the.com/lead singer
The one person in the band whose ego fits on a chest, not a tour bus.
means The vocalist who fronts the band and typically draws the spotlight, the name, and the credit the others quietly resent.
from A straightforward compound: 'lead' (to guide or go first, from Old English lǣdan) plus 'singer.' The phrase rose with 20th-century bands and orchestras that needed a label for whichever voice stood at the mic while others played rhythm or backup — 'lead' doing the same job it does in 'lead guitar,' marking the part that carries the melody everyone else follows.
- origin
- term predates rock, borrowed from choir hierarchy
- irony
- often can't read the music others wrote
- stat
- most bands' highest-paid, least-replaceable member
- myth
- solo careers rarely outsell the band they left