Every now and then a lead singer needs a water break, so someone else takes over on vocals. And every now and then one of those songs becomes a huge hit. (And you know the lead singer HATES that!)
“Rolling Stone” has a list of 15 classic examples. Here are 10 highlights:
- “We’re An American Band”, Grand Funk Railroad, 1973 . . . sung by drummer Don Brewer.
- “Take It to the Limit”, The Eagles, 1975 . . . sung by original bassist Randy Meisner.
- “Beth”, KISS, 1976 . . . sung by drummer Peter Criss.
- “Don’t Fear the Reaper”, Blue Oyster Cult, 1976 . . . sung by guitarist Buck Dharma. (This one’s kind of a cheat . . . All FIVE members of BOC sang. And while Eric Bloom was their most frequent lead singer, Buck sang a lot of tracks, including their three best-known songs, “Reaper”, “Burnin’ For You” and “Godzilla”.)
- “Tempted”, Squeeze, 1980 . . . sung by keyboardist Paul Carrack, who was only with the band for ONE ALBUM.
- “Africa”, Toto, 1983 . . . sung by keyboardist David Paich. It was the band’s only #1 single.
- “Sister Christian”, Night Ranger, 1984 . . . sung by drummer Kelly Keagy, who wrote it for his younger sister.
- “These Dreams”, Heart, 1986 . . . sung by guitarist Nancy Wilson. It was actually one of two songs they were offered by outside songwriters. The other one was “We Built This City”, which somehow became a hit for Starship.
- “Don’t Look Back in Anger”, Oasis, 1996 . . . sung by Noel Gallagher. He presented this song and “Wonderwall” to his brother Liam and told him to pick which one he wanted to sing. Obviously, Liam chose “Wonderwall”.
- “Happy”, The Rolling Stones, 1972 . . . sung by Keith Richards, who generally takes the vocals on one song per album, and this is one that became a hit.
(Hit up RollingStone.com to see the full list. They published it a while back, and are putting it back out there . . . possibly to get everyone’s mind off of the world’s current lead singer, COVID-19.)
Image by NikolayFrolochkin from Pixabay
