Short-Lived Band Members

Gary Moore (1952-2011) had been an on-again, off-again guitarist in Thin Lizzy (in 1974 and again from 1977-79). He and Phil Lynott originally played in the group Skid Row (please don't confuse with Sebastian Bach's band) prior to the first Thin Lizzy lineup in 1969.

~Ben

 

Speaking of which, that band had several other short-lived players until 1975:
Steve Woolam -- violin (1971, committed suicide)
Andy Craig -- cello (live performance only, 1971-1972)
Hugh McDowell (the first time) -- cello (live performance only, 1971-1972)
Bill Hunt -- French horn (1971-1972)
(all of the above only played on No Answer and, except for violinist Woolam, had contributed only to part of Electric Light Orchestra II)

Wilf Gibson -- violin (1972-1973)
Colin Walker -- cello (1972-1973)
(both played on Electric Light Orchestra II, while Gibson contributed to side 2 of On the Third Day)

~Ben

 

I didn't know that. Maybe there's a "Ringo Smiles" in the vaults...

 

Siouxsie and the Banshees had been famous for this, especially when it came to their guitarists:
Marco Pirroni (1976)
Pete Fenton (1976-1977)
John McKay (1977-1979)
Robert Smith (yes, of The Cure) (1979, 1982-1984)
John McGeoch (1980-1982)
John Valentine Carruthers (1984-1987)
Jon Klein (1988-1995)
Knox Chandler (1995)

Drums:
Sid Vicious (1976)
Kenny Morris (1976-1979)

~Ben

 

Geoff Britton. Drummer for Wings from August 1974 to January 1975. Replaced by Joe English. I've read that he did not get on with the others very well. Played with Manfred Mann's Earth Band later. Rumour has had it that the 'ahead of its time' "Rub Out" single (1976) by Jeff Britton & The Spitfires maybe is him?

 

If you are going to include the Beatles here, I would more accurately add:
Tommy Moore - pre Pete Best drummer, who quit after the Scotland tour and took a day job at a bottle works factory
Stuart Sutcliffe - decided to stay with Astrid in Germany and subsequently died.

 

Dude played in a diaper and nothing else when I saw the RHCPs way back when. Wtf.

 

Geoff Britton also played Drums on Danny Kirwan's first album. I believe it was his first gig after departing Wings.

 

Andy Ward (Camel) and Preston Heyman (Kate Bush) in Brand X.

Regarding Andy Ward's short tenure (one gig, 20 February 1976) with the band, as quoted from here:

 

I love that kind of thing. Was Keith Moon ever an honorary member of the BB?

 

Gram Parsons - The Byrds

Andy Summers - The Animals

Al Kooper - Blood Sweat & Tears (formed the band but left after the release of their first album)

Syd Barrett - Pink Floyd (again formed the band, was lead contributor and frontman on first album and first few singles and contributed little to their second album before being ousted)

Daevid Allen - New York Gong (formed the no wave group that would become known as Material as New York Gong with Bill Laswell and recorded one album with them, credited to New York Gong.)

 

He probably wished that he was, but I don't think so.

 

The forgotten Statler Brother: Joe McDorman. He was part of the original line-up but replaced by Don Reid before the guys signed a record deal. He was brought back as a guest vocalist on their "Originals" album in the late 70s.

 

Yeah you can say he was short lived in the recorded world of Rush but he was really there from when they formed in '68 until 1974. That's a pretty long time.

 

Patrick Moraz, in the Moody Blues and Yes. And good riddance in both.

Sorry if Moraz was already mentioned. I didn't read the entire foregoing 15 pages, but really wanted to get this off my chest. The guy's sound was hideously out of place in both bands, imho.

 

Can't call him short lived though, since he was in the Moodies for about 13 years.

 

Billy Sheehan in Max Webster

 

he was also in Parliament/Funkadelic, which IIRC, had a few folks in diapers!

 

Arik Marshall: replaced John Frusciante and toured with Red Hot Chili Peppers, never recorded with them.
Trey Spruance: played guitar on Faith No More's King For A Day... album, did not tour with them. Played in one show on the recent come-back tours.
Dean Menta: replaced Trey Spruance in Faith No More, toured for King for A Day album, allegedly played on B-sides, but no albums.

 

The two guitar players on Aerosmith's Rock In A Hard Place.
Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay.

 

Adrian Fisher played guitar on Sparks' arguably two best albums, Kimono My House (1973) and Propaganda (1974), and was then let go for a variety of reasons. Adrian was part of my favorite Sparks lineup which included Norman "Dinky" Diamond on drums.

 

Not to be confused with Wayne Knight...

 

Wings

 

Gary Valentine, original bassist for Blondie 1975 - 77. Wrote the music for X- Offender.... He went on to play and sing for The Know in Los Angeles, did ome other things and then became a writer.

 

Adrian Belew as part of the expanded Talking Heads along with Busta Jones.