Gentle Giant

Gentle Giant was one of the greatest and most influential progressive rock bands of the 1970s, despite never gaining the commercial success of some of their peers (like Yes and King Crimson). Granted, their meld of hard rock with classical music was difficult to describe, especially as one of the hallmarks of their sound was a medieval approach to singing. Still, Gentle Giant's early albums are among the most sophisticated and complex works in the genre. Later on, in an attempt to widen their audience, they simplified drastically, opting for a commercial, heavy-rock sound. This ultimately worked against them by alienating their cult fan base, and the band split in the early '80s. Brothers Ray and Derek Shulman went on to become successful in the music business, as producer and A&R man, respectively.