WHERE ARE THEY NOW: One-hit wonders from the past 60 years
One-hit wonders have produced some of the most popular music of the last 60 years.
A-ha had one of the greatest pop songs and music videos of all time with "Take On Me." They are still touring.
Nena, who hit it big in the '80s with "99 Luftballons," now appears as a judge on "The Voice" in Germany.
Semisonic's "Closing Time" reached No. 1 in 1998. In the years since, singer Dan Wilson has written hits for Adele, Taylor Swift, and others.
For some musicians, churning out hit songs one album after the next comes naturally. For others, after striking gold with a hit single, more success didn't follow as easily.
We're talking about one-hit wonders, the artists who produced some of the most iconic and popular songs of the past six decades but fell short when trying to replicate their success.
Here's what 15 of your favorite one-hit wonders are up to now.
Norman Greenbaum made a name for himself with "Spirit In The Sky" but couldn't produce another hit of the same caliber.
Norman Greenbaum's monster hit "Spirit In The Sky" (which released in the UK in 1969 and the US in 1970) is known for its fuzzy guitar playing and catchy chorus. The American singer-songwriter's tune spent 15 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked and No. 3. in April 1970.
The song is one of the defining one-hit wonders of classic rock — it's number 341 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time — and it maintained its popularity throughout the years, appearing in numerous commercials, movies, and TV shows like "Apollo 13" and "The Office."
Half a century later, Greenbaum is playing small shows but has not put out any new music.
After "Spirit In The Sky" Greenbaum toured for a bit and released some follow-up tunes but nothing ever came close to the success he found with the 1969 hit. In 2015, Greenbaum was involved in a car accident that put him in a coma for three weeks. More recently, he's begun, slowly, playing live shows again.
After 50 years of taking people "to the place that's the best," Greenbaum spoke with Rolling Stone in January about the origin of the song and what it's like getting new fans at 77 years old.
"At first the record company said, 'Gee, they don't play anything like this on Top 20,'" Greenbaum told Rolling Stone. "But obviously they were wrong. We always knew it was going to be a hit. It just sounded too good."
He continued, "Now there's a whole young generation that is into the song. All of a sudden I'm getting a little resurrection of my career. And that's making me feel pretty good!"
Looking Glass' 1972 song "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)" was the band's only hit single.
In 1972, "Brandy" earned Looking Glass its only single on the Billboard Top 100, peaking at No. 1 and staying on the chart for 16 weeks, even though they released another album the next year.
Elliot Lurie, who wrote and sang "Brandy," went on to become a successful music executive.
After Looking Glass broke up in 1974, Lurie recorded a solo album and then moved to Los Angeles where he found a successful career supervising music for film and television at Twentieth Century Fox, according to his website.
"Brandy" is still on the airwaves and appeared in 2017's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," as ( Kurt Russell) describes it as "one of Earth's greatest musical compositions, perhaps the greatest."
Though it never climbed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, Cheryl Lynn's "Got to Be Real" is one of the most popular disco songs ever recorded.
"Got to Be Real" reached No. 1 on the US R&B charts in 1978 and earned Cheryl Lynn her first and only breakout song.
Cheryl Lynn toured in the 2000s but has remained relatively quiet since then. She is pictured during a performance on "The View" in 2015.
In 2004, Mary J. Blige and Will Smith covered the song for the animated film "Shark Tale," earning the song a whole new generation of fans. In 2005 "Got to Be Real" was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame.
Dexys Midnight Runners are best known in the US for the 1982 hit "Come On Eileen."
In 1982, the English new wave group Dexys Midnight Riders released one of the most successful bops of the '80s, "Come On Eileen." Even though the band didn't use any synthesizers (the instrument that helped define '80s pop) on the track, opting for more acoustic instruments, it found enormous success and reached No. 1 in the US, UK, Ireland, and Australia, according to Songfacts.
The upbeat song became synonymous with the decade, largely because of its airtime on the brand new MTV. "Come On Eileen" earned the band the Best British single award at the BRIT Awards in 1983.
Although the band saw success with other songs in the UK — their earlier song "Geno" also topped the charts — only "Come On Eileen" reached the US.
More than 30 years later, the band, now known as just Dexys, released a new album.
As of 2017, "Come On Eileen" has earned Rowland and the band over $1.6 million in album sales and streams combined. The original band broke up later in the '80s after failing to find larger success in America. But Rowland still tours with a new version of the band, which now goes by just "Dexys," and released a new album, "Let the Record Show: Dexys Do Irish and Country Soul" in 2016.
Speaking to The Irish Times in 2017, Rowland said, "I'm grateful for it ['Come On Eileen'], definitely. I mean, at the same time, I'm very careful not to live in the past." He said he never listens to his hit song unless someone plays it for him or is "trying to provoke him."
Eddy Grant had three songs reach the Billboard Hot 100, but "Electric Avenue" was his most successful single.
Guyanese-British singer-songwriter Eddy Grant's 1983 hit single "Electric Avenue" was a reggae/disco staple of the '80s and has lived on as one of the most popular songs from the decade.
"Electric Avenue" spent 22 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at No. 2. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song but lost to Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean."
Grant has toured on and off throughout the years. Perhaps most notably, he performed at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday party in 2008.
Grant has released a number of albums since his burst to stardom in the 1980s, including 2017's "Plaisance" and he was recognized with a lifetime achievement award from the government of Guyana in 2016.
German pop group Nena's hit song "99 Luftballons" was so popular it merited an English version.
Few artists from Germany have cracked the charts in the US. But Gabriele Susanne Kerner, better known as Nena, hit it big globally in 1983 and 1984 with the song "99 Luftballons." The song spent 23 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at No. 2. It was so popular that an English version of the song ("99 Red Balloons") was recorded, though it wasn't as commercially successful.
Nena, now a solo artist, has released new music and served as a judge on Germany's "The Voice" shows.
Nena the band only lasted from 1982 until 1987, but Nena the solo artist went on to release multiple studio albums including "LICHT," which was released in October — though none did as well in the US as "99 Luftballons." Nena still tours primarily around Europe and has appeared as a judge on "The Voice Kids" and "The Voice of Germany."
The Norwegian band A-ha burst into the mainstream thanks to its 1985 single "Take On Me."
While they wouldn't be considered a one-hit wonder in their native country, the Norwegian band A-ha, comprised of vocalist Morten Harket, guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, and keyboardist Magne Furuholmen had one of the biggest hits in the US in the '80s with "Take On Me."
A-ha release an earlier version of the song in Europe in 1984 that found success in the band's home country (No. 3 on the charts) but more or less flopped elsewhere. The next year a new version was released in the US along with a new music video for "Take On Me."
Thanks largely to MTV playing the song's music video, "Take On Me" crept into the top 40 charts in the US and eventually spent a week as the No. 1 song — it also reached No. 2 on the UK charts, according to Songfacts. The album featuring "Take On Me," "Hunting High and Low," went on to sell more than 55 million albums.
The band's keyboardist Magne Furuholmen told Rolling Stone in 2010, "I have no doubt that the video made the song a hit. The song has a super catchy riff, but it is a song that you have to hear a few times. And I don't think it would've been given the time of day without the enormous impact of the video."
The band still tours today and released a new album in 2015.
A-ha is gearing up for a global tour in 2021, provided the coronavirus doesn't cause the band to reschedule its shows again. Although "Take On Me" is still what most Americans know the band for, A-ha has released a total of 10 studio albums, most recently the 2015 album "Cast In Steel." A-ha also recorded its "MTV Unplugged — Summer Solstice" live album in 2017.
In February, the band celebrated the "Take On Me" music video earning one billion streams on YouTube. One of the band's career highlights was performing during the 1994 Winter Olympics, held in the band's home country of Norway in and near the town of Lillehammer.
Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)" skyrocketed in popularity thanks to its feature at the end of "The Breakfast Club."
The Scottish rock band Simple Minds' 1985 single "Don't You (Forget About Me)" spent 22 weeks on the Hot 100 chart and peaked at No. 1. The band went on to release subsequent singles including "Alive & Kicking" which peaked at No. 5 on the Hot 100, but they would never come close to the level of success the band found with "Don't You."
Simple Minds plans to tour in 2021.
Simple Minds is currently gearing up for a global tour in 2021 (coronavirus permitting) and will virtually perform on December 15 as a part of The Stars Come Out To Sing At Christmas, which raises money for Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy. The band released the studio album "Walk Between Worlds" in 2018 and the live album "Live In The City Of Angels" in 2019.
Blind Melon's "No Rain" never reached the top of the charts, but it remains one of the most popular one-hit wonders ever.
Although the band Blind Melon came up around the same time as fellow alt-rockers Nirvana and Pearl Jam, they didn't find the same amount of commercial success. But the band's song "No Rain," which peaked at No. 17 on the charts, and its music video's popular tap-dancing bee girl have lived on as some of the defining ephemera of the diverse '90s music landscape.
Blind Melon could have a new album and tour on the way.
In June the band virtually debuted two new songs, "Fence" and "In The Very Best Way," and teased a tour writing, "Thank you all for tuning in and watching, and we hope to see you on the road in the (near?) future."
Sir Mix-a-Lot produced one of the most iconic rap songs of the early '90s.
Even if you've never played the song at your own will, you're probably familiar with the line "Oh my God, Becky, look at her butt" from Sir Mix-a-Lot's 1992 hit "Baby Got Back."
It's one of the most iconic '90s rap songs and rightfully so; it spent 28 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and peaked at No. 1 for five weeks.
"Baby Got Back" also won the 1993 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance.
Sir Mix-a-Lot hasn't released any new music recently. He says he's finally accepted that "'Baby Got Back' is bigger than Sir Mix-A-Lot."
"Baby Got Back" resurfaced in 2016 when Nicki Minaj sampled the song in her hit "Anaconda."
Speaking to Billboard about his hit in 2017, Sir Mix-a-Lot said, "When I released it, gangsta rap was pretty big. I wasn't talking about shooting or killing nobody. I was just talking about something we all could agree on, or at least most of us. It's a little harder now to make something sticky. 'Baby Got Back' is a brand unto itself. I used to not want to accept that, but 'Baby Got Back' is bigger than Sir Mix-A-Lot."
4 Non Blondes had one of the biggest hits of the '90s with "What's Up?"
In 1993, "What's Up?" cracked the charts globally and peaked at No. 2 in the US, but a year after the band hit it big, 4 Non Blondes broke up.
Ironically, the phrase "what's up" doesn't appear in the song's lyrics. The chorus of the song is actually, "What's going on?" but the band wanted to avoid any confusion with Marvin Gaye's smash hit of the same name.
Linda Perry and her fellow bandmates went on to have successful solo careers.
Linda Perry has gone on to write and produce for a number of successful artists including Gwen Stefani, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, and Pink. Perry and record producer Kerry Brown have teamed up to create the artist collective We Are Here and have become a powerhouse in charity work.
Guitarist Shaunna Hall tours with George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic; guitarist Roger Rocha has a new band called the Goldenhearts; and bassist Christa Hillhouse is now a graphic and web designer, according to Popcrush.
The Rembrandts' hit single "I'll Be There For You" helped make "Friends" so iconic.
The Rembrandts' 1995 hit single "I'll Be There For You" cemented its place in the pop-culture pantheon after appearing before every episode of "Friends." Though most people probably don't know the band's name, millions of people have heard the American pop-rock duo's tune over the past 25 years.
The song soared to No 1. on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for 39 weeks. But it came at a price: Fans and fellow musicians labeled them as sellouts and they lost a core of their alt-rock fanbase.
"We went from being the darlings of the alternative scene to a proper mainstream band," singer Danny Wilde told The Independent in 2004. "Before 'Friends' we'd been playing all these underground venues. But 'I'll Be There' was so huge that we ended up playing stadiums almost overnight."
The Rembrandts still play their mega hit during tours. More recently, they've been sharing socially distanced virtual jams with fans.
The duo released the album "Via Satellite" in 2019 and still tours regularly but has recently been posting socially distanced virtual jams instead of performing live. They made a stop by Paste Studio in 2019 to perform an intimate version of their hit "I'll Be There."
In 1997 Chumbawamba gifted the world the timeless banger "Tubthumping."
It's anarchist, it's rage-fueled, it's energetic, it's "Tubthumping." Chumbawamba's 1997 hit single has become a pump-up staple at parties and sporting events even if nobody really knows all of the words. The song climbed the charts for 22 weeks, eventually peaking at No. 2, a feat no other Chumbawamba song would ever come close to.
Chumbawamba's Alice Nutter has had a successful writing career since leaving the band.
Since Chumbawamba's breakup in 2012, most of the band members have lived fairly quiet lives. But Alice Nutter, who left the band in 2004 because, as she told The Guardian in 2019, "if you're jumping about in your mid-40s, you look f---ing stupid," went on to become an acclaimed TV, radio, and theater writer.
Semisonic's "Closing Time" turned into an end-of-the-night bar staple.
While most people think of Semisonic's 1998 hit "Closing Time" as a last call anthem, singer Dan Wilson explained to Billboard in 2018 that the song is partially about the birth of his daughter. Regardless of how you interpret it, one thing is clear: It was a huge success. The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for 26 weeks.
Dan Wilson went on to write huge hits for other artists, including "Someone Like You" for Adele.
Dan Wilson, who has continued to make music as a solo act and songwriter, has written for Halsey and Taylor Swift, among other artists. He also wrote six of the songs on The Chicks' album "Taking the Long Way," which won five Grammys.
Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5" instantly became a dancehall anthem.
Originally recorded by Cuban artist Dámaso Pérez Prado in 1949, Lou Bega rose to stardom after releasing his cover of "Mambo No, 5" on the German recording artist's debut album "A Little Bit of Mambo" in 1999. The song immediately became an international hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and various other charts around the world.
Lou Bega is still going strong more than 20 years later.
In 2017 Lou Bega released his first single in years: "Scatman & Hartman," which samples Scatman John's 1995 song "Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)."
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