A band's lead singer is the face and soul of the group. Imagine, for example, the Bee Gees minus Barry Gibb or the Beatles with no John Lennon. The Rolling Stones bereft of Mick Jagger? Nah, never. It's nearly impossible to envision, right? But some bands have indeed successfully moved on from their lead singers and kept going strong. They navigated the shift to someone else seamlessly and evidently lost little creatively or artistically in the process. What follows are just some instances of lead singer changes that did not hinder their bands and may even have helped them by keeping things lively.
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Journey
Steve Perry propelled Journey to true rock greatness, including eight multi-platinum albums, per The New York Times. Songs like "Don't Stop Believin'," "Open Arms," and "Separate Ways" made them major fan favorites for years. They cranked out the hits with ease - or so it seemed. Constant touring wore Perry down physically. Per the outlet, he admitted, "If you're burnt out, if you're depressed, if you're feeling weary and lost and paranoid, you're a mess."
Perry had two stints with Journey - 1977 to 1987 and 1995 to 1998. When he exited for good, he was replaced by Arnel Pineda, a singer from Manila who was spotted by Journey member Neal Schon on YouTube. Maybe Pineda brought with him a fresh infusion of energy. Maybe Journey's popular renaissance would have happened anyway. As The Times put it, the band "crept back into the zeitgeist."
After a subpar performance at Rock in Rio late last year, per American Songwriter, Pineda was extremely distraught. He asked fans to indicate whether they wanted him gone from Journey or not. They wanted him to stay. Pineda gratefully wrote on Instagram, "Just wanna thank you all once again for the overwhelming and very heartening words of support you all have been sending my way,"
Genesis
The date August 15, 1975 might not be familiar to you. To fans of the band Genesis, however, it was a turning point. That was the day Peter Gabriel walked away from the group. Rumors about a Gabriel departure had been swirling or a while. Suddenly, they came true.
Gabriel explained the reason for his leave-taking in a documentary titled Genesis: A History via ultimateclassicrock.com "There was all this big time stuff happening with long tours being planned way in the future, and I just felt I was getting to be part of a machine. I felt I was becoming a sort of stereotype, sort of 'rock star,' or falling into wanting that ego gratification. I didn't like myself, I didn't like the situation, and I didn't feel free." There were also personal issues in play. Gabriel and his wife had just had a child and his family understandably now came first.
Enter the band's drummer, Phil Collins. Per Louder, he said of his ascension to Genesis frontman, "I'd got myself a nice little reputation as a drummer, and I was happy with that. This was the last thing on my mind. I had no affinity with the idea of walking out from behind the drums and becoming a band's singer: the guy who wiggled his bum, who people looked at. Over the years there have been people claiming I nudged Peter out. That's complete rubbish."
In 1976, the Genesis album A Trick of the Tail was released. It marked Phil Collins' debut as lead singer. Trick was a hit. Collins had arrived, not just as Peter Gabriel's successor, but as frontman in his own right. He quit twenty years later and went solo. Ray Wilson replaced Collins.
These guys were on fire in their heyday. They had one hit after another. Maybe none of them will be in the Library of Congress National Recording Registry, but they were listenable and danceable, too. Songs like "Urgent," "Feels Like the First Time," "I Want to Know What Love Is," and "Cold As Ice" cemented Foreigner's reputation. As Rolling Stone stated, "They aren't the best-looking guys and they didn't fare well in the MTV world, but they still had enough famous songs to tour until the end of time."
Then trouble arose. Per the outlet, Mick Jones (guitarist) and Lou Gramm (singer) were at odds. Gramm departed, returned in 1992, and then underwent brain surgery in 1997. He was just not the same Lou Gramm. He threw in the towel in 2003. Jones got Kelly Hansen to pick up where Gramm left off. It worked. Hansen has been part of the band for twenty years. Foreigner forever!
Yes
Yes keeps chugging along like the little engine that could. According to Rolling Stone, the band planned an anniversary tour twenty-one years ago but that was scrapped due to frontman Jon Anderson's illness. In 2008, Yes opted to bring in Benoit David. He had been performing with Close to the Edge, a Yes tribute group from Canada. With David, Yes toured rigorously. Perhaps too rigorously. Per the outlet, "The pace proved too much for David, who eventually bowed out after experiencing voice troubles." No problem. They installed a new singer, Jon Davison. Problem solved. Yes kept going.
