Three Group Artists Who Returned to the Band After Solo Releases

In early September 2010, Brandon Flowers will release his solo musical debut, Flamingo. While it will be interesting to see how Flowers fares outside of the fold of the band The Killers, it seems relatively certain that he will rejoin the other three members of the band in the studio when their vacation from recording and touring is over. There are other musical artists who have left bands in the past and embarked on successful solo projects only to return to their friends and partners in crime after a decent interval of time has passed.

Gwen Stefani - Band: No Doubt

On November 23, 2004 Gwen Stefani released her solo debut album Love Angel Music Baby to massive critical and commercial success. The CD spawned the hit singles "What You Waiting For," "Rich Girl," and "Hollaback Girl" to name a few. Two years later on December 5, 2006 Stefani followed her debut up with The Sweet Escape and an additional solo tour. Despite these successes, Gwen Stefani and No Doubt hit the road as a group throughout 2009 and have been putting together new material for a brand new No Doubt album of original releases.

Nick Carter - Band: Backstreet Boys

While the Backstreet Boys may be considered more of a group than a band, they were immensely popular throughout the pop music scene of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Head hottie for the band Nick Carter broke with the group for a solo release in 2002 titled Now or Never. The CD spawned singles and a music video of Nick strumming on a guitar but failed to capture the flame of Backstreet mania. The only thing left to do was bring "Backstreet Back." Nick Carter joined the other Backstreet Boys for the successful 2007 release Unbreakable and the 2005 release Never Gone.

Joe Perry - Band: Aerosmith

While Joe Perry is not as solely connected to the pictorial image of Aerosmith as front man Steven Tyler, anyone who enjoys the electric guitar in "Sweet Emotion" and "Walk This Way" understands how "instrumental" Joe Perry is to the music. In the early 1980s Joe Perry left Aerosmith to release albums with his own group, The Joe Perry Project. While fans of Perry enjoyed the music, Joe Perry was not as successful on his own and came back into the Aerosmith fold shortly - just in time to help put together hits such as the aforementioned "Walk This Way."

These three artists all released their own solo projects to varying success but came back to their original groups and friends to create new popular music, and it is almost certain that Brandon Flowers will return to The Killers next year with a successful independent debut although it is likely to lack the total sales power of a The Killers album.

Sources:

Gwen Stefani Discography.

Nick Carter Discography.