Worst failed solo careers?

Are we not counting Paul Weller's 17 top 10 U.K. solo albums? How about the 39 Top 50 singles?

 

I'm gonna go with Hoffman's post-Surftones' unreleased acoustic ukelele Windham Hill album, The Lonely Surfer's Tribute to Don Ho. Yeucch, no wonder he stuck to engineering...

 

Nah.... Weller sells out Arenas in the UK and the album's do well. Bob Mould isn't that well known but he does ok. He must have put out 10 albums by now and, IMHO, the last three are as good as anything he's done.

 

Sorry, I guess I'm not...

 

Hm, maybe Stephen Page from Barenaked Ladies? What about people who left bands to be solo artists

This would be a good idea for a thread, people who left bands to pursue solo careers and both their AND the bands careers tanked!

 

I suppose you could argue his solo career had mild initial success. Truthfully there are probably better examples, his name was just the first to pop into my head. I would say that despite his mild initial success what he did with his solo career is now pretty much completely forgotten. Really, his biggest "hit" was a cover tune and compared to Van Hagar his solo career is but a footnote in musical history.

 

Speaking about drummers I know that we can't really count Ringo, he had his share of success but Peter Criss sure deserved tons and tons more success. Love all solo records he put out and his voice on every genre he performed.

 

Steve Perry, Lou Gramm, Michael Bruce, Bruce Dickinson , Steve Livgren, Tommy Shaw, Dennis De Young, Richie Sambora!

 

Steve, Lou, Tommy, Dennis, and Richie had hits so they don't fit.

Ed

 

Don't know about anywhere else but Paul Weller is huge and highly successful in the UK

 

For those who don't know, that was The Artist Formerly Known As Dee Dee Ramone. Go on, listen. I dare you.

Someone else nominated Kevin "Dexy's Midnight Runners" Rowland, who gets Silver here (and not a silver disc).

It's a close tie between these two. I do not live in fear of anyone disputing these with Billboard Albania chart data.

 

In a one hit wonder kind of fashion. None had any sustained success and where soon dropped by their record labels

 

I'm not sure that any of John Entwistle's solo albums charted in the UK.

 

Take a look at the OP again. It said "zero chart hits". Even by your criteria, Lou, Steve, Dennis, and Tommy don't fit.

Ed

 

Well they had zero chart hits in the UK/ Europe. If they had hits in the USA I don't know about them!

 

Billy Corgan, and I love his solo album! But it bombed.

Better than his latter day incarnation of the Pumpkins.

 

David Lee Roth had two solo records that went platinum, I think. That's in addition to the success of the covers EP (at least gold) while he is still in VH. I want to say he had three (was Just a Gigolo just an MTV hit, or is that the fourth?)top ten singles, and a couple of others that were hits on rock radio formats and MTV (Crazy From the Heat, A Little ain't Enough) The drop off was extremely steep after the third album, but it would more accurate to call DLR 'not as successful as a solo act as he thought he would be.'

* sorry, someone beat me to it

 

Roger Taylor has had three Top 40 albums in the UK, and four Top 40 singles.

 

I thought that was Mike Love for a second LoL

 

You're now 0 for 3 on everyone I mentioned but Tommy. All the others had European hits.

Ed

 

The guys in ABBA did fine afterwards as songwriters.

 

The Ace Frehley 78 'solo' album did pretty well. Did have a top 20 single too.

 

I don't think that-Tony Williams[The Platters]had much solo success..or Eugene Record[The Chi-Lites].

 

Smith's first solo album got as far as promo white label cassettes in the us and was then canned.

 

Peter Hammill


I kid. No the winner is Andrew Ridgeley.