She was on the live ones for sure!
Katey Sagal – and Luther Vandross – are credited on Midler’s second live album Divine Madness.
Kate Pierson of The B-52s sang on R.E.M.'s song Shiny Happy People.
I love Bob, but having him as a backup singer is … odd … given that he can sing only passably well on a good day, and he has a lot of bad days.
Not to mention duetting with Iggy Pop on Candy.
He does have a distinctive, immediately identifiable voice, though, so that having him sing backup on a song gives it a certain cachet.
Glenn Frey and Bob Segar were friends in Detroit as teenagers. Frey sang backup on Segar’s first hit, “Ramblin’ Gamblin” Man" and they continued to contribute to each others records afterward. “the Eagles sang backup on Seger material such as “Fire Lake,” Frey sang backup on “Against the Wind,” and Seger co-wrote the Eagles smash “Heartache Tonight.””
Do they have to be famous primarily as a singer? British Ska / Pop band Madness got famous film star Michael Caine to specifically record his (basically spoken word) contribution for the original version of the song (My Name Is) Michael Caine.
Trivia. Although Madness were massively successful in the UK, ‘Old Fogie’ Michael Caine had never heard of them and declined the initial approach to work with them. He was then persuaded to by his daughter who was shocked when she found out her father had turned them down.
TCMF-2L
Speaking of spoken word, Billy Gibbons did the spoken word parts between verses of Nickelback’s Rockstar.
Also REM’s “Near Wild Heaven,” “Radio Song,” and “Me in Honey”
I thought you were cuckoo at first, so I just played Radio Song and Country Feedback and there she is, quite subtly, in the background. She’s not credited on Near Wild Heaven, though. I’m pretty sure the high voice in the chorus (living inside, living inside) is Bill Berry (not that he sounds anything like Kate PIerson.)
A song I had forgotten about so I looked up the video. Wow! What an enigmatic video. I smiled and laughed the whole way through. I loved the set they used.
Wikipedia lists her and I can hear what sounds like her, particularly midway through the verses in to the “not near enough” lyric:
She’s also mentioned a few times for her backup vocal on the Youtube videos of the song.
I didn’t mention “Country Feedback,” but “Me in Honey.” She’s pretty obvious there. Kate’s someone I can hear a mile away.
…Speaking of Bowie… bear with me here.
I probably need to introduce you to Mary Hopkin. Here she is finishing second in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, with the sort of fluffy, sugary, worthless pap I associate her with.
Worldwide hit, even (modestly) in the US. I mean, nice voice and all, but not exactly great art. So: want to hear her on some great art?
Hopkin was visiting the Château with her children when Eno asked her to sing. She recorded her vocals before any lyrics or melody were written, recalling in 2011:
One evening, Brian [Eno] called me into the studio to sing a quick backing vocal with him on ‘Sound and Vision’. We sang his cute little ‘doo doo’ riff in unison. It was meant to be a distant echo but, when David heard it, he pushed up the fader until it became a prominent vocal – much to my embarrassment, as I thought it very twee…
[source]
It’s a slight digression but, considering her solo career, the list of artists she did backing vocals for is remarkable. Per her wiki page
…she sang on numerous recordings that her husband produced, such as those featuring Tom Paxton, Ralph McTell, David Bowie (Low), Bert Jansch, The Radiators from Space, Thin Lizzy, Carmen, Sarstedt Brothers, Osibisa, Sparks, Hazel O’Connor, and Elaine Paige. On all of these recordings (and also on her husband’s own Inventory album) she is credited as “Mary Visconti”. [Her then husband being Tony Visconti]
j
Oh yeah, funny how it’s easy to hear once you know. I can also pick her out in the ‘buh buh buh buh buh’ parts too.
Even if you didn’t know, there’s just something very distinctive about her voice. Like first time I heard “Shiny Happy People”, where, admittedly, she’s much more prominent, it was like “hey! That’s Kate Pierson of the B-52s.” Can you believe she’s 73 already? Where has all the time gone? (She’s actually a couple months older than my dad, holy cow!)
I’m embarrassed I haven’t already thought of this one. BOC with Patti Smith doing a brief spoken-word intro and then background vocals. Smith also has a co-writing credit here, as she does on a few other BOC songs.
And likewise Elton John provides harmony vocals to Lennon’s “Whatever Gets You thru the Night”. I think he also guests on keyboards.
She’s also on R.E.M.'s “E-Bow The Letter”.
And the song Blue from their final studio album Collapse Into Now.
The band wanted her to sing on Everybody Hurts too, but there was a scheduling conflict. That would have added an interesting dimension to the song.