One of my pastimes is joining with listeners every Saturday morning all across North America to hear a replay of Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 program. It replays a countdown from this week in the 1970s, one particular year at random, on the “70s on 7” channel at 9:00am my time and for the next three or so hours, we chat about the show using the hashtag #AT40.
It was during last week’s replay of the Top 40 for 1975 that the song “How Long” by Ace reached its peak chart position of #3. That song featured the lead vocals of the wonderful Paul Carrack, who went on to sing “Tempted” for the group Squeeze, and went to #1 with Mike + the Mechanics in the 1980s with “The Living Years.” He also had a hit as a solo artist with the #9 single “Don’t Shed a Tear.”
What an amazing feat, to have been the lead singer on three hits with three different bands and as a solo artist. There can’t be too many who have hit such a home run.
That led to a discussion in the replies of my social media account with suggestions of other artists who might qualify. Would duets count as different bands, like Paul McCartney, Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder, Wings, Beatles? Would they have to have sung lead on a hit by one of their bands to count, questioning whether Eric Clapton, Cream, Yardbirds, and Derek & The Dominoes would count?
Therefore, I decided on the following criteria for Home Run Singers:
- Must be the lead singer on the hit song (The Eric Clapton Rule1);
- The “hit song” must have placed on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 (The Paul Carrack Rule2);
- Must have a hit song with three or more different bands, defined as “two or more artists who recorded an entire album” (The Graham Nash Rule3);
- Must also have a hit song with a solo album or single, or a duet single, but having both doesn’t count double (The Stevie Nicks Rule4)
Little did I think that when I embarked on this project, luminaries like Neil Young, David Crosby, Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman, Sammy Hagar, and Chris Cornell didn’t qualify (maybe if we included country and hard rock charts). I also never would have guessed there’d be a singer who achieved the Home Run in a single year and go on to hit with five different bands (a 3-run homer, perhaps). The Home Run Singers list was last updated on June 2nd, 2025.
| SINGER | 1ST BASE5 | 2ND BASE5 | 3RD BASE5 | HOME RUN5 |
| Paul Carrack | #3: Ace, “How Long“, 1975 | #49: Squeeze, “Tempted“, 1981 | #1: Mike + The Mechanics, “The Living Years“, 1988 | #9: Paul Carrack, “Don’t Shed a Tear“, 1987 |
| Graham Nash | #7: The Hollies, “Stop Stop Stop“, 1966 | #28: Crosby, Stills & Nash, “Marrakesh Express“, 1969 | #7: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, “Just a Song Before I Go“, 1977 | #35: Graham Nash, “Chicago“, 1971 |
| Stephen Stills | #7: Buffalo Springfield, “For What It’s Worth“, 1967 | #21: Crosby, Stills, & Nash, “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes“, 1969 | #18: Crosby, Stills & Nash, “Southern Cross“, 1982 | #14: Stephen Stills, “Love the One You’re With“, 1971 |
| Tony Burrows | #5: Edison Lighthouse, “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)“, 1970 | #13: White Plains, “My Baby Loves Lovin’“, 1970 | #13: Brotherhood of Man, “United We Stand“, 1970 | #87: Tony Burrows, “Melanie Makes Me Smile“, 1970 |
| Tony Burrows (cont.) | #9: The Pipkins, “Gimme Dat Ding“, 1970 | |||
| Tony Burrows (cont.) | #4: The First Class, “Beach Baby“, 1974 | |||
1 I had to limit this to singers, because if you just count musicians who were on hits with three bands and as a soloist, Eric Clapton gets in, but the entire Wrecking Crew and all those studio cats in Toto and countless other session musicians would be left out solely on the virtue of not having hits as solo artists. And also, fuck Eric Clapton.
2 I was going to limit this to Top 40 hits, but in doing my research I learned that “Tempted” by Squeeze only made it to #49 on the U.S. chart and #41 on the U.K. chart. Blasphemy! It’s like learning that Elton John‘s “Tiny Dancer” was not a Top 40 hit (peaked at #41). So, Billboard Hot 100 is what counts as a “hit,” which bothers me, because it disqualifies Soundgarden, Audioslave, and Temple of the Dog vocalist Chris Cornell. And also, fuck Eric Clapton.
3 Does Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Crosby, Stills, & Nash count as two separate bands? That’s a tough one, because in a sense, it’s the same band that just lost one member. It’s not like Tom Johnston’s and Michael McDonald’s Doobie Brothers are two separate bands just because the former left and the latter joined, even though they sound more distinct from each other than CSNY and CSN. For the sake of clarity, if they recorded an album under a different name, they are a different band. And also, you know, fuck Eric Clapton.
4 Originally The Paul McCartney Rule, because someone wanted to include Paul McCartney, Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder, Wings, and Beatles. I considered that, but then I realized that then lets in Stevie Nicks, Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks & Don Henley, and Fleetwood Mac. Then we’re far afield from the idea of it being three bands and as a soloist. Therefore, you can achieve the “solo hit” either as a solo artist or as part of a duet, but doing both gains no additional credit. And sorry about the fuck Eric Clapton, but he’s a bigot, so fuck Eric Clapton.
5 The highest charting song to qualify for the artist is listed. There may be more lower-charting hits that also fit the criteria.
