18 Bands Who Changed Lead Singers

Alan Cross· Host0:00

Hey, it's Alan, and I just wanted to let you know that you can now listen to the Ongoing History of New Music early and ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. When someone in your band decides to leave, or gets fired, or, heaven forbid, dies, you have a problem. This is an issue if any member leaves, but if we're talking about your singer, that's a hurt on an entirely different level. Your front person is an integral part of your sound. It's the voice of your music, and there is nothing more important to your music than its voice. Oh, and it gets worse, too. Your front person often provides the central image for your band. That person is the one out front. That person takes center stage live. That person is the one the camera follows in a video. That person is the one photographers focus on, and chances are it's that person's name that comes to mind first when you talk to fans. So what do you do when that person bails? Well, you have two choices. First, you can fold your tent, go home, and maybe come back in a different form with a different name, or you suck it up and risk replacing that singer with someone else. This is hard on so many levels. Again, I go back to the notion of voice. You could find a soundalike, like we've seen with, uh, well, Journey. There was that period of time with Judas Priest and perhaps Queen. But fans know that you've just plugged that hole with a reasonable facsimile at best or an out-and-out fake at worst. Instead, it's probably best to