Artists with short careers, but huge popularity and impact

I think Buddy Holly is the definitive answer.

 

Yes!

 

He frankly is. Given the bands he influenced ... geez.

 

EXACTLY what (and Who) I was going to say!

Three albums made in three years (1969-1971).

Three years later he died--barely known.

25 years later still an unknown cult artist except in a few small circles, many musician-infested.

"Pink Moon" is used in a VW Ad in 2000 and he sells more records that month than in his entire career before.

He deserved better--even a little more Fame and Fortune in his Life and Times, but he was too thin-skinned to Tour, or even TALK!...

Now his songs are used in Ads and Movies ALL the time, and "The Cult of Nick Drake" has become Big Business.... (Big being relative...)

 

Velvet Underground. Spacemen 3. The La's. Stone Roses. Sex Pistols.

 

Robert Johnson is arguably the most revered bluesman going (well... starting 25 years after he died anyway), and he only lived 2 years after cutting his first tracks.

 

The Thamesmen

 

There’s also the transitive property of music here, which amplifies influence even further.

Robert Johnson was revered by lots of bluesmen coming after him (especially Clapton) and they, in turn, were revered by many others.

 

Television. Granted they released a reunion album in the 90s, but they had already made their mark with their work in the 70s.

 

In the country music world, Mel Street applies, the same with Keith Whitley, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Jimmie "Singing Brakeman" Rodgers, Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Jim Reeves

 

New York Dolls. Seriously

 

Jim Croce
Harry Chapin

 

Steve Goodman's career only lasted a little over 10 years but he's had a huge impact in the music industry.

 

You beat me to it. Television only released two albums, in 1977 and 1978, and I think they formed about 1974 or 1975.

 

You gotta post the song...Yeah, its that good.

 

The "because they died" ones are more common than the "because they stopped" ones.

Big Star
(a year and a half -- 2 albums)

Buffalo Springfield
(a bit over a year and a half-- 3 albums)

Creedence Clearwater Revival
(2 and a half years-- 758 albums)

The Sonics
(3 years-- 3 albums)

Buzzcocks
(3+ years-- 3 albums)

The Go-Go's
(3+ years-- 3 albums)

N.W.A.
(a bit over 4 years-- 2 and a half albums)

 

Dennis Brain.

 

I'll probably get flamed for this, but... Spice Girls.

The 90s had become dominated with grunge and female singer/songwriters like Alanis Morissette when Spice Girls came along in 1996.

Three albums over 4 years and they largely reshaped the market in a way that led to the boy band resurgence of the late 90s as well as female pop singers like Britney and plenty of others.

Many people here may not like what Spice Girls wrought, but they were massively popular and very significant in terms of the shape of popular music in the 2nd half of the 90s into the 00s...

 

Japan

All of the members save for Rob ended up working on other things, of course - but their 5 year run ended on a creative high and had other groups taking both their sound and fashion

Props splitting at your critical and commercial peak, however it seems like no one was that concerned with those things

 

The mighty Lee Mavers indeed!

 

Buddy Holly had a two year career, ending with his death as we all know...Two years is a short career by any measure, and Buddy Holly certainly influenced many artists since his introduction....He probably does belong at the front of this line.

The OP question brings to mind a qualifier of sorts.

What is the average career lifespan of recording artists, be they solo acts or some type of group?

While I do not know this answer, I would assume it is skewed by both ends greatly. The artists that basically record their entire adult life, and those who have very short careers...so where is the middle?
15 years?

If this is the case then I would guess any career shorter than half that length could be considered "short".

 

And really only one track of his got any attention while he lived - Terraplane Blues.

He has got to be the best example of a minor music career leading to a huge influence.

Just his having penned Crossroads, Love In Vain and Walking Blues would have left a huge mark.

 

Beethoven lived to 57 so he had a few decades but the others certainly died young so good point.

 

Yea my fault, just can't figure why I mistook the age that my all-time favourite composer died LOL....