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[ThePensmith]

Cheryl Cole's obviously continued doing really well with her solo stuff of late. But after a discussion with a friend the other day, this got me thinking about the solo careers that haven't done so well, so I thought it'd be a good basis for a thread. I've drawn up my own personal top 10 but feel free to add yours!

10. LISA SCOTT-LEE (2003 - 2005)
Biggest solo hit: 'Lately', #6, May 2003



Despite Steps' implosion in 2001 offering equally embarrassing flops from H & Claire's duo project and Faye's foray into opera with Russell Watson (don't ask), it is Lisa who takes the ignmonius title of the 'Tragedy' hitmakers worst solo outing, if only for the car crash TV affair of 2005 with MTV's 'Totally Scott Lee', whereby she played Russian roulette and was challenged that her god-awful Kylie rip off single 'Electric' had to reach the top 10 or else her career be declared over. You can probably guess the end result, readers.

9. MARK OWEN (1996 - 1997, 2003 - 2005)
Biggest solo hit: 'Child'/'Clementine', #3, November 1996/February 1997



The least expectation seems to come out of the 'cute one' in solo career terms, and indeed it can be a hard perception to shift. So despite two post-Take That split driven top 3 singles and another foray into the top 5 in 2003 with jangly end-of-the-world anthem 'Four Minute Warning' (perhaps helped in part by his appearance and winning of 2002's series of 'Celebrity Big Brother'), Mark's re-emergence as indie troubadour was never going to be a successful one.

8. NADINE COYLE (2010 - 2011)
Biggest solo hit: 'Insatiable', #26, November 2010



She had, to all intents and purposes, been labelled 'the voice' of Girls Aloud, so solo Nadine material should have been a rip-roaring success on paper. In practice she was hampered by constant tabloid tattle-tale weaving about rumoured rifts with the rest of her GA bandmates. Add a muchly mocked album deal with Tesco into the mix (rumour had it at the time that no other label, even Girls Aloud's own natural home of Polydor/Universal wanted her) and she was doomed for the scrapheap.

7. ABS (2002 - 2003)
Biggest solo hit: 'What You Got', #4, August 2002



As he'd been partly responsible for the huge success 5ive enjoyed, it seemed a little odd that Richard 'Abs' Breen was the one Simon Cowell deemed most viable for a solo career. Particularly when watching it unfold was like watching an early prototype of Dappy - all cod Jafakean accent and unconvincing white boy rap. A shame really when some of his offerings like the ill fated '7 Ways' and 'Stop Sign' would have been fairly servicable pop records had they been done by somebody else who wasn't as embarrassing to watch/hear.

6. MUTYA BUENA (2007)
Biggest solo hit: 'Real Girl', #2, May 2007



A classic case again here of old perceptions dying hard, in this case being 'the moody one' of your former posse, even though Mutya seemed fairly happy a year on from being the second original member of Sugababes to leave in order to be a full time mum for a bit. And indeed to begin with it started well - her debut single was never off the radio in the summer of 2007, even finding it's way onto the soundtrack of the 'Sex and the City' movie and being nominated for a BRIT award in 2008. But still being signed to her former label (bear in mind Sugababes were still a veritable chart force at this time) meant it was inevitable she'd luck out.

5. BEN ADAMS (2005)
Biggest solo hit: 'Sorry', #18, June 2005



The time between A1 finishing on a whimper in 2002 (their final single 'Make It Good' was their only one to not reach the UK top 10) and Ben starting his solo effort up was approximately 3 years, which is almost a lifetime in pop - and one that effectively eradicates you to little more than an embarrasing reminder of your past. Add into the equation that he did all in his powers to try and reposition himself beyond being the dumpy one with curtains - such as an infamous tabloid story involving him and a Taiwanese prostitute - meant that despite a servicable single and a promising sounding album - Ben would all but be forgotten.

4. APPLETON (2002 - 2003)
Biggest solo hit: 'Fantasy', #2, September 2002



An interesting one this, but despite being a fan of theirs they're worthy of inclusion here. Once declared 'the most hated women in Britain' and often seen as the airheads of All Saints, much was made of Natalie and Nicole Appleton being little more than 'famous for being famous' types, more so when they hooked up with their respective rock star Liam husbands from the Prodigy and Oasis. It was their perceived relentlessness for fame that, despite a corking album in 'Everything's Eventual' (even Q magazine awarded it 4 out of 5), seemed to turn people off, namely the backlash they recieved from tell-all autobiography 'Together' in the autumn of 2002.

3. JC CHASEZ (2004)
Biggest solo hit: 'Blowin' Me Up (With Her Love)', #13, April 2004



No one could have anticipated the huge career Justin Timberlake was to go on to have post-NSYNC (even if he has annoyingly stopped it indefinitely to pursue acting). So it seemed, as with Beyonce in Destiny's Child, that anything from fellow bandmates would not be as worth the trouble with. A shame really when JC Chasez brought out an interesting, odd sounding album with some interesting production from the likes of Basement Jaxx that was hampered by an extremely dated debut single here in the UK (it had come out in the US two years prior to it's 2004 release here). He has however, gone on to pen pop magic of his own, most notably for/with Girls Aloud and McFly.

2. VICTORIA BECKHAM (2000 - 2004)
Biggest solo hit: 'Out of Your Mind' (with True Steppers and Dane Bowers), #2, August 2000



It could be widely argued that despite the initial bursts of success, ALL the Spice Girls would be worthy of inclusion here. But it's Victoria's solo venture that people seem to remember least fondly, not least because she was the only one of them not to have a number 1 (even Mel B and Emma managed one-a-piece). Perhaps it was because of unfortunate press portrayal of being part of 'Posh and Becks' mania at the time where David seemed to be more on the ascent career wise than she was, but whether it was backlash over a fake lip ring worn at a summer roadshow to promote her single 'Not Such an Innocent Girl' in 2001, or sending her second solo label Telstar down the pictures into administration from costly failed sessions with hip hop guru Damon Dash in 2003, nothing Victoria did seemed to be right. A shame when the likes of 'Out Of Your Mind' and even 'Let Your Head Go' are still great pop outings when accepted for what they are.

1. GARY BARLOW (1996 - 1999)
Biggest solo hit: 'Forever Love'/'Love Won't Wait', #1, July 1996/May 1997



Of course the Captain has won most of us (myself included) over since Take That's triumphant reunion, 'The X Factor' and all his various charitable ventures - evident in his Jubilee anthem 'Sing' with his Commonwealth band having topped the charts recently. But there was a time before that where he'd been victim to a very public fall from grace. Just a few months after Take That's split he'd been touted for a glittering career in the vein of Elton John. However fate - or rather Clive Davis - lent a hand in making sure that despite a promising start with two solo chart toppers he'd be disgraced into the 'has-been' files of pop with two dull as dishwater US-centric albums that made him look a joke pitched next to the more exciting antics and material Robbie Williams had been offering.

This post has been edited by ThePensmith: Jun 23 2012, 08:11 PM