Top 10 Music Artists Who Turned Metal

These bands were not a metal band from the start, but they played their music harder and harder and then finally turned to a heavy metal or other metal genres. They may have played other genres along with metal but they also stuck with metal. Feel free to add anything if you think its deserve to be here.
The Top Ten
1 Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical approach changed over the years. Originally formed as a progressive rock band, the band shifted to a heavier sound in 1970. Deep Purple, together with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, have been referred to as the "unholy trinity of British hard rock and heavy metal in the early to mid-seventies". They were listed in the 1975 Guinness Book of World Records as "the globe's loudest band" for a 1972 concert at London's Rainbow Theatre, and have sold over 100 million albums worldwide. ...read more.

Was a psychedelic and progressive rock but then turned into a hard rock and heavy metal band

2 Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their leader Phil Lynott was composer or co-composer of almost all of the band's songs, and the first black Irishman to achieve commercial success in the field of rock music. Thin Lizzy's most successful songs, "Whiskey in the Jar", "Jailbreak" and "The Boys Are Back in Town", were all major international hits which are still played regularly on hard rock and classic rock radio stations.

Definitely - their last 2 albums had more metal songs than before (1981, 1983). Good examples are songs like Angel of Death (100% metal), Thunder and Lightning (thrash before Metallica), Cold Sweat (covered by Megadeth). Unfortunately Phil Lynott died and the band didn't complete the process but Thin Lizzy influenced the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal - especially the famous Thin Lizzy twin lead guitars.

Hard rock to heavy metal

3 Uriah Heep Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969 that was one of the top rock bands in the early 1970s. Twelve of the band's albums have made it to the UK Albums Chart (Return to Fantasy reached No. 7 in 1975). Uriah Heep's distinctive features include a massive keyboard sound, strong vocal harmonies and (in the early years) David Byron's quasi-operatic vocals. They have sold over 45 million albums worldwide with over 4 million sales in the U.S, where its best-known songs include "Easy Livin'", "The Wizard", "Sweet Lorraine", and "Stealin'".

They were a progressive rock and hard rock band but then they became heavy metal

4 Scorpions Scorpions are a German rock band formed in 1965 in Hanover by Rudolf Schenker. Since the band's inception, its musical style has ranged from hard rock to heavy metal.

Was a hard rock band from the start but then turned into heavy metal

5 Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore was a Northern Irish musician, most widely recognised as a singer, songwriter, and virtuoso rock and blues guitarist.

He is known as a blues/blues rock musician but he often included metal songs in his albums, especially in the 80s when he played mostly hard rock. For the albums with metal songs he invited guest metal musicians like Ian Paice (Deep Purple), Don Airey (Rainbow, Ozzy), Jimmy Bain (Rainbow, Dio), and several more. Songs - Hiroshima, Out In The Fields, Murder in the Skies.
But Gary Moore didn’t stay with metal, he continued with blues and jazz in the 90s and later. However, his song Out In The Fields (duet with Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy) was covered by over 10 metal bands (for details see my list Best Cover Versions of Gary Moore and Phil Lynott's Out In the Fields).

I forgot to mention that Gary Moore was one of the Thin Lizzy guitarists in the 70s. Gary Moore and Phil Lynott remained best friends forever. Gary Moore played Phil Lynott /Thin Lizzy songs at live shows by the end of his live in 2011.

Zxm, I am really sorry about that but the list title says Music Artists and not Bands.

By the way @ Metal_Treasure,it was changed by admin

6 Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were a Heavy Metal band formed in Birmingham, England in 1968 by guitarist and songwriter Tony Iommi, singer John "Ozzy" Osbourne, bassist and main lyricist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward.

The band became mainstream after improving after their debut album got panned. In 1978, Osbourne was fired and replaced with former Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio. Who went to release 2 albums before leaving in 1983, only for Osbourne to return in 1992. ...read more.

Okay this may start debate but black sabbath was a psychedelic rock band then they turned to heavy metal in 70s

7 Whitesnake Whitesnake are a rock band formed in England in 1978 by singer David Coverdale, after his departure from his previous band Deep Purple.

Yes, they are a hard rock/blues rock band but some songs touch on metal and these songs appeared at a later stage (80s). But I don’t think Whitesnake had a goal to become a metal band. These "metal effects" in their songs were mostly due to line-up changes when some metal-oriented musicians joined the band and brought to the table metal riffs, drumming, etc.
Steve Vai riffs and solos weren’t typical hard rock stuff, they were more than that. Cozy Powell (ex-Rainbow) drum beats were mostly metal. John Sykes (ex-Thin Lizzy) guitars were metal guitars for the most part, too. When these guys left, Whitesnake sound also changed - back to typical hard rock but they played it louder.

They may have played some songs which could be considered as heavy metal but they became more metal in their later years

8 Blue Öyster Cult Blue Öyster Cult is an American rock band from Long Island, New York, whose most successful work includes the hard rock and heavy metal songs "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Godzilla" and "Burnin' for You".

They were never metal

9 UFO UFO are an English rock band that was formed in 1969. They became a transitional group between early hard rock and heavy metal and the new wave of British heavy metal.
10 Blue Cheer Blue Cheer was an American rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009. Based in San Francisco, Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues rock style, and are also credited as being some of the earliest pioneers of heavy metal, with their cover of "Summertime Blues" sometimes cited as the first in the genre.
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