Skid Row Singers: Where Are They Now?
For many bands, the prospect of replacing a lead singer can be an insurmountable hurdle. But Skid Row isn't like most bands.
The chart-topping rockers have maintained a revolving door of singers since getting their start in Toms River, New Jersey, in 1986. They launched to stardom a few years later thanks to a pair of multi-platinum albums featuring megawatt singer Sebastian Bach. But Bach wasn't Skid Row's first singer — and he was far from their last.
The story of Bach's fallout with Skid Row is well-known hard rock lore by now. As their record sales slumped and the intra-band dysfunction escalated in the mid-'90s, Bach leapt at the opportunity to open for Kiss on their 1996 reunion tour. Unfortunately, his bandmates weren't all onboard with the idea. Bach expressed his feelings to them in no uncertain terms — and was promptly dismissed from the group after leaving a profanity-laden tirade on guitarist Dave Sabo's answering machine.
Bach's ouster marked the end of Skid Row's commercial heyday, but in terms of personnel, they were just getting started. Following a brief hiatus, the band relaunched in 1999 with singer Johnny Solinger, who became their longest-tenured vocalist and sang on several albums.
Following Solinger's departure in 2015, Skid Row's lead singer turnover rate increased dramatically, as they cycled through several more vocalists with little recorded music to show for it. It appeared they had finally broken the spell in 2022 with the recruitment of ex-H.E.A.T. frontman Erik Gronwall, who sang on that year's The Gang's All Here. But that, too, proved a false alarm, as Skid Row announced Gronwall's amicable departure (and a temporary, high-profile fill-in) in 2024.
What Skid Row does next is anyone's guess. Will they ever entertain a reunion with Bach, or will they find somebody else to do the job? If our list of Skid Row Singers: Where Are They Now? proves anything, it's that these rockers refuse to go down without a fight.
Skid Row Singers: Where Are They Now?
Gallery Credit: Bryan Rolli