New Edition!
It's rare for members of an established band to become more successful after leaving the group, but the six members of New Edition divided and conquered the charts at the start of the '90s--as solo acts Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill and Ralph Tresvant and the hip-hop/R&B trio Bell Biv DeVoe. However, that unusual feat overshadowed the parent group's deceptively strong career, which saw New Edition successfully adapt to fickle R&B trends.
The group began as a lip-synching quintet of Boston schoolboys who caught the eye of producer/svengali Maurice Starr. Starr modeled the group--which included Brown, Tresvant, Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe--after the Jackson Five, providing them with the irresistibly catchy 1983 hit "Candy Girl." Starr also wrote, produced and played on much of the group's debut, Candy Girl, but New Edition soon broke acrimoniously with their mentor and signed to MCA Records. A similar Jackson Five-like sound marked the group's breakthrough 1984 hit, "Cool It Now," and its second album, titled New Edition, went top 10. But 1985's All For Love was less successful, and a 1986 album of '50s and '60s covers, Under The Blue Moon, further eroded the group's momentum. Brown went solo, but New Edition recruited established singer Gill and producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, returning with the more mature, new jack swing-fueled "If It Isn't Love" and the top 20 album Heart Break in 1988.
The group then split amicably in 1989 and its various offshoots ruled the charts in 1990 and 1991. But the waning commercial fortunes of its members led New Edition to reunite for a 1996 tour and album, which garnered lukewarm reviews. Although the Midas touch appears to have deserted the group and its members, New Edition's collective track record makes it impossible to rule out a return to the top of the charts.