Heartbroken Band Blues

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My heart is broken because my “heart” song countdown has ended! NOW what? It’s time to highlight some bands that have/had more than one lead vocalist. That’s the thing about rock and roll: when you think about bands, you think of one singer. Mention CCR and it’s John Fogerty. The Doors and Led Zeppelin were fronted by Jim Morrison and Robert Plant, respectively. Other bands were able to vary their sound by varying their lead singers. So I’ll highlight my favorite bands who did that. (Or, another excuse to use those bands again!) It wasn’t just the bands named after things, either: even the Steve Miller Band employed multiple lead singers on the first five albums (Miller, drummer Tim Davis, and, on the first two albums, guitarist Boz Scaggs). My teaser band — Steely Dan — isn’t in the “official” countdown because their first album was the only album with the multiple lead vocalists before Donald Fagen took over the lead singing chores completely. On their first album, however, they had three lead singers: Fagen, David Palmer, and Jim Hodder. (And, for JJ, Neil Young as an uncredited vocal on “Dirty Work.” [Joke, folks.]) Bands that won’t be included were those who replaced lead singers (e.g., AC/DC or Genesis). I hope you enjoy this. (Especially NJ Chic with the inclusion of this, her favorite band! ) Jim Hodder, the drummer for Steely Dan on the first album, singing lead: