{"id":755809,"date":"2026-07-11T02:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T02:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/755809\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T02:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T02:07:11","slug":"4-solo-hits-artists-had-while-they-were-still-in-famous-bands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/755809\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Solo Hits Artists Had While They Were Still in Famous Bands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some of the most iconic artists have juggled being in a band whilst also pursuing a solo career. Here are a few artists who had iconic solo moments while still being in a band.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCareless Whisper\u201d by George Michael\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783735629_248_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Play\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cCareless Whisper\u201d was actually written by both Michael and his bandmate Andrew Ridgeley, and released as a song for <a href=\"https:\/\/americansongwriter.com\/behind-the-band-name-wham\/\" id=\"https:\/\/americansongwriter.com\/behind-the-band-name-wham\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Wham!<\/a> whilst also acting as Michael\u2019s first solo hit. The song appeared on Wham!\u2019s album\u00a0Make It Big\u00a0in 1984. In the US, where the group was not as popular, the song was actually listed as \u201cWham! Featuring George Michael\u201d. Additionally, \u201cCareless Whisper\u201d marked the shift to Michael\u2019s solo career and became one of his signature songs as a solo artist.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tVideos by American Songwriter\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpread A Little Happiness\u201d by Sting<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783735630_477_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Play\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Even though Sting released his debut album after leaving The Police in 1983, the year before that, he released this cover, which was on the soundtrack for the movie\u00a0Brimstone and Treacle.\u00a0In September of 1981, Sting had already started making solo appearances, so it really should have come as no surprise when he decided to focus more on his solo career.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn The Air Tonight\u201d by Phil Collins<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783735630_565_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Play\"\/><\/p>\n<p>This song, written shortly after Collins\u2019 divorce from his first wife, was released as the lead single from his 1981 album Face Value. Collins would not leave Genesis, the band for which he drummed and eventually acted as lead singer, until 1996, about 15 years after that.<\/p>\n<p>He still doesn\u2019t seem to know what this one is about, even though it\u2019s one of his biggest hits. \u201cThis song has become a stone around my neck, though I do love it,\u201d Collins once explained to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-lists\/phil-collins-my-life-in-15-songs-82641\/\" id=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-lists\/phil-collins-my-life-in-15-songs-82641\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Rolling Stone<\/a>. \u201cI kind of like the mystery\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStop Draggin\u2019 My Heart Around\u201d by Stevie Nicks (with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers)<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783735631_947_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Play\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cStop Draggin\u2019 My Heart Around\u201d was the first single for Nicks\u2019 debut solo album\u00a0Bella Donna. It was also the first song she released to kick off her solo career. Even though Nicks didn\u2019t leave Fleetwood Mac until 1990, this Tom Petty duet reflects a definite shift in her career.<\/p>\n<p>Photo by: Ebet Roberts\/Redferns<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some of the most iconic artists have juggled being in a band whilst also pursuing a solo career.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":755810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216,17172,2156],"class_list":["post-755809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-pop-music","tag-rock-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/755810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}