Ozzy did backup vocals on Alice Cooper’s ‘Hey Stoopid’
On the subject of wives/girlfriends singing backup, there is Marianne Faithfull and Anita Pallenberg contributing to the woo-woos on “Sympathy for the Devil”.
Bananarama sang backup vocals for Fun Boy Three’s “It Ain’t What You Do,” and Fun Boy Three did backup vocals for Bananarama’s “Really Saying Something.”
Aimee Mann (of ‘Til Tuesday) sang backup on Rush’s Time Stands Still
Rasa Davies (wife of Ray) sang backup on many Kinks tunes, including Waterloo Sunset.
Cynthia also sang?
Oh, yeah.
(Couldn’t resist.)
BTW, Sean may look like his dad, but he’s released some “music”, and he sings like his mom.
Speaking of Marianne Faithfull, she provided the “dah da-dahs” on the song The Memory Remains by Metallica.
You probably meant this to follow the girlfriends posts, but in case people have forgotten their 80s gossip, Keren Woodward of Bananarama was dating Terry Hall of Fun Boy Three, hence the crossover.
Ronnie Spector famously sang backup (and some lead) on Eddie Money’s Take Me Home Tonight. Apparently he was going to have Martha Davis of the Motels sing the part but she encouraged him to get Spector to recreate her sound from Be My Baby.
In the realm of Country and Western music…
Trisha Yearwood has Don Henley singing backup/ harmony on “Walkway Joe.” Yearwood herself sings backup on her now-husband Garth Brooks’s cover of Billy Joel’s “Shameless.”
Yearwood does the same on “When a Woman Loves a Man” by Lee Roy Parnell on his album We All Get Lucky Sometimes. (That album’s title track has Mary Chapin Carpenter singing backup.)
Brooks later returned the favor, singing backup for Yearwood on the single “Georgia Rain.”
Thanks! I saw their performance of this on SNL and it was memorable compared to anything I’d heard of them before (much like Bob Seger vis a vis Still the One).
I’d tried to find this performance before but I didn’t know exactly the right song, apparently they’ve been on SNL several times before and when I tried to search for it, I assumed that it would be the vaguely similar “Fade to Black”.
But Marianne Faithfull brings a vaguely ominous but artistic flair to the song that the other artists might not have brought.
Glad I could help.
I don’t know if there is an official definition but I don’t consider someone singing a distinctive solo vocal part as back up singing. Singing as part of a small chorus behind the lead, yes. Providing harmonies, yes. What Aimee Mann and Marianne Faithful did in the Rush and Metallica songs, no.
That’s the definition I’ve been going by. I thought about putting in Glen Tilbrook for Elvis Costello’s “Whisper to a Scream”, but he actually takes some lead lines in that one. That seems more like “featuring”.
Nobody has mentioned “All You Need is Love” by the Beatles. Backing vocals by Keith Moon, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Marianne Faithfull, Jane Asher, Pattie Boyd, Mike (McCartney) McGear, Graham Nash, Hunter Davies and Gary Walker.
I’ve posted this before but…
On Bowie’s Sound And Vision, before the lyric proper starts the most significant vocal contribution is a little Do-De-Doo bit. The male voice is Brian Eno; the more prominent female voice is Mary Visconti (wife of producer Tony), better known as Mary Hopkin, noted for the worldwide hit (it says here) Those Were The Days; and also for coming second in the 1970 Eurovision song contest with Knock, Knock, Who’s There.
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ETA - I did some fact checking for this post, and happened across this album
Which is another contender for the all time greatest backup fest. And of course Hopkin sings backup on the title track (along with Porter Wagoner (!))
That’s a great piece of pop trivia, I never knew but love it. Thanks!
One of the voices in the background choruses of David Lindley’s Gimme Da Ting is a barely audible Linda Ronstadt. She also produced the album. Interesting story is how they were on tour together when they discovered they were cousins.
I’d heard that Elvis Costello did Tilbrook (and the rest of SQUEEZE) a favor by being that low* voice on Tempted.
*Way too low for Elvis’s register. Guys, if you’re getting a guest vocalist anyways, pick someone who can sing bass…
Barenaked Ladies’ album Gordon had backup vocals from other Canadian musicians, including the quartet Moxy Früvous. One of them, Jian Ghomeshi, became a radio host and was the subject of rather high-profile sexual assault accusations about ten years ago.