Bands that always had an original member, but not always the same one?

Hope this works and I've explained it right...

Thinking of bands with this scenario, which could involve the band reforming with a different lineup to the one they finished with but with original members who were not there when they broke up first.

One I can think of is The Specials: original members Jerry Dammers and John Bradbury saw the band through till its original end in 1984 then the band reformed in the 90s with some different original members Lynval Golding and Horace Panter alongside Bradbury (who has since died). Terry Hall came back recently as well.

So, if this makes sense can you think of any others?

 

Madness came back as The Madness with Suggs, Chas Smash, Chrissy Boy and Lee Thompson before the full reunion a few years later.

 

Steppenwolf-- The "bogus" lineup with Goldy McJohn and Nick St Nicholas, followed by John Kay's Steppenwolf.

 

The Doobie Brothers?

 

Nope, Patrick Simmons has always been there.

 

OK. I misinterpreted the scenario. Yep, Doobies don't fit this one.

 

Venom

At one point Conrad Lant (Cronos) left and Anthony Bray (Abaddon) carried on with Jeffrey Dunn (Mantas). Bray left in 1999 and Dunn before that, but Cronos returned and has been there ever since.

 

I think the Canadian band, Exciter, would qualify as well. Dan Beehler, Allan Johnson, and John Ricci are all original members but the line up has fluctuated, but either Beehler or Ricci have always been there (but not always at the same time).

I’d bet a lot of metal bands have something like this in common. Probably some funk & soul bands, too.

 

Bobby Caldwell is the only original member still in Captain Beyond and has been there since they reformed in 1976 with the whole original line-up but he had left the original line-up by 1972 and is not on their second album though the other three original members are.

 

Mott the Hoople possibly?

 

This is a good topic, but definitely a bit of a head scratcher. The problem with most long time bands is there always seems to be one long time guy that disqualifies them: Journey, Styx, REO, etc. I’m going to keep thinking, though!

 

Kinda works, since one member of the non-Hunter "Mott" lineup was there when Mott the Hoople first reformed (Overend Watts), and a different member of that lineup (Morgan Fisher) is there now.

 

Thought it would be a good topic and has definitely got me trying to think of more!

 

Lindisfarne. In 2013-14 they were down to one original member, Ray Jackson. Now he's gone and the one original is Rod Clements.

 

Well, sorry I read it wrong!!!!
Not smart enough to come up with a good answer!

 

Buffin played in Mott as well.

 

What about Bad Company?

No, Simon Kirke was in the band the whole time. Hm.

 

Kraftwerk. Ralf Hutter left the band for awhile early on. Florian Schneider was then the original member. After a while Hutter rejoined, and the two of them were together in the group for decades. Several years ago, Florian left. Since then until now, Ralf has been the only original member.

 

The Animals, surely.
Original drummer John Steel tours with a line-up, but he left the band in 60s.

 

Spirit - all lineups had Randy California except the Feedback lineup, which had two other original members.

 

The Association had two different pairs of originals: Russ Giguere and Larry Ramos (who wasn't quite original) previously, Jules Alexander and Jim Yester now.

 

The Byrds at one point were down to just McGuinn and then just Gene Clark and then just Michael Clarke.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Jefferson Starship

 

Yes

 

Who’s an original member in the band now ?

 

The Outsiders. Tom King remained as an original, then former lead vocalist Sonny Geraci formed an Outsiders band. Decades later King reformed The Outsiders and now there is a version with Bill Bruno and Rick Biagiola (Baker).