The first woman to record with the Beatles?

The famous classical music columnist asks the "Beatleologists". Please respond.

http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2013/10/the-first-woman-to-record-with-the-beatles.html

 

This is what I could quickly find:
- no women in the string section on "Yesterday"
- Mal Evans plays organ on "You Won't See Me"
- Marianne Faithful and Pattie Boyd apparently appeared on backing vocals on "Yellow Submarine", uncredited.
- No women in the string section on "Eleanor Rigby", other session musicians on Revolver are also men
- Apart from a handful of appearances from George Martin that appears to cover all the session musicians on anything pre-1967

This brings us to the Sgt Pepper sessions.
- Many session musicians on "Strawberry Fields Forever", but no women
- No women in the horn section on"Penny Lane"
- Clarinets on "When I'm 64", but no women
- A Day In The Life: orchestra recorded on February 10. No women in the orchestra.
- Sgt Pepper: french horns, recorded March 6, but no women
- Good Morning Good Morning: Brass recorded March 13. No women credited, but some musicians appear to be unknown.
- George Martin, Neil Aspinall, Mal Evans and Geoff Emerick appear on "Fixing A Hole" and "Benefit of Mr. Kite", but no session musicians
- Shawn Philips sings backing vocals on "Lovely Rita" but no women appear.
- Nothing but the Beatles themselves on "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"
- Beatles and George Martin for "Getting Better"
- "Within You Without You": no women in the credited string section, but the Indian musicians are unknown.

- Which brings us to "She's Leaving Home" with Sheila Bromberg playing harp

Unless anybody can identify the missing players on "Good Morning Good Morning" and "Within You Without You" we won't know for sure. But although Marianne Faithful and Pattie Boyd appear to be the first woman RECORDING with the Beatles, Sheila Bromberg is probably the first woman PLAYING with the Beatles.

 

They reportedly backed up Cilla Black on an early recording in Liverpool that was never released.

 

Nice research. Could be some percussion and/or sound effects going on on 'Yellow Submarine' played by a woman, but it's probably undocumented.

Skipping ahead some years, I'm trying to find out credits for who played/sang later on on Phil Spector's overdubs on the Let It Be album, but can't find anything. Anyone know?

 

Lizzie Bravo

 

What was the other girl's name?

 

You test me. Gayleen Pease.

 

They are on the 'Wildlife' version of 'Across the Universe'.

Spector later recorded a 14-woman chorus onto 'Across'... and 'The Long And Winding Road'.

Odd that people haven't come forward and said they played/sang on the Let It Be overdubs. You'd think they would have added that to their resumes by now.

 

She Said She Said (10 Beatles Songs Featuring Female Vocalists):

http://beatlessongwriting.blogspot.com/2011/10/she-said-she-said-10-beatles-songs.html

 

It was Bobbie Brown, piano on Please Please Me- or would have been if she'd been in MU and not scared witless.