Groups with multiple lead vocalists

[achilles765]

Surprised no one has mentioned The Band.
Rick Danko, Levon Helm, and Richard Manuel all sang, sometimes on the same song. Even Robbie Robertson did vocals on a couple of tracks. Really, the only one who never sang was Garth Hudson.

[zachary_amaryllis]

Surprised no one has mentioned The Band.
Rick Danko, Levon Helm, and Richard Manuel all sang, sometimes on the same song. Even Robbie Robertson did vocals on a couple of tracks. Really, the only one who never sang was Garth Hudson.

robbie robertson did a really good solo song i want to say in the late 80's called 'sonewhere down the crazy river' ... neat song, neat vibe.

[achilles765]

Surprised no one has mentioned The Band.
Rick Danko, Levon Helm, and Richard Manuel all sang, sometimes on the same song. Even Robbie Robertson did vocals on a couple of tracks. Really, the only one who never sang was Garth Hudson.

robbie robertson did a really good solo song i want to say in the late 80's called 'sonewhere down the crazy river' ... neat song, neat vibe.

I know it. I kinda like it. He was always a great guitar player but the only two songs he sang on with the band were ok. Actually I like one and not the other.
I think he gets a lot of hate for the band breaking up and all but when you hear his side it kind of seems like they all kind of bear some blame.

[jp the roadgeek]

Pink Floyd with Gilmore and Waters.

And Syd Barrett in the early days

[Flint1979]

A spinoff of my thread about bands with recognizable lead singing voices using other members for occasional songs.

This is for bands that feature(d) multiple lead vocalists, such that there wasn't a single readily identifiable voice for the group (Tyler for Aerosmith, Lee for Rush, Mercury for Queen, Jagger for the Stones, etc.)

Chicago -- Lamm/Kath (and successors)/Cetera (and successors)
Kiss -- Stanley/Simmons/Criss/later Frehley
Eagles -- Frey/Henley/Walsh/others?
Beatles -- Lennon/McCartney/occasionally Starr/occasionally Harrison
Damn Yankees -- Shaw/Nugent
Triumph -- Moore/Emmett

Styx was mentioned in the other thread. I'm sure I'm forgetting some others

Mainly with like The Beatles it depended on who wrote the song pretty much. Ringo wasn't much of a songwriter but he was good on lead vocals with like Yellow Submarine and With A Little Help From My Friends but Ringo only wrote two songs with The Beatles, Don't Pass Me By and Octopus's Garden. John and Paul wrote songs for him to sing and did the same for George on a few early ones I do believe. But any song written by any of them the one that wrote the song sang lead vocals.

[SectorZ]

The Moody Blues, 4 of the 5 band members (all but the drummer) sang lead on songs.

They were another band that had a "you write it, you sing it" mentality to their songs.

[bm7]

This is very common in genres like metalcore and post-hardcore, where most bands will have both a "clean" and an "unclean"/screaming vocalist.

[amroad17]

Supertramp: Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies
LEN: Marc and Sharon Constanzo
The Cars: Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr

[zachary_amaryllis]

Supertramp: Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies
LEN: Marc and Sharon Constanzo
The Cars: Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr

is LEN still around? that was a neat buncha people..

[ethanhopkin14]

Simon and Garfunkel had Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel; contrary to popular belief, they actually split time at lead.  Most people think Art was the lead. 

A side note of this thread, I have a few songs I consider my favorite by a band that was sung by their least popular, or even one off, singer in the group.

My favorite Beatles song is quite possibly "Here Comes the Sub" by George Harrison
My favorite REM song is "Don't Go Back to Rockville" by Mike Mills
My favorite Eagles song is "Take it to the Limit" by Randy Meisner

[TheStranger]

Steely Dan on their first album actually did have 3 lead vocalists - in addition to Donald Fagen, drummer Jim Hodder and vocalist David Palmer got turns in front of the mic.  The success of the Fagen-focused singles Do It Again and Reelin' In The Years ultimately led to him being the only lead singer in the group, barring one or two songs sung by Walter Becker post-1994 reunion.  (I actually like Walt's solo career a ton and prefer his voice to DF's)

Hall & Oates is an interesting case - despite the equal billing, Daryl Hall had the vast majority of leads, but John Oates did do co-lead on She's Gone and still always had a song or two on every album that he got to sing lead for (i.e. "How Does It Feel To Be Back" from the Voices LP).

[ethanhopkin14]

Steely Dan on their first album actually did have 3 lead vocalists - in addition to Donald Fagen, drummer Jim Hodder and vocalist David Palmer got turns in front of the mic.  The success of the Fagen-focused singles Do It Again and Reelin' In The Years ultimately led to him being the only lead singer in the group, barring one or two songs sung by Walter Becker post-1994 reunion.  (I actually like Walt's solo career a ton and prefer his voice to DF's)

Hall & Oates is an interesting case - despite the equal billing, Daryl Hall had the vast majority of leads, but John Oates did do co-lead on She's Gone and still always had a song or two on every album that he got to sing lead for (i.e. "How Does It Feel To Be Back" from the Voices LP).

I thought about Hall & Oats.  Brooks & Dunn kinda parallels them in that Ronnie Dunn was lead vocalist on most song and their hits, but Kix Brooks did get a few songs on each album.  Again, you write it, you sing it. 

[hbelkins]

Steely Dan on their first album actually did have 3 lead vocalists - in addition to Donald Fagen, drummer Jim Hodder and vocalist David Palmer got turns in front of the mic.  The success of the Fagen-focused singles Do It Again and Reelin' In The Years ultimately led to him being the only lead singer in the group, barring one or two songs sung by Walter Becker post-1994 reunion.  (I actually like Walt's solo career a ton and prefer his voice to DF's)

Hall & Oates is an interesting case - despite the equal billing, Daryl Hall had the vast majority of leads, but John Oates did do co-lead on She's Gone and still always had a song or two on every album that he got to sing lead for (i.e. "How Does It Feel To Be Back" from the Voices LP).

I thought about Hall & Oats.  Brooks & Dunn kinda parallels them in that Ronnie Dunn was lead vocalist on most song and their hits, but Kix Brooks did get a few songs on each album.  Again, you write it, you sing it.

Wasn't really noticeable on the early Kiss songs, as many of them were Stanley/Simmons collaborations, but starting with "Love Gun," becoming really noticeable on "Dynasty," and then even into the 1980s albums, it was easy to tell which songs Stanley wrote and which ones Simmons wrote. Not just the vocals, either, but the entire style of the song. Stanley's were more layered and melodic, while Simmons' were stripped-down.

And the Ace Frehley-penned songs that he sang were also very noticeable.

I'd mentioned Chicago for their triumvirate of vocalists. Trumpet player Lee Loughnane sounded a whole lot like Terry Kath. He sang the Kath composition "Song of the Evergreens" on Chicago VII, and for years I had no idea it wasn't Kath singing. Loughnane also had a couple of vocals on X and XI, as did trombonist James Pankow. In later years after Kath's death, Loughnane often sang "Colour My World" in concert.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

After Jim Morrison's death, the Doors recorded two more albums as a three-piece with Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek sharing the vocal duties. The surviving members of the band have more or less disowned these in the decades since and consider the band to have ended with Morrison's death.

[jp the roadgeek]

And how did we get this far without mentioning Crosby, Stills & Nash (and sometimes Young)??

[wriddle082]

Why has no one mentioned Genesis?  If I'm not mistaken, they once had Peter Gabriel as their lead vocalist in the 70's, before Phil Collins took over.

[zachary_amaryllis]

Why has no one mentioned Genesis?  If I'm not mistaken, they once had Peter Gabriel as their lead vocalist in the 70's, before Phil Collins took over.

totally different sound, too. like two different bands, really.

[ethanhopkin14]

Surprised no one has mentioned The Band.
Rick Danko, Levon Helm, and Richard Manuel all sang, sometimes on the same song. Even Robbie Robertson did vocals on a couple of tracks. Really, the only one who never sang was Garth Hudson.

Does Bob Dylan qualify for a lead singer for The Band?

[hbelkins]

Why has no one mentioned Genesis?  If I'm not mistaken, they once had Peter Gabriel as their lead vocalist in the 70's, before Phil Collins took over.

totally different sound, too. like two different bands, really.

I was referring to groups with multiple singers at one time. The Genesis example is more like Van Halen when Roth quit and Hagar took over.

But the Genesis sound up until the self-titled album (the one with "Mama" and "That's All") was not significantly different after Gabriel left. The late 70s albums with Collins sound much like the earlier stuff with Gabriel.

[plain]

Earth Wind & Fire
Toto

[jakeroot]

It took me a long time to learn the difference in voice between Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel. Because I'm a moron, apparently.

[hbelkins]

It took me a long time to learn the difference in voice between Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel. Because I'm a moron, apparently.

Not really. Collins' voice on "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" on the "Seconds Out" live album is not appreciably different than Gabriel's.

[GaryV]

Pentatonix.  Although Scott usually sings lead, all the other singers have sung lead on some songs.  I think I even remember Kevin (beat boxer) singing lead once.

[jakeroot]

It took me a long time to learn the difference in voice between Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel. Because I'm a moron, apparently.

Not really. Collins' voice on "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" on the "Seconds Out" live album is not appreciably different than Gabriel's.

I had to eventually learn which songs they did since the two voices always sounded similar to me. I've eventually developed a decent ability to tell but still struggle a bit.

[roadman65]

I have trouble telling David Gilmore and Roger Waters apart in Pink Floyd.

Then Roy Harper on Have a Cigar was a surprise to learn