The only reason Michael Jackson sang on The Jacksons' album Victory and tour was because his father and brothers wanted to capitalise on his success with Thriller. Around the same time Michael was making guest appearances on other things, such as Paul McCartney's "Say Say Say" and Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me", to name a few. Too bad the tour was a disaster that led Michael to leave. Jackson then appeared on the Jacksons' album 2300 Jackson Street, singing only the title track because his father and brothers were desperate for a sale, but the album still flopped.
This is extremely common with hip-hop artists. One tried-and-true method of promoting a new rapper is by having them drop a verse on other artists' songs and appearing in their videos, building up hype for their own solo material. The Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg, Pit Bull, Nicki Minaj, and countless others have started their careers this way.
The album Wolverine Blues by Death Metal band Entombed actually featured Marvel's Wolverine on the cover of some early versions. This was done by the record company cutting a deal with Marvel without the knowledge of the band. Obviously, the album had nothing actual to do with Wolverine at all.
During the period between him leaving Guns N' Roses and his reunion with the band, Slash made a lot of appearances in the media, which pretty much cemented his status as one of pop culture's most famous guitarists.
Similarly, Dave Grohl collaborates with just about everyone and has made many media appearances, even filling in as host of Chelsea Lately for a week.
This review of a mediocre German recording of Leonard Bernstein's Candide, narrated by Loriot, notes that Loriot's name is "twice the size of Bernstein's name" on the cover and that he "is the only person whose picture is printed in this package. The same picture, six times."
Angus Young of AC/DC always seems to be emphasized in their album covers and interviews, even though Bon Scott and Brian Johnson are the lead singers. Granted, he is the lead guitarist and always co-writes the songs along with his brother Malcolm (they even do the lyrics ever since The Razors Edge); but it seems as if his face is featured front and center on every piece of AC/DC merchandise, while Malcolm, Bon or Brian are hardly featured at all.
Same with Gene Simmons of KISS, probably because he wears the most outlandish face paint. He's been a guest judge on American Idol, recorded a spoken-word album, and was even a guest in a documentary about Superman. Many fans are surprised when they first learn that Gene is only the co-lead singer (splitting the duties with Paul Stanley) and plays bass and not lead or rhythm guitar.
Kevin Talley. Even when he was in Dying Fetus, he was already making a name for himself as an in-demand live session player, and once he left, it seemed as if he had made it his life's goal to do session work for every single band in metal. It goes like this: if a band suddenly needs a fill-in drummer or needs someone to do studio work due to lack of a full-time drummer, chances are high that Talley will get the job due to his extreme precision, protean adaptability, and uncanny ability to learn entire sets in a matter of hours and play them perfectly.
For an artist who has yet to have her own real top 40 hit, singer Bebe Rexha has become almost a staple for other artists to have hits and is featured on a new hit song almost once a week.
Invoking this trope was key to Beyoncé's solo success. Her first appearances outside Destiny's Child were collaborations with various hip-hop artists, where she'd be credited as "...featuring Beyoncé Knowles from Destiny's Child" (though the "...from Destiny's Child" part was eventually dropped). Later, she started acting in movies and lending her vocals to their soundtracks, and her very first solo release was "Work It Out" from Austin Powers in Goldmember. This led to her solo debut album Dangerously In Love, where she was credited as simply Beyoncé.
Macy Gray, after having a Top 10 hit with "I Try" and a 3x platinum debut album, was poised to become a superstar. Her management attempted to make her a big name in R&B by putting her in collaborations with the likes of The Black Eyed Peas, Santana, Fatboy Slim and OutKast, and cross-promoting her through guest appearances in TV shows and films like Spider-Man and Scary Movie 3. This didn't work out in the long run, as her next two albums weren't as commercially successful as her debut, and she was soon dropped by Epic Records.
of a mediocre German recording of Leonard Bernstein's Candide, narrated by Loriot, notes that Loriot's name is "twice the size of Bernstein's name" on the cover and that he "is the only person whose picture is printed in this package. The same picture, six times."