Sometimes a band has a huge hit with a song that wasn’t sung by the lead singer. And every now and then one of those songs becomes a huge hit. Here’s a list of 9 classic examples:
1. “We’re An American Band”, Grand Funk Railroad, 1973 . . . sung by drummer Don Brewer.
2. “Take It to the Limit”, The Eagles, 1975 . . . sung by original bassist Randy Meisner.
3. “Beth”, KISS, 1976 . . . sung by drummer Peter Criss.
4. “Don’t Fear the Reaper”, Blue Oyster Cult, 1976 . . . sung by guitarist Buck Dharma. (Technically all five members of BOC sang. And while Eric Bloom was their most frequent lead singer, Buck sang a lot of tracks, including their three best-known songs, “Reaper”, “Burnin’ For You” and “Godzilla”.)
5. “Tempted”, Squeeze, 1980 . . . sung by keyboardist Paul Carrack, who was only with the band for ONE ALBUM.
6. “Africa”, Toto, 1983 . . . sung by keyboardist David Paich.
7. “Sister Christian”, Night Ranger, 1984 . . . sung by drummer Kelly Keagy, who wrote it for his younger sister.
8. “These Dreams”, Heart, 1986 . . . sung by guitarist Nancy Wilson.
9. “Happy”, The Rolling Stones, 1972 . . . sung by Keith Richards, who generally takes the vocals on one song per album, and this is one that became a hit.
Source: Rollingstone.com
