Replacing a Lead Singer

[Ryan]

I think a band having to replace their lead singer has to be one of the most daunting tasks, especially if that band is well established and had a certain level of success. It seems that more bands that are faced with having to do this end up merely getting a clone of their previous singer. Is this something you approve of? For example if you go and see the band with their new vocalist are you expecting the songs to sound exactly like the original or do you mind that this person might be trying to put their stamp on it so it reflects their character somewhat, all the while still remaining faithfull.

For example as much as I like a band like Journey and Arnel Pineda as a vocalist, let's be honest he got the gig because he's Steve Perry replica. Same can be said for Steve Augeri, although it turned out he didnt have the pipes. Ironically someone like Jeff Scott Soto might have proved to be the most interesting but was probably let go because he didn't fit the Perry mold.

Yes: When Jon Anderson couldn't tour, the band hired themselves a soundalike who was fronting a Yes tribute band.

I'm sure there are others but these are just two that I can think of right now. As for bands that didn't necessarily go the clone route...

AC/DC: From Bon Scott to Brian Johnson, two different vocalists in my opinion

Black Sabbath: Ozzy to Dio to Gillan to Hughes etc..... well you get the picture.

Van Halen: I thought the move from Roth to Hagar was an interesting one

Motley Crue: Giving Vince Neil the axe and replacing him with someone who could actually sing with John Corabi was one of their best moves ever. Unfortunately I think the knock on Corabi was that he couldn't sing the more commercial stuff from the bands back catalogue.

Rainbow: Dio to Bonnet to Joe Lynn Turner.

Deep Purple : The screams of Gillan to the bluesy David Coverdale and over the top and highly unnecessary caterwauling of Glen Hughes.

Iron Maiden : From Paul Dianno to Bruce Dickinson to Blaze Bayley and back to Bruce.

[TageRyche]

I think the Van Halen move was a great one and to be honest, I like the Hagar material just as much if not more than the Roth stuff. The less said about Gary Cherone with VH the better though.

The most interesting thing about the whole Van Halen thing was how there was initially talk of a woman taking over the vocalist spot.

[Gordon Williams]

Interesting discussion. To me, the singer is usually the "center piece", or "face" of the band, if you will. So, replacing the singer is more difficult than replacing, say, a lead guitarist, or a bass player.

But, like we discussed a while back...you cant blame the remaining members of the band if they want to keep the bands name, replace whoever they have to replace, and keep going on. The already "known" name of the band will help sell records, concert tickets, etc. A "super group" with a new name, like Chickenfoot, is a totally different thing. That is like a "side project" almost. They may keep it going, but you can bet that Hagar will do more things with his Waboritas, and Joe Satriani will make more instrumental discs, I'm sure.

But when a Journey, or a Van Halen, has to replace a lead vocalist, you cant blame the rest of the band for wanting to stay with their band name. It gets down to the economics of it...they need to make some money like we all do.

So, I think it is ok, like Ryan posted, if a band tries to find someone who can sing the old songs so well, it almost sounds like the original person the singer replaced. In my mind, the time for the new singer to "branch out", and put their own "stamp" on things, would be when the band does another record, of all new material, with the new singer.

I think the same thing can be said of a lead guitarist. He would want to "pay homage" to the original guy, when playing the old tunes, but really do his own thing when recording new music. But, finally, I do agree that replacing a singer is harder to do than replacing others. At the level of muscianship we are speaking of, most replacement players, with practice at least, can nail the original parts.

[Scott]

Lynyrd Skynyrd: The move from Ronnie to Jonnie was interesting in that Jonnie can sing the back catalog well enough, but the songwriting suffered a bit in my opinion. I still like the new stuff well enough, but its not the same.

Survivor: I hated it when Dave Bickler left, even if it was for medical reasons. I think Caught in the Game is one of the top 10 best 80's releases. And while I now like Jimi Jamison, I really thought they could have been even bigger with Bickler...

Chicago: Love 'em or not, when Cetera left they never recovered and the songwriting was horrific (IMO)

Styx: I may be in the minority, but I dont like the Gowan replacement of DeYoung. I think it fails on stage and CD miserably.

Prism: They replaced Ron Tabak with Henry Small and released a new sound and did it successfully. They knew they could'nt replace Ron and didnt try to sound the same.

Santana: Does it all the time and does it well.

And how will Boston sound without Brad Delps voice and influence? The new guy (forget who he is) will have to hit a home run, scratch that, a grand slam on their next release.

[TageRyche]

The problem with Survivor is that they can't get their act together.

Bickler was the original singer, then came Jamison.

Then Jamison left/was fired and Bickler was brought back in.

Then Bickler left/was fired and Jamison (after protracted lawsuits with the band for years) was brought back in.

Then he quit/was fired in a dispute with Frankie Sullivan over the most recent CD Reach (among other things).

Now they have Robin McAuley fronting the band.

Oh and Jim Peterik who is one of the busiest and most prolifically awesome songwriters in the business left the band a long time ago as well.

As a long time fan of the band, they have consistently disappointed me in the fact that they can't get out of their own way long enough to release new material in any timely manner.

[Dr.J.Jones]

I think the Deep Purple thing was slightly different though because, save for 'Smoke On The Water' & occasionally 'Highway Star', no other Gillan era material was played. So trying to find a singer (when in effect they got two) to replicate Gillan or to sing their back catalogue was not needed.

Also about the woman / Van Halen thing; I did hear Sass Jordan being offered the gig & she can sing. She also rock's harder than Cherone could ever hope to. I did hear too that the female singer (whose name escapes me) from one-hit wonders Scandal turned the job down as well.

I think most bands tend to go down the route of finding a singer who sounds like the 'other guy'. Judas Priest got a Halford clone, Journey have had half a dozen Perry clones, the guy now fronting Alice In Chains is a dead ringer for Layne Staley & so on.

[Jon]

With Yes they also replaced Jon Anderson with Trevor Horn for "Drama" in 1980. He kind of sounds like Anderson, but has his own style and the album is one of my favorite from Yes. The worst I can think of is Blaze Bayley in Iron Maiden...though not a bd singer at all, he just didn't fit into the whole Maiden thing.

[Dr.J.Jones]

I happen to think Blaze is a terrible singer having had the misfortune to hear him in his previous band Wolfesbane. He certainly could not do justice to the Di'Anno or Dickenson material.

[TageRyche]

Blaze might not be able to really hang with the previous Maiden releases but on the two albums he did, he did have a few really stellar tracks.

[rockertilldeath]

Drama is definitely one of Yes' best albums. I also really like Tormato. I know Steve Howe slagged their 90125 and after era but I really like that stuff also.

[Jon]

I like "Tormato" as well and really, really like "Talk", it's kind of an unknown, I don't remember hearing anything about it before it came out.

[Dave Morgan]

Foghat is a tough one. Nobody could really replace Lonesome Dave , but Charlie Huhn is a fine singer & front man and is doing a good job.
Ted Nugent replaced Derrick St.Holmes with Charlie Huhn and now does the vocals himself to diminished returns.

[Wayne LaFoy]

I believe Eddie Van Halen knew, what he wanted for his band, when he replaced Roth with Hagar. It was a new beginning, for VH with 5150, not being like their debut album at all. They were more commerical, during the Sammy era, than with Dave, but they still rocked out. The original Van Halen is what it's all about & the Sammy Hagar era was equally great, no doubt about it.