best solo artists from famous bands

the best solo artist from (the most) famous band is john lennon. i think paul would come second. freddie third cause he hasn't really had long solo career and it was all while he was still in queen. and george harrison of course(yes i'm beatles fan). john and paul came out of the beatles and made respectable and succesful solo careers and with the beatles thing behind them it was almost impossible to do. and george also, such a genius, if he was in any other band his talent would be so much more present. he was always the quite one in the middle. i think david grohl also made it, he was in this famous band and now he made it with his new band and made a name for himself.

Freddie 1st, Jeff Lynne 2nd, Phil Collins 3rd.

Michael Jackson, allthough I can't stand his music.

Robbie Williams is very populair at the moment, though he's not a brilliant musician.

Freddie wouldn't be in any "best solo artist from a band". Lennon / McCartney / Peter Gabriel / Phil Collins etc had great success as a solo artist, Freddie's success was very minor (aside from the three or four big hits like Barcelona, Great Pretender or LOMO93). Same goes for Brian and Roger.

"Freddie 1st, Jeff Lynne 2nd, Phil Collins 3rd."

Gotta agree with Harvey.

Add the MJ Willem-Jan mentioned to Pim's list and we have our top 5 I think.

Ozzy Osbourne
Justin Timberlake
Melanie Chrisholm
Eric Clapton
Phil Collins
Peter Cetera
Bono
Glenn Frey
Freddie Mercury
Michael Jackson
Robbie Williams
Paul McCartney
John Lennon

not in a specific order, but i just wanted to know how many i could cough up in one minute :P

George Harrison should be on this list.

OZZY defitelly, even though I don't like his solo stuff- nevertheless he was really succesful first with Sabbath (the stuff I reall, reall love0) and then solo...

Also Gabriel after quiting Genesis did pretty well... Unfortunatelly Genesis with Collins were awfull....

My top ten:

1.John Lennon
2.Michael Jackson
3.Paul McCartney
4.Ozzy Osbourne
5.Justin Timberlake
6.Eric Clapton
7.Phil Collins
8.Peter Gabriel
9.Beyonce
10.Robbie Williams

Sorry, but Freddie was not a "very" successful solo artist, not for me (not for my "top ten")

Damn, how could I forget Ozzy :o
I really like his solo stuff, very good guitarists in his band. Like the vocals better than when in Sabbath.

And Jackson 5 does count, since it was famous, and that's what the question states. Quality wasn't a requirement.

And if I may believe Beavis, Tito totally rocks!!!

How about Sting (The Police), George Michael (Wham!) and Rod Stewart (The Faces, Jeff Beck Group)?

I think the question was "best solo artists" - doesn't mean "the best selling". Also, the question was about the solo artists from famous bands, not a solo artist from the start.

However, in terms of both, I think George Micheal (as far as I know). Both Wham and his solo career have a lot to be appreciated.

I don't know about the sales, but Freddie had a very fascinating album as well. His tended to go pop, but it wasn't any pop you could hear from any artist. Songs like "A Kind of Lover" or "In My Defence" are very classic and have a lot of potentials. He had an excellent sense of sound and melody as well as effective vocals (and chorus/backing harmony of his own lead vocal).

I read in some site that Freddie's solo album was the most interesting album in the world and that Brian or Roger made Queen boring (!). I thought that was sort of rubbish, but we are not to deprecate Freddie's solo career. He really really had a lot to offer - time was just too short.

"like 'A Kind of Lover' or 'In My Defence' are very classic and have a lot of potentials. "

Maybe you should buy the album and then you'll see that it ISN'T a brilliant album. Barcelona is great, but Mr Bad Guy has some really bad eighties-crap on it IMO.