overqualified backing vocalists

Inspired by a recent tangent in the "things you were embarrassingly old when you learned them" thread, what are some example of lead singers putting their egos aside and singing in the background for another artist? There's gotta be a thread for this already, but if not, yay!

Here are a few examples:
Iggy Pop - "The Passenger" - David Bowie
TV On The Radio - "Province" - David Bowie
Peter Gabriel - "Games Without Frontiers" - Kate Bush
Carly Simon - "You're So Vain" - Mick Jagger
Superchunk - "Erasure" - Stephin Merritt & Katie Crutchfield

haven't decided if pre-fame examples like Luther Vandross singing on Young Americans count for this thread, but ymmv

Iggy Pop - "The Passenger" - David Bowie

uh Bowie is all over both of those Iggy records?

and all over Reed's "Transformer", obviously

Frank Ocean - "Pink and White" - Beyoncé

Far from overqualified but celeb backing vox by Bob Dylan & Alan Ginsburg on Leonard Cohen’s “don’t go home with your hardon”

Allen

Does this count as "background" singing?:

Rockwell - "Somebody's Watching Me" - Michael Jackson

Beatles and Stones both sang back-up on each other's various sing-along sorta tracks

Far from overqualified but celeb backing vox by Bob Dylan & Alan Ginsburg on Leonard Cohen’s “don’t go home with your hardon”

Leonard always used very sweet and angelic backing vocals to counterbalance his own.

Dire Straits "Money for Nothing" is Sting

Does this count as "background" singing?:

Rockwell - "Somebody's Watching Me" - Michael Jackson

― plant a twee or die (morrisp), Thursday, November 29, 2018 6:05 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's him solo singing the chorus right?

Wikipedia describes it as, "the song featured backing vocals by Michael and Jermaine Jackson"

It's hard to think of examples of true "backing" vocals, as opposed to "featured" vocals (like even Sting on that Dire Straits song feels more like a feature to me, even though it wasn't titled "Money for Nothing (feat. Sting)").

(Or I guess just "guest vocals"... like Michael Stipe on "Kid Fears" or "A Campfire Song.")

Liza Minnelli on Alice Cooper's "Teenage Lament '74" (or was it "Man With the Golden Gun"?)

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/bc/75/43/bc754325c9d466d218ba8d1ff8e11ff4.jpg

Also Donovan's on "Billion Dollar Babies", but that's more a co-vocal.

eddie vedder on cat power's "evolution"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdgkYFEQTjE

How about all these folks who didn't get a solo turn on "We Are the World":

Chorus (alphabetically)
• Dan Aykroyd
• Harry Belafonte
• Lindsey Buckingham
• Mario Cipollina
• Johnny Colla
• Sheila E.
• Bob Geldof
• Bill Gibson
• Chris Hayes
• Sean Hopper
• Jackie Jackson
• La Toya Jackson
• Marlon Jackson
• Randy Jackson
• Tito Jackson
• Waylon Jennings
• Bette Midler
• John Oates
• Jeffrey Osborne
• The Pointer Sisters
• Smokey Robinson

(Obv. not all of them would qualify as "lead singers" in other contexts)

Fucking hell, the Coop looks a bit beered-up in that pic. Better than crack cocaine Coop circa '81, mind.

You know, when I opened this thread I was really not expecting the first words I saw to be 'Dan Ackroyd'

Fucking hell, the Coop looks a bit beered-up in that pic. Better than crack cocaine Coop circa '81, mind

He is looking rough.

honestly, one of the songs I thought of was a weird example -- "Debris," by the Faces. No guest vocals, Rod and Ronnie are permanent members of the band, but Ronnie sings lead and Rod's backing vocals on the chorus are sublime.

U2's "Love Rescue Me" featured a pretty well-buried Bob Dylan

Neil Tennant and Neil Hannon both on Robbie Williams' 'No Regrets'

lol "the passenger" backing vox always sounded so loutish and unschooled to me, thought it was one of the band members. Same with "success".

You’re so vain - Mick Jagger

Neko Case provided background vox on Jakob Dylan's 2010 album Women + Country.

I feel like Case was also a background singer (with a few others) for another artist on a recent TV performance, but don't know what I'm thinking of.

Michael McDonald on Steely Dan's 'Peg' ...

Here's a heavily f'd-with clip (presumably to avoid a DMCA takedown) of Sam Jayne singin' backup and shakin' maracas for Modest Mouse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP-W-0h4Zu4

Does Sting on Phil Collins' 'Long Long Way to Go' count?

Neil Young, singing backup on the great Warren Zevon song Splendid Isolation

See also: overqualified rhythm guitar players. Thinking of Steve Lukather on Beat It

Michael McDonald on Steely Dan's 'Peg' ...

― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Thursday, November 29, 2018 6:46 PM (thirteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

And on Christopher Cross' "Ride Like The Wind":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0HzWMqLeiE

there's no such thing as an overqualified backing singer. michael mcdonald is the perfect backup vocalist but also better than anyone he sings backup for. there is no contradiction

love that SCTV clip so much

Robert Plant's Now and Zen has both Kirsty Maccoll and future Curve vocalist Toni Halliday on backing vocals.

Luther Vandross on Richard Marx’s “Keep Coming Back”.

George Michael (and Nik Kershaw apparently) on Elton John’s “Nikita”.

David Bowie is also on Arcade Fire’s Reflektor.

Here’s a few:

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/07/9-famous-backup-singers-on-classic-pop-songs.html

And this one is fairly more interesting:

https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/unsung-heroes-18-songs-with-secret-superstars-on-backing-vocals__17833/

Several in there that I had no idea existed like Robyn on a Britney song.

Neil Young, on the live version of "Downtown" on Tonight's the Night (though he pretty much takes it over by the end).

Stephen Stills, moaning over the outro on Neil's "Til the Morning Comes".

Barry Gibb (or is it all the Bee Gees?) backing Dionne Warwick on "Heartbreaker". Not sure if "Emotion" counts given how he dominates the chorus.

Don't know about overqualified but I want to include the Jesus & Mary Chain shouting "guilty" on Drama! by Erasure

Debbie Harry guesting as D.H. Lawrence jr on several tracks on the Gun Club's Miami. It was produced by Chris Stein and Jeffrey lee Pierce had been Blondie's fan club head.

Chrissie Hynde (billed as “Mrs. Christine Kerr") on U2's "Pride (In The Name Of Love)"

Of all people, Joe Satriani is credited with backing vocals - vocals - on the first Crowded House record.

！

Pete Townshend sings backup (but doesn't play guitar, for some reason) on the Ramones' cover of "Substitute."

Squeeze's Black Coffee In Bed has both Elvis Costello and Paul Young (No Parlez, not Sad Cafe guy)

EC is all over those squeeze records (the ones he produced, anyway)

I know Eno does a lot of backing vocals on some of the albums he produced too

Maya Angelou on Herbie Mann's The Common Ground

Springsteen has an uncredited cameo on Lou Reed's "Street Hassle," but I think cameos like that are almost a totally different thing. Like, I dunno, Tom Waits popping up in "Tommy the Cat" by Primus or Iggy Pop popping in "New York City" by the Cult.

Back to Phil, "Take Me Home" has both Sting and Gabriel on backing vocals.

EC didn't produce Black Coffee In Bed, Phil Wainman did (it's on Sweets From A Stranger). The only other song he sings on is Tempted (from the album he did produce): "The people keep on crowding, I'm wishing I was well"

I mainly hear Eno in the Once In A Lifetime chorus, same for U2's Lemon

Squeeze's Black Coffee In Bed has both Elvis Costello and Paul Young (No Parlez, not Sad Cafe guy)

Talking of Paul Young and "No Parlez", Dagmar Krause provides backing vocals on his version of "Love Will Tear Us Apart".

Just listening to it now and she actually does a spoken word section - a bit like Nico does on Tiny Tim's first album.

Eno is all over the place on he albums he's produced. That's his thing. But, like, Joe Ely as part of the Spanish call and response in the Clash's "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?", yeah, that's a bit closer to the thread theme.

... talking of unlikely appearances by female German vocalists. (xp)

Certainly Aimee Mann popping up on Rush's "Time Stand Still," that was always pretty random. "Girls," by Dwight Twilley, has Tom Petty on backing vox.

I thought about Mann, but that feels like a real "featured" guest vocal, as you (and I) both dissected upthread

Yeah, it's more a lead part.

(I apparently posted a lot in this thread y'day, and none of my answers were on-point, lol)

Neil Tennant on Boy George's 'The Crying Game' and Dusty Springfield's 'Nothing Has Been Proved'.

Squeeze again, both Difford & Tilbrook not exactly hidden in the mix here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArXL7uEQsEg

I'm not sure Tennant counts in those contexts. PSBs produced "The Crying Game" and "Nothing Has Been Proved."

Fair point. So onto...

Liam Gallagher on Echo & The Bunnymen's 'Nothing Lasts Forever'.

a few from the grandest listening thread of them all:

Billy Joel, "My Life" - Peter Cetera and Donnie Dacus of Chicago
Billy Joel, "Everybody Has A Dream" - Phoebe Snow
Billy Joel, "Storm Front" - Richard Marx
Billy Joel, "All About Soul" - Color Me Badd, and Frank Simms aka the Kool-Aid Man
Cyndi Lauper, "Maybe He'll Know" - Billy Joel
Mick Jones, "Just Wanna Hold" - Billy Joel

and the alt-rock edition:

Dave Matthews Band, "Don't Drink the Water" - Alanis Morrissette
The Wallflowers, "Sixth Avenue Heartache" - Adam Duritz
The Urge, "Jump Right In" - Nick Hexum

Steely Dan, "FM" - Frey, Henley and Schmitt of the Eagles

can't believe i misspelled "morissette," shame on me

Eagles (and others of the LA ilk) pop up all over Randy Newman's albums.

Robert Plant's Now and Zen has both Kirsty Maccoll and future Curve vocalist Toni Halliday on backing vocals.

We could fill half a thread with Kirsty BV credits

Several in there that I had no idea existed like Robyn on a Britney song.

this is Piece Of Me, and it's not that surprising - it was written by her main songwriter & regular co-producer Klas Teddybear with Bloodshy & Avant, and it sounds to me like they had Robyn do a guide vocal for Britney to track to, then kept it in the track (& mixed her way up in the choruses).

nominating:
Michael Hutchence on Motorcycle Baby by Ecco Homo
and Bono on New York New York by Ecco Homo.

xpost to Myself Eagles et al. singing all over Randy Newman *and* Warren Zevon records. And how did I not know McVie and Fleetwood were the rhythm section of "Werewolves of London," or that (other) McVie and Buckingham sing backup on "I Love LA?"

"Girls," by Dwight Twilley, has Tom Petty on backing vox.

Twilley sings on Petty's first album, and Phil Seymour is on both "Breakdown" and "American Girl".

Yeah, but I think only Petty on "Girls" counts as overqualified!

Twilley & Seymour were (arguably) more famous than Petty when they recorded with him in '76-77.

Kind of a shoe on the other foot thing.

Twilley don’t mind singin background vox

Alison Moyet did backing vocals on Fad Gadget's Under the Flag. It was recorded just before Upstairs at Eric's but released a few weeks later. She's part of a chorus of backing vocalists and doesn't really stand out. Waste of Alison Moyet basically.

Not vocals, but Simple Minds are credited with handclaps(!) on Gary Numan's "The Aircrash Bureau", an album track from Telekon. Apparently they were the opening act for his tour and happened to be in the studio that day.

how have the Turtles not been mentioned yet

(well, Flo & Eddie specifically)

I thought about mentioning them but were they really “overqualified”? Thought guesting as backing vocalists was just one of their things.

Kind of a waste of Howard Kaylan, who is a fantastic singer, whereas Mark Volman was a backing vocalist in the Turtles.

Fair enough

Ellie Greenwich on Blondie's "Dreaming" and "Atomic"

Lorna Luft on Blondie's "Accidents Never Happen" and "Slow Motion"

Mary Hansen tbh. she had impeccable pitch live

Toni 'Captain and' Tennille along with Carl and Bruce from The Beach Boys on Elton John's 'Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me'.

Alison Goldfrapp on 'FYUZ', 'Oh Yeah Oh No', 'Revenge of The Black Regent' and 'Total All Out Water' by Add N to X.

More than 'backing vocals' but I was a big fan of the Knife and also liked First Floor Power yet it took me ridiculously long to work out that Jenny Wilson sings a fair bit of You Take My Breath Away. DESPITE THEM LITERALLY POINTING IT OUT IN THE LYRICS gah

Joseph Arthur - Mercedes. Features Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno doing some harmonics in the background. You won't even notice it's them.

But it's awesome!

I got to know Joe's music because of this song, which was miscredited when I once found a supposed collection of Peter Gabriel rarities on-line. It said that it was by Peter, with Joseph Arthur and Eno on backing vocals. I had no idea who Joe Arthur was but I loved the other two so I checked it out. I was initially quite dismayed to hear those unique American vocals instead of what I expected, was about to instantly delete it, but then I thought... I might listen to it again, it's not bad!
Not long after, I dug up more and more of his stuff, started to collect everything the man released and he became one of my most favourite artist ever, which he still is now, 15 years later.

Sting is also on Arcadia's 'The Promise'.

Oh and not quite exactly 'backing vocals', but I love the story of how the Super Furry Animals got Paul McCartney to guest on their album and then they had him eat carrot and celery in the background of 'Receptacle for the Respectable'.

That Joseph Arthur album was on Real World, iirc, so there's your Peter Gabriel connection.

I've brought it up on the Eno thread, but Eno pops up as backing singer (but not producer) on a track on the Walkabout's "Scavenger," which fits this thread's criteria: obscure sort of folk-rock band on Sub Pop snags vox from Eno? That's not expected.

Joni Mitchell specializes in extremely qualified backing singers. Apart from the usual suspects, there’s Chaka Khan on “The Tenth World” and “Dreamland” on Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter and, new to me, Lionel Richie on “Ladies Man” and (more of a feature) “You Dream Flat Tires” on Wild Things Run Fast.

Scarlett Johanssons ’Fannin Street’ and ’Falling Down’ features David Bowie. Makes both tracks immensely better!

I’m a Bowie fan though...

Björk on Ólöf Arnalds' "Surrender".
Thom Yorke on Björk's "Náttúra".
PJ Harvey on Sparklehorse's "Piano Fire" and "Eyepennies", as well as on Marianne Faithfull's Before the Poison record.

No one has mentioned JT and Linda R on young Neil’s “old man?”

I’m a Bowie fan though...

take it to the controversial music opinions thread

Emmylou

Toni 'Captain and' Tennille along with Carl and Bruce from The Beach Boys on Elton John's 'Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me'.

Toni and Bruce are also on Pink Floyd's "The Show Must Go On."

Al Jardine, Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson on Chicago's "Wishing You Were Here." Both groups were recording at Caribou Ranch at the time.

The choir at the end of Squeeze's "The Day I Get Home" includes Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Michael Penn.

Oh yeah, and Dusty Springfield sings backup on Elton John's Caribou and Tumbleweed Connection albums.

Al Jardine, Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson on Chicago's "Wishing You Were Here." Both groups were recording at Caribou Ranch at the time.
.

How many of these are a case of somebody dropping in from the studio down the hall?

Linda Ronstadt sang backup on Nicolette Larson's "You're Running Wild"

all five members of the Byrds backed Jackie DeShannon on "Splendor in the Grass" around the time they were recording Mr. Tambourine Man (I'm guessing this was a "dropping in from the studio down the hall" scenario)

Billy Ocean on Scott Walker's 'Track Three'

Mercury, May and Taylor on BVs (was never listed as "featuring Queen")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJeBctbw7kc

Don't know about overqualified but I want to include the Jesus & Mary Chain shouting "guilty" on Drama! by Erasure

wow, I didn’t know this!!

Wild! was the first album I owned and for years wondered why the guilty's sounded so Scottish. Think they were recording Automatic in the same studio.

Oh and not quite exactly 'backing vocals', but I love the story of how the Super Furry Animals got Paul McCartney to guest on their album and then they had him eat carrot and celery in the background of 'Receptacle for the Respectable'.

― Valentijn, Friday, November 30, 2018 2:35 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he'd done this on "vegetables" by the beach boys.

I just went round to the studio because they invited me. I just thought it would be fun to sit there and watch them record, ‘cause I’m a big fan. And so I was there, and then it was, I think, Brian who came over and said, ‘Oh Paul, got a favor to ask: would you mind recording something?’ I thought, ‘Oh, no! But great, I could do that!' Oh God, I’m gonna be singing on a Beach Boys record or something, you know! I got a bit kind of intimidated and thought, 'Okay, here goes nothing'. And they said, ‘Well, what we want you to do is go in there and just munch!’ … Well, I can do that! So, if you hear somebody munching celery, that’s me![10]

"Rockwell - "Somebody's Watching Me" - Michael Jackson"

what's weird about this is when this came out everyone assumed it was Michael Jackson but I believe it was denied so I assumed, for many years, until, like, seriously, last year, that this was NOT him.

wait MJ actually does sing on "Somebody's Watching Me"????

Yes.

Jermaine Jackson is on it too, iirc.

IMO the presence of Michael and Jermaine on 'Somebody's Watching Me' actually rescues the track - Rockwell was not one of Motown's great talents. I guess his dad being the label's founder went a long way to explaining why he was able to put out music.

Chaka Khan on "Higher Love."

somebody's watching me is hilarious because it's a talking heads song

Can't believe nobody has mentioned Stevie and Lindsey on Bob Welch's "Sentimental Lady." Or David Crosby and Graham Nash on "Doctor My Eyes."

guest harmonies from Carl & Dennis Wilson and Al Jardine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41s69oNimZg

Rob Halford on QOTSA's "Feel Good Hit of the Summer".

Elton John, Mark Lanegan, Trent Reznor, Jake Shears and Alex Turner provided backing vox on various "...Like Clockwork" songs too.

the jackson 5 sing background on stevie's you haven't done nothin

the liner notes of the warren zevon s/t is just one overqualified backing vocalist after another

according to the credits on the promo 12-inch to jellybean's "sidewalk talk"...

lead vocals: catherine buchanan
background vocals: madonna, cindy mizelle, audrey wheeler

madonna wrote the song and her vox are quite discernible in the chorus. she had already become a pretty big crossover star by the time it got released on 45 so if you look on discogs you'll see some sleeves for the single that pretty prominently display "written by MADONNA" lol

Prince on so many of his productions for other artists (777-9311, Glamorous Life iirc, etc)

Dumbstruck that Chrissie Hynde sang on U2's "Pride"... I've never heard a female vocal anywhere in that track in my hundreds of listens to it. Guessing she's a part of the oh-oh-ohs at the end?

singers who sang backup on covers of their own songs:

Dobie Gray, on Uncle Kracker's cover of 'Drift Away'
Dolly Parton, on Mindy Smith's cover of 'Jolene'

Pete Townshend sings backup (but doesn't play guitar, for some reason) on the Ramones' cover of "Substitute."

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, November 30, 2018 10:56 AM (one year ago)

Does this count?

"The Longest Time" is a doo-wop single by Billy Joel. The song was released as a single in 1984 as the fourth single from the 1983 album An Innocent Man. Following the theme of the album in paying tribute to Joel's musical influences, the song is presented in the style of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. It reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. In the United Kingdom the song reached number 25 on the UK Singles Chart.

The song features Joel on lead vocals and all backing vocals. Two musical instruments are present in the song: a bass guitar and a snare drum being played with brushes. When the song is covered by vocal groups, the bass part is typically sung. All other sounds in the song are Joel's vocals, along with percussive sounds such as finger snaps and hand claps. Phil Ramone and Joel had intended to feature a vocal group but Joel recorded each of the parts himself.

I knew Angel Olsen sang backup for Will Oldham for a bit but didn't realize for a long time that she's in the video for the second version of "I See A Darkness"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iV4NwSbscg

now in her band she has Heather McEntire of Mount Moriah, who's got a great Dolly Parton-y voice herself
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J7E5hqjX0o

Hardly proper "backing vocals" given that she sings much more than the billed artist, but: Annie Lennox on the 1984 solo single "Darling Don't Leave Me" by Robert Görl of DAF:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M95Dws35cKQ

Lindsay Pagano - So Bad (ft. Paul McCartney)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQgLrQRaXIY

a literal nobody who was best known for appearing in an AOL commercial in 2001

Pagano was recording the album at the same Los Angeles studio where McCartney was recording Driving Rain when he introduced himself and asked to hear some of her music.

"I played him some, and he was dancing all around the studio," Pagano recalled. "Everyone was freaking out that it was Paul McCartney, and I would be like, 'Oh, I just saw Paul. Whatever.' He just became a regular person. He asked how the album was doing one day, and I said, 'Well, I'm just looking for a really simple acoustic song for the end of the album, just to end it.' And he said, 'Well, I wrote this song called 'So Bad,' which I think would go really good with your voice.' I laid down a rough track, and when I came back to work on it again, I hear this vocal in the back, and it's Paul's vocal. He was singing on it as kind of a surprise. So it became a duet."

that aol commercial song could have been legitimately great if they had just redone the entire song other than the chorus

not sure if this sort of thing counts, but two 90s hiphop tracks immediately came to mind:

inspectah deck on 2pac's 'got my mind made up' and busta rhymes on capone n noriega's 'driver's seat.'

both were cases where the "featured" mc had a guest verse that was later cut and all that remained in the final mix were their adlibbed parts. like i said, kind of a grey area.

Not quite on topic but I was revisiting Lou's "Street Hassle" the other day and was startled I'd forgotten the uncredited cameo verse by the Boss.

Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham on "Magnet and Steel"

xp Bruce also does the almost inaudible backing vocals on John Prine's "Take a Look at My Heart."

...and that's also Bruce, very audible, on Graham Parker's "Endless Night"

Q-Tip, Slick Rick, and Biz Markie back up Jay-Z on “Girls, Girls, Girls”

A Tom Waits song is the only possible context where Keith Richards would count as an "overqualified" backing vocalist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgG4rxq8DhY

David Crosby on "Another Day in Paradise" (phil colins)

James Taylor on "Back in the high life" (steve winwood)

Shannon Hoon on "Dont Cry" (gnr)

Liz Phair on "Work" (jimmy eat world)

Liz Phair on "Soak Up The Sun" by Sheryl Crow.

apparently michele phillips and diane warren harmonize on the chorus of “heaven is a place on earth”

Billy Ocean on Scott Walker’s Track Three

Billy Ocean sings the high harmony for about 90% of the song, to be fair it's practically a duet.