Step Aside, I'll Sing This One

December 16, 2009 4:06 AM

Examples of hit songs sung by someone other than the lead singer?

I've been kicking around a play script that involves someone taking over the lead vocals for a band, and I'm interested in examples of hit (Top 40 or just songs with radio play) that were sung by someone other than the lead singer. Examples I can think are songs like "Texarcana" by R.E.M. and "Drive" by The Cars.

I know a number of bands like Fleetwood Mac, They Might Be Giants, Tears for Fears, etc., have a number of singers who take the lead, and many bands changed lead singers, and I'm not interested in those. I'm specifically looking for songs where a band member who normally doesn't sing lead did so, and the song became a hit.

posted by xingcat to Media & Arts (57 answers total)

"What I Like About You" by The Romantics (sung by the drummer)

"Beth" by Kiss (sung by Peter Criss, the drummer)

"Happy" by The Rolling Stones (Keith Richards on lead vocal).
posted by Ike_Arumba at 4:14 AM on December 16, 2009

Yellow Submarine is sung by Ringo
posted by criticalbill at 4:18 AM on December 16, 2009

Box of Rain (Grateful Dead) is sung by bassist Phil Lesh
posted by JohnnyGunn at 4:21 AM on December 16, 2009

"Don't Look Back in Anger" by Oasis, sung by Noel Gallagher rather than Liam.
posted by psychostorm at 4:27 AM on December 16, 2009 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Yellow Submarine is sung by Ringo

Yes, though Ringo sang a number of other songs ("Octopus's Garden," "With a Little Help from My Friends"), and every member of the Beatles had lead on a hit song or two, so I'm excluding them (same reason as Fleetwood Mac).
posted by xingcat at 4:30 AM on December 16, 2009

Would any of the Beatles' songs sung by George count? He's not the usual lead singer (that, of course, was either John or Paul) but George did sing lead on several hits.
Something
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Here Comes the Sun
Taxman
posted by Thorzdad at 4:36 AM on December 16, 2009

Ah. Never mind. Preview delay...
posted by Thorzdad at 4:36 AM on December 16, 2009

R.E.M.'s "Superman" - sung by Mike Mills.
posted by buxtonbluecat at 4:43 AM on December 16, 2009

Numb by U2 is sung by The Edge
posted by inturnaround at 4:44 AM on December 16, 2009

Would you consider The Eagles to be another band in which they "shared" lead singer duties? Because I know that Don Henley and Glenn Frye both sang different Eagles stuff.

Seconding "Numb." Which would probably also be really easy to do in karaoke, actually...
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:56 AM on December 16, 2009

Jon Entwhistle, The Who, 'My Wife.' Or 'Boris The Spider.' Also, define 'hit.'
posted by fixedgear at 5:15 AM on December 16, 2009

Just seconding the "Beth" by Kiss/Peter Criss suggestion. Hard to picture it now, but that song was everywhere, it hit the top 10 I'm pretty sure and had nothing to do with people's image of Kiss.
posted by jeremias at 5:21 AM on December 16, 2009

Slightly obscure here, but Canadian band Crash Test Dummies' cover of XTC's The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead was sung be Ellen Reid as opposed to the distinctively-voiced Brad Roberts.

I'm not sure if the song qualifies as a hit, but it was featured in the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack...so, take that as you will.
posted by hiteleven at 5:28 AM on December 16, 2009

Paul Carrack sings lead on Squeeze's "Tempted."

The Edge also sings the first two stanzas of "Seconds" on War.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:30 AM on December 16, 2009

Canned Heat's "Going Up The Country" was sung not by Bob Hite but by Alan Wilson.
posted by essexjan at 5:38 AM on December 16, 2009

Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar" (Roy Harper) and "The Great Gig in the Sky" (Clare Torrey), both radio staples, are sung by people who aren't band members.
posted by googly at 5:42 AM on December 16, 2009

911 Is A Joke
posted by mkultra at 5:45 AM on December 16, 2009

"The Guns of Brixton" by the Clash is sung by bassist Paul Simonon. And it was his birthday yesterday. Happy birthday, Paul! It charted at 57 on the UK singles chart, though, so perhaps not enough of a hit.
posted by Shoggoth at 5:52 AM on December 16, 2009

Nicky Wire (bassist) sings a couple of the Manic Street Preachers' songs--Ballad of the Bangkok Novotel and Marlon J.D. come to mind.

Several Belle & Sebastian songs are sung by members other that Stuart (but probably too many to make it an ultra-rare one time only thing).

A few bis songs are sung by one of the boys (can't remember which--Sci-Fi Steven?) rather than Manda Rin (e.g. Detour).

Alex James (bassist) sings Far Out on Blur's Parklife.

One of the guys sings one or two of Camera Obscura's songs (not on iPod, can't check which ones).
posted by Admiral Haddock at 6:03 AM on December 16, 2009

Just to clarify: Benjamin Orr, the bassist for The Cars, sang lead on a number of their hits, not just "Drive".
posted by abc123xyzinfinity at 6:09 AM on December 16, 2009

Whoops, missed the "hit" criterion.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 6:09 AM on December 16, 2009

"Gigantic" by the Pixies was one of the few that Kim Deal sang lead vocals on.
posted by drezdn at 6:11 AM on December 16, 2009

Jon Entwhistle, The Who, 'My Wife.' Or 'Boris The Spider.' Also, define 'hit.'

Pete Townshend also sung quite a few - many off Quadrophenia- "I'm one" springs to mind
posted by mattoxic at 6:26 AM on December 16, 2009

Heart's "These Dreams" was sung by the Nancy Wilson
posted by coryinabox at 6:28 AM on December 16, 2009

Black Celebration is the Depeche Mode album that has the most songs with Martin Gore on lead vocals: "A Question of Lust", "Sometimes", "It Doesn't Matter Two", "World Full of Nothing" and "Black Day" as a bonus track. The remaining tracks are sung by David Gahan.
posted by alchemist at 6:40 AM on December 16, 2009

"The White Stripes - In the Cold, Cold Night" is sung by Meg White.
posted by Midnight Rambler at 6:51 AM on December 16, 2009

"These Dreams" differed from past Heart hits in that it was a polished, pop power ballad. The song also marked the first Heart single on which lead vocals were performed by Nancy Wilson instead of Ann Wilson.

posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:19 AM on December 16, 2009

After hours by the Velvet Underground was sung by the drummer, Maureen Tucker.
posted by primer_dimer at 7:24 AM on December 16, 2009

Phil Collins was the drummer in Genesis who took over the lead singer role after Peter Gabriel left the band. Does that qualify?
posted by arcticseal at 7:34 AM on December 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

How about "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Garfunkel and Simon?

As often happens in pop music, the background singer(s) has(ve) the better, though less distinctive, singing voice. On most S&G records, Garfunkel provided only harmony vocals to Simon's lead/melody vocals and guitar. But for this last record together, Artie was persuaded to sing the first two verses solo (after complimenting Simon's falsetto on the demo). Simon sings harmony only on the inferior final verse.

Result: A massive hit record, six weeks at #1, four Grammies (for those keeping score at home).
posted by Herodios at 7:38 AM on December 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

The song Parklife itself was mostly sung by Phil Daniels, who wasn't even in Blur.

Wattsville Blues by the Manic Street Preachers is sung by Nicky, not JDB. But I wouldn't count that as a hit.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:47 AM on December 16, 2009

Or "Takin' Care of Business" (#12) and "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" (#1), by Bachman Turner Overweight? Both sung by Randy Bachman with his reedy not-the-lead-singer voice rather than bassist Fred Turner, the guy Bachman hired to be lead singer.
posted by Herodios at 7:52 AM on December 16, 2009

Dirty Work by Steely Dan is one of the few songs where Walter Becker takes lead instead of Donald Fagen.
posted by immlass at 7:58 AM on December 16, 2009

Many people don't know that Gregg Rolie sang a bunch of the Santana hits, they think Carlos Santana did.

Could be useful to your premise?
posted by SantosLHalper at 7:59 AM on December 16, 2009

"Oh What A Night" was a huge hit by the Four Seasons. Sung by the drummer not Frankie Valli.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:03 AM on December 16, 2009

Not quite what you asked for, but check out the climactic scene in Clint Eastwood's Honky Tonk Man (sorry about the dialogue dubbing on this clip, but the song's in English), wherein Clint Eastwood's character dies of tuberculosis in the middle of recording his BIG BREAK, and sideman Marty Robbins sings most of the song.
posted by Herodios at 8:13 AM on December 16, 2009

Many people don't know that Gregg Rolie sang a bunch of the Santana hits, they think Carlos Santana did.

Funny you should mention that. I was just thinking about how the band Journey seemed to change lead singers -- from Rolie to that other guy -- literally in the middle of the song "Feeling That Way".
posted by Herodios at 8:21 AM on December 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

Dirty Work by Steely Dan is one of the few songs where Walter Becker takes lead instead of Donald Fagen.

No, that was David Palmer. Nominally the lead singer, "Dirty Work" is the only memorable song Palmer sang lead on, though he did sing lead in all their early live shows.

Fagen got over his stage fright, most fans liked his distinctive voice, and Palmer left the band after the first album.
posted by Herodios at 8:26 AM on December 16, 2009

Gibby Haynes sang Ministry's Jesus Built My Hotrod, which hit #19 on Billboard.

Pearl Jam's Mankind has Stone Gossard on lead vocals instead of Eddie, it didn't chart but it is (was?) often played live to give Eddie a break so it's well known among fans.

U2's Numb, which was mentioned above at least once, was my immediate first thought.
posted by togdon at 8:32 AM on December 16, 2009

I don't know enough about The Who to be sure, but what about Boris the Spider?
posted by availablelight at 8:32 AM on December 16, 2009

Huh, Heriodios, I didn't know that. That would explain why they have the backup singers do it on the rare occasions when it shows up in the live sets.
posted by immlass at 8:35 AM on December 16, 2009

Furthest thing from a hit single, but Brix Smith took over lead vocals for Mark on The Fall's "Hotel Bloedel" in 1993.

Also, Karl Burns did the vocals on a cover of Johnny Paycheck's "Stay Away (Ol' White Train)" in 1996.
posted by porn in the woods at 8:56 AM on December 16, 2009

(oops, 1983, Perverted by Language)
posted by porn in the woods at 8:56 AM on December 16, 2009

The Sex Pistols version of "My Way" reached #7 in the UK, with Sid Vicious on lead vocals -- but this was several months after Johnny Rotten had quit the band.
posted by Herodios at 9:47 AM on December 16, 2009

"C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips" by OK Go is sung by one of the other members.

One song per Rilo Kiley album is sung by the guitarist, Blake Sennet (not what one would consider "hits" though, and he has his own band The Elected, as well, where he sings).
posted by haveanicesummer at 10:19 AM on December 16, 2009

The Faces' Ooh La La was sung by Ron Wood rather than Rod Stewart or Ronnie Lane (though they both performed it live during their post-Faces careers); I don't think it was techinically a hit at the time, but it's been used in a ton of soundtracks and commercials in the past decade or so.

The Jam's cover of David Watts, which was a UK hit, was sung by bassist Bruce Foxton rather than Paul Weller.
posted by scody at 12:37 PM on December 16, 2009

the Dead Milkmen's "Punk Rock Girl" is sung by the guitar player. in the video, the singer just hangs around reading a newspaper.
posted by radiosilents at 3:04 PM on December 16, 2009

Oh, hey -- I think Keith Moon sings lead on "Uncle Ernie" from TOMMY.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:25 PM on December 16, 2009

Blur guitarist Graham Coxon sang Coffee & TV , which was pretty popular for a while
posted by rollick at 3:54 PM on December 16, 2009

Oh, hey -- I think Keith Moon sings lead on "Uncle Ernie" from TOMMY

Not really, though I can see where you might be confused.

First, there's no song called "Uncle Ernie". The character appears in the songs "Fiddle About" and "Tommy's Holiday Camp". Neither of these were ever 'hits', by the way.

On the original album, "Fiddle About" is sung by John Entwistle (who wrote it) and "Tommy's Holiday Camp" is sung by Pete Townshend (who actually wrote it -- not Moon).

On the 1972 orchestral remake, Ringo Starr sang both songs.

In the 1975 film Moon played Uncle Ernie but neither of his featured scenes was released as a stand-alone and certainly weren't hit songs. Fact, the whole shambolic affair is best forgotten, along with the 1977 Sgt Pepper's... film starring Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees. What were we talking about?
posted by Herodios at 5:25 PM on December 16, 2009

"Van Dieman's Land" by U2 is sung by the Edge.

"Crazy Life" by Toad the Wet Sprocket.

"Endless Deep" (Adam Clayton sings)
posted by 4ster at 6:25 PM on December 16, 2009

"Heaven Beside You" by Alice in Chains is primarily sung by Jerry Cantrell (guitarist,) but he harmonizes with Layne Staley during the chorus.
posted by Turkey Glue at 7:42 PM on December 16, 2009

Does Mick Jones of the Clash count? He sang on two of their better known hits, "Train in Vain" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go," but I don't know if he sang lead often for it to count, or if it was akin to a "Let's have Ringo sing this one" situation.

And yeah, first thing I thought of was "Tempted" by Squeeze. Your band's biggest hit (and perhaps only hit in the US) and it's sung by a part-timer. Doh.

Phil Collins wouldn't count as that's an example of changing lead singers. Although there's the unique case of Bernard Sumner becoming the eventual lead vocalist for New Order, which came about as the result of Joy Division ending after Ian Curtis's suicide. And the similar but different case with Dave Grohl with Foo Fighters/Nirvana/Kurt Cobain.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 1:34 AM on December 17, 2009

Does that Tom Tom Club song count because David Byrne isn't singing?
posted by Large Marge at 1:13 PM on December 17, 2009

Tom Tom Club was a separate project from the Talking Heads, so I don't think it counts.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 1:44 PM on December 17, 2009

Does Mick Jones of the Clash count? He sang on two of their better known hits, "Train in Vain" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go," but I don't know if he sang lead often for it to count

Mick did split singing duties with Joe quite a bit, so I don't know that he counts. As mentioned upthread, it was more unusual for Paul Simonon to sing -- I believe the only songs he took the lead on were "Guns of Brixton" and "Red Angel Dragnet" (neither of them big hits, per se, but both definitely well-known in the Clash canon).
posted by scody at 2:27 PM on December 17, 2009

And yeah, first thing I thought of was 'Tempted' by Squeeze. Your band's biggest hit (and perhaps only hit in the US) and it's sung by a part-timer.

Paul Carrack will only be in your band if he gets to sing the biggest hit. See also: Ace's "How Long" and Mike + The Mechanics' "Silent Running."
posted by kirkaracha at 12:45 PM on December 18, 2009 [1 favorite]