History BreakupBreakout / Music

* The Flower Pot Men, not to be confused with the Britpop group of the same name, was a short-lived 80s {{industrial}} duo consisting of Adam Peters and '''Ben Watkins''', the latter of which later started Juno Reactor.

* Music/{{Take That|Band}} was an interesting case. When the group broke up in 1996, '''Music/RobbieWilliams''' was easily the breakout star, scoring multiple hits on both sides of the pond. This became inverted, however, when Take That reunited (sans Williams) a decade later with renewed success, while Williams' career plateaued, eventually rejoining the band in 2010. Otherwise, of the other members, only Gary Barlow did reasonable well as a solo.

Sorted by group names.

** Styles did this again after [=OneDirection=]'s "indefinite hiatus". While all other members have achieved varying degrees of success, none could match Styles' in terms of consistency, breadth, and international recognition.

* Chris Cornell did this both to Music/{{Soundgarden}} and Music/{{Audioslave}}. The former when it broke up and Cornell went on a solo career, and the latter when ''it'' disbanded and Cornell went solo again and eventually reunited with the former, while [[Music/RageAgainstTheMachine Tom Morello's]] next side project, Street Sweeper Social Club, was much less successful.

* Generation X had a few years of notoriety in the early days of PunkRock. Vocalist Music/BillyIdol, on the other hand, is so well known as a solo artist that his existence in a band may be entirely unknown.
* Music/{{Menudo}} is well known as a Latin BoyBand with a revolving-door cast of members who were replaced after turning 15. Hands down the most famous member of the band is one Enrique Martín Morales, who would become Latin pop superstar Music/RickyMartin in his adult years.
* Music/{{Sting}} and Music/ThePolice. While The Police are hardly obscure, Sting is easily the most recognizable in terms of post-band success.
** Referenced in a [[Radio/TheVeryWorldOfMiltonJones Milton Jones]] sketch where he is pretending to hold a police [[WaxingLyrical interview]] with Sting:
--->'''Milton:''' Now, let me make you an offer. You tell me everything you know, and I'll make sure you get a new identity and start your life over, while the other two get put away and never heard of again.
** Stewart Copeland has also made quite a name for himself in the decades since the Police's dissolution, being a well-regarded soundtrack composer; 90s kids might know him best as the guy who scored [[VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon1998 the]] [[VideoGame/Spyro2RiptosRage first]] [[VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon three]] ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'' games.
* Music/{{hide|toMatsumoto}} and [[Music/TomoakiIshizuka Pata]]. In the mid 1980s, hide was the guitarist of Yokosuka Saber Tiger and about to retire to a career of hairdresser work. Pata led his own band, Judy. A little band called {{Music/X Japan}} needed a couple of guitarists, owing to their session guitarists having left. The rest can be considered VisualKei history.
** And hide was the breakout star of {{Music/X Japan}} itself. Everyone else aside from Sugizo, who already had a solo career before he joined, and Music/YoshikiHayashi who developed one slowly, failed to establish a truly successful solo career. (It took Yoshiki himself over 10 years to do so, and his solo work is still ''nowhere near'' as successful in Japan itself as hide's was). Most members of {{Music/X Japan}} haven't had solo success at all:
*** Music/HiroshiMorie played in projects that never gained wide notice.

* Music/JustinTimberlake and Music/{{NSYNC}}. After he [[https://www.huffpost.com/archive/in/entry/nsync-interview-walk-of-fame_a_23424141 split from the group]], Timberlake went on to a successful solo career and parlayed his fame into an acting career and various business ventures. While his bandmates have obviously not met the same amount of success, they've done fairly well for themselves in other areas, just not in music.

* Inverted in the case of Music/RageAgainstTheMachine; Zack de la Rocha left and had one minor single with his project One Day as a Lion, while the rest of the band got together with Chris Cornell and formed Music/{{Audioslave}}, which proved almost as popular as their previous gig. Played perfectly straight with Chris Cornell and Music/{{Soundgarden}}, however.
** Played straight with Audioslave, as Chris Cornell's solo career and return to Soundgarden was much more successful than Tom Morello's next side project, Street Sweeper Social Club.
* The Chad Mitchell Trio had only one real breakout star, but it was not any of the original members of the group. [[ExecutiveMeddling Record execs]] felt the 'folk trio' fad was passing, and urged Chad Mitchell to leave the trio and perform solo. Chad Mitchell recorded a few solo albums, but has never had any mainstream success. The guy who replaced him in the Mitchell Trio, on the other hand, was John Denver. Yes, THE Music/JohnDenver. He went on to become a breakout star while the others in the trio more or less retired.
* Music/GeorgeMichael and Music/{{Wham}}, to the point that Andrew Ridgeley is to music what Wrestling/MartyJannetty is to wrestling. In Andrew's defense, he was tired of the industry and preferred a quiet and comfortable life in Cornwall. He and George Michael remained friends until Michael's death in 2016.
* Between 1984 and 1990, CountryMusic duo Music/TheJudds (lead singer Music/WynonnaJudd and her mother, Naomi) had several big hits, but they disbanded due to a combination of CreativeDifferences and Naomi contracting hepatitis. Wynonna went solo in 1991 and had a very successful solo career of her own. Unlike The Judds, which were strictly country, Wynonna scored several pop, AC, and dance crossover hits.
* Curious double example: In the early 1990s, there was a band in Kentucky known as Early Tymz. Its members included brothers Music/JohnMichaelMontgomery and Eddie Montgomery, as well as Troy Gentry. Although Early Tymz was well known in the state, they were all but unknown outside it. John Michael left and began a solo career, having many huge hits between 1992 and 2000. Eddie and Troy founded the duo Music/MontgomeryGentry, which has also racked up a respectable number of hits from 1999 until Gentry's [[DiedDuringProduction death in 2017]].
* 1980s trio S-K-O (Schuyler, Knoblock, and Overstreet) lost Paul Overstreet after their first album, which included the #1 hit "Baby's got a New Baby" (1986), and became S-K-B when Craig Bickhardt replaced him. Overstreet went on to become a semi-successful solo artist, with nearly twice as many Top 10 hits as S-K-O did (including the #1 "Daddy's Come Around" and a guest spot with Paul Davis on Music/TanyaTucker's 1987 chart-topper "I Won't Take Less Than Your Love", which he also wrote). After his career fizzled out, Overstreet returned to songwriting, but occasionally dabbled in Christian music as well. Two of his sons have gained some fame as well: Chord Overstreet is a ''Series/{{Glee}}'' cast member, and Nash is a member of pop group Hot Chelle Rae.

* Music/RobbieWilliams did this to Music/TakeThatBand when he left but after their reunion, the band have eclipsed Robbie again. Though of course, Take That had already split shortly before Robbie's debut single came out (he himself had of course been sacked from the band some time before), so they weren't likely to be putting up much competition(!) Of course, Robbie's successful solo career does stand in sharp contrast to the failure of the remaining members' post-split (pre-reunion) solo efforts. Of the other four, Gary Barlow did reasonably well while Mark Owen only had a few hits. Neither Howard Donald nor Jason Orange ever embarked on a solo career.
* Music/VinceGill became incredibly popular in the late 1980s through mid 90s, long after he left the country-rock group Pure Prairie League. (That's him singing lead on their hit "Let Me Love You Tonight".)
* In the same vein, Music/KennyRogers left The First Edition behind to become a successful country/adult contemporary singer. Mickey Jones, meanwhile, became a successful actor.
* Canadian group ''Music/ThePoppyFamily'' had a #1 Billboard hit with "Which Way You going, Billy?", then the lead singer and the guitar player got divorced. Susan Jacks had a career as a singer and producer in Nashville; ''Music/TerryJacks'' became much more successful.
* The girl group Choice had a song "Key to My Heart" which appeared on the soundtrack for ''Kazaam''. When it broke up, Sharon Flanagan went nowhere, Chrissy Conway had fair success with Christian rock group Zoegirl, and the third girl? Alecia Moore is now known as Music/{{Pink}}.
* Wild Orchid had a couple albums, and was reasonably successful. Stacy Ferguson left them to become Fergie and join Music/TheBlackEyedPeas. The rest? Some voicework and songwriting, at best.
* The Music/SpiceGirls were the biggest pop act in the world for a brief time, so it stood to reason that their membership would have as much success, right? Yes and no. Music/MelanieC (Sporty) is arguably the biggest success music-wise, with seven albums to her name; Geri Halliwell (Ginger), Emma Bunton (Baby) and Mel B (Scary) have had solo careers as well with varying degrees of success. But the most visible former member is the one who left music -- Victoria Beckham (Posh), who briefly attempt a solo career that ultimately never took off (mostly due to [[ScrewedByTheNetwork her label going under]]) and ultimately became much more successful in the world of fashion and design, to the point many people don't even associate her with the Spice Girls at all.
* When Music/SonnyAndCher split, Music/{{Cher}} went on to have a great career in music and film. Sonny went into politics. He died in a skiing accident in 1998, after leading the charge that led to the [[CopyProtection Digital Millennium Copyright Act]].
* Music/MichaelJackson. He started as a member of Music/TheJacksons and later became the King of Pop. Jermaine also had some success in the '70s and '80s, but obviously nowhere near that of his brother.
* Creator/MichaelNesmith had (some) commercial and (lots of) critical success after Music/TheMonkees broke up.
* Music/DaveGrohl, who after Music/{{Nirvana}} broke up formed Music/FooFighters, which has not had nearly the same cultural impact, but has lasted much longer and is still one of the most popular bands around. Krist Novoselic faded from the music scene and became a politician. Of course, Kurt Cobain is still by far the most famous member of the band, but never experienced a breakout since, well, the breakup was his own death.
* After Music/{{Kyuss}} broke up, Josh Homme founded Music/QueensOfTheStoneAge and had far more commercial success than Kyuss ever did.
* In a rather tragic example, when the metal band Cacophony broke up their two guitarists went onto two very different career paths. Marty Friedman would go on to join Megadeth for a decade as a guitarist before focusing full-time on his solo career, moving to Japan and becoming a major figure in the Japanese music world. Jason Becker, on the other hand, would play with Music/DavidLeeRoth for a couple of years before being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease and is now unable to speak or play guitar. He still composes however and communicates with his eyes.
* After the Amboy Dukes broke up, their guitarist Music/TedNugent started a much more successful solo career.
* After progressive rock band Music/{{Hawkwind}} kicked out Ian Kilmister, their bass player, he started up his own band which is far better known. Yup, that's Lemmy from Music/{{Motorhead}}.
** To add insult to injury, the band name - and iconic title track - are taken from a song Lemmy originally wrote for Hawkwind. This is believed to be a TakeThat at Hawkwind's notoriously autocratic leader Dave Brock and his wife Kris Tait [[note]] She is not loved by many ex-Hawkwind personnel[[/note]].
* When alternative country pioneers Music/UncleTupelo broke up, lead guitarist and singer Jay Farrar achieved moderate success with his new band Music/SonVolt, while bassist-turned-guitarist and singer Jeff Tweedy and the rest of the band became Music/{{Wilco}}, which, after a few major changes in musical direction and members, became way more successful than Uncle Tupelo or Son Volt.
* Possibly inverted with Music/KylieMinogue and Music/NickCave's collaboration, "Where The Wild Roses Grow", which helped give Minogue the artistic credibility she lacked, and Cave the mainstream success that had eluded him.
* A band called Y Kant Tori Read emerged in 1988, then broke up after being unsuccessful. The lead singer, Music/ToriAmos, now enjoys her success as an alternative singer-songwriter.
** Their drummer, Matt Sorum, went on to success playing with Music/GunsNRoses and Velvet Revolver.
* Til Tuesday was an 80s OneHitWonder band from the Boston area, breaking up after their final album got good reviews but sold poorly. The lead singer, Aimee Mann, became an Oscar-nominated singer-songwriter, while her bandmates fell off the radar.
* Music/DestinysChild propelled Music/{{Beyonce}} to global stardom. Her bandmates have since carved out much lower-key but still fairly respectable solo careers (Music/KellyRowland being the most successful) but will never come as close to Beyoncé.
* Music/{{Bjork}} went from being one of the lead singers of The Sugarcubes (which helped put Iceland on the music map) to having a more successful and arguably better solo career. You probably haven't heard from the other lead singer, Einar Örn, lately if you're not from Iceland.
* Alternative hip-hop group Leaders Of The New School effectively broke up on a live broadcast of ''Yo! MTV Raps!'', when it became clear that the young-dreadlocked member Music/BustaRhymes grabbed the most attention out of the three, to the chagrin of the other two. As we know, Busta Rhymes went on to have a ''very'' successful solo career where he's practically the {{Wolverine|Publicity}} of hip-hop. Very few would know who the other two members are, much less what they're up to.
* There was once a band called Music/AliceCooper. When the band broke up, lead singer Vincent Furnier took the name for himself and went on to have a successful solo career, whereas the rest of the members pretty much faded into obscurity.
* Alt-country band Whiskeytown broke up in 2000; their lead singer and primary songwriter had a much more successful career as a solo artist. That singer? Music/RyanAdams.
* After Music/WhiteZombie broke up, Music/RobZombie replaced all the band members except the drummer and renamed the band after himself. None of the other members of the band ever did anything else of note. He then did it ''again'' when the Rob Zombie (band) guitarist and drummer, Riggs and Tempesta, split to form Scum of the Earth, which did not reach nearly the commercial success that Rob Zombie, either the man or the band, did. On the other hand, Tempesta ''did'' go on to join Music/TheCult, so he's doing pretty damn well himself. Riggs, however, has not been as lucky.
* Music/TinaTurner and Ike Turner. At the time of the latter's death he was performing at small casinos. Of course, Ike brought a lot of that on himself, having gone from a rock legend responsible for one of the earliest rock & roll songs ever recorded ("Rocket 88") to becoming synonymous with spousal abuse.
* When The Tourists split up, most people would have expected band leader Peet Coombes to be the breakup breakout, but it was actually second vocalist Annie Lennox and guitarist David A. Stewart who went on to massive success as Music/{{Eurythmics}}. After Eurythmics broke up (or at least went on extended hiatus), Annie Lennox started a very successful solo career, while Dave Stewart was limited to producing.
* Happened a lot with former members of Music/KingCrimson. Ian [=McDonald=] (Music/{{Foreigner|Band}}), Boz Burrell (Music/BadCompany), John Wetton (Music/{{Asia}}), and Greg Lake (Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer) are probably the most famous.
* [=MuteMath=] isn't exactly a household name, but they're enjoying a comfortable level of success. 3/4 of the band consists of former members of Earthsuit, which never made it big. Meanwhile, former Earthsuit co-frontman Adam [=LaClave=] has started no less four "solo projects" since then (along with other former members), and sadly, none of them have really worked out yet.
* The Pozo-Seco Singers were a Texas country-folk trio with a couple of minor hits in the 1960s. After they broke up, group member Music/DonWilliams embarked on a solo career. "The Gentle Giant" would notch over 50 hits on the Country Music charts, with 17 of them hitting #1.
* To some extent this happened with Portland indie rock band Heatmiser - bassist Sam Coombs formed the fairly popular and still active duo Quasi, and guitarist/vocalist Neil Gust had the less well-known band No. 2, but the major breakout was the solo career of Music/ElliottSmith.
* Music/TheYardbirds, which helped launch the careers of Music/EricClapton, Music/JeffBeck and Jimmy Page, the latter of which formed Music/LedZeppelin from the ashes from the group. Lead singer Keith Relf is mostly famous for his electrocution death in 1976 and for forming the progressive rock band Music/{{Renaissance}}.
* After Music/{{Cream}}'s breakup, former producer Felix Pappalardi hooked up with blues guitarist Leslie West to form Mountain.
* Music/EricClapton himself counts. At the time Cream was together, Jack Bruce was probably the best known member. Nowadays, however, Bruce is best known as "that guy who was in Cream", while Clapton is a household name.
* Ever heard of the Wilde Flowers? Well, they were the founding band of the Canterbury Scene. Those who jumped ship before it broke up founded Soft Machine, and the rest founded Caravan. Soft Machine itself had Daevid Allen as a founder member (he left after the first single to found Gong) and was later home to Karl "Adiemus" Jenkins.
** Soft Machine vocalist/guitarist Kevin Ayers left after the band's first album and went on to found a whole series of self-named bands. The breakup of the first one these, Kevin Ayers and the Whole World, freed their young bass player and occasional guitarist Mike Oldfield to begin the pioneering experiment in multi-instrumentalism that would become ''Tubular Bells''.
** Another Soft Machine alumnus, Robert Wyatt, has gone on to a respected solo career.
* Dance House Children was a sorta-techno band in the early 90s, consisting of brothers Ronnie and Jason Martin. After two albums, Jason Martin left to start the shoegazing/indie rock band Music/{{Starflyer 59}}, while Ronnie Martin retooled DHC into a synthpop project named Music/JoyElectric. Neither group has achieved much mainstream popularity, but Starflyer 59 and Joy Electric are both better known and more respected than Dance House Children was.
* In the early 1980s, there was a New Wave band in New York called the Breakfast Club. Its drummer, for a while, was a young woman from Michigan named [[Music/{{Madonna}} Madonna Ciccone]]. She left (recommending her boyfriend and later producer, Stephen Bray, as her replacement) for bigger and better things. The band had one hit single "Right on Track" in 1987, and then broke up the next year. While two of the members of that later lineup, [[Series/AmericanIdol Randy Jackson]] and E. Doctor Smith, later distinguished themselves, the others have not.
* After country music band Boy Howdy broke up in the mid-1990s, LeadBassist Jeffrey Steele tried a solo career that never panned out. However, he quickly made up for that as an in-demand songwriter for other people, including lots of cuts for Music/RascalFlatts.
* Inverted by the alt-country bands Music/GiantSand and Music/{{Calexico}}. Joey Burns and John Convertino started Calexico as a side project while they were still playing in Giant Sand's rhythm section. Howe Gelb (Giant Sand's frontman) kicked Burns and Convertino out only ''after'' Calexico became more famous than his band.
* {{Britpop}} group Theaudience had a handful of minor UK hits in the late 90s but broke up after only one album. After the split, the band's singer, Music/SophieEllisBextor, launched an extremely successful solo career.
* The British synthpop group [[Music/{{Dream}} D:Ream]] had a handful of hits in the early 90s, including a #1 single in the United Kingdom with "Things Can Only Get Better" in 1994. After the band's split, their live keyboardist [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Cox_%28physicist%29 Brian Cox]] became well known as a physicist, professor and presenter of several popular BBC programmes on astronomy, to the point where being a member (albeit a somewhat peripheral one) of a band that had a #1 single is now a footnote in his biography.
* After the Go-Go's broke up in 1985, all of the former members were able to make careers writing and performing music, but none with anything like the mainstream success and name recognition of vocalist Music/BelindaCarlisle. Jane Wiedlin did have a top 10 hit in 1988, though, as well as doing some acting.
* Victoria "Music/LittleBoots" Hesketh was formerly the keyboardist and singer of the short-lived synthpop group Dead Disco.
* Two members - singer Paul Heaton and drummer Dave Hemmingway - of 80s British indie pop group The Housemartins went on to become Music/TheBeautifulSouth. Another, bassist Norman Cook, went through a [[IHaveManyNames lot]] of bands and acts before eventually settling on being Music/FatboySlim. [[note]]If you're wondering what happened to the fourth member, guitarist Stan Cullimore? He went a more low-key route and became a composer for British children's shows. Which is still far more successful than original drummer Hugh Whitaker. He ended up attacking the other half of an unsuccessful business partnership with an axe, and spent six years in prison as a result.[[/note]]
* Music/KingCharles didn't achieve international notoriety until his band Adventure Playground broke up.
* Sonny Moore used to be the lead singer of the metalcore band From First to Last. He appeared on their first two albums and left after having surgery on his vocal chords. Today, he's world famous as dubstep's biggest star, Music/{{Skrillex}}.
* Before becoming a film soundtrack composer, Graeme Revell was the frontman of the {{industrial}} band SPK.
* The Flower Pot Men, not to be confused with the Britpop group of the same name, was a short-lived 80s {{industrial}} duo consisting of Adam Peters and Ben Watkins, the latter of which later started Juno Reactor.
* In 1996 and 1997, there was a country music duo called Thrasher Shiver, composed of Neil Thrasher and Kelly Shiver, who recorded one unsuccessful album. After they got dropped, Thrasher became famous as a songwriter, with several cuts by Music/KennyChesney, Music/RascalFlatts, and Music/DiamondRio.
* Soft rock duo England Dan & John Ford Coley recorded from 1972 to 1980, achieving their biggest success with "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight". After they split up, England Dan (now going by his real name, Dan Seals) had a couple minor pop hits, but struck it big as a CountryMusic singer-songwriter in the 1980s, with eleven #1 hits and five other Top 10 hits on the country charts between 1983 and 1990. Although his hits stopped, he continued to record until his 2009 death. Coley had one other short-lived group and a few acting roles.
* John Rich zig-zags this trope like crazy. After he was fired from country band Music/{{Lonestar}} in 1998, they went on to bigger and better things (most notably their massive crossover hit "Amazed" a year later). Rich attempted a solo career on the same label, but his album was never released. However, he got a couple songwriting gigs with his friend "Big" Kenny Alphin, with whom he signed to Warner Bros. in 2004 as Music/BigAndRich. Although Big & Rich only had modest success, Rich also gained prolificacy as a songwriter and producer apart from his work in Big & Rich.
* When alt-rockers Eve's Plum broke up in 1998, lead singer Coleen Fitzpatrick re-invented herself as pop singer Vitamin C and had a handful of hit singles between 1999 and 2000.
* After country duo Foster & Lloyd broke up in 1990 over CreativeDifferences, Radney Foster had a moderately successful solo debut album in 1992 with the Top 10 hits "Just Call Me Lonesome" and "Nobody Wins". He had no more hits after it, but has maintained a small following ever since, mainly in alternative country. He has also written several songs for others, including Music/SaraEvans' #1 hit "A Real Fine Place to Start". Bill Lloyd, meanwhile, did a little bit of production and his solo album ''Feeling the Elephant'' became a modest cult hit among power pop fans.
* After the Music/{{Eagles}} disbanded in 1980, drummer Don Henley had a rather fruitful solo career. So did Glenn Frey to a lesser extent.
** Music/JoeWalsh [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zags]] this trope, breaking out of rock trio The James Gang as a solo artist, joining Music/{{Eagles}} in 1975, then becoming successful as a solo artist again in 1980. His biggest solo hit, "Life's Been Good", came out in 1979, while Walsh was still an Eagle.
* In the late 2000s, there was a country group called [=KingBilly=], which got some exposure on Creator/{{CMT}} and GAC but never really broke through. Their mandolinist, Charlie Worsham, had a successful solo debut album in 2013 with the Top 20 hit "Could It Be".

* Girl group KRUSH had a hit song on the ''Film/MoMoney'' soundtrack before disbanding. Christy Williams and Angie Smith faded into obscurity, while Ashley Jackson starting using her given name [[MyNaymeIs Karan]], dropped her last name, and booked a role as the Yellow Ranger on ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''.
* After Music/HootieAndTheBlowfish effectively stopped recording, lead singer Music/DariusRucker went on to become a successful CountryMusic artist.
* Music/JesseMccartney was originally the youngest of a five-member BoyBand called Dream Street who went nowhere. After his singing career faded away, he dipped [[Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks into]] [[WesternAnimation/YoungJustice voice]] [[Franchise/KingdomHearts acting]].
* Blake Babies was an AlternativeRock trio from the late 80s and early 90s. They were still rather obscure when they broke up in 1993. Two of the members formed another band which didn't last long. The third member was Music/JulianaHatfield.
* After leaving the Music/VelvetUnderground, Music/LouReed had a solo career that easily eclipsed his former band's in terms of commercial success, if not in historical importance. On a similar note, Music/JohnCale, after being fired from the group in 1968, went to carve his own niche as a solo artist, session musician and producer.
* In the 1980s, there was a country music band from Muscle Shoals, Alabama called The Shooters. After they broke up in 1990, lead vocalist Walt Aldridge went on to become a songwriter and producer, while bassist Gary Baker became a collaborator of country-pop songwriter Frank J. Myers (who formerly played guitar for Eddy Raven, but left that role to pursue songwriting full-time), scoring big hits with John Michael Montgomery's "I Swear" (later CoveredUp by R&B group All-4-One) and Lonestar's "I'm Already There", among others. Baker and Myers also did one album as a short-lived duo.
* Another obscure mid-80s country band, The Wrays, charted four singles but never put out a full album. After they broke up, group member Bubba Wray (real name: Floyd Elliot Wray) decided to take on a solo career as Music/CollinRaye. Between 1991 and 2000, he had 21 top ten hits for Epic Records, of which four went to #1.
* There was a short-lived CountryMusic duo in the 50s called the Davis Sisters, composed of Betty Jack and Skeeter Davis. They were actually using stage names, and [[NonIndicativeName not actually sisters]]. After Betty Jack died in a car crash around the release of [[OneHitWonder their only hit]], "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know", Skeeter briefly toured with Georgia Davis, who ''was'' Betty Jack's sister. When that didn't work out, Skeeter went on to have a long string of albums and singles from 1957 to 1980, and continued to tour until her 2004 death.
* After the rock group Hey Monday went on hiatus in 2011, lead singer Cassadee Pope competed on ''Series/TheVoice'' and won the 2012 season. She had a Top 10 hit on the country music charts in late 2013-early 2014 with "Wasting All These Tears".
* Dry Cell was a short-lived post-grunge band whose song "Body Crumbles" appeared in the soundtracks to ''VideoGame/MaddenNFL 2003'' and ''Film/QueenOfTheDamned''. Lead singer Jeff Gutt emerged from obscurity a decade later, when he placed second on ''Series/TheXFactorUS''. He's currently the third lead singer of Music/StoneTemplePilots.
* Music/{{Bauhaus}}, ''the'' GothRock band but with no major hits to its name, splintered into Music/PeterMurphy and Music/LoveAndRockets, each with their own chart-topping singles.
* Music/NickCave left Music/TheBirthdayParty and is much better known and more commercially successful than his first band, with The Bad Seeds or otherwise.
* Music/OzzyOsbourne after being fired from Music/BlackSabbath in 1979. While Sabbath struggled to stay commercially relevant in the 1980s, especially after a brief stint with Music/RonnieJamesDio at the mike, Ozzy managed to score himself a successful solo career.
* After an obscure 1990s country band called Pearl River broke up, some of their members became the backing band for Bryan White, a young singer who had previously sold T-shirts for the band. White frequently collaborated with ex-Pearl River guitarist Derek George, and both of them made guest appearances on Music/SteveWariner's 1996 album ''No More Mr. Nice Guy''. When White stopped having hits, George worked as a songwriter, briefly joined another band called Williams Riley, then became a producer for Randy Houser and Joe Nichols in TheNewTens.
* Music/SteveWariner himself is an example, having broken free from Dottie West's and Chet Atkins' road bands to become a solo artist.
* The obscure [[{{Industrial}} EBM]] band Bigod 20 only lasted six years, releasing two albums, but Andreas "Talla 2XLC" Tomalla went on to be one of the world's top {{trance}} producers.
* An obscure 1980s country music band called Bandana produced two examples: lead singer Lonnie Wilson became a session drummer and songwriter, while guitarist Tim Menzies had some songwriting successes. Drummer Ray Johnston's son, Jaren, became a popular songwriter and the lead singer of The Cadillac Three in TheNewTens.
* There was a 1970s South African band named Rabbitt which achieved some minor local success. The guitarist, Music/TrevorRabin, went on to become a member of Music/{{Yes}} at their commercial height and writing the majority of their best-selling album ''90125''. The other members of Rabbitt are mostly forgotten except as a footnote in Rabin's career.
* Upon the breakup of the trance group Ian van Dahl, singer Annemie Coenen continued working with Peter Luts under the name [=AnnaGrace=].
* Buffalo, NY had a few local high school-aged thrash metal acts that probably weren't ever going to go anywhere. Said acts (Beyond Death, Leviathan, and Tirant Sin) all eventually broke up, though some of their former members went on to form a promising new band that wound up making it far bigger than they had ever dreamed of. That band's name? Music/CannibalCorpse. Additionally, Darrin Pfeiffer from Beyond Death went on to strike it similarly big with the pop-punk act Goldfinger.
* Music/VanMorrison's career took off after he left his original band Them. The band had a respectable number of hits with Morrison as lead singer and songwriter; after he left they struggled for a few years and split up.
* In the fictional history of Music/GarthBrooks' alter ego Chris Gaines, Chris started off in a band called Crush that scored its only hit "My Love Tells Me So". When one of its band members died in an airplane crash, Chris went solo with his debut album ''Straight Jacket'' and became a bigger success up until the release of his 1999 ''[[Music/InTheLifeOfChrisGaines Greatest Hits]]'' album which would precede ''The Lamb''.
* Three of Music/{{Genesis|Band}}' members ended up establishing prominent solo careers as time went on:
** The British rock band Flaming Youth only released one album before they broke up, and most of the members remain relatively obscure... except for the group's drummer, Music/PhilCollins, who soon afterwards became the drummer for Genesis, and eventually started a very prolific solo career.
** Guitarist Steve Hackett joined the band in a similar way as Collins, when the previous band he was in, Quiet World, broke up. As for the other members of Quiet World, John Hackett (Steve's brother) is mostly noted for playing on Steve's solo records and in his backing band, the Heather brothers (John, Lea, and Neil) have moved on to writing musicals, Phil Henderson has become a composer, and everyone else has fallen into obscurity.
** Though not the most commercially successful member of Genesis in terms of his solo career (nor the most prolific, though his discography is still littered with plenty of side projects), original frontman Music/PeterGabriel became the most ''critically'' successful member in the years following his departure, with no shortage of accolades for his work.
* Bluesology is a largely forgotten blues band from the 60s, and almost all of its members are largely forgotten. Organist Reggie Dwight, however, is well known largely because we know him now as Music/EltonJohn.
** Their lead singer was Long John Baldry, who had a successful solo career in England, as well as doing voice acting (most notably as the voice of Dr. Robotnik on ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'').
* Music/KeithUrban's first American recordings were as lead singer/guitarist of a three-piece band called The Ranch. They recorded one album which remained obscure until Urban's solo career was established. The Ranch's bassist, Jerry Flowers, would remain a member of Urban's road band and occasional songwriting collaborator.
* Sacred Mother Tongue was a British melodic metalcore act that was critically well-liked but never went anywhere and eventually broke up because of that. While Andy James had released several solo albums during their active run, it wasn't until after they broke up that he really started to become a known figure in the guitar world.
* Tompall and the Glaser Brothers (Tompall, Jim, and Chuck Glaser) went both ways with this. Originally backing vocalists for Music/MartyRobbins, they released singles between 1966 and 1973, with Jim concurrently charting solo singles for most of that timespan. After they broke up, all three were solo artists in varying capacity between 1974-80, and Tompall had a hit independently of the group with "Put Another Log on the Fire (Male Chauvinist National Anthem)". The brothers reunited from 1980-82, scoring their biggest hit with "Lovin' Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)" before breaking up again. After the breakup, Jim went solo a second time from 1982-86, getting a #1 hit in 1984 with "You're Gettin' to Me Again".
* In the mid-2000s there was a little-known southern hip hop duo called Playaz Circle, which became a OneHitWonder in 2007 with "Duffle Bag Boy" solely due to it featuring Music/LilWayne. After the failure of their second album in 2009, they called it quits. One half of the duo went solo, and had much more success. That member? Tity Boi, better known today as 2 Chainz.
* Blue Angel were a New York {{Rockabilly}}/retro R & B group who released one major label album; They had limited commercial success and were subsequently dropped from the label, leading to their breakup. Not long after, their singer, Music/CyndiLauper, was discovered singing in a bar and started a very successful solo career. She would later re-record some songs that were originally Blue Angel material, including ones the band themselves never got to officially release. And in 1987, the band reformed without Lauper under the name Boppin' The Blues (before breaking up again) - during that period, she once put in a surprise guest appearance at one of their shows, singing two cover songs with the band.
* The short-lived all-female country music band Wild Rose had one with fiddler Wanda Vick, who became a prominent session musician after the band broke up.
* Short-lived Russian country band Bering Strait had multi-instrumentalist Ilya Toshinsky, who quit before their second and final album and went on to become a prolific session musician, songwriter, and producer.
* In 1981, following two very successful albums, half the original line-up of Music/TheSpecials broke away to form Fun Boy Three. While neither camp was quite as popular as the original band had been, The Fun Boy Three were a lot more successful without the rest of The Specials than the remainder of The Specials were without the Fun Boy Three.
* The '60s rock band The Hassles recorded two low-key albums before disbanding. The bassist co-founded Ram Jam ([[OneHItWonder best known for]] "Black Betty"). The drummer and keyboardist experimented in metal before going their separate ways, and that keyboardist had a pretty good solo career. His name? Music/BillyJoel.
* After Music/TheJonasBrothers broke up in 2013 due to being dropped by the Creator/DisneyChannel and increasing levels of cultural irrelevance thanks to Music/OneDirection and Music/JustinBieber, two of its members formed careers of their own to commercial (though not quite to the level of the band at their prime) and critical (much moreso than the band) success:
** Music/NickJonas developed a mature ContemporaryRAndB sound far removed from his original band and scored a pair of hits with "Jealous" and "Chains" off his debut SelfTitledAlbum. Additionally, he garnered [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct significant acclaim]] as an actor with lead roles in ''Kingdom'', ''Film/JumanjiWelcomeToTheJungle'' and ''Series/ScreamQueens2015''.
** Music/JoeJonas founded DNCE, a band with an upbeat funky disco sound, and their debut single "Cake By the Ocean" was a huge hit. Unfortunately, [[OneHitWonder they've yet to score a notable follow-up]].
** As for Kevin, he had a (very) brief stint on the reality TV circuit with ''Series/CelebrityApprentice'' and ''Married to Jonas'' but never returned to the music biz and faded into complete obscurity.
* White Eskimo was a short lived garage band that would have been almost completely unknown had it not been for the fact that their lead singer's name was Harry Styles. Styles auditioned for Series/TheXFactor in 2010 and was put into an English-Irish boy band called Music/OneDirection. They would go on to be far and away the most globally successful boy band to ever come out of either country, and one of the biggest ever, ''period'', selling over 65 million records worldwide, including ''[[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff unprecedented]]'' [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff domination in the United States]], ([[Music/FiveSecondsOfSummer almost]]) wiping out [[Music/TheWanted rest of]] [[Series/BigTimeRush the scene]] and came incredibly close to ''ending'' Music/JustinBieber's career.
* Music/{{Issues}} was formed by Tyler Carter and Michael Bohn after they were fired from Woe, Is Me. What happens afterwards? WIM releases one critically panned album that flopped before disbanding permanently, while Issues quickly becomes one of the most popular {{Metalcore}} bands in the United States, with a Top 10 debut album (''extremely'' impressive for a metal band) and a devoted following, bigger than what WIM ever had.
* Ivan Moody was the former lead singer of Motograter, a NuMetal band that had a minor rock hit in 2003. The band reunited without him in the New 10s, with a Top 20 heatseeker album. Moody joined Music/FiveFingerDeathPunch, who in the '10s became one of the most popular metal bands in the world.
* In the early '90s, Sexart was a completely unknown AlternativeMetal band that ended almost as quickly as it started. They were never heard of again, or at least they never would've been heard of had frontman Jonathan Davis not started a new band. That band? Music/{{Korn}}. Also known as the original NuMetal band, and with over 40 million records sold, any mention of Sexart is solely in relation to Korn.
* Inverted with Music/AskingAlexandria. [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff Despite being British]], they're one of the most popular metalcore bands in the United States. Danny Worsnop, was definitely the band's public face, but combined with his [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll drug issues]] and him growing disaffected with metalcore, he eventually left them to form the HardRock band We Are Harlot. Although they had a top 10 rock radio hit with "Dancing on Nails", which post-Worsnop Asking Alexandria have yet to achieve, We Are Harlot remains obscure to the public, known mostly for being Danny's new band, whereas Asking Alexandria is still going on strong with new vocalist Denis Stoff, and has shown no signs of slowing down since. Worsnop returned to the band about a year later.
* Music/DavidByrne has had a successful solo career and became a public intellectual after the breakup of Music/TalkingHeads, while the other members have kept a lower profile.
* In TheEighties, the now-defunct Opryland USA theme park had a house band called the Tennessee River Boys. One of their founding members was Music/TyHerndon, left early in the group's history to compete on ''Series/StarSearch'', and had a handful of country hits between 1995-99. Meanwhile, the band's membership changed several times until they became Music/DiamondRio, one of the biggest country bands of TheNineties.
* When Loggins and Messina split in 1976, its two namesakes went on polar opposite career paths. Jim Messina was generally forgotten about, while Music/KennyLoggins went on to be one of the big names of the 80s. Contributing classic tunes to films like ''Film/{{Footloose}}'', ''Film/TopGun'' and ''Film/{{Caddyshack}}''.
* An obscure Christian rock band called White Heart produced several famous CountryMusic names: guitarist Gordon Kennedy (son of country record producer Jerry Kennedy) became a songwriter/producer, drummer Chris [=McHugh=] became a session musician, and bassist Tommy Sims became a songwriter (most notably Music/EricClapton's "Change the World", on which Kennedy was also a writer). Brothers Dann and David Huff left the group early on and later founded the rock band Giant; after they broke up, the Huff brothers and Giant's bassist Mike Brignardello all became session musicians. However, by the end of TheNineties, Dann Huff became primarily known as a RecordProducer for the likes of Music/FaithHill, Music/{{Lonestar}}, Music/KeithUrban, and Music/RascalFlatts among others.
* Music/ChrisStapleton had been a popular songwriter for many years, but didn't have much success as a singer until he left two other bands: The Steeldrivers and The Jompson Brothers.
* Music/{{Fun}} guitarist Jack Antanoff has become the highest profile member of the group during its "indefinite hiatus": Not only has his side-project band Bleachers become one of the biggest alt-rock radio success stories of the late-2010s, but he's also become an in-demand songwriter and producer who has worked on huge hits for Music/TaylorSwift and Music/{{Lorde}}. Compare this to Fun's frontman Nate Ruess, whose solo career was highly anticipated, but his album flopped and his only real success was a #1 duet with Music/{{Pink}}.
* Before Kanna Hashimoto became known as Kagura from ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' and Ritsu from ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'', she was a member of the indie JapanesePopMusic idol group Rev. from DVL. Only after fan-taken photos of her went viral in 2013 did her popularity boost exponentially and gave her lead acting roles. Her solo career was gaining more momentum compared to the rest of Rev. from DVL, and after they disbanded, Hashimoto is still wildly successful while most of the public doesn't even seem to remember any of the other members.
* AlternativeDance[=/=]TripHop duo Moloko, of "Sing It Back" and "The Time is Now" fame, was the launch point for Roisin Murphy's solo career, while the other half, producer Mark Brydon, has since retreated into obscurity.
* Following the split of short-lived {{synthpop}} duo Music/{{Yazoo}} in 1983, singer Alison Moyet went solo and mostly faded from public perception, while producer Vince Clarke founded the long-running Music/{{Erasure}} with Andy Bell.
* Inverse example: after obscure CountryMusic singer Don King retired in the early 1980s, his backing band went on to win ''Series/StarSearch'' and became known as Sawyer Brown, who had several hits between 1984 and 1999.
* Music/EricCarmen, the lead singer of 70s power poppers The Raspberries, pursued a solo career that lasted until the 1980s.
* Smash!![[labelnote: *]] [[ExcitedShowTitle exclamation marks part of the name]][[/labelnote]] was a Russian pop duo formed in 2000 by Vlad Topalov and Music/SergeyLazarev. Lazarev left the project in 2004 due to his contract with Universal, the duo's label, expiring, and in 2006 Smash!! officially ceased to exist[[labelnote: *]] aside from a quick reunion in 2011 when they performed two songs together [[/labelnote]]. Lazarev eventually continued his music career solo, becoming one of the most popular Russian pop singers and coming in third on Eurovision Song Contest 2016. The only notable thing Vlad Topalov did after Smash!! was confessing to having been addicted to drugs in 2008.
* Interestingly, this happened twice with Canadian alt rock group Len. The band scored a U.S. Top 10 hit with "Steal My Sunshine" 1999, and some minor success overseas a year later with the single "Kryptik Souls Crew" before their fame waned. Lead guitarist Brendan Canning decided to split off, and subsequently formed the supergroup Music/BrokenSocialScene with Kevin Drew, which subsequently rode to a long-running string of critical smash hits in Canada (along with a Top 50 U.S. record with ''Forgiveness Rock Record'' in 2010). Meanwhile, fellow Len bandmate Moka Only, who was briefly part of the group (and can be seen in the "Kryptik Souls" music video) split off to record music with rap[=/=]rock hybrid Swollen Members, who charted in the Canada and U.S. multiple times over several albums. The other two lead members in Len, brother[=/=]sister duo Marc and Sharon Costanzo, released several more albums to diminishing success before calling it quits in 2005. Len subsequently attempted a comeback in 2012 with the album ''It's Easy If You Try'', but it once again failed to hit the charts.
* UK dance-pop group D Mob hit the scene in 1988 with the singles "We Call It Acieed" and "It's Time To Get Funky", which both peaked at the top of the U.S. Dance charts. Soon after, they would bring a special guest vocalist onboard named Cathy Dennis, who would lead the group to a second pair of top-selling U.S. hits with "C'mon and Get My Love" and "That's The Way The World Works" one year later. Those would be D Mob's last appearances on the top charts, as subsequent singles (sans Dennis) failed to replicate the success and slid far down the charts. Dennis, meanwhile, would embark on a solo career that not only saw her net four Top 10 U.S. singles over the next three years, but a near-unparalleled songwriting career that saw her write some of pop's biggest hits, including Music/KylieMinogue's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head", Music/BritneySpears' "Toxic" and Music/KatyPerry's "I Kissed a Girl".
* Those Who Lie Beneath was a low-level deathcore act from the Pacific Northwest who recorded one full-length and toured for a year who were critically well-liked and went over well with crowds, but never really attracted a dedicated fanbase or broke out of the low-level support milieu. Nowadays, they are known for three people: Jamie Hanks, who left the band to join I Declare War and became far more famous through them than he ever was in Those Who Lie Beneath, and Kyle Rasmussen and Adam Roethlisberger, who took over leadership of the band after Hanks left and gradually transformed it into the critically-lauded death metal act Vitriol, who released one of the most heavily hyped debuts of 2019.
* Music/TheAfterimage was a Toronto-based metalcore/djent act that had some minor success in the 2010s, but never got any good opportunities or had any chance to rise above a low-level support. Its members would go on to start a deathcore side project in 2018 during the band's final days just to write some heavy songs about ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', with no expectation or intention of meaningful success or longevity; as per Kyle Anderson, they were expecting to put out a few songs on Bandcamp, promote them a bit, and then call it a day. Instead, Music/BrandOfSacrifice blew up over Bandcamp, got signed to Unique Leader Records after having been a band for less than a year, and quickly found themselves getting on major tours. In general, they have managed to achieve the success that continually eluded The Afterimage.
* Clover was a country rock band that lasted from 1967 to 1978. They never had much success other than backing Music/ElvisCostello on his debut album ''Music/MyAimIsTrue''. But after they broke up, backing vocalist and harmonica player Huey Louis [[note]] who wasn't involved in recording ''My Aim Is True'' [[/note]] changed the spelling of his last name to the more traditional "Lewis" and teamed up with keyboard player Sean Hopper to form (you guessed it) Music/HueyLewisAndTheNews.
* Music/AfterForever was one of the earliest SymphonicMetal bands, releasing five albums from 2000 to 2007 (they were officially founded in 1996, and broke up in 2009), but never enjoyed much more than niche success. Frontwoman Music/FloorJansen went on to become one of the best-known vocalists in European metal and currently sings lead for After Forever's arena-filling contemporary Music/{{Nightwish|Band}} (easily the most successful SymphonicMetal band ever), while guitarist Mark Jansen (no relation) cofounded the number two SymphonicMetal band Music/{{Epica}} after leaving After Forever in 2003.
* Oh-OK was a band that was part of the Athens, Georgia alternative rock scene in the early Eighties. (In fact, vocalist Lynda Stipe was the sister of Michael Stipe from Music/{{REM}}) They disbanded in 1984. Within ten years, when alternative rock had gained mainstream popularity, guitarist Music/MatthewSweet had started a solo career while other singer Linda Hopper and drummer David [=McNair=] formed the band Magnapop. Both Sweet and Magnapop had more success than their former band.
* Delusions of Grandeur was a deathcore act from the Pittsburgh area who gradually became a minor name, but never went particularly far. Nowadays, they are known for their guitarist, Gabe Mangold, who went on to join Music/EnterpriseEarth after being a live fill-in (though he had apparently been asked to join at least once prior to that, but declined because he was still trying to make Delusions of Grandeur go somewhere at the time) and became a much bigger name than his old band ever was as a whole.
* Music/DeepPurple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore left in 1975 to found Music/{{Rainbow}}, and after Purple disbanded in -76, vocalist David Coverdale started Music/{{Whitesnake}}. Each of the spinoff bands continued to do well on their own, and in the late 80s, when a reformed Purple was up against Whitesnake in the charts, the spinoff outsold the mother band by a wide margin.
* Oscar Holter was one half of the Swedish EBM duo Necro Facility from 2003 to 2011. Since their split, he has found success as a pop record producer alongside fellow Swede Max Martin. Henrik Bäckström, on the other hand, has mostly dropped off the public radar, save for a few remixes.
* Electronic Suicide, a DarkWave project of Germans Markus Spillner and Jan Nordus, [[OneBookAuthor only managed to produce a 3-song EP]] in 2002 before breaking up. Spillner, following a stint of progressive/psychedelic {{trance}} under the names G-Tronic and Drumatix, now produces UsefulNotes/{{Synthwave}} as Heatwave, while Nordus has more or less disappeared from the music scene.
* Suzy of Music/MissA is so well-known for this in the KoreanPopMusic industry that if TV Tropes was Korean, we might have created this page as "The Suzy" instead of TheJannetty. Although Miss A were definitely [[IncrediblyLamePun "A-listers"]] together -- even being the first ever group to have their debut song reach #1 on the Gaon Digital Chart -- Suzy's ventures into acting led to her fame quickly overshadowing the other members. Today, she's the only Miss A veteran who's still a top star in South Korea.
** It’s a similar case for fellow Korean girl group 4Minute - despite having many hit singles throughout their time together, {{Music/HyunA}} was also putting out a flourishing string of solo releases, raising her status above the other members. After appearing in {{Music/Psy}}’s “Gangnam Style” video, Hyuna was further propelled into international recognition, and she is still the only one of the former 4Minute girls to have major individual success.
* The Ghost Town DJ's was an impromptu group created by several of So So Def Recordings' in-house artists, who had collectively created "My Boo" for a compilation album and needed an entity to credit it to. That group consisted of Virgo, Greg Street, Rodney Terry, DJ Demp... and Music/LilJon.
* The Del Fuegos was a Boston roots rock band that experienced moderate success in the 80s, with notable fans including Music/TomPetty and Music/BruceSpringsteen, and ''Magazine/RollingStone'' named them "Best New Band" in 1984. Today, they are mostly remembered for the fact that the band's lineup included Dan Zanes, who went on to become a pioneer of the kindie rock genre of children's music a few years after the band dissolved.
* Outside of Japan, while Music/YellowMagicOrchestra only has a cult following at most, member Music/RyuichiSakamoto became very well known after the group's first dissolution thanks to his soundtrack work and collaborations with western artists.

* Electronic Suicide, a DarkWave project of Germans Markus Spillner and Jan Nordus, [[OneBookAuthor only managed to produce a 3-song demo/promo EP]] in 2002 before breaking up. Spillner, following a stint of progressive/psychedelic {{trance}} under the names G-Tronic and Drumatix, now produces UsefulNotes/{{Synthwave}} as Heatwave, while Nordus has more or less disappeared from the music scene.
* As a group, Music/MissA instantly had major success with their debut single “Bad Girl, Good Girl”, and went on to have several more hits over the next five years, but shortly into their career, youngest member Suzy also ventured into acting. This led to her fame quickly overshadowing the other three members by a substantial amount. Today, Suzy is still a top star in South Korea, whereas Min, Fei, and Jia have unfortunately had no notable success outside of Miss A.
** It’s a similar case for fellow Korean girl group [[Music/FourMinute 4Minute]]- despite having many hit singles throughout their time together, {{Music/HyunA}} began releasing solo music shortly after the group’s debut, raising her status above the other four. After appearing in {{Music/Psy}}’s “Gangnam Style” video, Hyuna was further propelled into international recognition, and today she is still the only one of the former 4Minute girls to have succeeded individually.

* Outside of Japan, while Music/YellowMagicOrchestra only has a cult following at most, member Music/RyuichiSakamoto became very well known in the years after the group's first dissolution thanks to his soundtrack work and collaborations with western artists.

* Subverted with Music/JDilla and his former group Slum Village. J Dilla left the group in good terms in 2001 in order to pursue a solo career. Said solo career was quite successful until Dilla's death in 2006. However, while Slum Village didn't end up being as successful as J Dilla, they had two notable commercial successes with ''Tainted (featuring Dwele)'' and ''Selfish (featuring Music/KanyeWest and Music/JohnLegend)''.

* Averted by Music/CrosbyStillsAndNash after Music/NeilYoung left. All four of them did this with their previous groups to varying extents (Stills and Young with Music/BuffaloSpringfield, Crosby with Music/TheByrds, Nash with Music/TheHollies). Played straight as a quartet, though. Young had a highly influential solo career, whereas Stills' solo career is known mostly for one song ("Love the One You're With"), while Crosby and Nash's solo work is all but forgotten by most people aside from hardcore fans.

* Subverted by both parties in the case of Dave Mustaine. He was kicked out of his old band, founded Music/{{Megadeth}}, and Megadeth became one of the most successful bands of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal. His old band? Music/{{Metallica}}, a.k.a. ''the'' most successful band of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal.

* Averted by Music/TheBeatles: all four had solo hits after the breakup. None came close to the overall popularity of the band as a whole, though. While Music/PaulMcCartney was the most successful solo Beatle, Music/JohnLennon's solo career is generally considered to be the most influential.
** Music/{{Wings}} ''did'' become popular enough in its own right for a while that many fans from TheSeventies were reportedly unaware that Music/PaulMcCartney was in a band before Wings.
** Denny Laine had begun his career in the pre-"Nights In White Satin" lineup of Music/TheMoodyBlues prior to becoming a founding member of Wings, and remained in the group in all of their lineups up to their demise in 1981.

* Possibly averted with the original members of the Rob Zombie band. Riggs (guitarist) and Tempesta (drummer) left to form Scum of the Earth in 2003, which did not meet with much commercial success. Blasko (bassist), however, became the bassist for Ozzy Osbourne after leaving Rob Zombie in 2005. And Tempesta would later leave Scum of the Earth and become the drummer for Music/TheCult. As for Riggs, he's still with Scum of the Earth as of 2016, and he ''is'' the FaceOfTheBand there, but he still got the short end of the stick compared to Blasko, Tempesta and Rob himself.

* Subverted with David Gilmour, who, after Music/RogerWaters declared Music/PinkFloyd finished in 1985, tried to go solo for a short while, only to find himself nowhere near as popular as he had been when he was with the band. This lead to him reuniting with Nick Mason and recreating Music/PinkFloyd in 1987 without Waters (who, following the dissolution of Pink Floyd, also found his popularity dropping severely).

* Music/TheYardbirds, which helped launch the careers of Music/EricClapton, Music/JeffBeck and Jimmy Page, the latter of which formed Music/LedZeppelin from the ashes from the group. Lead singer Keith Relf is mostly famous for his electrocution death in 1976 and for forming the progressive rock band ''Music/{{Renaissance}}''.

* Music/TheYardbirds, which helped launch the careers of Music/EricClapton, Music/JeffBeck and Jimmy Page, the latter of which formed Music/LedZeppelin from the ashes from the group. Lead singer Keith Relf is mostly famous for his electrocution death in 1976 and for forming the progressive rock band ''Music/Renaissance''.

* Music/TheYardbirds, which helped launch the careers of Music/EricClapton, Music/JeffBeck and Jimmy Page, the latter of which formed Music/LedZeppelin from the ashes from the group. Lead singer Keith Relf is mostly famous for his electrocution death in 1976.

* Happened a lot with former members of Music/KingCrimson. Ian [=McDonald=] (Music/{{Foreigner}}), Boz Burrell (Music/BadCompany), John Wetton (Music/{{Asia}}), and Greg Lake (Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer) are probably the most famous.

* Subverted with David Gilmour, who, after Music/RogerWaters declared Music/PinkFloyd finished in 1985, tried to go solo for a short while, only to find himself nowhere near as popular as he had been when he was with the band. This lead to him reuniting with Nick Mason and recreating Music/PinkFloyd in 1987 without Waters (who, following the dissolution of Pink Floyd, also found his popularity dropping severally).

* Subverted with David Gilmour, who after Music/RogerWaters declared Music/PinkFloyd finished in 1985 tried to go solo for a short while, only to find himself nowhere near as popular as he had been when he was with the band. This lead to him reuniting with Nick Mason and recreating Music/PinkFloyd in 1987 without Waters.
** Waters himself could also have been said to have subverted this trope, who Following the dissolution of Music/PinkFloyd also found his popularity dropping severally.

* Music/AfterForever was one of the earliest SymphonicMetal bands, releasing five albums from 2000 to 2007 (they were officially founded in 1996, and broke up in 2009), but never enjoyed much more than niche success. Frontwoman Music/FloorJansen went on to become one of the best-known vocalists in European metal and currently sings lead for After Forever's arena-filling contemporary Music/{{Nightwish}} (easily the most successful SymphonicMetal band ever), while guitarist Mark Jansen (no relation) cofounded the number two SymphonicMetal band Music/{{Epica}} after leaving After Forever in 2003.

* Three of Music/{{Genesis}}' members ended up establishing prominent solo careers as time went on:

* Music/JustinTimberlake and Music/{{NSYNC}}. After he split from the group, Timberlake went on a decade-plus long rise that hasn't shown any signs of slowing down, with him parlaying his fame into notable guest spots on various shows, investments in tech startups, movies and platinum-selling albums. While his bandmates have obviously not met the same amount of success, they've done fairly well for themselves in other areas, just not in music.
** Lance Bass is arguably the second most famous member, as he got involved with the Russian space program, then came out and became very involved within the community, and has a modest second career for himself as a media personality.
** JC Chasez had a modest solo career and some minor success with ''America's Best Dance Crew'' before focusing mainly on production work and as a features singer.
** Joey Fatone went on to have a fairly successful career in television presenting and theater while Chris Kirkpatrick pretty much retired from public life, returning to normal life with the occasional behind the scenes work or hosting gig.

* When Sonny and Cher split, Music/{{Cher}} went on to have a great career in music and film. Music/{{Sonny|Bono}} went into politics. He died in a skiing accident in 1998, after leading the charge that led to the [[CopyProtection Digital Millennium Copyright Act]].

* The British rock band Flaming Youth only released one album before they broke up, and most of the members remain relatively obscure...except for the group's drummer, Music/PhilCollins, who soon afterwards became the drummer for Music/{{Genesis}}, and eventually started a very prolific solo career.
** Music/{{Genesis}} guitarist Steve Hackett joined the band in a similar way, when the previous band he was in, Quiet World, broke up. As for the other members of Quiet World, John Hackett (Steve's brother) is mostly noted for playing on Steve's solo records and in his backing band, the Heather brothers (John, Lea, and Neil) have moved on to writing musicals, Phil Henderson has become a composer, and everyone else has fallen into obscurity.

* Music/DavidByrne has had a successful solo career and become a public intellectual after the breakup of Music/TalkingHeads, while the other members have kept a lower profile.

* Averted by Music/CrosbyStillsAndNash after Music/NeilYoung left. All four of them did this with their previous groups to varying extents (Stills and Young with Music/BuffaloSpringfield, Crosby with Music/TheByrds, Nash with Music/TheHollies). Played straight as a quartet, though. Young had a highly influential solo career, whereas Stills is known mostly for one song ("Love the One You're With"), while Crosby and Nash's solo work is all but forgotten.

* Averted by Music/TheBeatles: all four had solo hits after the breakup. None came close to the overall popularity of the band as a whole, though. While Music/PaulMcCartney was the most successful solo Beatle, Music/JohnLennon's solo career is the most influential.

* Clover was a country rock band that lasted from 1967 to 1978. They never had much success other than backing Music/ElvisCostello on his debut album ''My Aim Is True''. But after they broke up, backing vocalist and harmonica player Huey Louis [[note]] who wasn't involved in recording ''My Aim Is True'' [[/note]] changed the spelling of his last name to the more traditional "Lewis" and teamed up with keyboard player Sean Hopper to form (you guessed it) Music/HueyLewisAndTheNews.

* In TheEighties, the now-defunct Opryland USA theme park had a house band called the Tennessee River Boys. One of their founding members was Ty Herndon, left early in the group's history to compete on ''Series/StarSearch'', and had a handful of country hits between 1995-99. Meanwhile, the band's membership changed several times until they became Music/DiamondRio, one of the biggest country bands of TheNineties.

* Music/AfterForever was one of the earliest SymphonicMetal bands, releasing five albums from 2000 to 2007 (they were officially founded in 1996, and broke up in 2009), but never enjoyed much more than niche success. Frontwoman Floor Jansen went on to become one of the best-known vocalists in European metal and currently sings lead for After Forever's arena-filling contemporary Music/{{Nightwish}} (easily the most successful SymphonicMetal band ever), while guitarist Mark Jansen (no relation) cofounded the number two SymphonicMetal band Music/{{Epica}} after leaving After Forever in 2003.

* Oscar Holter was one half of the Swedish EBM duo Necro Facility from 2003 to 2011. Since their split, he has found success as a pop record producer alongside fellow Swede Max Martin. Henrik Bäckström, on the other hand, has mostly dropped off the public radar, save for a few remixes.