Sometimes there’s strength in numbers, other times it’s best to fly solo. Just ask these former boy band members! Sure, they were pretty famous when they were part of a group but there really hit the big time when they broke away and became single acts. Here are our favourite solo artists who said bye, bye, bye to band life:
American singer, rapper, and producer, Jay Park, rose to fame as part of Korean boy band, 4PM. But time ran out for the group and Jay decided to go at it alone by launching his own very successful solo act.
Vanness Wu got his start as a member of Taiwanese super group F4 but now spends his time focusing on his solo singing career, acting and judging Asia’s Got Talent.
Ronan Keating was part of Irish group, Boyzone, in the 1990s but has since made a name for himself as a solo artist. Catch him perform a Special Acoustic Set at Universal Studios Singapore today from 7:30pm onwards.
Arguably the bad boy of his group, Take That, Robbie left after a reported fallout with his other band members over the group’s musical direction. He’s a better man now though, and has since sold 57 million albums and 11 million singles on his own.
After five studio albums, two live albums and two greatest hits records H.O.T disbanded in 2001. This paved the way for KangTa to begin his own career and saw him embark on a collaborative effort with Vanness Wu, who is number 2 on this list.
Justin Timberlake was already pretty famous when he left N’Sync but he really shone when he broke out as a solo artist. He even has a Grammy award to prove it!
Irish boyband, Westlife, went south when Brian Mcfadden left their ranks in 2004 to spend more time with his family and embark on a solo career. Westlife continued as a four-piece but never replicated their former success.
While Adam Levine is still part of his American pop act, Maroon5, the lead singer inarguably overshadows the rest of his band. He has had a number of successful solo side projects, including a mentor role on reality singing competition, The Voice.
A million teenage hearts broke when Zayn decided to leave his boy band, One Direction. He has since released his own album, which has received critical applaud and is dating supermodel Gigi Hadid so we shouldn’t feel too bad for him.