Which band/artist almost completely recreated themselves - and succeeded?

As much as I like Aaron, I don't think one #39 charting Country Singles qualifies him as a success.. yet....

 

what you refer to as 'stealing' was actually a tribute to one of their influences, Horace
They were smooth jazzz by Gaucho and a duo, no longer a group.

 

The Tubes

 

And Jerry Lee made some great country records too.

I was watching a couple of compilations of video clips of Gene Vincent on YouTube today.Both were heavy on French TV clips from the 60s.As much as I love Gene's 50s records,it was kind of sad to see him in the late 60s,in the wake of Dylan and The Beatles still singing only stuff like Be-Bop-A-Lu-La and You Are My Sunshine.This got me thinking of what major white rock and roll artists of the 50s successfully managed to reinvent themselves in later years.I only came up with four names.

Jerry Lee Lewis' country records.
Dion From doo wop and teen idol pop to folk rock and folkie type records from 1967-75,his best stuff,IMO.
The Everly Brothers who managed to stay relevant through the late 80s.Who would have dreamed of a record like Two Yanks In England when Wake Up Little Suzie was climbing the charts?
Roy Orbison after he teamed up with Jeff Lynne.

I guess you could toss in The Ventures,but I really don't count them in the first generation of rock and roll.I would not include Cliff Richard or The Shadows as much as I like them.

But I couldn't think of anybody else from the 50s who managed to do this.

 

Still doesn't sound like "reinvention" to me any more than Aerosmith was "reinvented" in the late 1980s...

 

Dion went from teenage heart-throb to blues man over soooo many years.

 

Sweet hard rock? And David Bowtie sounds like a great name

 

OK, I apologise if this has been suggested before but I haven't checked all the pages but using the search function isn't throwing anything up...

Kylie

 

I think this thread shows very few artists completely reinvented themselves, though many changed hairstyles or added an instrument. Getting older and changing clothes doesn't count as a reinvention, either.

 

If it does then I reinvent myself every day.

 

And all this means what exactly?

 

She's another in the Madonna vein who I think changed bit by bit over the years but never really "recreated herself", IMO...

 

I think some people posting in this thread think the phrase recreate themselves means "hang around for a really long time."

 

Iain Matthews had a hit with "Woodstock" with a more CSNY style folk rock in the early 70s but by 79, he scored an even bigger hit on Billboard with "Shake It" and a more adult contemporary sound, complete with saxophone soloing.

 

"Hang around for a really long time and not remain exactly the same", you mean!

 

Oh, yeah, of course. We're not talking about AC/DC, after all.

 

Haven't read the whole thread, but probably Talk Talk has been mentioned. Another band that made a complete U-turn is Anathema. Just like Opeth (which I saw mentioned) they started out as a death metal band and changed to what could be loosely described as 'Radiohead-light with Pink Floyd influences'. That's not a dismissal on my part - I think they're one of the best bands around today.

 

Space rock makes me think of Journey - can you say they completely reinvented themselves after Steve Perry joined them? I think so.

 

Totally. Listen to Dance of December Souls and then listen to anything they've recently released. Doesn't even sound like the same band. Doesn't even sound like they're from the same universe!

 

You don't think the current Kylie is world's way from the 'Neighbours' soap star Kylie who happened to have a couple of hits with Stock, Aitken & Waterman? I would argue that's one of the most unlikely reinventions you could have ever envisaged back in 1987 when she was best known for being Charlene and her records were seen as novelty records by the critics and discerning music public alike.

 

Anathema was mentioned way back.

 

and he did it well!.

 

Sparks charted as...

Glam/Pop
Disco
New Wave

!!

 

Rick Nelson went from Teen Idol to country rock pioneer.

 

Yes, 2014 Kylie is very different from 1988 Kylie, but as the OP indicated, "reinvent" means radical change in a brief period. Someone who changes gradually over a career isn't really "reinventing" themselves.

For instance, if the Beatles had gone from their 1964 incarnation to their 1967 version without all the music and image of 1965-66 in-between, that would have been a reinvention. But since we can easily trace their changes/development, they never reinvented themselves. No one could've foreseen the 1967 Beatles in 1964 either.

I feel the same about Kylie - there were different incarnations along the way, but it's not like she did any radical "reinvention" at one point, IMO...