Top 10 Rock and Metal Musicians Who Quit Bands Right Before the Bands Became Famous
Paul Andrews better known as Paul Di'Anno, is an English singer best known as the first vocalist to record with heavy metal band Iron Maiden, from 1978 to 1981.
Roderic Evans is an English former singer. In the late 1960s he began his professional career in The Maze, formerly MI5, after which he was a member of the original Deep Purple line-up.Nirvana AND Soundgarden!
Roger Keith Barrett was an English musician, composer, singer, songwriter, and painter. Best known as a founder member of the band Pink Floyd, Barrett was the lead singer, guitarist and principal songwriter in its early years and is credited with naming the band. He didn't quit, he was left behind. Also, DSOTM, arguably their first major success, came out in '73, while Barrett was left behind in '68.
Green Day drummer
David Scott "Dave" Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, actor and author. Mustaine is best known as a pioneer in Thrash Metal, being the former lead guitarist of Metallica before his dismissal in 1983, leading to finding and becoming the front man of his own band Megadeth shortly after. Not very high on this list because his new band also became famous at a point
The original drummer for Rush; he played on their debut album and soon left because he had diabetic health issues and creative differences. He was (of course) replaced by Neil Peart.
The original drummer for The Beatles. The group had their manager, Brian Epstein, fire him after George Martin complained of his inability to keep time.
Drummer of Foo Fighters
When Clapton was in The Yardbirds, they played straight blues and R&B. However, the band realized that they needed a pop hit to be successful, so they recorded For Your Love. Clapton, however, wanted to be a straight blues musician only, so he left. Of course, he became famous in his own right and later doubled back on his anti-pop stance.
The original organist for the Small Faces. He recorded a few songs on their first album before being replaced by Ian McLagan.
The original female singer for Jefferson Airplane. She sang on their first album before leaving to focus on raising her newborn child. She was replaced by Grace Slick.
The original keyboardist for Yes. He recorded three albums with them (including The Yes Album) but left because the band wanted him to experiment with new instruments like the Moog synthesizer while he preferred to just play piano and organ.
He was the original guitar player for the Moody Blues, but he left in Oct. 1966 before they recorded Days of Future Passed. He would later find success in Paul McCartney's band Wings.
The drummer of Nirvana before Dave.
The original guitar player for Jethro Tull. He was with them when they recorded their first album, "This Was", but he left the band due to conflicting ideals with Ian Anderson. He was replaced by Tony Iommi, who left after two weeks to forge an iconic career of his own. He in turn was replaced by Martin Barre.
Hillel Slovak (April 13, 1962 – June 25, 1988) was an Israeli American musician best known as the original guitarist and founding member of the Los Angeles rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Prior to his death of a heroin overdose in 1988, Slovak recorded two albums with the band, Freaky Styley (1985) ...read more.