Songs made by their backing singers

ThisRegard

There's so many songs out there that are made or improved upon by their backing singers

Placebo , Running up that hill, got me thinking about it, but I always thought the live version of Hozier's Take me to the Church was made by the backing singers.

What's your song that's made by the backing singer?

Lorelli!

Clare Torry's wordless vocals in the Pink Floyd song The Great Gig in the Sky on the Dark Side of the Moon album are amazing. It makes the song.

Sexual Chocolate

The chorus to George Michael - Father Figure would be nothing without its backing singers as with a lot of GM solo songs.

NIMAN

Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones would never be as good a song without Merry Clayton.

Superb.

And as much as I thought 'One' by U2 was a great song, it gets ever better when Mary J Blige did the version with the band.

Cortina_MK_IV

Rick Astley - Cry for Help.

Charlie19

Sting was great in the backround right at the start of Money for nothing by Dire Straights.

I'd say there is plenty of examples out there.

The IThrees of Bob Marley and Wailers.

griffin100

Anything with Rowetta backing up the Happy Monday's, especially Kinky Affro.

George White

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJvGdOC6D1Y

Mental Mickey

NIMAN wrote: »

Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones would never be as good a song without Merry Clayton.

Superb.

And as much as I thought 'One' by U2 was a great song, it gets ever better when Mary J Blige did the version with the band.

Ugh no. Her warbling ruined a beautiful song!!!!

notdarkyet

So Long Marianne, Leonard Cohen

anewme

When Tears for fears invited Oleta Adams to sing on their album, she was relatively unheard of.

Woman in chains is such a fantastic song

exaisle

Interesting thread, OP!

Putting on my anorak, Clare Torry was a guest lead vocalist on Great Gig in the Sky....she wasn't doing backing vocals...and she didn't do backing vocals on the album either... Coincidentally, she later sued Pink Floyd claiming that she wrote the track and won...and is now credited as a co-composer on all new pressings....

George Michael's Father Figure is a great example..as is Rick Astley's Cry For Help...Oleta Adams is clearly not a backing vocalist on Woman in Chains but who cares, it's a terrific song...

If you don't know who it was doing the singing, then the chances are, they're doing backing vocals....although in fairness, many artists have always done their own backing vocals....here's an example...most noticable around 1:15..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__VQX2Xn7tI&list=PLMoUuzgNI_UltatvtZ9DdEmtRINpILhee

Lorelli!

exaisle wrote: »

Interesting thread, OP!

Putting on my anorak, Clare Torry was a guest lead vocalist on Great Gig in the Sky....she wasn't doing backing vocals...and she didn't do backing vocals on the album either... Coincidentally, she later sued Pink Floyd claiming that she wrote the track and won...and is now credited as a co-composer on all new pressings....

Ye I was doubtful when choosing that song in response to the OP and looked up the definition of backing singers and thought it fit but I guess not

"Backing vocalists are singers who provide vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. In some cases, a backing singer may sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody."

I suppose she did write her part, wasn't she told to just sort of sing and make it as she went along with the song? Anyway she won't be too happy with me referring to her as a backing singer then, sorry Clare

Lorelli!

The backing singer's when Elvis got into a fit of laughter singing Are You Lonesome Tonight did well to keep going and not laugh themselves

Yamanoto

Vocals that come in on the 2nd verse and the bridge are sublime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YB_ALnkHj0

noby

NIMAN wrote: »

Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones would never be as good a song without Merry Clayton.

Another Stones one - Sympathy For The Devil, while not necessarily made by the backing vocals it certainly adds greatly to the song.


One I always loved is Fine Young Cannibals version of Suspicious Minds - Jimmy Somerville on backing duty.

Zirconia

Kate Bush on Peter Gabriel's Games Without Frontiers, although her singing on this is usually more famous for people not being able to make out (or mishearing) the words - probably because they're in French!

Insect Overlord

I always enjoy pointing out David Bowie's backing vocals on Iggy Pop's "The Passenger".

It doesn't make the song, but his presence adds to it!

Conor Bourke

Lorelli! wrote: »

The backing singer's when Elvis got into a fit of laughter singing Are You Lonesome Tonight did well to keep going and not laugh themselves

First thing I thought of when I saw the thread title

The backing singers on The Universal by Blur really enrich it for me, similar to The Long and Winding Road from the Phil Spector version of Let It Be.

UrbanSprawl

An File wrote: »

I always enjoy pointing out David Bowie's backing vocals on Iggy Pop's "The Passenger".

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

It doesn't make the song, but his presence adds to it!

Interesting!

David Bowie: Piano, Organ, Backing Vocals

Conor Bourke

Julian Casablancas in the background of Sick, Sick, Sick by Queens of the Stone Age is pretty, um... sick!

bodhrandude

Lorelli! wrote: »

Clare Torry's wordless vocals in the Pink Floyd song The Great Gig in the Sky on the Dark Side of the Moon album are amazing. It makes the song.

The backing vocals in general on this are fantastic too and you can hear they were used in the Dark Side/Wish you were here tours, through numerous live recordings from 1974/75.