17 Artists Who Went Solo And Had Amazing Success

In 1969, Ross left The Supremes to pursue a solo career. In her first year as a standalone act she scored a No. 1 hit with “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”

After years with LaBelle (their original name), Patti LaBelle broke off from The BlueBelles in 1977 to go solo. Her first major hit was 1982’s “On My Own” featuring Michael MacDonald.

Wilson started his singing career with his two brothers Ronnie and Robert in The Gap Band but later branched off into a solo career in the late 80s. 

While many associate Robinson with his solo career, writing and producing the talent was in The Miracles before everything. After meeting Barry Gordy and signing to Motown, he made hits “You Really Got a Hold on Me” (1962) and “I Second That Emotion” (1967) with his group members.

The world’s biggest pop star to ever live was famously in The Jackson Five with his brothers, before going solo in 1971. His debut album ‘Off the Wall’ had “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” and “Rock With You” —both No. 1 hits.

We all the story of Brown going solo in 1986 from his childhood boy group, New Edition. He took a lot of his loyal NE fan base with him as a racier solo act, making hits like “My Prerogative” and “Every Little Step.”

Both members of N.W.A., these Los Angeles-bred rappers left their group to pursue separate solo careers in the late 1980s. While their ground-breaking hip-hop group will never be forgotten, both men have branched out from performing on stage to films and major business endeavors.

Long before Burruss was on reality television, the singer was a member of Xscape. This year the group reunited and are going on tour, but Burruss has seen solo success in songwriting and entrepreneurial endeavors.

In 1997 this singer with her Destiny’s Child bandmates signed their first record deal with Columbia Records. The group had huge hits such as “Say My Name” and “Cater 2 U” but in 2006 when she went solo everything changed. As a solo artist, Beyoncé has won 19 Grammy awards with iconic albums such as ‘B’Day’ and ‘Lemonade’.

In 2000 Sisqo’s “Incomplete” peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. The win for the singer came a year after the Baltimore native left Dru Hill to be a solo act.

The B2K star took to Twitter to denounce R. Kelly’s actions, as well as announce that his band would stop performing their R. Kelly-produced tracks at their upcoming Millenium tour. “EVERYONE has to be RESPONSIBLE. Many have bared witness to the unthinkable and yet have remained silent,” he wrote.

Formed in New Jersey, the Fugees were groundbreaking in terms of Caribbean influenced hip-hop in the early ’90s. While together Hill, Jean and Pras released only one album ‘The Score’ in 1996. As separate acts, Hill would release one pivotal album title ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ and Jean released several Grammy-nominated albums.

Iconic hip-hop trio, A Tribe Called Quest signed their first record deal with Geffen Records in 1989. The group would go on to make seven albums with the last one dropping in 2016. But as a solo producer and performer, Q-Tip had hits such as “Vivrant Thing” and “Getting Up.”

In the late 1970s Khan made her solo debut after being with band, Rufus since 1973. From the get-go Khan was a solo singer, in a sense, going on to have hits like “What Cha’ Gonna Do for Me,” and Prince’s “I Feel For You.”