Here’s a playlist composed of songs sung by band members other than the usual lead singer. It’s quite interesting that several of these songs are among the best known of the band, without the lead singer being prominent. Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson sang lead on two of Canned Heat’s most successful hits: “Going Up The Country” and “On The Road Again”. Similarly, Buck Dharma sang lead on two of Blue Öyster Cult’s most successful hits: “Burnin’ For You” and “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”.
The real outlier here is “Have A Cigar”, sung by Roy Harper, never a member of Pink Floyd. A noted musician in his own right, Harper was recording in an adjacent studio at Abbey Road and offered to do the vocals when Roger Waters and David Gilmour couldn’t get the vocals done to their own satisfaction. Harper nailed it.
I hope you enjoy these “alternate vocalists”.
| Song | Band | Song Vocalist | Usual Vocalist(s) |
| Take It To The Limit | The Eagles | Randy Meisner | Glenn Frey |
| Tempted | Squeeze | Paul Carrack | Glenn Tilbrook |
| Africa | Toto | David Paisch | Bobby Kimball, Steve Lukather |
| Happy | The Rolling Stones | Keith Richards | Mick Jagger |
| We’re An American Band | Grand Funk | Don Brewer | Mark Farner |
| The Guns of Brixton | The Clash | Paul Simonon | Joe Strummer |
| Burnin’ For You | Blue Öyster Cult | Buck Dharma | Eric Bloom |
| Going Up The Country | Canned Heat | Alan Wilson | Bob Hite |
| Ooh La La | The Faces | Ronnie Wood | Rod Stewart |
| Can’t You See | The Marshall Tucker Band | Toy Caldwell | Doug Gray |
| Little Miss Strange | The Jimi Hendrix Experience | Noel Redding | Jimi Hendrix |
| Boris The Spider | The Who | John Entwistle | Roger Daltrey |
| Coffee and TV | Blur | Graham Coxon | Damon Albarn |
| Superman | R.E.M. | Mike Mills | Michael Stipe |
| Have A Cigar | Pink Floyd | Roy Harper | Roger Waters, David Gilmour |