Bands with a secondary lead vocalist that shows up on plenty of album cuts, but never the singles

So I was thinking about the Goo Goo Dolls the other day and how their bassist, Robby Takac, would provide lead vocals for about a third of the songs on an album, but you might never know this if you've never listened to a full album of theirs. What are some other notable examples of this? I can think of some cases where it might be a one off appearance per album (like the guy from Chvrches), or cases where it took several albums for the other guy to show up on a single (like Dan Bejar in the New Pornographers).

Madness vs Chas
well, other than his shout outs on One Step Beyond.

chas sang on "michael caine"

James Griffin of Bread, often had more lead vocals, and compositions, on albums than David Gates but was never once given an a-side.

... an Academy Award winner too!

i knew there would be caveats re chas.

The Bangles?

The Beautiful South, I wonder?

Spiral Stairs? (though that might be stretching "plenty")

xp thought about thst for a sec but i'm pretty sure Briana or Jacqui were on most of the hits

Yeah, you will be right. It might work it we're talking "third lead vocalist"??

Interesting(?) counterexample is “So Fine” – I think the only GN’R song with Duff on lead vocal, was released as a promo single.

Loads of Pulp tracks from mid-80s with Russell lead vocals, none after end of 80s though.

Debbi sang on “Going Down to Liverpool” and “Be With You”

(This is if we’re talking third lead vocalists, where I guess Susanna and Vicki tie more or less throughout the albums, with SH clearly more lead vocals on the singles)

Yeah I know they aren't a strict case here but I was surprised to see that, given that she sings almost everything on their Greatest Hits, Hoffs is lead on not even half of their album tracks.

(I knew little about the Bangles until a recent revive here.)

This fact is certainly one that the Petersons had an issue with by ‘89, although more with management/label than any issue with Hoffs

(Add the fact that Steele was also singing lead by A Different Light, and it’s clear how the Greatest Hits is only reflecting a fraction of the story)

Keith Richards?

Eagles, although Randy Meisner got lucky with "Take It To The Limit" and Tim B. Schmidt with "I Can't Tell You Why".

Their only two genuinely great songs were sung by someone who was not Don Henley or Glenn Frey. Probably a coincidence.

Keith Richards?

“Happy” was Exile’s 2nd single

“Never the singles” is the killer here. John Oates got at least 2 or 3 lead vocal turns on most every H&O album, but I can think of at least one single (“Italian Girls”, which tanked.)

Steve Lambke in Constantines... he only sang-screamed one song on each album, but it was more in the live setting when he'd suddenly get up and thrillingly scream WE'RE PAPERLESS or I HATE THAT SOUND, his function in that band seemed to be to make Webb seem comparatively like a friendly, reasonable voice

"How Does It Feel To Be Back" was another Oates single.

Non-Eric Carmen members of the Raspberries sang about half the songs on their albums, but Carmen sang lead on all the singles...except their debut, "Don't Want to Say Goodbye", which he sings in harmony with Wally Bryson.

How many Ramones singles did Dee Dee sing lead on? Any?

"Endless Vacation" off Too Tough To Die

David Crosby had to wait until 1988 to get a CSN(Y) a-side, "Night Time for the Generals".

Graham Lewis sings some solo bits on Wir(e) singles, but no full leads as far as I can tell.

- Richard Carpenter probably did enough backup vocals to make his voice vaguely familiar to the casual Carpenters listener. But I suspect it would be easy to remain oblivious to his lead vocals on quite a few deep cuts. Admittedly still a distinct minority.

- I've lost track of how actual singles stack up, but I know people to have been surprised that Lou Barlow was far from Sedadoh's 'lead singer' in any meaningful sense, across most of their LPs.

Good point about Sebadoh, though a few Jason songs were released as singles (“Prince-S,” “It's All You”).

In Queen Roger Taylor and Brian May sang around a song an album each, but didn't turn up on many, if any, singles.

Roger Taylor "turned up" on the b-side of the original issue of "Bohemian Rhapsody", which "was nice"...

The Police?

Talking of Sebadoh, don't think any of Lou Barlow's tracks for Dinosaur Jr. have been released as singles (in either stint with the band).

C.J. Ramone?

I've been listening to way too much Bread today after the mention upthread. And I learned that the result of Elektra issuing 11 Gates A-sides in a row was... not wholly surprising:

At the beginning of 1973, Bread disbanded after a dispute between Gates and Griffin. Griffin claimed that, when the group was conceived, the pair agreed that the singles would be divided equally between the two songwriters.

Gates did have a knack for writing commercial ear candy tbf, but Griffin wrote some good stuff too.

I thought about The Police but Copeland only does lead on two songs right? Bombs Away and On Any Other Day

still angry that the only example I could think of was covered in the OP

Blue Oyster Cult

Crazy as it seems, I feel like Dusty Hill of ZZ Top might qualify for this. He sang on a ton of their songs (and arguably had a better voice than Billy Gibbons), but never had a lead vocal on a single.

xp Allen Lanier is the only BOC member who never sang lead on a single. In fact, I think he had only one true lead vocal, on Agents of Fortune's "True Confessions."

Group not band, but Florence Ballard of The Supremes

Copeland only does lead on two songs right? Bombs Away and On Any Other Day

Sting definitely sings "Bombs Away" but same as "Contact" it plays in my head as Copeland because his vocal melodies are so specific. He def sings the intro of "Does Everyone Stare" and Andy Summers talks/sings on 5 or 6 songs. The singles were all Sting.

re: ZZ Top, I never bothered checking but I assumed they switch off verse 1/2 on "Sharp Dressed Man."

I feel like Dusty Hill of ZZ Top might qualify for this. He sang on a ton of their songs (and arguably had a better voice than Billy Gibbons), but never had a lead vocal on a single.

He sang lead on "Tush", and later on had the big airplay tracks "Can't Stop Rockin'" and "Delirious". He also traded off w/Gibbons on "Heard It On The X" and "Beerdrinkers and Hellraiser" (also big airplay tracks).

They also trade-off on "It's Only Love".

He does a co-lead on their biggest single, so may be disqualified, but Gerald Casale with Devo?

Teenage Fanclub's Raymond McGinley wrote and sang 1/3 of all their music but never got a single until fairly recently. One sort-of exception was his song Escher as a radio single in the States, but Norman Blake sang it

Queen's Long Away (Brian vocal) was a US single but didn't do the business, which saw them never have a full song sung by anyone other than Freddie as a single again, although Brian especially had lots of lead vocal cameo parts on his later singles (Flash, Who Wants To Live Forever, I Want It All as his ego is massive, whereas Roger gets some sort-of lead moments on The Invisible Man and Under Pressure (the "this is our last dance is just Roger and Bowie, Freddie drops out completely after the "give love" sections

It's Steve Kilbey's band 100% now, but most albums by The Church will also have a song by Marty Willson-Piper and Peter Koppes. The Marty-sung "Russian Autumn Heart" is the only non-Steve sung single I think? (there's also the Steve/Marty sung "Two Places At Once")

He does a co-lead on their biggest single, so may be disqualified, but Gerald Casale with Devo?

He sang lead on Be Stiff and Beautiful World and they split with a few others like Jerkin Back and Forth, Coalmine, Thru Being Cool. They can sound very similar when Mark is holding back.

Did Tobi Vail sing on any Bikini Kill A-sides? They're quite a good example of a group mostly known for its hugely charismatic lead singer that then... turns out to have two other vocalists.

Also thinking of the Clean but they didn't have tons of singles. Of the best known songs Hamish is on Point That Thing Somewhere Else but Bob Scott doesn't have any.

Dave Hemingway is on that Beautiful South #1 A Little Time. I found out he existed really late and it felt like a prank.

Also thinking of Lee Ranaldo & James McNew but suspect I'm missing an obvious big single somewhere

The Who (I guess John E. is a tertiary lead vocalist after Rog and Pete, had some single b-sides but I think only one a-side, "Trick of the Light")

Orange Juice with James Kirk and then Zeke Manyika. It is kind of brilliant when Edwyn Collins sweeps in at the end of Wan Light and totally steals the song from Kirk.

Lee Ranaldo & James McNew

I’m not a scholar of either band, especially YLT, but my sense is that these guys don’t quite meet the “plenty of album cuts” threshold? (at least when measured against each band’s total output)

Is this really every SY cut Ranaldo sings on? If so, it’s even less than I thought…

Did the Beatles ever release a George Harrison song as a single?

"Something".

^Remembered that right after posting, of course.

I think that "Antenna" and "What We Know" are missing from that Ranaldo list, also "Genetic" (a B-side). Otherwise I think it's right.

Oh wait TM sings lead on "Antenna". LR does all the antenna box shit.

Casale sang lead on Be Stiff and Beautiful World and they split with a few others like Jerkin Back and Forth, Coalmine, Thru Being Cool.

He's the lead on "Mongoloid" too, I think? He does sound remarkably similar to Mothersbaugh.

"Something".

and "Do You Want To Know A Secret" (but written by Lennon/McCartney).

Not a single, though.

Also "Roll Over Beethoven."

"Something" is an odd one, the first Beatles single to be taken from an aleady-released LP, with quite a few more to follow through the 70s. They hadn't officially broken up when it was released, but had already played together for the last time. It counts as a canonical Beatles single, it just doesn't feel like it does.

One of those triv questions: "The last Beatles single to reach Number One in the UK"

Not a single, though.

Bikini Kill seems like a great pick. At a smaller scale I believe this is also true of Le Tigre, where Johanna Fateman (and I believe JD Samson?) had several prominent album tracks, but none of their singles or legacy songs.

Ringo sings on every Beatles album (right?) but he wasn't on a UK single till '78.

"Yellow Submarine" was earlier than that!

ffs yellow submarine

Yeah, I thought Ringo had had a single BEFORE George with "YS" which would have been pretty hard for George (until I found out about "DYWTKAS") !

UK albums Ringo doesn't sing on: A Hard Day's Night, Magical Mystery Tour and Let It Be.

Although MMT wasn't really an album in the UK.

Brian (May) especially had lots of lead vocal cameo parts on his later singles ... as his ego is massive

Is this actually a known thing? I always had the impression that by comparison to most of his peers, May is relatively unassuming.

Jesus and Mary Chain?

Did William sing lead on "Darklands" and "Almost Gold"?

Yes

Both were singles. Telling ya, the singles thing is a tough nut to crack!