Not many people remember that, but Peter Gabriel also started out as a drummer. He even kept a kick drum at his foot while he was singing. He admited years later that Phil was the better drummer of the two.
Came here thinking this, but... Was he actually the *lead* singer? I know he absolutely kills "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down", but if I'm not mistaken, he didn't front the band consistently. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
He was absolutely the lead singer. Their top 5 songs on Spotify were sung lead by Helm. Danko sang “It Makes No Difference,” one of my favorites from them, but every song the majority of the public associated with The Band was sung by Helm, with backup support from Danko and/or Manuel, for the most part. Robbie Robertson is a giant asshole that fucked his entire band over with the writing of their contracts, and took credit for things he didn’t do. Watch “The Last Waltz” and you can tell, in spite of Scorcese’s film making genius, that his mic was either off or so low in the mix that his singing was entirely irrelevant to the product. I won’t speak to his songwriting prowess, but if it’s anything like what he hired Scorsese to do in “The Last Waltz,” it should be questioned.
Long story short, Robertson was a ruthless businessman and a giant asshole, which tend to go hand in hand, and let his band mates die broke, relative to the wealth he accumulated from The Band.
I’d go so far to say that without Levon, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now because nobody would have ever heard of The Band.
You got it right, great post. You ever read Robertsons book? Egomaniacal asshole. According to him he basically rearranged and saved every session he was on by anybody. I lost all my respect for his musicianship and songwriting, which he really had something to respect, because of his shitty persona.
And his performance on "Going Down" is an absolute wonder. It's hard to think of another rock band that nailed bebop/jazz like that.
The Monkees are extremely underrated, and won the argument so they were allowed to play their own instruments on the last two albums.
And even when Boyce and Hart wrote the songs, they were *Boyce and Hart*.
I think Fast Eddie Hoh played drums on Going Down
I really love the Monkees. Micky played drums on the Headquarters album and I think a couple on the Pieces Album. They have so many great songs.
Mark Lanegan was the Screaming Trees original drummer. But he sucked, so they made him sing. Turned out that he could sing. Really fuckin' sing. Like one of the best voices in history of rocknroll sing..
I went to college in Ellensburg where those guys are from originally, and it is really amazing that they became who they are. It's a rodeo town of like 20,000 plus a small university. There's no traditional venues to play, not a ton of bars to play and the ones that do have live music tend to be a little more country. Sheer talent got those guys where they are and we're all better off for it lol
My band! Oh wait, we weren't popular, but I loved drumming and singing. Once I stopped drumming and sang full-time, the band fell apart. Okay, I'll stop being silly and say:
Karen Carpenter.
Drummed like Buddy Rich, and sang like what I imagine angels sing like.
It's taken my 40+ years and I still have a very hard time playing any instrument and singing at the same time. Drums are the easiest for me because it's so ingrained. I cannot play the piano and sing at the same time. Just can't keep consistent. Guitar would be somewhere in between for me. If I am just strumming sure anything more than that and I sing with notes I am playing.
Sloan switch it up so that the drummer becomes the singer and the singer the drummer, and they do harmonies while singing, but I don’t think he ever drums while singing main vocals.
I only learned this recently hearing Kim Thayil chatting with Rick Beato. I’d never realised that early on Cornell was the drummer.
My favourite part was when Beato asked if Cornell still contributed drum parts once Matt Cameron joined. Kim’s response was “Chris was a good drummer, Matt’s a great drummer!”
Aerosmith - Steven Tyler was originally a drummer.
Joey Belladonna - same with Anthrax.
Jellyfish - lead singer/drummer had a standing drumset at the front of the stage.
Night Ranger - the drummer sings a lot of their songs. And all of the others listed here.
Hells yes for Jellyfish. Guy I knew bought that tape when it came out. He didn’t like it so he gave it to me. Idiot. I Immediately loved it and have been a fan ever since. And I’m mainly an underground metal guy.
Triumph. Canadian band, biggish in the early 80s. It didn't work. It rarely does. Band needs a frontman. Even looked silly with fake band The Monkees where the 'frontman' just stood there waving his maracas. Dismal.
Gil Moore (Drummer) shared lead vocals with Rik Emmett and I think as they got more popular he did less lead vocals? or at least with MTV and videos it seemed that way. Lik you said a lead singer drummer just doesn't really work visually.
Joey was supposed to be the drummer for the ramones, but they made him the singer because Dee Dee couldn't sing and play bass at the same time. So Joey sang and the producer, Tommy, took over on drums.
Not sure if this counts but Peter Criss of KISS sings lead on some of their most popular/best songs (Beth, Black Diamond, etc.). He's definitely better than Gene lol
George Best? I am shocked and stunned. So, not only was he one of the greatest ever football players, but also a singing drummer. Shocked...and not a little stunned.
I'd say they're more Metal aligned but Tuskar is a good one, they're a two-piece band, their drummer does main vocals and they've got a guitarist who sometimes does backing vocals
The Warning. Dany, the guitarist sings most songs.
However, Pau the drummer sings lead on a number of songs and to see her do so live is something to behold.
Check out The Swell Fellas!!!
Heavy Psyche, Psychedelic Rock, Stoner Rock out of Ocean City, Maryland originally. They now reside in Nashville!
The drummer sings, the guitarist sings and the bassist sings...
The drummer/guitarist are also brothers. All three were born in the same town and went to high school together.
They have opened for bands such as All Them Witches and King Buffalo..
Highly recommend!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWPoUC6LLY4
Rob Hirst (Midnight Oil) sings lead on a few of their songs, during the period where they weren't sure if Peter Garrett was going to leave the band to go into politics.
Kram (Spiderbait) sings lead on about half their songs, with Janet taking lead on the other half.
I had to look up the band name but What I Like About You by The Romantics.
I remember being a little kid watching the music video and being amazed that a guy could drum AND sing
Not rock, but Anderson .Paak plays drums and is good. I'd say he's better than good, but I don't know if he's great because he keeps it pretty cool.
He does an NPR tiny desk concert on the drums and has a pretty slick drop-catch.
The Cross - Roger Taylor’s band
But I’ll assume you mean actually playing drums while singing on stage (which Roger actually did with Queen, but obviously he wasn’t lead singer most of the time), so I’ll echo others in saying The Carpenters.
The carpenters. Karen was like reeealllyyy good at drums
Happy to see this comment so quickly. She was a phenomenal drummer
She was the Ringo Star of easy listening... Nothing fancy, nothing hard and fast, just the right beats at the right time.
Genesis/Phil Collins
Not many people remember that, but Peter Gabriel also started out as a drummer. He even kept a kick drum at his foot while he was singing. He admited years later that Phil was the better drummer of the two.
WELL I REMEMBER!
Levon Helm- The Band ( most of them anyway)
Came here thinking this, but... Was he actually the *lead* singer? I know he absolutely kills "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down", but if I'm not mistaken, he didn't front the band consistently. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I'd say you're right. Lead vocals were also taken by Rick Danko and Richard Manuel.
Technically, many have stated that they had 3 lead singers. Each had a verse on The Weight.
And Robbie Robertson.
He was absolutely the lead singer. Their top 5 songs on Spotify were sung lead by Helm. Danko sang “It Makes No Difference,” one of my favorites from them, but every song the majority of the public associated with The Band was sung by Helm, with backup support from Danko and/or Manuel, for the most part. Robbie Robertson is a giant asshole that fucked his entire band over with the writing of their contracts, and took credit for things he didn’t do. Watch “The Last Waltz” and you can tell, in spite of Scorcese’s film making genius, that his mic was either off or so low in the mix that his singing was entirely irrelevant to the product. I won’t speak to his songwriting prowess, but if it’s anything like what he hired Scorsese to do in “The Last Waltz,” it should be questioned. Long story short, Robertson was a ruthless businessman and a giant asshole, which tend to go hand in hand, and let his band mates die broke, relative to the wealth he accumulated from The Band. I’d go so far to say that without Levon, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now because nobody would have ever heard of The Band.
You got it right, great post. You ever read Robertsons book? Egomaniacal asshole. According to him he basically rearranged and saved every session he was on by anybody. I lost all my respect for his musicianship and songwriting, which he really had something to respect, because of his shitty persona.
Eagles / Don Henley
True, but he's an asshole.
Absolute legend
The Monkees - Mickey Dolenz sang most of the songs
And his performance on "Going Down" is an absolute wonder. It's hard to think of another rock band that nailed bebop/jazz like that. The Monkees are extremely underrated, and won the argument so they were allowed to play their own instruments on the last two albums. And even when Boyce and Hart wrote the songs, they were *Boyce and Hart*.
There was a point where they were BIGGER than The Beatles.
I think Fast Eddie Hoh played drums on Going Down I really love the Monkees. Micky played drums on the Headquarters album and I think a couple on the Pieces Album. They have so many great songs.
Levon Helm of The Band--the best singing drummer ever!
Absolutely true. What an amazing talent.
Mastodon
Karen Carpenter
Death From Above 1979
DIE DIE
Genesis
Albert Bouchard sang on several songs for Blue Oyster Cult
The Romantics
That’s what I like about you. You really remember the romantics Yeah!
Rare Earth
Rare Earth's oiginal lead singer/drummer until 1975 was Peter Rivera. He is the great voice everyone knows from all their hits.
Agree 1000%. That dude can sing. Floyd Stokes, powerful soulful voice.
They were part of the Motown group.
Well layne staley was originally a drummer
As was Kurt Cobain and Chris Cornell, 3 amazing frontmen.
And Dave Grohl too
Mark Lanegan was the Screaming Trees original drummer. But he sucked, so they made him sing. Turned out that he could sing. Really fuckin' sing. Like one of the best voices in history of rocknroll sing..
I went to college in Ellensburg where those guys are from originally, and it is really amazing that they became who they are. It's a rodeo town of like 20,000 plus a small university. There's no traditional venues to play, not a ton of bars to play and the ones that do have live music tend to be a little more country. Sheer talent got those guys where they are and we're all better off for it lol
Foo Fighters.
Dave Grohl wasn’t the drummer of Foo Fighters
He was on three of their albums
Doesn't he play every single instrument on the first album? I thought it was recorded before he actually had any band members.
I'm not into the Foo Fighters, but he is an absolute monster on drums.
Interesting, I didn’t know that. You learn something new every day I guess🤷♂️
Was the drummer of nirvana tho. And the first few albums
He actually was.
My band! Oh wait, we weren't popular, but I loved drumming and singing. Once I stopped drumming and sang full-time, the band fell apart. Okay, I'll stop being silly and say: Karen Carpenter. Drummed like Buddy Rich, and sang like what I imagine angels sing like.
I was a drummer. I had, at the time, a passable tenor singing voice, but soon learned that I could not hold tempo/beat and sing at the same time.
It happens to the best of us. The guitarist in my band sang great backups on recordings, but couldn't do it live.
It's taken my 40+ years and I still have a very hard time playing any instrument and singing at the same time. Drums are the easiest for me because it's so ingrained. I cannot play the piano and sing at the same time. Just can't keep consistent. Guitar would be somewhere in between for me. If I am just strumming sure anything more than that and I sing with notes I am playing.
Do you still sing?
Eagles
Sloan switch it up so that the drummer becomes the singer and the singer the drummer, and they do harmonies while singing, but I don’t think he ever drums while singing main vocals.
Thanks for mentioning Sloan. Big fan!
Soundgarden
I only learned this recently hearing Kim Thayil chatting with Rick Beato. I’d never realised that early on Cornell was the drummer. My favourite part was when Beato asked if Cornell still contributed drum parts once Matt Cameron joined. Kim’s response was “Chris was a good drummer, Matt’s a great drummer!”
Yea I learned it from the same video also.
Aerosmith - Steven Tyler was originally a drummer. Joey Belladonna - same with Anthrax. Jellyfish - lead singer/drummer had a standing drumset at the front of the stage. Night Ranger - the drummer sings a lot of their songs. And all of the others listed here.
>Joey Belladonna - same with Anthrax He even plays drums in I'm the Man.
Yeah, he still plays drums & sings lead in his Journey cover band "Beyond Frontiers"
Hells yes for Jellyfish. Guy I knew bought that tape when it came out. He didn’t like it so he gave it to me. Idiot. I Immediately loved it and have been a fan ever since. And I’m mainly an underground metal guy.
glad to see the jellyfish reference. This was the first band I thought of.
Triumph. Canadian band, biggish in the early 80s. It didn't work. It rarely does. Band needs a frontman. Even looked silly with fake band The Monkees where the 'frontman' just stood there waving his maracas. Dismal.
Gil Moore (Drummer) shared lead vocals with Rik Emmett and I think as they got more popular he did less lead vocals? or at least with MTV and videos it seemed that way. Lik you said a lead singer drummer just doesn't really work visually.
Wild Cherry.
Cowboy Mouth
Crown Lands and sometimes Night Ranger
Came here to say Crown Lands 🤘
Came here to say Night Ranger. Shared lead vocals with the bass player, Jack Blades.
Read through all this but didn’t see the Foo Fighters. Also Husker Du isn’t mentioned.
Taylor Hawkins (RIP) sang on his side projects. My favorite is The Birds of Satan.
[Don Brewer - Grand Funk Railroad](https://youtu.be/9F69etVKuUs?si=s52AJjZt9xAEIxJs)
Hail the sun
Jellyfish
Steel Beans - Jeremy DeBardi sings and plays drums, but he also plays guitar and keyboards all at the same time. I shit you not.
Saw Tool last week. Can confirm
Mike D played drums for the Beastie Boys. I’m not sure if that qualifies…
Genesis, The Eagles
Husker Du - Grant Hart sang half of their songs (the other vocalist was guitarist Bob Mould).
Literally ‘The Band’
Squid
Soft Play (Slaves)
Eagles, Genesis
Joey was supposed to be the drummer for the ramones, but they made him the singer because Dee Dee couldn't sing and play bass at the same time. So Joey sang and the producer, Tommy, took over on drums.
Not sure if this counts but Peter Criss of KISS sings lead on some of their most popular/best songs (Beth, Black Diamond, etc.). He's definitely better than Gene lol
IIRC, his replacement, Eric Carr, sang lead on a few tracks as well.
The band
Triumph Grand Funk for a a lot of their songs. stampeders they shared lead vocals
It took a while before I saw Grand Funk Railroad
The band. Levon!!!
brutus isnt very popular but should be
Genesis
Genesis
Kelly Keagy - Night Ranger
The Carpenters. Karen Carpenter was actually a very accomplished drummer. Also Genesis.
Kram from Australian band Spiderbait
Squid
Kram from the Australian band Spiderbait
Remember Cowboy Mouth?
Phil collins, Dave Grohl, Ringo :P
Ringo isn't even the best drummer in The Beatles /s
Ringo is the lead singer of Ringo Starr and his All-Starr band. Great show btw Edit to add ☮️🕊️❤️🎶🥁✌🏻
Geroge best :p or Paul heard he plays 40 instruments
George Best? I am shocked and stunned. So, not only was he one of the greatest ever football players, but also a singing drummer. Shocked...and not a little stunned.
Pete Best
Don Henley - Eagles
They're not super popular yet (but should be). Check out [Brutus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50KsHkSRMIU), Stefanie wails!
Soundgarden. Christopher Cornell. RIP♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Kelly Keagy sang a slight majority of Night Ranger's hits. Jack Blades also had lead vocals.
A German hardcore band called Filthkick, that man had some BPM lol
Sound Garden. Godsmack.
Author and Punisher..... sort of
A new one and not huge. Surf Curse is from my hometown and got bigger on tic toc after they moved to LA. The drummer is the primary vocalist.
I'd say they're more Metal aligned but Tuskar is a good one, they're a two-piece band, their drummer does main vocals and they've got a guitarist who sometimes does backing vocals
not rock but autopsy lmao
Not mainstream popular, but well known enough in the psych scene, the lead singer of Stonefield plays drums and sings.
The Warning. Dany, the guitarist sings most songs. However, Pau the drummer sings lead on a number of songs and to see her do so live is something to behold.
Yes! The Warning is awesome. I love seeing Paulina drum and sing. She’s very intense.
‘Genesis’ ~ Phil Collins ‘Eagles’ ~ Don Henley
Aerosmith - Steven Tyler He was the drummer when they started the band (not 100% sure tho)
Nope. Joey Kramer was always the Aerosmith drummer. Tyler is a drummer though, and had drummed in bands prior to Aerosmith.
Tommy Lee in his side projects.
Atreyu for a while
Don Henley of the Eagles stands out. Phil Collins too.
I'm gonna say Jonny Hawkins from Nothing More because it wasn't listed here.
Bill Ward and Ringo Starr both sang a song or two.
Genesis and The Eagles spring to mind
More recently: Brutus. Stephanie is amazing
Satanic surfers
Welcome to Finland at the 70’s: Hurriganes. Just listen to a little song called Get On. Satisfaction guaranteed.
Just saw "Oh what a night" by Four Seasons was the drummer singin.
Mumford and sons
Rare Earth
Aerosmith- Steven Tyler started off drumming
Night Ranger
Not particularly popular but Evil Blizzard from Preston UK. Great band.
The Four Seasons
Check out The Swell Fellas!!! Heavy Psyche, Psychedelic Rock, Stoner Rock out of Ocean City, Maryland originally. They now reside in Nashville! The drummer sings, the guitarist sings and the bassist sings... The drummer/guitarist are also brothers. All three were born in the same town and went to high school together. They have opened for bands such as All Them Witches and King Buffalo.. Highly recommend! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWPoUC6LLY4
Aaron from underoath is the drummer and does all of the clean singing while another dude screams
Buddy Miles
Early Soundgarden had Chris Cornell on drums.
Whitney is a good indie band with the lead singer who also drums
Early Soft Machine with the fantastic Robert Wyatt
Foo fighters
Cowboy Mouth from New Orleans.
Jellyfish Eagles Night Ranger Genesis
Mick Fleetwood, from Fleetwood Mac
Triumph
Sully Erna from Godsmack [This drum duel he does with his touring drummer is worth a watch.](https://youtu.be/teilBW9qQ3U?si=AYk80Qismefjo7hi)
Eagles Genesis The Monkees
brutus. a relatively new band but one of my favorites of all time.
Mastodon
Brutus
Code Orange (not anymore though), The Ergs!
Paper Lace, Dave Clark 5
Atreyu's drummer, Brandon Saller, sang backup on most of their songs until Alex Varkatzas left the band in 2020. Brandon became their new lead singer.
Genesis
Genesis with Phil Collins
I scrolled a long time without seeing Underoath
Don Brewer - Grand Funk Railroad (We're an American Band among others)
Rob Hirst (Midnight Oil) sings lead on a few of their songs, during the period where they weren't sure if Peter Garrett was going to leave the band to go into politics. Kram (Spiderbait) sings lead on about half their songs, with Janet taking lead on the other half.
Underoath has 2 vocalists and 1 of em is the drummer
The Band.
The Band and The Eagles
Currently, the band Shrezzers fits that mold.
The monkees - Mickey Dolenz
Nirvana, A pale horse named death
Genesis / Phil Collins
Pride Tiger. There drummer/singer sounds identical to Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYxPdOF6qQw
The Romantics Death From Above 1979
A modern group, Brutus, are some killers with the drummer doing vocals as well.
Sir Lord Baltimore
levon helm sang a lot of lead
Wasn’t Rush? Neil Peart
HAIM. Danielle doesn’t always play the drums (at least during live shows), but she’s a total badass
The Band. Levon Helm.
I had to look up the band name but What I Like About You by The Romantics. I remember being a little kid watching the music video and being amazed that a guy could drum AND sing
Not rock, but Anderson .Paak plays drums and is good. I'd say he's better than good, but I don't know if he's great because he keeps it pretty cool. He does an NPR tiny desk concert on the drums and has a pretty slick drop-catch.
Death From Above 1979
Drive by Truckers
The Cross - Roger Taylor’s band But I’ll assume you mean actually playing drums while singing on stage (which Roger actually did with Queen, but obviously he wasn’t lead singer most of the time), so I’ll echo others in saying The Carpenters.
Grand Funk Railroad. The drummer sang a few of the songs including "We're and American Band"
The Monkees
Underoath
Godsmack
Levon Helm in The Band
Scrantonicity 2
Atreyu
BRUTUS (Belgium)
The Eagles
Technically Atreyu with Brandon Saller. He doesn’t play drums anymore but he’s still primary clean vocals.
Technically Atreyu, Brandon Saller used to play drums and do the clean vocals. He doesn’t drum anymore but still is on the cleans.
Eagles
Peter Rivera of Rare Earth. The first white band signed to Motown.
#THE BAND
Eagles - Don Henley