In groups, there's always a member that gets pinned as THE future solo breakout. Beyoncé, George Michael, MJ, Timberlake, etc.

But in what cases was the breakout NOT the one people expected?

I'll start with Take That, which unabashedly revolved around Gary Barlow. When the group disbanded in 1996, it was expected that Gary would triumph over Robbie, who had left the year earlier. And at first it was neck and neck. But 1998 changed everything, with Robbie dropping Angels while Gary got dropped.

Edited February 16Feb 16 by Virgos Groove

Cheryl Cole

Nadine was billed as top member, she was known, praised and respected for her vocals, she was credited for giving Girls Aloud credibility, had a high profile because she was dating actor from Desperate Housewives during their peak and then Cheryl came out from nowhere.

Edited February 16Feb 16 by NoAngelus

30 minutes ago, NoAngelus said:

Cheryl Cole

Nadine was billed as top member, she was known, praised and respected for her vocals, she was credited for giving Girls Aloud credibility, had a high profile because she was dating actor from Desperate Housewives during their peak and then Cheryl came out from nowhere.

In the beginning sure, but Cheryl dated Ashley Cole and then became a judge on X Factor so by 2008, when they released their biggest album, it was clear to most people who the star from the group was I think.

1 minute ago, CaptainMusic said:

In the beginning sure, but Cheryl dated Ashley Cole and then became a judge on X Factor so by 2008, when they released their biggest album, it was clear to most people who the star from the group was I think.

Yeah but Cheryl did came out of nowhere even during that time.

SHe suddenly got cheated on by a high profile husband, met will.i.am who used her vocals in a song that became a hit and hired her to dance in a video and then Simon Cowell invited her for X factor. All of that happened basically in less than a year. But at the time UK was hyping up Nadine for 5 years to go solo.

Nadine's ego went over the roof because she believed the hype lol

Jack Antonoff. He did the drums when he was in the band.

For the Spice Girls, it's an interesting conundrum - all the talented ones had multiple #1 or top 5 singles, and Geri was the initial break out solo act, but it's Melanie C - who was often in the background and the quietest member - who has had the career longevity and is still releasing new music to this day.

Eternal - it was (OH HI!) Louise who was the breakout solo act, instead of the two loud god bothering sisters who were probably expected to have decent solo careers, given they stole all the lead vocals in the day. Louise went on to have 10 top 10 UK hits, and the other bullying sisters are now homeless.

Edited February 16Feb 16 by Punky Rooster

Jade kinda? She's not massive or anything but her album definitely got the most acclaim and hype from all the Little Mix members. Always thought it would be Perrie

Mel C swept with Geri when she released this, 1M in the UK and 3M in Europe

Rachel was always in Jo's shadow in S Club 7, but she is the biggest solo star of the group

Maite Perroni from RBD. She was completely overlooked, the stars of the group were supposed to be Anahí and Dulce María.

But in the end she's the only one that carved an actually successful acting and music career for herself out of the group

26 minutes ago, alestevens said:

Maite Perroni from RBD. She was completely overlooked, the stars of the group were supposed to be Anahí and Dulce María.

But in the end she's the only one that carved an actually successful acting and music career for herself out of the group

The same thing happened in Timbiriche, the main singers/stars were first Sasha and then Mariana, in many songs Thalía/Paulina were backup singers

11 minutes ago, Link16 said:

The same thing happened in Timbiriche, the main singers/stars were first Sasha and then Mariana, in many songs Thalía/Paulina were backup singers

Thalia and Paulina being the cover of the video and then barely ever seen on screen or heard on the song

LeToya Luckett is the ONLY member of Destiny's Child not named Beyoncé with a platinum, #1 album on the Billboard 200 chart.

One more: Miguel was a contestant on a 2004 TV show forming a Hip-Hop/R&B group (Fatty Koo) and was roasted for doing too much by all of the other contestants. He didn't make the cut, and the group lasted for one album before being shelved indefinitely, while Miguel was discovered in 2007 after submitting songs he wrote to Usher's label and Usher's A&R telling him he should keep a few for himself before signing him on the spot. Look at him now.

I guess Rose

She's the most boring member but has the biggest hit

4 hours ago, NoAngelus said:

Cheryl Cole

Nadine was billed as top member, she was known, praised and respected for her vocals, she was credited for giving Girls Aloud credibility, had a high profile because she was dating actor from Desperate Housewives during their peak and then Cheryl came out from nowhere.

Whoever told Nadine to sidestep major UK labels and accept the offer of the fledgling record label wing of a supermarket (Tesco Records) did her dirty. Sure, I see how being exclusively distributed to the equivalent of Wal-Mart back in the day could be successful, but I'm sure her album had some exclusivity deals with the Supermarket before being released everywhere else, wrecking her chart potential.

21 minutes ago, BTS said:

I guess Rose

She's the most boring member but has the biggest hit

Eh each Blackpink girl is a solo star tbh.

3 hours ago, NoAngelus said:

Yeah but Cheryl did came out of nowhere even during that time.

SHe suddenly got cheated on by a high profile husband, met will.i.am who used her vocals in a song that became a hit and hired her to dance in a video and then Simon Cowell invited her for X factor. All of that happened basically in less than a year. But at the time UK was hyping up Nadine for 5 years to go solo.

Nadine's ego went over the roof because she believed the hype lol

It's so funny to read that Nadine was supposed to be the star when I knew about Cheryl as a celebrity BEFORE knowing Girls Aloud music back in the day

Context: I am from Southeast Asia, and we know of plenty of UK acts in 00s, MTV Asia promoted a lot tbh (Westlife, Coldplay, Adele, Blue are huge here. Many other like Robbie, Craig David, Sugababes, Natasha Bedingfield, Leona etc - they have popular songs but people aren't really fans of the artist or even remember the artists' name) Yet nobody here knows about Girls Aloud, their music was never played on MTV Asia or on radio at all. Tbh I'm not sure if Girls Aloud music really matches Southeast Asia music taste anyway, maybe the record label knew that and never cared to put money promoting them here unlike other acts.

And then Cheryl got that scandal with Ashley Cole, and it was written on paper, and then she keeps appearing in list of most beautiful women in the world - so it was like I knew of Cheryl first, then I knew of Girls Aloud thanks to Cheryl, and then I hear Girls Aloud's whole discography and realize how big they are in UK

Probably Niall, as most people would have only expected Harry and Zayn.

9 hours ago, reymiu said:

It's so funny to read that Nadine was supposed to be the star when I knew about Cheryl as a celebrity BEFORE knowing Girls Aloud music back in the day

Context: I am from Southeast Asia, and we know of plenty of UK acts in 00s, MTV Asia promoted a lot tbh (Westlife, Coldplay, Adele, Blue are huge here. Many other like Robbie, Craig David, Sugababes, Natasha Bedingfield, Leona etc - they have popular songs but people aren't really fans of the artist or even remember the artists' name) Yet nobody here knows about Girls Aloud, their music was never played on MTV Asia or on radio at all. Tbh I'm not sure if Girls Aloud music really matches Southeast Asia music taste anyway, maybe the record label knew that and never cared to put money promoting them here unlike other acts.

And then Cheryl got that scandal with Ashley Cole, and it was written on paper, and then she keeps appearing in list of most beautiful women in the world - so it was like I knew of Cheryl first, then I knew of Girls Aloud thanks to Cheryl, and then I hear Girls Aloud's whole discography and realize how big they are in UK

Yeah this is pretty much experience of everyone else outside UK

For example here in Serbia Sugababes were pretty much one of the most played acts on MTV (Germany) during 00s, I knew GA because I managed to see few of their videos played randomly during dance hour or something like that (so I got into their music thanks to internet) and then Asley Cole scandal happened during promo for CSF and suddenly radios embraced it, I remember it actually peaking in top 20 (?) on European radio chart that calculated plays from all radios in Europe. And a year later she became household name, so many endorsement, her billboards were everywhere and I always had to remind people that she had a decade long career prior to that.

Even to this day people don't know she was in successful girl group.