Famous musicians before they were famous - guest spots

They also played on Neil Sedaka's 70's "comeback" singles/albums.

 

Marcella Detroit - backing vocals for years before hitting big with Shakespears Sister.

Sounded like a local dj there

 

Yep. She was in Eric Clapton's band in the mid 70's as was Yvonne Elliman.

 

Minnie Ripperton sang back-up for Stevie Wonder before she hit it big with her 'Perfect Angel' LP in which he produced and wrote many songs on.

She appears many times on his 'Fufillingness' First Finale' album. Including on my favorite tracks 'Creepin' and 'Bird Of Beauty'. It's very easy to here her blowing away in the back.

 

She's also on Johnny Thunders' So Alone album, also 1978.

 

Co-wrote Lay Down Sally and The Core and a few other 70s Clapto tunes.

 

Tom Waits ... opening for Frank Zappa & Mothers (1973) tour at my college.

 

And Please Mr. Postman

 

Page was a session guitarist and was on several notable singles. Goldfinger, With a Little Help From My Friends, I Can't Explain, and Downtown to name a few.

 

Not to mention this classic.

 

Rick Nielsen turned up on the Yardbirds' Haha Said the Clown single, playing organ.

 

Dunno about unknown. I recall reading quite a lot about it in the music press when that LP came out.

 

Wow...113th post and no one has mentioned Clover being the backup band for Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True?....Clover (band) - Wikipedia

 

The recording engineer on BirthControl's 1975 LP 'Plastic People,' recorded in Cologne, May 1975, was "Toby Robinson alias Genious P. Orridge."

 

He may have had a bit of regional success in Texas and been invited to play Montreux, (where he was met with a poor reception, which baffles me) but I had my ear pretty close to the ground back then, constantly reading guitar magazines etc. and he didn't make any real impact until immediately after releasing Texas Flood, which he was in the process of recording when he got the call from Bowie. Every article I read about him mentioned his involvement on the Let's Dance album. It was his springboard to massive fame. So maybe he wasn't a complete unknown , but he certainly wasn't famous when he recorded his parts on Let's Dance. Not that it mattered, it all happened more or less simultaneously and he was so talented he was going to rise to the top one way or the other.

 

Another soul sister who sang back-up for Stevie Wonder, Deneice Williams, who was part of his 'Wonderlove'

She sang back-up on 'Talking Book', 'Fuffillingness' First Finale' (with Minnie) and 'Songs In The Key Of Life'.

She would also lend vocals to Syreeta Wright's debut LP, and also Minnie Riperton's 'Perfect Angel' LP.

After all this she would go on to score a slew of hits on her own during the late 70's and early 80's like 'Too Much, Too Little, Too Late', with Johnny Mathis and the international hit 'Let's Hear It For The Boy'.

She actually appears in this video. She's the woman in the gray sweater with highlights in her Fro. They're killing it here. And Stevie was just grooving.

 

Kenny Rogers played bass and sang in the New Christie Minstrels and also allegedly played bass as as session player for The 13th Floor Elevators (his brother was the producer/label owner).

 

He got paid the compensation to which he voluntarily agreed? The horror!

 

Randy Meisner played bass on James Taylor’s Sweet Baby James album in his pre -Eagles days.

 

Kin Carnes sang backup on Jackie DeShannon's original version of Bettie Davis Eyes, years before she covered it and made it a hit.

 

Miming only, though.

 

Another former BG singer for Stevie Wonder, Maysa, is in Incognito and has several solo records. Great voice.

 

Mark Bolan was a member of John's Children so briefly, it might as well have been a guest spot, but he did write and sing their most famous single.

 

Before they got a record deal The Jones Girls sang back-up for many artists, most notably Diana Ross from '75-'78. I believe the picture below is from 1978.



They were never huge hit makers but their song 'Who Can I Run To' hit the Top 10 when R&B group Xscape covered it on their 'Off The Hook' album in 1995.

The original from '79.

 

Actually she was famous before playing with the Mac. She was the lead singer and keyboardist for Chicken Shack, and they had a big hit as she quit and starting hangout out with FM.