There are a lot of obvious well-known ones out there, but I will start off with one that is a bit obscure that many might not know about...

Saga is a Canadian rock band best known for several singles including the 1982 American Top 40 hit On The Loose 

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They formed in 1977 by Jim Crichton (bass), Steve Negus (drums) and Pierre Rochon (keyboards), who had all previously been members of a band called Fludd, who from 1971-1976, had 11 hits in Canada, the highest charting of which was called What An Animal (#11, 1975)

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One of the most well known "offshoot" bands of my era is Hot Tuna, which came from Jefferson Airplane. I saw this classic performance on "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" some late night in 1973. The lyrics to this song are a bit salty, yet they sang it on TV with no problems and it also got a lot of radio airplay.

Hot Tuna
"Keep On Truckin"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsXIT_Z2shU

Jefferson Starship came from Jefferson Airplane too. The REAL one, not the Mickey Thomas garbage that came later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sXmYbtIoPA

Tom Tom Club came from Talking Heads.

Loverboy is a rock band from Canada who formed in 1979 and needs no introduction as they had a handful of hits in the US and Canada during the 1980s.  They formed in 1979 from two bands:  Lead singer Mike Reno was the vocalist for a band called Moxy, and on the one and only album he played with them in 1978, produced no chart hits, however the single Under The Lights can still sometimes still be heard on Canadian radio

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Paul Dean (Bass) and Matt Frenette (drums) came from a band called Streetheart, who are best known in Canada for their amazing Top 20 cover of the Rolling Stones song Under My Thumb, which peaked in early 1980.  Frenette had still been a member of the band when the song was recorded in 1979, and he can be seen in the music video, but at the song was rising up the charts, he was already in Loverboy recording their debut album

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I suppose you could say The Flying Burrito Brothers came out of The Byrds. Chris Hillman (original Byrds member) and Gram Parsons (member for "Sweetheart of the Rodeo") formed the band and continued the country feel of "Sweetheart".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3ZA_hQNWaY

Loverboy is a rock band from Canada who formed in 1979 and needs no introduction as they had a handful of hits in the US and Canada during the 1980s.  They formed in 1979 from two bands:  Lead singer Mike Reno was the vocalist for a band called Moxy, and on the one and only album he played with them in 1978, produced no chart hits, however the single Under The Lights can still sometimes still be heard on Canadian radio





Saw Loverboy in concert in the '80s. The Hooters opened for them and they really sucked. But, Loverboy was REALLY good.


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The English Beat group broke up to form two different bands, both of which enjoyed commercial success.  8)

David Wakeling and "Ranking Roger" Charlery formed General Public, who had the hit Tenderness.  Andy Cox and David Steele joined Roland Gift to form Fine Young Cannibals, having several hits starting with She Drives Me Crazy.

General Public
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XegL32Btzs

Fine Young Cannibals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtvmTu4zAMg

Two high profile members of the group Spirit left and went on to form the group Jo Jo Gunne.  Members Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes were in both groups (Jay Ferguson went on later to a solo career).

Spirit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzoQvuCfin4

Jo Jo Gunne:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOi0Iv5J45c

Electric Light Orchestra came out of The Move which featured Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne.

The Move
"Do Ya"
1972

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I5kH0klENs

ELO
"Do Ya"
1976

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1Y-rfbzmgY

The English Beat group broke up to form two different bands, both of which enjoyed commercial success.  8)

David Wakeling and "Ranking Roger" Charlery formed General Public, who had the hit "Tenderness".  Andy Cox and David Steele joined Roland Gift to form Fine Young Cannibals, having several hits starting with "She Drives Me Crazy".


Great example! O0

GP also had another hit in the mid-1990s with a cover of the Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There" (which received moderate radio airplay in 1994).

After the New Zealand-based band Split Enz broke up, some of its members - Neil and Tim Finn, and Paul Hester - went on to form Crowded House.

Bonus: the Finn Brothers eventually went on to form their own duo, simply named (you guessed it) The Finn Brothers!

Electric Light Orchestra came out of The Move which featured Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne.


Roy Wood eventually left ELO and formed his own band called Wizzard, whose 1973 Christmas song I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday is legendary and must be played every Christmas.  It's so good!

The Collectors was a rock band from Vancouver who had a few hits in Canada during the late 60s before changing their name to Chilliwack in 1970.  While they had a little over 2 dozen hits in Canada, they are best known in the United States for the 1981 Top 40 hit My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone) among a few other minor/modest hits

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In 1979, members Brian McLeod and Ab Bryant formed a side project called Headpins and when their 1982 debut album took off, they soon left Chilliwack to focus on Headpins full time.  They had a few hits in Canada, but their lone US chart entry was Just One More Time which peaked at US #70 in February of 1984

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Cutting Crew is a rock band from the UK who had a few hits in the mid-late 80s, the best known of which was (I Just) Died In Your Arms, which topped the US and Canadian charts in 1987.  This song needs no introduction, but here it is anyway!

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Lead singer Nick Van Eede had previously been in a band called The Drivers in the early 80s and in 1983, they peaked at #31 in Canada with a great song called Tears On Your Anorak.  While on tour across Canada, their opening act was a group called Fast Forward (who didn't really have any success) and Van Eede was so impressed with that bands' guitarist Kevin MacMichael, that the two got together and formed a new band that would become Cutting Crew

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The Quarrymen > The Silver Beatles > The Beatles

The Quarrymen > The Silver Beatles > The Beatles


> Wings

also Denny Laine of Wings was a founding member of The Moody Blues

> Wings

also Denny Laine of Wings was a founding member of The Moody Blues
+ Plastic Ono Band?

> Wings

also Denny Laine of Wings was a founding member of The Moody Blues



+ Plastic Ono Band?


Are we covering that territory too? I thought the topic was bands that clearly evolved out of, or were offshoots of, other bands. Not just one member of a band starting another band. There's millions of those.

Are we covering that territory too? I thought the topic was bands that clearly evolved out of, or were offshoots of, other bands. Not just one member of a band starting another band. There's millions of those.
Can we include The Travelling Wilburys and The Highwaymen in this topic?

Can we include The Travelling Wilburys and The Highwaymen in this topic?


That's tricky because they are "supergroups" with individual members that came from various bands. Then we'd have to include Blind Faith and CSN(Y) as well. And nobody from The Highwaymen actually came from a band per se, they were all individual solo stars.

I still think one of the best examples of bands coming from other bands is the Hot Tuna/Jefferson Starship axis I referenced in an earlier post. Though it would seem in some ways two factions of Jefferson Airplane, the Kaukonen/Casady axis and the Kantner/Slick axis (with Marty Balin as piggy-in-the-middle) splintered off in two directions, both bands actually grew very organically from the womb of Jefferson Airplane.

The Housemartins were an indie pop band from the UK who charted 8 hits in the UK (7 which made the Top 40) from 1986-1988.  They were perhaps most famous for their fantastic cover of the 1985 Isley Jasper Isley hit Caravan of Love which was a UK #1 single in 1986 and a song I have loved since the first time I saw its music video when I was a kid.

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When the group split up in 1988, bassist Norman Cook fronted several successful electronic groups in the 90s including Beats International, Pizzaman and Mighty Dub Kats, before becoming widely known as Fatboy Slim. 

Singer Paul Heaton and drummer Dave Hemmingway formed The Beautiful South in 1989 and went on to greater success scoring 32 UK hits (22 which made the Top 40) from 1989-2006.  While they never charted on the US Hot 100, their debut single Song For Whoever (which had peaked at UK #2 in 1989) made them a one hit wonder in Canada when it peaked at #81 in 1990

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Joy Division was a short-lived post punk band best known for two things:  Their 1980 hit Love Will Tear Us Apart and the death (suicide) of lead singer Ian Curtis that same year.

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Later that same year, remaining members Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris, joined by new member Gillian Gilbert, re-grouped under the name New Order and went on to immense success that still continues to this day!  For me, the best New Order song is still the Extended Dance Remix of their 1986 hit Bizarre Love Triangle

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In 1989, Bernard Sumner, lead singer of New Order, and Johnny Marr, former guitarist with The Smiths formed a duo called Electronic.  Their debut single Getting Away With It, which features backing vocals from Neil Tennant, the voice of Pet Shop Boys, was a UK Top 20 hit in December of 1989 and by 1990 had reached the US Top 40.  This song is such fun to sing along with!

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Neil actually sings lead vocals on their 1992 hit Disappointed which was featured in the movie Cool World.  This peaked at #6 in the UK and was their highest charting single in the UK

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Heaven 17 is a British band that formed in 1980 by Glenn Gregory, Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware.  The latter two had been founding members of The Human League, a band that needs no introduction, but left that same year to form Heaven 17, and went on to chart a number of hits in the UK.  While they charted many singles on the US Dance charts, their lone single to peak in the US Hot 100 and Canadian Top 100 was called Let Me Go in 1983, which peaked at #74 in the US and #41 in both the UK and Canada.  This is such a fantastic song!

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In 1988, Siobhan Fahey left the UK girl group Bananarama over creative differences and formed Shakespears Sister with American singer Marcella Detroit (who under her birth name Marcy Levy, was best known as a backup singer for Eric Clapton in the 70s and co-wrote his 1977 hit Lady Down Sally).  While the duo had a small run of hits in the UK, they are best known for the 1992 hit Stay, which was a UK #1 single, and peaked at #4 in both the US and Canada.  This song was absolutely massive!

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Richard Hudson and John Ford were members of the UK rock group The Strawbs, who are best remembered for the 1973 hit Part of the Union which peaked at #2 in the UK and #48 in Canada. 

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After leaving The Strawbs, they went on as a duo under the name Hudson Ford, scoring a few UK hits in 1973-74 before forming the band The Monks.  The latter peaked at UK #19 in 1979 with the song Nice Legs Shame About Her Face and in early 1980, they scored a #18 hit in Canada with Drugs in My Pocket.  The latter song was so popular in Canada, it propelled sales of their debut album Bad Habits to Double Platinum, which led to their follow-up album Suspended Animation being an exclusive Canadian release at launch

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