.)
Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images
