THESE foolish artists believed they were the main draw of the group until they tried to go it alone. Here are six stars who would come to regret dumping their bandmates.
Gary Barlow
Take That songwriter Gary attempted a solo career after the band split, only to realise there was more to success than sitting at a piano taking yourself seriously. Meanwhile Robbie Williams absolutely kicked his arse with megahits like Angels and Kids. Gary has now learned to accept his mediocrity, performing with his two least-memorable ex-bandmates and making wine with a keyboard on the label to avoid any confusion with the family in Coronation Street.
Nicole Scherzinger
Nicole was the centre of attention in the Pussycat Dolls, who sold over 55 million copies with just two albums. Unfortunately her solo career was destined for the litter tray, as her first two albums failed to chart domestically. Nicole has since become a judge on TV talent shows in the US and UK, which function as an undemanding retirement job for former pop stars. Although should she tire of that she’d do wonders for sales in the Shrewsbury branch of Scope.
Richard Ashcroft
During the heyday of the mid-90s Northern music scene Richard produced a highly-acclaimed album with The Verve. Forgetting his success might be related to being with a group of musicians, and presumably unable to find another Stones song he could crib without it being too obvious, Richard embarked on a very unremarkable solo career, culminating in being the act that plays while middle-aged men go for a piss and a line before Oasis come on.
Aston Merrygold
After winning numerous awards and massive sales including a greatest hits album alongside an arena tour, R&B group JLS mysteriously split. Aston promptly released a smartphone ad single, Get Stupid, from the nominatively deterministic solo album Showstopper. Stints with Strictly and The Masked Singer eventually pushed Aston back onto the stage with fellow JLS bandmates in recent years for ‘Don’t Make Me Go Back To Saturday Evening TV’ tours.
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Mick and Keef’s partnership was one of the most successful in music history. Then they had solo careers in the 1980s. Keith fronted a band called The X-Pensive Winos, who didn’t make much of a mark, probably because it wasn’t that funny. Mick had a couple of hits, although the world really didn’t really need Let’s Work, a paean to good honest graft from a guy who spent the 60s taking LSD and shagging Marianne Faithfull. In 1989 they kissed and made up for the Stones’ induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, probably to avoid further humiliation.
Every f**king one of the Spice Girls
Selling over 100 millions records worldwide should have given the Spice Girls’ solo careers plenty of momentum. Instead the Cool Britannia girls’ solo ventures merely provoked varying degrees of uninterest. Finally in 2007 they announced an end to their declining individual popularity and reformed for a worldwide tour. It just goes to show that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, although if we’re brutally honest, the whole isn’t that amazing either.
