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Some band breakups happen in the studio, but these ones went down on the road! Join us as we count down the most shocking musician dismissals that happened right in the middle of a tour! From erratic behavior and substance abuse to personal conflicts and broken promises, these mid-tour firings shook the music world to its core. Which firing do you think was the most dramatic?
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00:00At that point, sit Jimmy and Jonathan down to say...
00:04Oh, yeah.
00:05Oh, yeah.
00:06Firing is an option here.
00:06We had a long comical talk where they told us, you know, it'll never happen again, and
00:11we're really sorry.
00:13Welcome to WatchMojo, and today, we're looking at 10 musicians who were famously kicked out
00:18of successful bands while in the middle of an ongoing touring schedule.
00:22Well, all the headlines said I was fired, you know, but I didn't see how you could
00:27fire someone out of a group of that magnitude.
00:30Mark St. John
00:31I was very flattered.
00:33I was really more than happy to come to New York and settle in here with the guys and start
00:38a new career.
00:39Right.
00:40When it comes to reasons to get dismissed, an unexpected health issue is truly an unfortunate
00:45thing.
00:45For Mark St. John, he had scored the career breakthrough of a lifetime, joining KISS in
00:501984 as lead guitarist.
00:52Sadly, his actual tenure was quite short — roughly six months.
00:56In that time, he did record the album, Animal Eyes, before accompanying the band on stage
01:01for two gigs.
01:02Build in the night, far from the light, has no taking over.
01:10However, he was unable to convincingly produce his own solos in a live setting — not due to
01:15a lack of skill, but because he developed reactive arthritis.
01:19This caused severe swelling in his hands and arms, making it impossible for him to meet the
01:24band's standards.
01:25He was dismissed shortly after, and replaced by Bruce Kulik.
01:29Make the sky with desire, angel fly, heavens on fire.
01:36Nick Oliveri
01:44Although Nick Oliveri only spent six years in Queens of the Stone Age, his relationship
01:49with frontman Josh Homme stretched back into their time in Caius.
01:53That period with the iconic rockers was an especially fruitful one, though, leading to
01:57some of the band's most beloved albums.
02:00Oliveri's aggressive bass playing, vocals, and songwriting were fundamental to Rated R and
02:05songs for the deaf, making him one of the group's defining members.
02:08He's trying to kill us tomorrow!
02:15Personal tensions and erratic behavior from the bassist began to put a strain on things
02:19in 2003.
02:21More seriously, Homme had confronted Oliveri over allegations that he had abused his girlfriend.
02:26Homme said that if he discovered the allegations were true, their friendship was over.
02:30He was fired from the band in 2004.
02:34He didn't need Mark or me or, you know, around anymore, which is how I really honestly feel
02:40is what went down, and now he's the frontman of that band, and he can go in any direction
02:46he wants with it, and more power to him, you know?
02:50Merrick Ashok-Smerda
02:57When it rains, it pours, and in the case of British extreme metal outfit Cradle of Filth,
03:02they underwent some pretty serious lineup changes in 2025.
03:06Merrick Smerda, known as Ashok, joined Cradle of Filth in 2014, becoming one of their longest-serving
03:12guitarists and appearing on four albums, a resurgent period for the band.
03:23It all fell apart when his wife, keyboardist Zoe Marie Federov, abruptly left during the
03:29South American tour, alleging low pay, a toxic working environment, and serious management
03:34problems.
03:35Smerda publicly supported her criticisms and announced that he intended to leave after
03:39completing the tour.
03:40Instead, frontman Danny Filth decided to fire him immediately, effectively terminating his
03:45membership mid-tour.
03:55David Ruffin
03:57At their peak, there was no denying that the magnetism of David Ruffin was a major reason
04:02for the Temptations' success.
04:12His gritty, emotional, intense vocals powered classics including My Girl, Ain't Too Proud
04:17to Beg, and I Wish It Would Rain.
04:19By 1968, however, his ego, substance abuse, demands for greater control, and increasingly
04:24erratic behavior had made him a serious problem.
04:28After he missed the 1968 performance, the band promptly booted him from their lineup.
04:32If they thought that would solve the issue, they were wrong.
04:35He subsequently began turning up at Temptations' concerts and taking the microphone from replacement
04:39Dennis Edwards, creating further chaos by getting the crowd on his side so he could sing
04:44his signature songs… a particularly messy split.
04:48I just think that that was time for a change and life lands a crushing blow sometimes, you
04:56know.
04:56Vivian Campbell 20-year-old guitar phenom Vivian Campbell
05:09was a key member of Ronnie James Dio's band during their early years.
05:12He played on each of Dio's first three albums while accompanying him on stage for several
05:17iconic tours.
05:18What happened next remains something of a mystery.
05:29While Dio said Campbell quit, Campbell himself has always maintained that he was fired.
05:35He says Dio had promised the musicians an ownership arrangement after three albums, but that promise
05:40was never honored.
05:41Campbell supposedly challenged Dio over the issue and was dismissed midway through the
05:46Sacred Heart tour in 1986.
05:48Either way, his dismissal had nothing to do with his incredible playing, and most fans would
05:53agree that was an unfortunate end of an era.
05:55I remember reading this and thinking, why did he say that I left the band?
05:59I never left the band.
05:59I was fired.
06:00I mean, I never wanted to leave that band.
06:02Jeff Beck
06:10Replacing a guitarist of Eric Clapton's stature is no easy feat, and yet Jeff Beck was more
06:15than up to the task.
06:17He spent nearly two years in the Yardbirds before another future legend, Jimmy Page, took
06:21the lead guitarist role from there.
06:23While his stint was a success, things began to unravel before long.
06:35During the 1966 U.S. tour, Beck became increasingly unreliable, missed performances, and clashed
06:41with the group over its increasingly commercial touring commitments.
06:44After a Corpus Christi show, he disappeared from the tour amid health and personal problems,
06:49and the band subsequently told the press he had been fired.
06:52We were overqualified in the guitar department, and underqualified in the writing department,
06:57and we really should have taken stock there, and said, look, we'll waive the tour, we ain't
07:02ready for that, you know, but instead, we just took the opportunity, and it burned itself
07:07out.
07:11Lemmy
07:20While many of you will no doubt be familiar with Lemmy due to his role as frontman in the
07:25legendary Motorhead, his four years with Hawkwind provided the foundation for what would follow.
07:40He contributed heavily to the band's harder, more aggressive sound, and wrote Motorhead,
07:45the song that would ultimately inspire his next project's name.
07:57If you know anything about Lemmy, though, you'll know that he had his struggles with substance
08:01abuse.
08:02His dismissal came in May of 1975, during a North American tour, after he was arrested
08:07at the Canadian border for possession.
08:09Hawkwind initially bailed him out because they needed him to perform, but after the show,
08:13they fired him.
08:14Did you feel it coming?
08:15Were you completely coincided?
08:17Yeah, no, it was coming for a long time, because what it was was 70s drug snobbery, you
08:23know, like they were all just doing organic drugs, man, you know, and I was doing speed
08:27and organic drugs, I didn't like that, you know.
08:29Jimmy Chamberlain.
08:39To say that Jimmy Chamberlain was a crucial part of the Smashing Pumpkins classic era would
08:43be an understatement.
08:44He joined in 1988, becoming an indispensable component of their sound on the albums Gish,
08:50Siamese Dream, and Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness.
08:53He was fired during their 1996 tour after an extraordinary tragedy.
09:06Touring keyboardist John Melvoin died from an overdose in a New York hotel room while
09:11with Chamberlain, who was arrested for possession.
09:14The band told the media that they had been fighting with his addictions for years, and
09:18it had nearly destroyed them.
09:20He was fired shortly after, but later rejoined them in the 2000s.
09:24It's always a tragedy when that happens, because it's not necessarily always the artist's fault.
09:29That's more bull-drug addict excuses.
09:32I'm sorry, but that's just more excuses.
09:34The fact of the matter is, as you're a human being, you have responsibilities not only to
09:38yourself, but to others.
09:39Sid Barrett.
09:49Pink Floyd's early years are often referred to as the Sid Barrett era, a time when he
09:54was the primary songwriter, creative force, and singer within the group.
09:59He was the one who defined their psychedelic identity in the 1960s, writing most of their
10:04first classic album, A Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
10:08By late 1967, however, his behavior and performances had become increasingly unpredictable, with heavy
10:14substance use and serious psychological deterioration contributing to his inability to function reliably
10:20on stage.
10:32David Gilmour was brought in to compensate, and famously, they simply decided not to pick
10:37him up while on their way to a show in 1968.
10:39His decline would be steady from this point onwards, and he would not rejoin the band.
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11:19Danny Kerwin
11:28Fleetwood Mac are a band that can be divided cleanly into several eras.
11:33Most famously, the bluesier Peter Green-led lineup, and the commercial success brought about
11:38with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks at the helm.
11:40I don't say I'm a good man, oh, but I would be if I could.
11:49During the final years of the Green Era, young guitarist Danny Kerwin became a problem for
11:54the group due to his erratic behavior and descent into substance abuse.
11:58In 1972, while touring, Kerwin suffered a severe breakdown before a show.
12:04He smashed his guitar against a dressing room mirror, injured himself, and refused to perform.
12:09Mick Fleetwood made the decision to fire him permanently shortly after.
12:19But did we miss out on any mid-tour firings that immediately sprang to your mind?
12:24Let us know in the comments below.