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{{trope}}
[[File:00014a94_6444.jpg|link=The Doors
When a musical group loses one (or more) of its key members, such as the lead singer or a similar [[Face of the Band]] figure, it usually breaks up--but not always. Occasionally, a band tries to continue without its "face". Sometimes the group tries to replace the departed member, sometimes not. (If this happens, the new member is dismissed by fans as [[The Other Darrin]] or a [[Replacement Scrappy]].) Either way, more often than not, the result is a [[Dethroning Moment of Suck (Darth Wiki)|Dethroning Moment of Suck]], and the band rarely lasts more than one or two more albums. It can also lead to both [[Canon Dis Continuity]] and [[Fanon Discontinuity]], as performers and fans all try to forget the inferior post-face recordings ever existed. However, on rare occasions, a band gets lucky and averts the trope by attracting a new, larger audience.
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== Straight Examples ==
* By 1970, after [[The Monkees (
* When Lou Reed left The [[
** In Yule's defense, ''Squeeze'' is only '''in''' the VU discography because of [[Executive Meddling]]. He wanted to release it as a solo album and record a Velvets album with the touring band, but couldn't get the budget.
* After Jim Morrison died, the remaining [[The Doors
** Additionally, the Doors have recruited a number of vocalists for the occasional live performance. Eddie Vedder sang when the group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and an appearance on VH-1 Storytellers included performances by a number of singers including Scott Stapp, Scott Weiland, and Ian Astbury, who accompanied the group on a world tour in 2003. After a lawsuit by John Densmore and the Morrison estate barred said touring group from using the Doors name, Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger have performed under the name Riders on the Storm.
* Another band that suffered following the departure of its lead singer was Big Brother and the Holding Company. After Janis Joplin left, the band recruited several new members (including two replacement vocalists) and released ''Be a Brother''. Few accepted the invitation, which may be why Big Brother's next album (and their last for 15 years) was titled ''How Hard It Is''.
* After Ian Hunter left [[
* By 1985, [[
* [[Talking Heads (
* The [[
** Some fans warmed up to the Biafra-less DK after they learned how much money he stole from the rest of the band. Not cool (or punk), Jello.
** It isn't confirmed which story (the one that Ray and the gang tell, and the one Jello tells) is actually true. Due to his charisma and consistent views, Jello's side of it tends to be believed more often than not.
*** Jello has always denied knowingly doing anything wrong and disputed his former bandmates' account of the breakup. Those who want to learn more can go to [[Wikipedia]] ([[wikipedia:Jello Biafra#Lawsuit by former band members|Jello Biafra entry]], [[wikipedia:Dead Kennedys#1990s-2000s: Legal conflicts|Dead Kennedys entry]]). Please, no more [[Conversation in
* Wall of Voodoo's vocalist, Stan Ridgway, and percussionist Joe Nanni, quit the band after backstage trouble at the 1983 US Festival. Undeterred, the remaining members, signed up a new vocalist in Andy Prieboy, and a drummer to put out two more albums, plus a live disc.
** To be fair, the band's second best selling single, "Far Side of Crazy" was sung by Prieboy. In Australia, where "Far Side of Crazy" outsold "Mexican Radio", Prieboy is regarded as the band's face and Ridgway is seen as [[The Pete Best]].
* [[
* Brazilian band Raimundos "lost" their singer to the Evangelical church. The guitarist took over, and their first post-loss single had some impact. But everything after... nearly no one noticed, and no one cares that the band still exists.
* The original musicians of [[
** Stone Temple Pilots played it more straight, however. After Scott left and the band broke up, the other members formed Army of Anyone with the singer from Filter. Most STP fans don't know Army of Anyone exists, and if they do, they tend to deny it exists.
** GNR could also be seen as an inversion--all ''but'' Axl Rose left. The "new" GNR put out ''Chinese Democracy'' and many fans declared it [[Hype Backlash|a massive failure]], [[Fanon Discontinuity|pretending it was never made]].
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* Adema had a singer that left after the second album; they're currently up to their fourth.
** It didn't help that they changed genres every time they got a new vocalist.
* Creedence Clearwater ''Revisited'' consists of Stu Cook and Doug Clifford, respectively the bassist and drummer of [[
* Sixteen years after the death of Freddie Mercury, [[
** Queen have since done a number of such performances and singles, credited as ''Queen + [artist]''.
* [[
* Zilch tried to go on as a performing band after the death of lead guitarist [[Hideto Matsumoto|hide]], but eventually finally ended their less-than-successful attempt at this with the death of bassist Paul Raven.
* [[Older Than They Think]] - a number of orchestras of the big band era have continued to perform and tour ''decades'' after the deaths of their namesake frontmen, including those established by Tommy Dorsey, Buddy Rich, and Glenn Miller.
* The Lovin' Spoonful released one more album after John Sebastian left.
* Most people agree that Don Caballero hasn't been the same since guitarist Ian Williams left. The bassist quit shortly after he did, leaving only drummer Damon Che left. Che tried to salvage the band, but the results were...[[Fanon Discontinuity|disappointing, to say the least.]]
* Steve Jones and Paul Cook, plus a couple of [[The Other Darrin|no-name fill-ins]], toured as [[
* From The Jam, consisting of bassist Bruce Foxton and drummer Rick Buckler ([[Exactly What It Says
* The Irish group Them is best remembered for Van Morrison's 1964-66 stint as lead singer. However, after Morrison left for a successful solo career, various versions of Them continued recording and touring until 1971, with a reunion in 1979. While Them never regained their Morrison-era level of popularity, some fans hold their work without him in high regard.
* After Shannon Hoon's death, Blind Melon reformed with a vocalist who had a somewhat similar style and released one album under the name Unified Theory; years later they reformed again with a vocalist with a ''very'' similar singing style, this time touring and releasing an album under the Blind Melon name again. Both albums had relatively good reception from fans, but didn't attract much attention outside of the fan base.
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* Little Texas also went through this a lot. Initially, they traded lead vocal duties between Brady Seals and Tim Rushlow (with backing vocals from two other members), but Tim became the lone lead vocalist after Brady left in 1995, with Jeff Huskins taking over Brady's role as keyboardist. The band broke up in the late 1990s and Tim went solo. After Little Texas re-established in 2004 without Brady or Tim, they chose Steven Troy as their new lead vocalist. He left after about a year, and lead vocal duties were given to guitarist Porter Howell (who, interestingly, had not even been a backing vocalist before then).
* Alternating lead vocalists can ease some of the pressure on a band should a member leave. [[The Oak Ridge Boys]] have used all four of their current members (Duane Allen, Joe Bonsall, Richard Sterban, William Lee Golden) on lead vocal duties at some point. After Golden left in the 1980s, however, he was replaced by Steve Sanders, who sang lead on several songs before his mid-1990s death resulted in Golden's rejoining the group.
** [[
* After a cocaine indictment, lead singer Steven Page left [[
* After their time with [[David Bowie]], the Spiders from Mars released their own album in 1976.
** Without Bowie ''and'' without [[The Lancer|guitarist]] [[Needs More Love|Mick Ronson.]] Which leaves just [[Those Two Guys]].
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** Note: when Lord Worm returned, they averted [[Canon Dis Continuity]] despite the major differences between the singers' voices. Lord Worm still played songs written in his absence.
* [[The Band]] did a tour of tiny clubs and theatres in the early 90s without Robbie Robertson. It was a rather depressing affair.
* After frontman Jerry Garcia's death in 1995, the remaining members of [[
* After [[
* [[
* Arguably [[Journey (
** Most would agree that Arnel Pineda has done much for Journey financially. With Pineda at the helm, Journey had one of the most successful tours of 2008, and the first album with him as lead vocalist, ''Revelation'', was certified platinum. Also, it seems that he has brought appeal to a generation two decades younger than Journey's initial fanbase. It probably helps that Pineda's voice is practically indistinguishable from Perry's.
*** What also helps is that the guys doing a lot of the heavy lifting writing-wise are still with the band (them being Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain).
** Perry wasn't really "dropped," per se; he developed a degenerative bone disease and couldn't join the planned reunion tour, making his replacement pretty much mandatory.
* The Supremes managed to last several years after Diana Ross left (and even had a few minor hits), but were tremendously overshadowed by Ross's solo career. Most Supremes best-of albums barely acknowledge the Ross-less years, if at all.
* After [[
* After Michael Hutchence, the singer for INXS, tragically died in 1997, the group continued on with a new lead singer named Jon Stevens, who joined the group in 2002. Stevens then quit the group a year later to focus on a solo career, and the band eventually became involved with the ''Rock Star'' television series, where they crowned Canadian unknown J.D. Fortune as the new lead singer. Fortune released an album with the group (which received moderately good reviews), the band "fired" him via an informal handshake at a Hong Kong airport, and they are once again without a singer.
* Survivor, one of the most popular bands of the early 1980s, without singer Jimi Jamison.
* [[
* In 2009, Sublime started touring with new singer/guitarist Rome Ramirez replacing the late Brad Nowell. This didn't stick, as the Nowell family claims that Brad was the sole owner of the band name. The other two original members soon decided they didn't want to alienate Brad's widow, family and friends and changed the name of the project to Sublime with Rome, which was accepted by Brad's family. Prior to this there was Long Beach Dub All-Stars, who were ''also'' Sublime without Nowell.
* After Brian Setzer left The Stray Cats, the other two members, Jim Phantom and Lee Rocker, teamed up with former David Bowie guitarist Earl Slick to form a new group, Phantom, Rocker, and Slick. They released one album, which bombed miserably, and then quickly dissolved.
* After lead singer Allan Clarke left [[
* When [[
* Cannibal Corpse, to some extent. Although most fans view current vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher as a formidable replacement to original frontman Chris Barnes, some still insist that the band lost defining characteristics after Barnes' departure.
* When charismatic singer Peter Wolf left the J. Geils Band, the lead vocal duties were handed over to keyboardist Seth Justman. This arrangement lasted for all of one disappointing album before the band called it quits.
* It's all relative. The Shadows were [[
* After Noel Gallagher left [[Oasis (
* We Are the Fallen is essentially [[
* After [[
** The split actually came before Holly's death.
* When original singer Edwin left I Mother Earth, they managed to put out two more albums with Brian Byrne before imploding, though admittedly there were [[Executive Meddling|other factors]]. On the other hand, four studio albums is an impressive catalogue for an early 90s Canadian alt-rock band, since most were lucky to get to three.
* When they were dumped by their record label, October Project's Mary Fahl then struck out on a solo career, taking her signature contralto with her. October Project, meanwhile, attempted several times to carry on without her, first as November Project, then as October Project again. While Mary has been able to get a CD out in stores since then, as well as appear on a couple of movie soundtracks, the larger part of the group has had only a few limited-run releases.
* When Vancouver-based band Doug And The Slugs stopped recording studio albums, lead singer Doug Bennett toured for a good 12 years with a rotating group of backing musicians, [[In Name Only|still billing them as Doug And The Slugs]]. Following his death in 2004, the other original band members reunited with a new singer and are now touring as Doug And The Slugs despite not having Doug, making them now [[The Band Minus the Face]].
* [[
* [[
* Only time will tell how [[
* [[
** Amusingly, in the case of [[
* Russian heavy metal band Aria lost its lead singer, Valery Kipelov, who decided to start his own solo project. The replacement, Arthur Berkut, became a major source of [[Broken Base]]: some think he's as good as Kipelov, some think he's a [[Replacement Scrappy]].
* On [[April Fools' Day]], 2008, [[
* Parodied in the [[
** In [[Real Life]], the band has stated that if any member dies or retires, they will break up, averting this.
* Project 86's music video for "The Spy Hunter" ends with the rest of the band knocking singer Andrew Schwab unconscious, tying him up, and leaving him to get shot by a cannon. This is continued in the video for "My Will Be a Dead Man", where Schwab tracks down the rest of the band and finds that they've replaced him (with the lead singer from He Is Legend, no less).
* [[
* After the techno duo Blue Amazon split up, Lee Softley continued producing solo under that name.
* 2 Unlimited was reformed as a girl group after the original two members, Ray and Anita, parted ways. It didn't last long, as [[One-Book Author|they only produced one album]] before breaking up themselves.
* After [[
* The Stranglers recorded ten albums, the last four being international hits. They went for an eleventh (called ''10'', just to confuse matters), which fell flat. Singer Hugo Cornwell left, considering them a spent force, but the band kept going. The band's 2004 album ''Norfolk Coast'' and single "Big Thing Coming" were mildly successful, but ''far'' less so than the albums made when Cornwell was in the band.
* While 'Fast Eddie' Clarke wasn't strictly The Face of [[
* The Pogues continued for a few years after firing lead singer and songwriter Shane MacGowan, who was temporarily replaced by Joe Strummer of [[The Clash]] before the band settled on co-founder Spider Stacy as their new lead singer. Their first post-MacGowan album, 1993's ''Waiting for Herb'' produced one of their biggest hits, "Tuesday Morning", but the album itself was savaged by critics and suffered poor sales. The band called it quits after their next album 1996's ''Pogue Mahone'' fared worse critically and sales-wise, and did not reunite until the members patched things up with MacGowan in 2001.
* Despite the fact that early Gangsta Rap group N.W.A managed to maintain a commercially and critical successful career after the departure of Ice Cube, the group fell apart after the departure of Dr. Dre and The D.O.C. due to the fact that they were barely being payed.
* [[
* Indie pop girl group The Pipettes has seen many lineup changes: the band's most successful lineup of Rebecca "RiotBecki" Stephens, Rose Elinor Dougall and Gwenno Saunders is the second lineup. Saunders replaced Julia Laird-Clowes, who left to become the singer and keyboardist for the indie band The Indelicates. After the release of their popular 2006 debut ''We Are the Pipettes'', Stephens and Dougall left the band, with Dougall going onto a critically acclaimed solo career. Saunders and Monster Bobby (the group's co-creator and leader of their backing band) continued the group, recruiting replacements that ''also'' departed soon afterwards. The group's second album, ''Earth vs. Pipettes'' only features Saunders and her sister Ani in the lineup, and it tanked in both sales and critical reception.
* When [[
* The [[
* Once Gary Numan temporarily retired as a live act in 1981, his backing band went on as Dramatis. Their lone album, ''For Future Reference'', had keyboardist Chris Payne taking lead vocals, and mimicked Numan's science-fiction-themed [[Synth Pop]] to some extent. They did manage a top 40 hit in the UK with "Love Needs No Disguise", which featured Gary Numan himself on guest vocals. Otherwise, they're largely a footnote to Gary Numan's career, enough so that when their album finally saw release on CD in 2000, it was [[Covers Always Lie|repackaged]] as an album called ''The Dramatis Project'' by Tubeway Army Featuring Gary Numan.
== Aversions ==
* After [[
* [[Genesis (
* [[
** It helps that Waters' replacement, veteran bassist Guy Pratt, is proficient enough to play anything Roger ever could have. Pratt also did solid work on the band's post-Waters albums, ''A Momentary Lapse of Reason'' and ''The Division Bell.'' Not that this was going to be a huge issue: Dave Gilmour is the only stand-out musician in the band, few bassists distinguish themselves by bass-playing alone, and, well... Roger got bass because he didn't impress as lead (and was looking at drums for a while).
** Waters has attempted to invoke this trope. When he left the band, he infamously declared Pink Floyd disbanded, and then tried to sue them when they quite rightly said "No, we're not finished yet". He failed.
** Pink Floyd averted this trope largely because their faces never really came to the fore. Syd was the group's frontman from their formation in 1965 to 1968, but he never had a stage presence to rival Mick Jagger's or Peter Gabriel's, not to mention that his dislike of larger or televised audiences was a major cause of his retreat into psychedelic breakdown. More importantly, even in the Syd era, the band relied heavily on lightshows and effects to accompany their performances, and were perfectly happy that it drew attention away from them personally. It was only later, with ''[[The Wall]]'', ''The Final Cut'', the power struggle and subsequent breakup that Roger Waters and David Gilmour began emerging as distinct personalities. As one example of this, during the ''[[Dark Side of the Moon]]'' tour, the band were able to slip out to the public bar during the interval, without any of the fans recognising them.
* After Ian Curtis' suicide, the remaining members of [[
* [[
* [[
* When Cazuza, singer and main songwriter of Brazilian band Barão Vermelho, left, his usual partner, guitarist Roberto Frejat, took over singing. The band continues its success to date.
* Another Brazilian band, Titãs, survived the departure of a singer/composer, the death of a guitarist, and the departure of a bassist/singer/composer (and now, of the drummer).
* [[
* After the Small Faces' frontman Steve Marriott quit the group to form Humble Pie, the remaining members changed their name to the Faces and recruited Rod Stewart and Ron Wood to replace him. If anything, the [[Pun|Faces Minus The Faces]] were ''more'' successful than in the Marriott days - that is, until Rod Stewart's solo career eclipsed the group and it fell apart.
** They reformed in 2009 with Simply Red singer Mick Hucknall providing lead vocal. Their performance at the Royal Albert Hall was pretty well received but Hucknall's status within the band isn't too clear at the moment.
* Albums by [[
* In 1970, [[
** The trope eventually caught up with them, though. Buckingham quit in 1987. The group's next release, ''Behind the Mask'', flopped, after which Nicks left the group as well. The band assembled a new line-up which released one album, ''Time'' (which flopped even worse than ''Behind the Mask''), and then dissolved until 1997 when Buckingham and Nicks rejoined.
* [[
* The Commodores had their biggest hit of the 80s, "Nightshift", several years after Lionel Richie left.
* Yet another Brazilian band [[
** In an odd inversion, the Cavalera brothers recently reunited to form the Sepultura-esque Cavalera Conspiracy, essentially The Face(s) Minus The Band.
* Averted, gloriously so, by [[ACDC
* After [[
** Many fans go as far as saying that Black Sabbath had much better musical sensibility with Dio as frontman, as Dio's more operatic and theatrical vocals made the rest of the band shift to a more melodic sound. [[Your Mileage May Vary|While this is debatable,]] it IS a true fact that, were you to remove the vocals, you could still recognize Black Sabbath as Ozzy-era and Dio-era from the band's sound itself.
* On the subject of Dio, the band Rainbow, which he was a founding member of, attained its greatest commercial success after he quit the group and it underwent numerous other personnel changes.
* [[Chicago (
** Cetera, however, is the only ex-member who most identify as the band's 'face.'
* Mother Love Bone became popular ''after'' their singer's death. After Andrew Wood's heroin overdose, they found their unlikely replacement in a surfer from San Diego named Eddie Vedder and changed their sound from a glam punk-ish style of grunge to more of a more classic hard rock sound. They went on to become [[
* [[
** His frontman status didn't last long, though. Joey Belladonna reunited with Anthrax a few months ago, just in time for the Big Four tour and a new album.
* In 1965, [[
* Tristania lost both their lead and death vocalist Morten Veland and their backing female operatic vocalist Vibeke Stene and they ''still'' survived, even if many fans consider their original two albums better.
* The [[
** This trope then got averted again; see "Vacations" below.
* Restless Heart sort of averted this from the get-go. Lead singer Verlon Thompson left ''before the first single'' and was instantly replaced by Larry Stewart. It would later catch up to them when Stewart left in 1991, and the next album featured drummer John Dittrich and bassist Paul Gregg alternating as lead singers. The next album after ''that'' omitted keyboardist Dave Innis as well. Finally, the band broke up in 1993. Everyone but Innis reunited in 1998 to cut two tracks for a Greatest Hits album, then broke up ''again''. Finally, in 2006, ''everyone'' (including guitarist Greg Jennings) reunited for good to record ''Still Restless''.
* The New Cars was a touring group in the mid-2000s consisting of the original guitarist and keyboardist of the Cars, fronted by [[
* Buffy Lawson, lead singer of the duo Bomshel, left in 2007 over [[Creative Differences]] between her and Kristy Osmonson. She has since been replaced by Kelley Shepard. Although the first two singles with Shepard both tanked, the third ("Fight Like a Girl") has become the duo's biggest hit. That's not saying much, though.
* When [[
* In 1985, [[Christian Rock]] band Petra lost its lead singer Greg X. Volz and recruited John Schlitt (formerly of non-Christian band Head East) to take his place. The two sounded nothing alike: Volz has been compared to Kansas frontman Steve Walsh, while Schlitt sounds like... well, pretty much every [[Hair Metal]] vocalist ever. Perhaps noticing this, the band (under the guidance of new producers) shifted to a heavier sound that fit Schlitt's vocal range quite well, and released some of their most well-known songs during this period. Ironically, their new producers were... John Elefante of Kansas fame and his brother!
* [[
* After parting ways with lead singer David Ruffin in 1968, The Temptations kept on racking up hits well into the 70s while Ruffin's solo career floundered.
** Ruffin may have thought of himself as the face of the band, but The Temptations were established R&B stars before he joined the group, and remained so afterwards.
* Dave Bickler was the lead singer on Survivor's biggest hit, "Eye of the Tiger", but that was the only top ten hit for the band during Bickler's tenure. They had four top ten singles with Bickler's replacement, Jimi Jamison.
* Death metal pack leaders Cannibal Corpse ended up firing their original frontman, Chris Barnes, over attitude issues. What they didn't account for was that Chris Barnes was the most beloved death metal frontman outside of Chuck Schuldiner. Fortunately the guy they ended up getting, George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher, was not only a vastly superior vocalist, he pretty much converted any skeptics with [[Careful
* 10 Years didn't start out with Jesse Kasek. They started out with a different singer, Mike Underdown, for their first album, ''Into The Half Moon.'' Jesse came on the demo album ''Killing All That Holds You.'' When the band released their first album on a label with Jesse, most people who became fans on that album aren't aware that he existed. Not to mention that the band has a different sound compared to the hard punk metal sound they were going for.
* Possibly the most extreme aversion belongs to [[
* Mixture of example and aversion; British neo-progressive rock band [[
* It even happened to [[The Beatles (
* [[
* British three piece girl group The Sugababes have had members replaced THREE times - in fact none of the original members are even left in the group now. But they've continued on with success - their most successful lineup was their second with Heidi Range, Keisha Buchanan and Mutya Buena. Heidi replaced Siobhan Donaghy. In 2005, Mutya left the group and was replaced with Amelle Berrabah. In 2009, the only original founding member of the band, Keisha, was kicked out by the record label and replaced with Jade Ewen. This is the fourth lineup of the Sugababes, and their most recent album ''Sweet 7'' is their second poorest selling. But the second and third lineups were hugely successful.
* Inverted with the country music band Blackhawk, where over time, everyone ''but'' original lead singer Henry Paul has been replaced or, in former member Van Stephenson's case, is no longer alive. Sometime in the aughties, the core trio began counting its formerly-disparate backing band as official members. At least two replacement members have left and re-joined over time.
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* [[The Muppet Show|Electric Mayhem]]: Though all the members remain, the puppeteers have changed since [[Jim Henson]] (Dr. Teeth) and Richard Hunt (Janice) died and Frank Oz (Animal) and Jerry Nelson (Floyd) retired, leaving just Dave Goelz (Zoot) and Steve Whitmire (Lips, who isn't usually included with the band) the only original puppeteers still performing the band.
* The frontman and face of Captain Jack (of ''[[Dance Dance Revolution]]'' fame), Francisco Gutierrez, died of a stroke in 2005. The group was reformed [[In Name Only]] in 2008 with all-new members.
* [[
** And ''another'' new version of the Yardbirds has been active since [[The Nineties]]. As with the original band, Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty have been the group's [[Revolving Door Band|only consistent members]].
* The biggest refuge for former Yardbirds was folk-classical fusion band Renaissance. This ancestry is often ignored because, after releasing two albums and touring, the band stalled and then underwent a complete change of lineup. The new band started afresh, abandoned the old songs and folk influences, and became a straight classical fusion band, often using orchestral backing. And suffice to say, while original lead vocalist Jane Relf had a fine voice, her replacement, Annie Haslam, was even better, and the new group went from strength to strength.
* [[
* [[
* The Sneaker Pimps' face in their early stages was Kelli Ali, the singer. Part of the reason why they dropped her was because she was the face- but she only sang the songs, she didn't write them. Chris Corner, who did write the songs, became the singer (and the face) after that, and they released two more albums before splitting up. The fanbase is still divided over whether they were better with or without Kelli.
* Fans were skeptical after Theater Of Tragedy decided to continue on after Liv Kristine left, but replacement vocalist Nell Sigland is considered by most people to be a worthy successor.
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* After the Gangsta Rap pioneering group N.W.A. released their influential debut album they lost Ice Cube, the groups third rapper and most importantly another member's ghostwriter. Despite this they released a successful EP and a great LP after his departure even though they were one member short. Ice Cube's departure actually worked in everyone's favour because Ice Cube met huge success as a solo artist, N.W.A. had something else to be angry about and producer Dr. Dre was forced to become a rapper which is probably the reason that the Dr. was able to have a highly successful and influential solo career.
* Tyondai Braxton, the singer and guitarist for math rock group Battles, left the band after the tour for their successful 2007 debut album ''Mirrored''. The band pressed on without replacing him and their sophomore effort, 2011's ''Gloss Drop'' was extremely well received. Instead of replacing him directly, the songs on ''Gloss Drop'' are either instrumental or feature guest vocalists.
* [[
* It happened very gradually, but The Dropkick Murphys are now better known with replacement vocalist Al Barr than they were with original frontman Mike McColgan. McColgan, who left The Dropkick Murphys after their first album to become a firefighter, later started Street Dogs, who have been successful in their own right, but aren't as well-known as his first band. Al Barr actually made a guest appearance on the first Street Dogs album ''Savin Hill'', trading verses with Mike McColgan on "Stand Up".
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* Crazy Horse recorded several "solo" albums both during and after its tenure with [[Neil Young (Music)|Neil Young]].
* Graham Parker's band, The Rumour, released three albums without Parker.
* In 1980, the Attractions ([[
* Keyboardist Rick Wakeman took a vacation from [[
* Secret Chiefs 3 gradually turned from this variety of band minus the face project to [[I Am the Band]]: Their first two albums were Mr. Bungle being led by guitarist Trey Spruance rather than Mike Patton, but once Mr. Bungle broke up, they were largely Spruance and a rotating cast of collaborators (albeit with former Mr. Bungle members sometimes among them).
* Averted ''and'' played straight, so to speak, with Malice Mizer. The loss of their first vocalist, Tetsu, not only didn't end the band, but his replacement by [[Gackt]] drastically increased the band's popularity. The loss of Gackt on the other hand...
* Difficult as it is to imagine the Strawbs without Dave Cousins fronting them, he did take a break at the end of the '70s. Roy Hill took over as frontman, deploying his unique variety of [[Mind Screw|mind screwiness]] in the role, until Dave felt ready to return.
* Sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison of the [[
* Dune singer Verena von Strenge took a vacation from the group between 1997 and 1999, during which time they used a vocalist named Vanessa.
* [[
* [[
* Morbid Angel vocalist/bassist David Vincent left in 1996 and returned in 2004. The band recorded three albums with replacement Steve Tucker which had mixed-to-positive reviews. After 7 years, finally an album was recorded with Vincent. It was not received well at all.
* Big & Rich went on hiatus after their third album. Both members (Big Kenny and John Rich) recorded solo albums with each other's blessings, but have since officially started touring again as Big & Rich.
* [[
* After the release of ''Elysion'', [[
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