Drummer to Singer Pipeline (549 views)

[VocalDudeGuy]

For those who don't know, lead singer Tad Doyle (someone I'm currently notewatching) used to be the drummer for old bands he played in before becoming a lead vocalist for his own band TAD. This fact seemed pretty interesting to me, specifically due to the fact that he didn't sing at all when he was a drummer, which got me thinking about the drummer to singer pipeline.

Dave Grohl is probably the most well known example of this phenomenon, and Chris Cornell is an interesting example of this switch although he handled both in the very early days of Soundgarden. What are some notable examples of lead singers who used to be primarily be drummers before they stepped up to be a front man?

[IhateMana]

Atsushi Sakurai from BUCK-TICK started out as the drummer

[Homelander]

Ringo Starr.

[Yojojo]

After Peter Gabriel left Genesis in 1975, Phil Collins stepped up as lead vocalist. Tours often had drums done by someone else with Phil on vocals.

[Hennessy Macklemore III]

I've notewatched quite a few of them:

• Jonny Hawkins started out as the drummer of Nothing More, gave a shot taking over on vocals while also recording drums on their 2009 album The Few Not Fleeting, then switched over to becoming their dedicated lead vocalist when they got a touring drummer after that.
• Todd La Torre was a drummer who sang backing vocals for almost 20 years or something (though I haven't been able to find much information about the bands he played drums in, presumably because they were small bands local to the Florida metal scene), and then suddenly wowed everyone by becoming the new vocalist for Crimson Glory and doing a top-tier job singing Midnight's vocal parts live. Then he became the new lead vocalist for Queensrÿche and did an even better job in that band, and has continuing a very successful career as a singer ever since. He also played drums on Queensrÿche's 2019 album The Verdict in addition to handling vocal duties.
• Jeff Martin has alternated between being a drummer and a singer for much of his career. The main band that he served as lead vocalist for was Racer X in the '80s, and then once again in the late '90s and 2000s, though he also sang on a solo album, in a band called Blasted to Static, and a few others that he only made it as far as recording demos with. He spent a fair bit of the '90s (and also apparently the '70s, according to an interview with him) being a drummer though, mainly in Badlands, Michael Schenker Group, and for his own guitarist from Racer X, Paul Gilbert.
• Sal Abruscato was the founding drummer of Type O Negative and later on played drums in Life of Agony, but since 2010 has been serving as the rhythm guitarist and vocalist of A Pale Horse Named Death. He also played drums on the first two Pale Horse albums. Not really as much of an impressive vocalist as some of the others I've listed here, but another example nonetheless.
• Bill Ward is well-known name as the drummer of Black Sabbath, but went on to do lead vocals on his three solo albums, some of which he played drums on as well; while others had a dedicated drummer while Ward handled solely vocal duties. 
• Pat Torpey mainly served as the drummer of Mr. Big, but also released two solo albums that he did lead vocals on. Towards the end of his life, he actually mainly had to focus on being more of a backing and occasional lead vocalist/percussionist, because his Parkinson's Disease rendered him physically incapable of playing most of his drum parts with Mr. Big. 
• Peter Criss served as drummer/co-lead vocalist in Kiss, and then eventually went on to pursue a solo career where he exclusively did lead vocals.
• Eric Carr was Peter Criss' replacement in Kiss and was hired both for his drumming and vocal abilities to serve that role. Though he didn't get to do much lead vocal singing in that band (he got to sing on a re-recorded version of "Beth", the song "Little Caesar", and then live versions of "Black Diamond"), he eventually had a posthumous solo album released in 1999 that featured some very impressive vocal performances by him! Shame he wasn't utilized more in that regard while he was still alive...
• Eric Singer was Eric Carr's replacement in Kiss, and also did a certain amount of lead vocals. However, I would say he is probably the drummer that this criteria applies to the least, because on his solo album with the Eric Singer Project, vocal duties were split between him and his other collaborators in that project, and when he has toured with them, he often has let John Corabi handle primary vocal duties while he just sings a few songs here and there. He definitely seems to have a lot of vocal talent though, so I kinda wish he would step up to the microphone for that purpose more often.

[ellie]

Ben Folds went to school for percussion, played drums in some bands and was even a session drummer before he started Ben Folds Five. Darren Jesse was the drummer for Ben Folds Five and now he sings for his band Hotel Lights and his own solo stuff.

[beethoven]

Would Karen Carpenter count as someone for a good example of this thread? Karen Carpenter was best remembered for being the lead vocalist of the duo The Carpenters, but on occasion, she could be seen playing the drums in some of their performances.

[avi]

patrick stump was the drummer and had no interest in singing when fall out boy started