Songs with very famous backup singers

[x-ray vision]

Jagger on Peter Wolf's Nothing But the Wheel.

[bordelond]

Originally Posted by Kilvert's Pagan

OK, wait a minute... wasn't Michael McDonald considered at one time a member of Steely Dan? I think he was during Pretzel Logic anyway...

I was thinking the same thing ... but it's a little quirky with Steely Dan.

Steely Dan had only two members -- Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Any other musicians/singers you may hear on a Steely Dan recording would be a hired session player.

The Alan Parsons' Project was similar -- a revolving door of talent, with Alan Parsons behind the sound board as the lone constant.

[Loach]

Tommy Smothers plays guitar and sings on John Lennon's Give Peace a Chance.

On Robbie Robertson's great first solo record both the Bodeans and U2 back him on several tracks. Bono sings backup on two songs IIRC.

The king of funk George Clinton sings backup (backwards!) in a Frank Zappa song on one of his last albums. The song was called something like Yahonza.

[Wee Bairn]

Originally Posted by bordelond

I was thinking the same thing ... but it's a little quirky with Steely Dan.

Steely Dan had only two members -- Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Any other musicians/singers you may hear on a Steely Dan recording would be a hired session player.

Tricky I know, but I thought they were officially a band up through Pretzel Logic or so, and then became Becker/Fagen plus the hired help from then on.

[Rhythmdvl]

Originally Posted by Sean Factotum

I don't think so. He did write the song for them because he didn't want them doing one of the songs from Ziggy Stardust ("Suffragette City"?)

AH ha. Maybe one of the Hooples sounds close? I thought he chimed in near the end of the song, bits around the chorus. I'll see if I can find it online and point to a Bowie-like voice.

On another note (heh), Bruce Hornsby guests on an awful lot of tracks -- and has guests on many of his.

[Greg From PA]

David Bowie had some help with "Fame".
John Lennon helped write this song - he came up with the title and also sang the background "Fame" parts in the high voice. They started working on the song when Bowie invited Lennon to the studio, and Lennon played rhythm guitar on a jam session that resulted in this track. Lennon was one of Bowie's idols, and they became good friends.

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

Originally Posted by Loach

The king of funk George Clinton sings backup (backwards!) in a Frank Zappa song on one of his last albums. The song was called something like Yahonza.

(A bit late on this, but as long as the thread has been revived...)

That was Johnny Guitar Watson, not George Clinton.

[Kilmore]

The Dictators' "Faster and Louder", back up vocals by Bruce Springsteen.

[Lord Mondegreen]

Any famous backup singers on "All You Zombies"?

[cochrane]

Originally Posted by Astroboy14

Toni Tennille sang back ups on Pink Floyd's The Wall. As did Brian Wilson.

Originally Posted by cochrane

They also sang backup on Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," along with Bruce Johnston. This was before the Captain and Tennille became famous, but Toni Tennille and her husband Daryl Dragon (The Captain) were in demand as session musicians and singers and toured with the Beach Boys for a good length of time.

Cher started as a session singer in the early 60's for Phil Spector. Some of the songs she sang backup vocals on were "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" by the Righteous Brothers, "Da Do Ron Ron" by the Crystals, and The Ronettes' "Be My Baby."

Huh. I came in to mention this, then noticed that I had already posted this two years ago. But as long as it's up, I need to correct my earlier post. It wasn't Brian Wilson who sang backup vocals on "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," but rather his brother and fellow Beach Boy, Carl.

[Saint Cad]

Originally Posted by Savannah

I'm shaking my head. Once again, a record I thought I had the only extant copy of, and was the only fan of, shows up in another Doper's collection/awareness.

Mrs. Cad has it on her iPod

[x-ray vision]

Originally Posted by Astroboy14

Toni Tennille sang back ups on Pink Floyd's The Wall. As did Brian Wilson.

According to one of the session singers, Tennille and Wilson's sining never made it to the album.

Session singer Jimmy Haas, who is credited with backup vocals on the Wall, e-mailed me to set the record straight. He says that while Toni Tennille, the Beach Boys and others originally provided backup vocals on the Wall, their parts were ultimately scrapped and re-recorded using Haas and three other backup vocalists. Haas asserts that "We [the four session singers] re-did everything that was on tape up to that point. Some of it was just bare ideas that Roger had, but the intonation and flow just wasn't there, at least on the Beach Boy parts. The only thing I recall Toni on was a bit of 'Goodbye Blue Sky.' She may well have done more, but once Roger and David got our first tune in the can after about an hour's work, they erased everything [the previously recorded Beach Boys and Tennille vocals] and started over."

One thing is certain, though: Toni Tennille is not the voice of the groupie on the album version of "Empty Spaces." Floyd fan Brian Magnuson e-mailed Tennille's official web site, the reply stating that Toni did sing backup on the album, but did not voice "the Groupie."

http://www.thewallanalysis.com/main/...questions.html

Originally Posted by Loach

The king of funk George Clinton sings backup (backwards!) in a Frank Zappa song on one of his last albums. The song was called something like Yahonza.

I don't think George Clinton and Frank Zappa ever worked together. Maybe you were thinking of George Duke? Duke performed vocals on Ya Hozna.

[Freudian Slit]

She's not HUGELY famous (though she should be, IMHO) but Darlene Love ("Today I Met the Boy I'm Gonna Marry," "He's a Rebel," "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home") and the Blossoms sang back up on a lot of songs, like "Johnny Angel." (And I think "Shoop Shoop (In His Kiss))."

[SeldomSeen]

"Lion In The Winter" by Hoyt Axton (a great song, by the way) had Linda Ronstat on backing vocals.

Originally Posted by Savannah

I'm shaking my head. Once again, a record I thought I had the only extant copy of, and was the only fan of, shows up in another Doper's collection/awareness.

Mrs. Cad has it on her iPod

+1....I've always loved that song. And I've still got the vinyl LP.

Originally Posted by Lute Skywatcher

The Big Bopper on Johnny Preston's "Running Bear", which he also wrote.

I believe George Jones also did backup on "Running Bear"

[cjepson]

A bunch of famous folks including Mick Jagger and Keith Moon contributed handclaps, backing vocals, etc., to the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love".

Buck Owens duets with Dwight Yoakam on two songs from Yoakam's album Tomorrow's Sounds Today. However, duets is an entirely different thing, I guess... especially these days when all kinds of old musical giants are putting out duets albums.

David Crosby and Graham Nash provide background vocals on the song "Starship" from the album Blows Against the Empire by Jefferson Starship (at that time a "Paul Kantner plus friends" one-off).

There was this whole bunch of people who worked on each others' albums back in the early 70s -- Joe Cocker, Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, etc. For example, Cocker and Gram Parsons both do vocals on the album Motel Shot by Delaney & Bonnie and Friends.

[JessMagic]

Originally Posted by Lord Mondegreen

Any famous backup singers on "All You Zombies"?

Or "Zombie Nation"?

Jack White sang back-up on "Danger! High Voltage" by Electric Six. I think.

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

Originally Posted by x-ray vision

I don't think George Clinton and Frank Zappa ever worked together. Maybe you were thinking of George Duke? Duke performed vocals on Ya Hozna.

You're right, it's George Duke on "Ya Hozna" (actually his vocals from "Sofa #2" turned backwards). I was thinking of another track with backwards vocals, "Won Ton On," when I mentioned Johnny Guitar Watson above.

[Superdude]

Adam Duritz from Counting Crows sang back-up on "Sixth Avenue Heartache' by The Wallflowers.
Axl Rose was singing back-up for Don Henley on "I Will Not Back Down."
The Beatles/John Lennon's "Ballad of John and Yoko" had Paul McCartney singing back-up on the second half of the song. It started out as one word per line, and gradually gets more of the lyrics.
Vanessa Carlton's voice is the one doing the "Mmmbopbop" on some versions of the Counting Crows remake of "Big Yellow Taxi."
The B52's Kate Pierson sang on REM's "Shiny Happy People."

[Rrose Selavy]

Iggy Pop provided backing vocals on Bowie's Low album eg "What in the World"

[x-ray vision]

Originally Posted by Superdude

Axl Rose was singing back-up for Don Henley on "I Will Not Back Down."

The song is "I Will Not Go Quietly."

[Superdude]

Originally Posted by x-ray vision

The song is "I Will Not Go Quietly."

Thanks for the correction. And thanks for knowing what I was trying to say. I used to own that CD, so there's no reason why I should have that title wrong.

[baileygrrrl]

David Crosby back up Phil Collins on "Another Day in Paradise"

[Girl Next Door]

Paul McCartney co-wrote and played bass on Elvis Costello's "Veronica".
Daryl Hall sang backup on INXS' "Original Sin".
Steve Winwood played keyboards and sang backup on Billy Joel's "Getting Closer"
Phil Collins was EVERYWHERE in the 80s, including producing, backup vocals, and drums on the reissue of Howard Jones' "No One Is to Blame"
Dave Matthews Band, Spin Doctors, & Blues Traveler all did stuff on each others' records in the '90s.

[Superdude]

Originally Posted by Girl Next Door

Steve Winwood played keyboards and sang backup on Billy Joel's "Getting Closer"

Which, of course, leads to Billy Joel having Cyndi Lauper sing backup on "Code of Silence," from the same album.

And Joel sang back-up on Lauper's "Maybe He'll Know," off of her True Colors album.

[Superdude]

And Billy Joel had Color Me Badd sing backup on "All About Soul," from River of Dreams

[Dallas Jones]

Sheryl Crow began her career as a backup singer for Michael Jackson on his Bad World Tour in '87 and did backup for Stevie Wonder, Don Henley and Belinda Carlisle among others.

[Superdude]

According to his wikipedia entry, actor Stephen Tobolowsky (Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day), was a back-up singer and guitarist in the first band formed by Stevie Ray and Jimmy Vaughn.

[Cat Whisperer]

Not quite a back-up singer, but Stevie Ray Vaughan played lead guitar on David Bowie's "Let's Dance" album.

Trying to think of all the songs Prince has guested on - just assume he sang with everyone he worked with?

[Wendell Wagner]

On Cheech and Chong's "Basketball Jones" there are several famous backup singers, musicians, etc.:

Darlene Love - Cheerleader (voice)
Michelle Phillips - Cheerleader (voice)
Ronnie Spector - Cheerleader (voice)
George Harrison - lead guitar
Klaus Voormann - bass
Jim Karstein - drums
Jim Keltner - percussion
Carole King - electric piano
Nicky Hopkins - piano
Tom Scott - saxophone
Billy Preston - organ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball_Jones

[Stratocaster]

Originally Posted by Superdude

The Beatles/John Lennon's "Ballad of John and Yoko" had Paul McCartney singing back-up on the second half of the song. It started out as one word per line, and gradually gets more of the lyrics.

McCartney was in the Beatles, for Pete's sake. If that counts, there's about a million more. I hear John sang back-up on I Saw Her Standing There, too.

[Superdude]

I'm admittedly not the world's biggest Beatles fan, but the song was played on the radio the other day, and the DJ attributed it to Lennon himself, not the Beatles. Since Yoko is widely considered one of the main reasons the Beatles broke up (and I'm not saying that she is or is not responsible), I wasn't sure exactly where in the "life" of the band the song came from.

[Stratocaster]

No worries, just poking fun. That song was a bona fide Beatles song, FWIW.

[Superdude]

"Weird Al" Yankovic sings back-up on Ben Folds' album Songs for Silverman, specifically on the song "Time."

And I gotcha, Strat. Thanks for the heads-up.

[Krokodil]

Taj Mahal did the background grunts (and guitar) in Michelle Schocked's "Jump Jim Crow" on the brilliant Arkansas Traveler.

On the album Stay Awake, 'Little April Showers" was a duet between Michael Stipe and Natalie Merchant--with background vocals by the Roches!

On Brent Spiner's novelty album Ol' Yellow Eyes is Back, on the song "It's a Sin (to Tell a Lie)," he's backed up by The Sunspots: LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes and Patrick Stewart.

[Lacunae Matata]

Heard one on the radio today, and immediately thought of this thread:

The ever-present Michael McDonald sang backup on Christopher Cross' "Ride Like the Wind." (Apologies if someone already mentioned it and I missed that post!)

[cjepson]

Originally Posted by Superdude

I'm admittedly not the world's biggest Beatles fan, but the song was played on the radio the other day, and the DJ attributed it to Lennon himself, not the Beatles. Since Yoko is widely considered one of the main reasons the Beatles broke up (and I'm not saying that she is or is not responsible), I wasn't sure exactly where in the "life" of the band the song came from.

One of the last Beatles singles, and actually recorded with only Lennon and McCartney present. Certainly it was a John Lennon composition, and he might have released it as a solo single if Paul had passed on it (as he did with "Cold Turkey"), but it was indeed released as a Beatles song.

[ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness]

Geddy Lee of Rush sang the chorus on Bob and Doug McKenzie's Top 10 hit "Take Off"
Christopher Cross sang backup on David Lee Roth's cover of "California Girls"

In the category of people singing backup on cover versions of their own compositions:
Ray Davies sang backup on Joan Jett's cover of "Celluloid Heroes"
Elton John appears on Bob the Builder's cover of "Crocodile Rock".

[DfrntBreign]

Originally Posted by Cat Whisperer

Not quite a back-up singer, but Stevie Ray Vaughan played lead guitar on David Bowie's "Let's Dance" album.
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He also appeared in this video by Jennifer Warnes doing a Leonard Cohen song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnsB6VBznBA

[Rick_S]

Sorry to be so late to this party, but I have one that's driven me crazy for years that I can't find attribution for... did Daryl Hall sing backup on Under Pressure (by Queen & Bowie)? I swear I hear him in the "scat" background vocals, but can't find any source for it.

As an offering, I bring you these tidbits - not necessarily vocals, but interesting (at least to me) none-the-less...

Flea played bass on "You oughta know", by Alanis Morissette, with Dave Navarro on guitar. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagged_Little_Pill)

Clapton played the lead guitar solo on "While my guitar gently weeps" on the Beatles' White Album (source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/While_M...r_Gently_Weeps)

[Argent Towers]

Save It For A Rainy Day by Stephen Bishop - which is now almost totally forgotten - has Chaka Khan singing in the background, and the (utterly forgettable) guitar solo is played by Eric Clapton!!

[OneCentStamp]

Originally Posted by Only Mostly Dead

So does Ms. Emmylou.

She produced the outstanding Gram Parsons cover/tribute album Return of the Grievous Angel, and sang backup on at least three tracks.

She also sang backup that just takes Ryan Adams' "Oh My Sweet Carolina" from a great song to heartbreaking sweetness.

She also sang backup on "We Are Nowhere And It's Now," from Bright Eyes' 2005 album I'm Wide Awake It's Morning.

[BwanaBob]

Originally Posted by OneCentStamp

...As did Rush's "Time Stand Still," featuring Aimee Mann of 'Til Tuesday.

And to add another link in the chain, Elvis Costello backed up Aimee Mann/Til Tuesday in "The Other End of the Telescope". It was only fair since EC co-wrote it.

[astorian]

Originally Posted by Rick_S

Sorry to be so late to this party, but I have one that's driven me crazy for years that I can't find attribution for... did Daryl Hall sing backup on Under Pressure (by Queen & Bowie)? I swear I hear him in the "scat" background vocals, but can't find any source for it.

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I don't know about Daryl Hall, but I know Billy Squier provided some vocals on that track.

[Ponch8]

Kesha sang part of the chorus of Flo Rida's "Right Round" in an uncredited appearance.

[Steophan]

David Crosby and Graham Nash did backing vocals on David Gilmour's "On An Island" album from 2006, and on the subsequent tour and live releases.

Emmylou Harris has done backing vocals on almost every song, ever*, and has had some pretty high profile guests on her albums. Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa do vocals on "Tragedy", from "Red Dirt Girl", and Neil Young sings on two songs from "Wrecking Ball", including the title track which he wrote.



*A quick look at Wikipedia lists around 400!

[Doug K.]

Alice Cooper's Teenage Lament '74 has Liza Minelli, The Pointer Sisters, Ronnie Spector, and Noma & Sara from La Belle as background singers.

[Made in Macau]

In a recent Guardian interview, Clarke Peters (Lester Freamon in The Wire and Chief Albert in Treme) said that as a young singer in London he sang backing on 'Come Up and See Me' by Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, and the low line 'Well give me love' on Joan Armatrading's 'Love and Affection'!
I was going to say about Black Coffee in Bed too - damn you Word Man! Squeeze's Glenn Tilbrook sings on a few Amiee Mann songs inc 'That's Just What You Are'

MiM

[Baal Houtham]

Originally Posted by Made in Macau

I was going to say about Black Coffee in Bed too - damn you Word Man!

Damn indeed! Scooped by less than four years... :^)

[Billy Big]

Elvis Costello - Satellite bgv Chrissie Hynde
Spencer Davis Group - I'm Blue (Gong Gong Song) bgv Millie (Small) (My Boy Lollypop)
Elvis Costello - Shipbuilding (Chet Baker on trumpet)
Harry Belafonte - Midnight Special (Bob Dylan on on harmonica)
Lulu - The Man Who Sold The World bgv David Bowie
Elton John - Nikita bgv George Michael

[BeeDubU2]

Do The Roots count? Who haven't they backed up? Also, John Mayer makes a surprising number of appearances in hip hop music.