Brian McFadden anyone??

It is an interesting list but in my own opinion i dont believe Gary Barlow should be number 1. Others have flopped much harder, Gary had initial solo success although be granted it faded extremely badly with his second soolo album offering. Nadine for example failed to achieve much success with her debut, as did Ben from A1 etc where as Gary managed success with his first album and singles.

 

That said, maybe you are looking at it from an angle of Gary was far more high profile than many and it made his later failure more spectacular for want of a better word.

That said, maybe you are looking at it from an angle of Gary was far more high profile than many and it made his later failure more spectacular for want of a better word.

 

That was exactly my reasoning. I think he acknowledges bar the success he's had with 'Sing' recently he'd probably never do anything solo again - just Take That and writing for other artists - and I take my hat off to him cos' he's such a personable, big hearted guy and he's written some of the most timeless pop records ever. I think if you even read his book 'My Take' you can tell he wasn't fully happy doing the solo thing because it was stifling who he was creatively as well - not helped by Clive Davis trying to make him more US-centric.

 

And aah Brian McFadden. How did I overlook that one? That really was a disaster...all haggered beards and moaning about being Irish/real'n'alternative. BORING!

 

 

Having loved nearly every pop act in history and following their solo careers only to be left disappointed when their solo offerings stormed up the charts to #78 there are many to mention :lol:

 

Nick Carter [bSB]

Single: Help Me #17

Album: Now Or Never #91

 

Lee Brennan [911]

Single: Turn It Around #104

 

Lee Ryan [blue]

Single: Army Of Lovers #3

Album: Lee Ryan #6

 

*Promising start but ended up with chart runs to rival McFly's :kink:

 

Duncan James [blue]

Single: I Believe My Heart #2

Album: Future Past #55

 

Antony Costa [blue]

Single: Do You Ever Think Of Me #19

 

Brian Harvey [East 17]

Single: Loving You [Ole Ole Ole] #20

 

Matt Goss [bros]

Single: Im Comin' With Ya #22

 

Luke Goss [bros]

Single: Sweeter Than The Midnight Rain #52

 

Mikey Graham [boyzone]

Single: You're My Angel #13

 

Matt Willis [busted]

Single: Up All Night #7

Album: Don't Let It Go To Waste #66

 

Charlie Simpson [busted]

Single: Parachutes #44

Album: Young Pilgrim #6

 

Donnie [New Kids On The Block]

Single: The Right Combination #44

 

Jordan Knight [New Kids On The Block]

Single: Give It To You #5

 

Jenny Frost [Atomic Kitten]

Single: Crash Landing #47

 

Liz McClarnon [Atomic Kitten]

Single: Woman In Love #5

 

Sabrina Washington [Mis-Teeq]

Single: OMG #130

 

Frankie Sandford [s Club Juniors/The Saturdays]

Single: Undercover Lover #62

Frankie's wasn't technically a solo effort anyway - that was the track she featured on for Kids In Glass Houses, was it not? Some equally good gems in there though. Was a fan of Matt Willis' stuff! And how did I miss off Brian Harvey? That terrible 'Straight Up (No Bends)' track...no wonder UK garage went out of fashion when he came on the scene!

Frankie's wasn't technically a solo effort anyway - that was the track she featured on for Kids In Glass Houses, was it not? Some equally good gems in there though. Was a fan of Matt Willis' stuff! And how did I miss off Brian Harvey? That terrible 'Straight Up (No Bends)' track...no wonder UK garage went out of fashion when he came on the scene!

 

Yes Frankie Sandford was a featured artist on the 'Kids In Glass Houses' track and she promoted it quite heavily with them - I'm sure if it had been a Top 5 smash she would have kick started a solo career.

 

I was going to put Dane Bowers in too but on paper he has had a successful solo career compared to others - 4 Top 10 hits!

Also aside from Louise i always found the solo 'careers' of Eternal to be quite tragic considering how popular they were -

 

Kelle Bryan [Eternal]

Single: Higher Than Heaven #14

 

Easther Bennett [Eternal]

Single: Shy Guy [With Aswad] #62

Jordan Knight [New Kids On The Block]

Single: Give It To You #5

 

Jenny Frost [Atomic Kitten]

Single: Crash Landing #47

 

Give It to You is fantastic! That record alone would justify a solo career for anyone.

 

That Jenny Frost single title is just... touché :D

Give It to You is fantastic! That record alone would justify a solo career for anyone.

 

That Jenny Frost single title is just... touché :D

 

:lol: @ Jenny Frost - Never looked it like that before!

 

And i agree about Jordan Knight - Never quite understood how the follow up single and album didnt even go Top 100 after the success of 'Give It To You' though!

That Jenny Frost song was pretty cool :) Should have been a bigger hit.

 

Brian Harvey came last in the 2007 UK Eurovision heat with "I Can" that made #199 in the charts. I remember my dog cowering when he was singing lol!

 

Charlie Simpson - the only guy who has made a hit out of mumbling...he must have rich parents easily. I always prefered Matt.

I dont think Mutya should be on here she done alright

If you're talking about singles sold in comparison to how much they sold as a group member then I suspect Ringo Starr would be the biggest flop.

I don't really see why people are mentioning Charlie Simpson in this topic. He went straight to Fightstar which, judging by the type of music they make, weren't intended to be successful in mainstream terms. Also, as a solo effort, that was about 7 - 8 years after Busted split up, you can't expect to be riding on the success of the boyband you were in THAT far away in time. :lol:

Give It to You is fantastic! That record alone would justify a solo career for anyone.

Agreed!! I've been listening to it loads lately after being reminded of it from another thread in this forum a few weeks ago. Sooo goddamn good.

 

On the thread topic, I can think of many reasons why pretty much everybody mentioned here flopped but I guess it's easy to see these things in hindsight. :heehee: But come on, 90% of these just did not have the charisma to be a solo act that the public could connect to on a personal level and weren't even expected to be successful even before they begun their bid for solo stardom. Frankly as a fan of hers I was thrilled with how Shaznay did with Never Felt Like This Before at the time.

 

In theory though, above all else, the basis to a successful solo career is this: when you turn solo you basically have to prove yourself all over again. You might get one or two "fanbase" sorta hits off the back of your fame but eventually it will be ever diminishing returns and if you don't have the tunes to back it up you're gone. Essentially you have a limited time to prove yourself - let's say about a year, and you need that HUGE song to set you up within that period. That's what Robbie had with Angels, what Justin had with Cry Me A River, what Cheryl had with Fight For This Love, etc. That's not what, say, Gary Barlow had. If he had the inspiration to write Back For Good one or two years later as a solo hit things could have been so different for him. Instead we get Forever "where the f*** is the chorus in this tedious bore?" Love. :lol:

 

I think taking everything into account (the level of fame of the group, their role, the expectation prior, etc.), then Nadine Coyle is probably the biggest flop. But at the same time as soon as I heard Insatiable I knew it wasn't going to work as above all else the song is piss weak and flat as anything.

Gary Barlow's solo discography is NOT a flop at all... In the UK:

 

Forever Love - 1 (charted in the top 10 in Europe and Oz)

Love Wont Wait - 1 (did well in Europe)

So Help Me Girl - 11 (44 in the US and 3 on the US contemp. charts)

Open Road - 7

Stronger - 16

For All That You Want - 24

Shame - 2

Sing - 1

 

and he has two number 1 albums to his name. I can think of alot of artists today who wouldn't mind having a discography like that! :lol:

 

One of the biggest flops has to be LEE RYAN from Blue, no idea what went wrong with him.

Edited June 28, 201213 yr by jay727