Despite early singles success in the United Kingdom, the band were initially more successful in the United States, billed as " The English guys with the big fiddles ".

Despite predictions from the music press that the band would fold without Wood, who had been the driving force behind the creation of ELO, Lynne stepped up to lead the band, with Bev Bevan remaining on drums, joined by Gibson, Richard Tandy ( now on the Moog synthesiser ), Mike de Albuquerque on bass and vocals and Mike Edwards and Colin Walker on cellos.

Despite his self-professed attempts to treat Jamiroquai as a band, Kay has always been at the forefront of the band.

Despite having completely dropped out of the public eye for five years after the gold-selling Test for Echo ( which peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200 ) and the band being relegated almost solely to classic rock stations in the U. S., Vapor Trails reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart in its first week of release in 2002 with 108, 000 albums sold.

Despite the political climate in which the band had lived, the vast majority ( though not all ) of the material the band released focused not upon the Northern Irish Troubles, but upon issues such as adolescence, teenage angst and heartbreak.

Despite poor record sales ( due to the elongated period of inactivity by the band ) the album is favored by critics and fans alike.

Despite this, the band did not feel part of the hardcore scene ; as Mars later stated, " we were confused about what we were ".

Despite the overwhelmingly positive critical reception for their first 4 albums, the band was frustrated by its lack of wider mainstream success.

Despite the departure of Williams, Take That completed their Nobody Else Tour as a four-piece band.

Despite Nirvana's demise, the band has continued to be successful posthumously.

Despite their continued success, a variety of tensions emerged within the band to threaten their split.

Despite publishing a very good review for their 1995 album Afraid Of Sunlight and including it in their 50 Best Albums of 1995, Q refused to interview the band or write a feature on them.

Despite the rise of the grunge and alternative rock, adult contemporary-styled ballad hits include " Bed of Roses " and " Always " helped sustain the band ’ s popularity in the 90's.

Despite an extensive tour and an appearance on Late Night with Conan O ' Brien, the album was not commercially successful, and when the label folded, the band and the label parted ways.

Despite multiple lineup changes, the band has remained commercially successful and continues to tour and record.

Despite their new found peace, the band pursued a harsher and angrier musical direction.

Despite reports that the band began work on a sixth studio album in 2002 that reportedly would go back to their Core-era sound and planned on releasing it in 2003, the band had dissolved by the end of 2002, after reports of an altercation between Dean DeLeo and Weiland after the last show of Stone Temple Pilots ' fall 2002 tour.

Despite critical acclaim, the album sold poorly ( or " went lead ", as Lauper says ) and the band broke up.

Despite the band's aversion to press coverage, the album was successful in both Europe and the United States ( where it sold more than 150, 000 copies even before the band toured there ).

Despite the move away from the Valley, Charlton were promoted to the First Division as Second Division runners-up at the end of 1985 – 86, and remained at this level for four years ( achieving a highest league finish of 14th ) often with late escapes, most notably against Leeds in 1987, where the Addicks triumphed in extra-time of the play-off final replay to secure their top flight place.

Despite the limitations imposed on ancient Chinese concubines, history and literature have examples of concubines achieving great power and influence.

Despite the severe damage the economy of Georgia suffered due to civil strife in the 1990s, Georgia, with the help of the IMF and World Bank, has made substantial economic gains since 2000, achieving robust GDP growth and curtailing inflation.

Despite achieving independence in 1956, Morocco still has a strong relationship with its former colonizers.

Despite these strains, however, Nigerians had assisted in the halting process of achieving stability in Chad, and both nations reaffirmed their intention to maintain close ties.

Despite holding a master's degree in an era when American conscripts often lacked a high school diploma, Lehrer served as an enlisted soldier, achieving the rank of Specialist Third Class ( later retitled " Specialist-4 " and currently " Specialist "), which he described as being a " corporal without portfolio ".

Despite a highly promoted launch ( including being named Time magazine's " 1994 Product of the Year ") and a host of cutting-edge technologies, the 3DO's high price ( US $ 599 at launch ), limited third-party developer support, and an over-saturated console market prevented the system from achieving success comparable to competitors Sega and Nintendo.

Despite not achieving fame for himself, he was a very astute judge of talent in others, and through his connections in Henny's world, Kelly was able to help promote the early careers of Sam Kinison, Louie Anderson, Roseanne Barr, and several other notable personalities.

Despite their deaths, there is a sense of peace and resolution over the family — especially over the boy, who has achieved the single thing he most wanted in the world, which is achieving his literacy.

Despite his deep respect for Gokhale, however, Gandhi would reject Gokhale's faith in western institutions as a means of achieving political reform and ultimately chose not to become a member of Gokhale's Servants of India Society.

Despite slow initial sales the album went gold in France and Australia over the next two years, achieving gold status in the U. S. in 2002, and selling over six times platinum in Australia in 2006.

Despite this newest theory of reading, Barthes remained concerned with the difficulty of achieving truly neutral writing, which required an avoidance of any labels that might carry an implied meaning or identity towards a given object.

Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called " the quintessential critics ' band " and maintains a strong cult following.

Despite achieving the goal of promotion, Thordarson was sacked by Gunnar Gíslason only days after the club won promotion.

Despite achieving its objectives, the attack on the Custom House was a setback for the IRA as a large number of Volunteers were captured either during the attack or when falling back.

Despite achieving a Scottish record of nine points in the group stage, Celtic failed to qualify for the latter stages and parachuted into the UEFA Cup.

Despite never achieving major success, 45 Grave are recognized as being one of the first American gothic bands, predating the formation of Christian Death.

Despite achieving a partial success and opening the way for a retreat, Floyd lost his nerve and ordered his men back to the fort.

Despite their depleted state, the Regia Aeronautica attempted a strategic attack on Gibraltar on 19 July with 10 SM. 79GAs, but only two managed to reach their target, again without achieving any result.

Despite, achieving great prominence already, Čolić continued appearing at the occasional festival such as the Zagreb one in 1976 where surprisingly he finished in fourth place singing " Ti si bila, uvijek bila ".

Despite 20 years of power, in which the government caused the deliberate deaths and executions of millions, the Party does not seem to be any closer to achieving the goal of a socialist utopia.

Despite its relative technical simplicity, the injection ( grafting ) technique for breast augmentation is accompanied by post-procedure complications — fat necrosis, calcification, and sclerotic nodules — which directly influence the technical efficacy of the procedure, and of achieving a successful outcome.

Despite these results, claims that there is no difference between visualizing success and achieving success, are entirely false.

Despite Toll not achieving the 90 % requirement, the Government honoured the Heads of Agreement made in July.