I can only think of three mainstream acts where none of the original members have done a solo album or been part of a significant, successful, long-running splinter group: Sparks, The Four Tops and Beastie Boys.
The ever-evolving Sparks (Ron and Russell Mael) have a new album out and are the subject of a recent documentary. Together with a revolving cast of musicians, the brothers Mael have put out 25 albums since 1971, and the only time they ever did anything that wasn’t Sparks was when they teamed up with Franz Ferdinand in 2014 to form the “supergroup” FFS, issuing an eponymous album in 2015.
Duke Fakir is the sole surviving original member of The Four Tops — still performing with them, too! None of the original quartet (Fakir, Levi Stubbs, Obie Benson and Lawrence Payton) ever made a solo album. Stubbs, the lead singer, actively refused offers of solo sessions or highlighted billing, like Levi & The Tops, for example. Payton never had a solo album, but he did release two singles under his own name — One Woman Man in 1973 and Tell Me You Love Me (Love Sounds) in 1974.
Beastie Boy Adam “Ad-Rock” Yauch never put an album out under his own name, but he did form a group with Suicidal Tendencies drummer AWOL Smith called BS 2000. They made four albums between 1997 and 2000.
So really, if we’re being picky, there might only be one mainstream band I can think of where no member has done a solo album or significant, self-led side project: Sparks. If it wasn’t for obscure soundtracks, U2 would be on that list — but alas, The Edge did the soundtrack for the 1986 Anglo-French cinema film Captive.
This brings us to the aim of this column — musicians who, surprisingly, have never made a solo album. U2 lead vocalist Bono has got to be near the top of that list. Another would be R.E.M.’s frontman Michael Stipe and bassist-vocalist Mike Mills. The only member of the Athens, GA band to have a solo album is guitarist Peter Buck. (Lots of ’em, and is in seemingly dozens of bands.)
As you can imagine, there are a lot of drummers who fit into the category of “famous musicians without a solo album,” but let’s face it — most of them aren’t surprising at all. I mean, not everyone is Phil Collins.
John Bonham, for example, is the only member of Led Zeppelin who never made a solo record. Sadly, we can’t say the same for The Who’s Keith Moon:
AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd is actually a rarity in the band, as he’s the only member with an actual solo album under his own name. Lead vocalist Brian Johnson isn’t an “original” member, but he committed three songs as a solo artist to the soundtrack of 2008’s National Lampoon’s Totally Baked. AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams plays on them, too. Here’s one of them:
Like Bonham, I suppose it’s equally unsurprising drummers Michael Clarke (The Byrds), Mick Avory (The Kinks), Joey Kramer (Aerosmith), Lars Ulrich (Metallica), Paul Cook (Sex Pistols), Tiki Fulwood (Funkadelic), Tommy Ramone (The Ramones), Greg Errico (Sly & The Family Stone) and Sib Hashian (Boston) never made their own albums either.
Speaking of Boston, it is quite surprising to me that neither lead vocalist Brad Delp or frontman/guitarist/songwriter Tom Sholtz ever made albums under their own names. From the same era, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen has done plenty of cameos, but no solo albums. Trick’s bass player Tom Petersson has also never done a solo record.
Like Ulrich, Metallica frontman James Hetfield has also never done a solo album. He sure does lots of extra-curricular music stuff, but never a full album under his own name. The reason for this is a band decision to avoid solo albums and significant side projects. Back in 2001, bassist Jason Newsted quit Metallica after the band vetoed his plan to take a year off for his side project Echobrain. So far the only band member to do one is lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, who is on record as saying he was “nervous” about how his bandmates would react to his desire to put out an album. He needn’t have worried. They were supportive of 2022’s four-song instrumental EP Portals, and even suggested it be released on their own label Blackened Recordings.
Early Metallica bass player Cliff Burton never did a solo album, seeing as he died in 1986 at age 24. Untimely death also prevented Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, Allman Brothers lead guitarist Duane Allman, The Grateful Dead’s Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and some members of Lynyrd Skynyrd from making solo records. Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizzel) was Run-DMC’s DJ, but also played bass, keys and drums on their albums — and had just started his own record label when he was murdered in 2002 at age 37. He never got to put out his own album.
Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz and his partner/bandmate bass player Tina Weymouth started Tom Tom Club together, but neither have solo albums under their names. In addition to Aerosmith drummer Kramer, neither bass player Tom Hamilton nor second guitarist Brad Whitford have put out their own records (though Whitford has released albums with Ted Nugent’s old singer-guitarist Derek St. Holmes).
Bass players don’t fare much better than drummers in the solo-album ranks — you won’t find anything from Pete Quaife (The Kinks), Stu Cook (Creedence Clearwater Revival), Krist Novoselic (Nirvana), Berry Oakley (Allman Brothers Band) or Paul Simonon (The Clash). Speaking of The Clash, Joe Strummer obviously had the most notable, that’s-my-name solo career, but co-vocalist/guitarist Mick Jones was plenty busy with side projects like Big Audio Dynamite and General Public — he just never did any called “Mick Jones.”
I already mentioned Family Stone drummer Errico, but vocalist Cynthia Robinson and sax player Jerry Martini never made solo records either. Sly Stone, meanwhile, is one of those weird and confusing cases of someone who made albums both as a bandleader and also as a solo artist — and it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference between them. Others in this category include Tom Petty, Debbie Harry, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Pollard and Iggy Pop.
Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore has never made an album under just his name — but since his solo projects often incorporate his name in the title (Blackmore’s Night, Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow), he doesn’t count. Actually, Deep Purple is one of those bands where every member — even the drummer! — has made some sort of solo album. Other bands on this list include Pink Floyd (well over 20 solo albums altogether), The Beatles (probably more than 60), Genesis, Eagles, The Monkees (yes, even Peter Tork!), The Rolling Stones (if you count Brian Jones’ soundtrack to the 1967 movie A Degree Of Murder), Black Sabbath, The Police, The Who, The Band (though keyboard player Richard Manuel’s two solo albums are both live sets), The Beach Boys (Bruce Johnston’s is a live album), The Doors (if you consider An American Prayer a Jim Morrison album), Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan and Fleetwood Mac. There are many, many more.
Let’s end with two weird ones. One is guitarist Sterling Morrison, the only member of The Velvet Underground who never made a solo album. He played on albums by Nico, John Cale and even Mo Tucker — but never his own. The other is Tawl Ross, the rhythm guitarist from Funkadelic. As you may know, they took a lot of acid. Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow (1970) was basically an experiment to see if they could make an album entirely on LSD — every player, every song, every take. Ross plays guitar and handles lead vocals on Funky Dollar Bill from that album.
Ross contributed to two more tracks on their 1971 landmark Maggot Brain before he had a “debilitating” experience with LSD, quit the band and went home to North Carolina. Some say Ross suffered brain damage and had no choice but to leave the music scene. But he’s not on the list of those without a solo album, because in 1995 he suddenly resurfaced and put out an album as Tal Ross (aka Detrimental Vasoline) called Giant Shirley. It’s a very busy, almost claustrophobic album. Layers and layers and layers of instruments and few breakdowns. It has its share of funky moments, along with plenty of psychedelic moments, soulful stuff and heaps of flashy electric guitar. And it’s long — 14 songs over the course of 71 minutes. I’m quite fond of the seven-minute album closer:
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Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
