Maybe it's just me, but as a music lover who came of age during the '80s, it certainly seemed like an inordinate amount of artists formerly in bands had their solo careers explode during this decade. Perhaps the self-centeredness and materialism of the era had something to do with that, but no matter the source of the impulse, solo careers made for an impressive array of record sales for artists from Phil Collins all the way through to George Michael. So much for the phrase "lonely at the top."
1. Michael Jackson
I briefly toyed with the notion of excluding Jackson from this list, only because, based on the sheer majesty of his '80s solo career, it's easy to nearly forget that he belonged to a group in the first place. The fact that the Jackson Five were major hitmakers in their own right serves only to illustrate that much more clearly just how massive Jackson became in the wake of one of pop music's biggest albums of all time, 1982's omnipresent Thriller. Jackson forged a nearly unattainable template.
2. Phil Collins
The longtime Genesis frontman and drummer may not have seemed destined for solo success, but he made up for his lack of sex appeal and style with a tuneful nose for pop accessibility. Starting with 1981's Face Value and stretching across three subsequent top-selling albums during the decade, Phil Collins delivered hit after hit. All told, he compiled six No. 1 pop singles while also managing to gain abundant play on rock radio. Collins' mix of classic rock and balladry was simply unmatched.
3. Peter Gabriel
Always a far more charismatic and mysterious figure than his former Genesis bandmate, Peter Gabriel nonetheless never came close to matching the popularity or pop music savvy of Collins. Even so, he released one of the '80s monster albums in 1986's So, and he contributed some definite musical watermark moments, most notably "In Your Eyes", a tune so famously used in Cameron Crowe's film Say Anything. Ultimately, Gabriel ruled the pop music outskirts even as Collins earned middle ground stardom.
4. Lionel Richie
As a member of '70s soul and funk giants the Commodores, Richie always displayed a knack for big, juicy hooks and love songs. But none of his previous success could have prepared the listening public for his sheer potential to perfect a broad style of pop music. Although Richie hit it big occasionally with somewhat embarrassing attempts at dance pop ("Dancing on the Ceiling"), his strength always remained his sublime, lilting ballads, from "Endless Love" to "Hello" to "Say You, Say Me".
5. George Michael
Although his success with Wham! fell just short of qualifying as a solo career from the start (sorry, Mr. Ridgeley), George Michael reached ever more dizzying heights upon the release of his 1987 masterpiece, Faith. The record reached No. 1 on both the pop and R&B charts, and based upon the solid foundation of the album, Michael's reputation as a pop superstar was quickly cemented. Michael released only one solo album within the boundaries of the decade, but that's all that was required of him.
6. Don Henley
While almost everyone who was ever in the Eagles has released some degree of music as a solo artist, far and away the most successful member in this apartment is Henley. Glenn Frey had his moments, but Don Henley displayed a consistency as a solo artist that is not common for renegades from big-time rock bands. Like Collins and Richie, Henley's solo efforts appealed to a wide variety of audiences, and as a composer he proved himself as skilled with synthesizers as with acoustic guitars.
7. Belinda Carlisle
The music business being fickle as it is, it took a fairly thorough makeover to turn former Go-Go's lead singer Belinda Carlisle into a pop star. I don't know why it seemed so necessary for her to lose some pounds when the band had enjoyed so much success during her plumper days, but that is the way it happened, I guess. Musically, Carlisle completed the transition from her former band's very early punk days to unabashed adult contemporary pop, a la "Mad About You" and "I Get Weak".
8. Sting
The ex-Police frontman and bassist boasts arguably the most interesting and divergent solo career of any '80s artist, though that doesn't necessarily make it the best. For my money, Mr. Sumner tends to be a bit too insistent about straying from his melodic pop past in favor of jazz and world music stylings. Nonetheless, it's difficult to question the quality of his songwriting on tunes like "Fortress Around Your Heart", one of Sting's more accessible solo efforts.
9. Stevie Nicks
You definitely know you're wildly successful as a solo artist when that career takes off significantly prior to your band's official breakup. That was most certainly the case with Nicks, who almost immediately began to exceed Fleetwood Mac's '80s releases with her 1981 debut, Bella Donna. Still, even more notable is that her most well-known solo hits ("Edge of Seventeen" and "Stand Back", for example) are matched in quality by lesser-known gems like "If Anyone Falls" and "Talk to Me".
10. Kenny Loggins
Having begun his career as one-half of a partnership with Jim Messina, Kenny Loggins was early accustomed to being at the forefront musically. So in that sense, it wasn't difficult for him to step into the total spotlight as a solo artist. However, as one of the '80s kings of the film soundtrack, Loggins truly embraced the decade and wrote appropriately bombastic ballads like "Meet Me Halfway" and fist-clenching rockers perfect for the silver screen such as "Danger Zone" or "I'm Alright".
