# Lead vocalists who play bass- rare? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 1, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944 "2006-05-01T13:25:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/21 "2006-05-01T16:14:16Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Karen Carpenter and Ringo Starr. Fred LeBlanc of Cowboy Mouth. And he’s electric. ---
**Author:** ![Rock-n-Rolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/22d042/32.png) [@Rock-n-Rolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rock-n-Rolga)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/22 "2006-05-01T16:30:26Z")
Singing drummers: Andy Sturmer from the sadly-defunct Jellyfish (He also played standing up) and King Fowley from the Virginia underground Metal band Deceased, although he switched to lead vocals completely and quit drumming a couple of years ago. Still, both were a lot of fun to watch onstage. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/23 "2006-05-01T16:41:01Z")
Pete Rivera was the drummer and singer for [Rare Earth](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:yzabqj4bojja~T1) and Kenny Rogers was the singer and bass player when he was in the First Edition. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/24 "2006-05-01T16:54:02Z")
Jim Capaldi played drums and contributed vocals to Traffic. Mostly harmony, but he did sing lead on a song or two. Considering how much harder it is to sing harmony, and the fact that his voice was an important part of the group’s sound, I think this should count. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/25 "2006-05-01T17:12:03Z")
Roger Taylor of Queen is another one. Freddie got all the pub as the front man but three of the four of them sang lead one time or another. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Incognito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guy_incognito/32/3920_2.png) [@Guy\_Incognito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Incognito)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/26 "2006-05-01T17:14:23Z")
Benjamin Orr of The Cars is another ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/27 "2006-05-01T17:17:50Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Get real, man. And Paul McCartney is the friggin’ Peter Pan of bass players, dude. Leave that commercial mummy’s boy out of any genuine discussion of bona fide bassists. Yeah? > > Right. Gotta disagree with you there. Despite the utter crap he’s been churning out for the last 3-and-a-half decades, he pretty much redefined rock/pop bass playing with The Beatles. Just listen to “Rain” (and pretty much all The beatles tracks that came after it, as well as a few before) and you’ll get the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/28 "2006-05-01T17:19:01Z")
I just have to jump back to the bass player/singer question to say there must be a lotta Kiss haters in the hizzouse. **Gene Simmons** , anyone? More obscure: Burke Shelley of **Budgie** ---
**Author:** ![some\_white\_dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b487fb/32.png) [@some\_white\_dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/some_white_dude)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/29 "2006-05-01T17:29:26Z")
Kim Deal of The Pixies played bass and shared lead vocals w/ Frank Black, or Black Francis, or Frank Black Francis Negro Franco or whatever he’s called. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/30 "2006-05-01T17:35:09Z")
Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone and Graham Central Station. ---
**Author:** ![Monkey\_Chews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Monkey\_Chews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey_Chews)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/31 "2006-05-01T17:46:34Z")
Johnette Napolitano of **Concrete Blonde**. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/32 "2006-05-01T18:14:27Z")
Going back to the 80s, Richard Page of Mr. Mister, Mark King of Level 42 and Chicago has had two: Peter Cetera and his replacement Jason Scheff have all been bassist/lead vocalists. Robin ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/33 "2006-05-01T18:30:24Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Gotta disagree with you there. Despite the utter crap he’s been churning out for the last 3-and-a-half decades, he pretty much redefined rock/pop bass playing with The Beatles. Just listen to “Rain” (and pretty much all The beatles tracks that came after it, as well as a few before) and you’ll get the idea. You’re probably right. Wouldn’t know one end of a Stratocaster, or whatever the thing’s called from another. Though I was bought up on the Beatles, buying their singles and albums from the age of 4 to 8, then curiously not buying anything much, beside the odd single, after Revolver. Must have been a perceptive kid, realising that their later stuff was not, well, for kids. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/34 "2006-05-02T00:10:44Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Gotta disagree with you there. Despite the utter crap he’s been churning out for the last 3-and-a-half decades, he pretty much redefined rock/pop bass playing with The Beatles. Just listen to “Rain” (and pretty much all The beatles tracks that came after it, as well as a few before) and you’ll get the idea. This is almost verbatim what I thought. I do have to say, though, that I don’t have the exalted opinion of McCartney’s music of the last 35 years that \*\*woodstockbirdybird \*\*does. Also, I didn’t read Felix Pappalardi, with Mountain, in re the original OP. hh ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/35 "2006-05-02T00:25:12Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Gotta disagree with you there. Despite the utter crap he’s been churning out for the last 3-and-a-half decades, he pretty much redefined rock/pop bass playing with The Beatles. Just listen to “Rain” (and pretty much all The beatles tracks that came after it, as well as a few before) and you’ll get the idea. You’re absolutely correct re: Paul’s bass playing. I have listened to Beatles’ albums just to listen to how his bass changes the songs into something they otherwise would not have been. He is as melodic and inventive a bass player as anyone in pop / rock. Have to disagree with the “crap” statement. McCartney has produced some drivel as a solo artist. But he has created some masterful albums as well, including his last. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Universe_Lashes_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/36 "2006-05-02T07:01:37Z")
Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth used to do this, but I think sometime in the late 80’s or early 90’s she started playing guitar on the songs she sang. Jeff Tweedy (currently of Wilco) used to play bass and sing when in Uncle Tupelo, but by the end of their run he was taking over the guitar on his songs. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/37 "2006-05-02T07:21:33Z")
My immediate thought was Steve Kilbey of the Church. Of course, I figured that was partly 'cos the two guitarists (Koppes & Willson-Piper) were usually focused on intricate guitar work. (They used to have one Koppes song sung by Koppes, & one Willson-Piper song sung by Willson-Piper per album, but Kilbey was the main & more accomplished vocalist.) I thought bassist/singer was a normal, even stereotypical, combination for a four-man rock band. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/38 "2006-05-02T08:13:37Z")
The dyslexic in me read the thread title as “Lead vocalists who play bare-ass?” I immediately thought of Anthony Keidis and David Lee Roth. ---
**Author:** ![AndyPolley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@AndyPolley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyPolley)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/39 "2006-05-02T13:16:45Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > It just wouldn’t work. Take **AndyPolley** , our resident bass player. He’s so darned cool, a ‘poet warrior’ for pete’s sake, that he’d hardly utter more than two or three words in a whole day. Ahem…that’s “Warrior Poet.” The warrior simply _must_ come first. I do sing leads as well, which won’t count untill someone in the universe buys a few of my cds. I came in here to add the dearly departed Mark Sandman of **Morphine** to the list of Bass players who sing. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944/40 "2006-05-02T13:44:47Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > … Mark King of Level 42 … My immediate thought was Mark King; not only is he a lead singing bass player, but the bass is arguably the lead instrument in most of his music too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lead-vocalists-who-play-bass-rare/354944.md?page=3)