Background Vocalists with Name Value

**markydefad** · August 3rd, 2002, 06:31 PM

I'm listening to the "Fame" soundtrack (Hey, I'm currently working through the "F's" in my collection) and I'm paying attention to credits (thank-you Nano).

I'm proposing a thread about the most name-value background vocalists on a particular track. I'm sure there are some spectacular names on the Quincy Jones productions, but I'm curious for folks to post some name-value singers who contributed back-up vocals, hopefully, BEFORE they were names. Afterwards, is OK too.

Anyway, I'll start with "Fame" by Irene Cara.

Among the names listed in addition to Miss Cara, are Peggie Blue, Ullanda McCullough, Vicki Sue Robinson and Luther Vandross on that title track. You can hear Luther, something I never realized before.

Vicki Sue Robinson is on "Hot Lunch Jam" too;
Ullanda McCullough & Vivian Cherry on Linda Clifford's "Red Light".

Any others come to mind???

**NickNack** · August 3rd, 2002, 08:49 PM

Well, here's two 'before they were stars' names:

MARTHA WASH
JOCELYN BROWN

Jocelyn's list is real impressive. Everyone from rock, to soul, to jazz: INCOGNITO, KLEEER, NUYORICAN SOUL, PATTI AUSTIN, MICHAEL BOLTON, NANCY WILSON, GEORGE BENSON, LOU REED, BILLY IDOL, MICK JAGGER, DEBORAH HARRY... The lady was definitely workin'! This list is a short version.

Marcio** · August 3rd, 2002, 10:59 PM

...today i have a surprise, 'cause Whitney Houston is the lead solo in "Life's a Party" by "The Michael Zager Band" from 1978!!!

**maarten** · August 3rd, 2002, 11:02 PM

Gwen Guthrie (you guys know I have a real weakness for her). Her list is as impressive as Jocelyn's, but she ads credit for actually writing as well as performing.

Her earliest credit is as a backup singer for Cissy Houston and The Sweet Inspirations in 1973. But she also co-wrote "Supernatural thing" for Ben E. King and Sister Sledge's first single "Love don't go through no changes for me".

As a background vocalist she can be heard on everything from Ray Charles to Madonna, Carly Simon, Billy Joel, and many many others. She was of course a key vocalist for Gregg Diamond alongside Luther Vandross.

Finally, she sang many commercials, very often with Valerie Simpson.

Speaking of Valerie Simpson... You mentioned Quincy Jones, whom I greatly admire as well.

I am looking at Quincy's 1969 "Walkin in space" album. It lists Valerie Simpson as background singer. This must be one of her earliest credits.

_________________
"ON THE BEAT"

[ This Message was edited by: maarten on 2002-08-04 00:08 ]

**markydefad** · August 4th, 2002, 12:57 AM

Thanks for the contributions, Nicky & Maarten.

What I'm after here is a track that featured a whole roster of soon-to-be or already were solo artists.

Is there a track that features the likes of:
Luther Vandross
Patti Austin
Gwen Guthrie
Jocelyn Brown
Cissy Houston
Pattie Brooks
Valerie Simpson
The Jones Girls
The Waters
Taka Boom
Ullanda McCullough
Vivian Cherry
Angela Bofill
Syreeta
Madeline Bell
Jim Gilstrap
Well, you get the picture.
Names, dahling, names--all on the same track.

**Robbie** · August 4th, 2002, 09:23 AM

How about Evette and Carla Benson, who worked on many Salsoul recordings (especially on "Christmas Jollies") as well as Grace Jones' Tom Moulton recordings.

**Boodikka** · August 4th, 2002, 01:52 PM

Angie Bofill on Ferrara's "Wuthering Heights."
Luther Vandross on Bette Midler's "Married Men".
Almost forgot, I believe Lene Lovich sings BV on Cerrone's "Supernature". She released her own version around 1986/87.

_________________
"Is it this sexual RODEO that has you in this STATE?"

[ This Message was edited by: Boodikka on 2002-08-04 14:52 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Boodikka on 2002-08-04 14:54 ]

**NickNack** · August 4th, 2002, 09:13 PM

On 2002-08-04 00:02, maarten wrote:
Gwen Guthrie (you guys know I have a real weakness for her).

Finally, she sang many commercials, very often with Valerie Simpson.

Commercials must have been the deal to get good money. When I first had the pleasure of meeting Ullanda McCullough she was also doing commercials and had just finished working with Ashford & Simpson ("Rock Me"). Sweet, sweet lady... and so beautiful she had this gay-boy thinking wild things! :lol:

**maarten** · August 6th, 2002, 12:59 AM

On 2002-08-04 01:57, markydefad wrote:
What I'm after here is a track that featured a whole roster of soon-to-be or already were solo artists.

Is there a track that features the likes of:
Luther Vandross
Patti Austin
Gwen Guthrie
Jocelyn Brown
Cissy Houston
Pattie Brooks
Valerie Simpson
The Jones Girls
The Waters
Taka Boom
Ullanda McCullough
Vivian Cherry
Angela Bofill
Syreeta
Madeline Bell
Jim Gilstrap
Well, you get the picture.
Names, dahling, names--all on the same track.

OK Marky - you throw the gauntlet, I must reply. I think the albums with the highest name value must be the late 70's to early 80's Quincy Jones productions. Look up the contributors to "Stuff like that", "The Dude", and any of his productions from around that same time (Michael Jackson, Brothers Johnson, Patti Austin, Donna Summer, Frank Sinatra, Rufus & Chaka Khan, etc. etc.; all within the 1978 - 1983 era...).

He of course made this his trade mark, and continued working with the artists when they were stars in their own right, or had become stars.

Other 'cooperatives', to use that old communist word, were I think A&M Records and MCA Records. You'll find a lot of 'cross fertilization' on releases on these record labels.

**markydefad** · August 6th, 2002, 01:16 AM

Hi Maarten,

Yeah, I figure the Quincy Jones productions would be star-studded.

All I'm really proposing here, is a game of can you top this?

You know, I find a cut with Luther, Patti & Cissy. Then some else finds a cut with those 3 + Gwen Guthrie & Valerie Simpson & Nick Ashford, and on and on.....

That's all. I'll check my Quincy Jones productions. Steely Dan might be good too. In fact, maybe it's the rock productions that might have the best ensemble of background vocalists.

**Nano** · August 6th, 2002, 05:52 PM

Mmmm... I think I have some credits to check at home. News soon.
I'd like to see the roster of Quincy's "Ai no Corrida"...

**markydefad** · August 9th, 2002, 10:40 PM

Well, Nano, I checked some of my Quincy Jones LP's for background vocalists.

The "Sounds" LP from 1978 features background vocals by the "New York Super Singers": Patti Ausin (Concertmistress), Gwen Guthrie, Lani Groves, Vivian Cherry, Yolanda (that's what it says) McCullough, Tom Bahler, Luther Vandross, Zach Sanders, Bill Eaton, and Frank Floyd.

The main vocalists: Nick Ashford, Valerie Simpson, Chaka Khan, Patti Austin, Luther Vandross, Charles May, and Gwen Guthrie (in various combinations).

From "The Dude" (1981):

The best example is the title song.
Lead vocal: James Ingram
Background Vocals: Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Patti Austin, Syreeta Wright, James Ingram, Jim Gilstrap, and LaLomie Washburn.

That's as star-studded as I can find...so far.

Can anyone top that????

**zeca azevedo** · August 15th, 2002, 01:10 PM

On 2002-08-09 23:40, markydefad wrote:
Well, Nano, I checked some of my Quincy Jones LP's for background vocalists.

The "Sounds" LP from 1978 features background vocals by the "New York Super Singers": Patti Ausin (Concertmistress), Gwen Guthrie, Lani Groves, Vivian Cherry, Yolanda (that's what it says) McCullough, Tom Bahler, Luther Vandross, Zach Sanders, Bill Eaton, and Frank Floyd.

The main vocalists: Nick Ashford, Valerie Simpson, Chaka Khan, Patti Austin, Luther Vandross, Charles May, and Gwen Guthrie (in various combinations).

From "The Dude" (1981):

The best example is the title song.
Lead vocal: James Ingram
Background Vocals: Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Patti Austin, Syreeta Wright, James Ingram, Jim Gilstrap, and LaLomie Washburn.

That's as star-studded as I can find...so far.

Can anyone top that????

Yes,I think I can top that. Just check the artists who are singing backing vocals on STATE OF INDEPENDENCE by Donna Summer, produced by Quincy Jones. I will not mention any names here, just check the credits on the record.

BTW, what about WE ARE THE WORLD?

Peace,
zeca azevedo

[ This Message was edited by: zeca azevedo on 2002-08-15 14:12 ]

**Nano** · August 15th, 2002, 03:13 PM

Thanks Marky, now (a bit late) I have a list of some background vocals of future stars (I list the LP titles):

Cheryl Lynn: Toto (1978), she also does something in Raydio's "A woman needs love".
Patti Austin: Feel like makin' love (Roberta Flack, 1975), Still crazy after all these years (Paul Simon, 1975), The stranger (Billy Joel, 1977), Brown sugar (Tom Browne, 1979), Off the wall (M.J., 1979), Give me the night (George Benson, 1979), also Brothers Johnson's "Blam!" and lotsa others.
Deniece Williams: Perfect angel (Minnie Ripperton, 1974), Stevie Wonder presents Syreeta (1974), several S.W. records beginning with "Talkin' book" (1973). She's in "Feel like makin' love" too.
Chaka Khan: was already famous but got credited in very tiny letters in "Dreamland", a song of my old fave Joni Mitchell's "Don Juan's reckless daughter" (1977). Also some Blood, Sweat & Tears and Stephen Bishop's albums.
Bobby Kimball: the first Toto singer appears in Diana Ross' "Baby it's me" (1977) and Leo Sayer's wide hit "Thunder in my heart" (1977), this one with his Toto fellas.
Patrice Rushen: actually a keyboard player, but she did just vocals in Con Funk Shun's "Spirit of love" (1980).
Of course Luther Vandross has a huge list of early sessions. Most unusual for me were: "Young americans" by David Bowie (recorded at Muscle Shoals studios), the first Flack/Hathaway album (1972) and even some records by the late blues guitarist Roy Buchanan. And there's his huge Chic connection: he appears in the first three records of the band, in Sister Sledge's "We are family" and also the Norma Jean Wright album (1978).
Anyway, most of these credits I got from the web, so you better watch your vinyls.

**Discomanic** · August 16th, 2002, 08:32 AM

How could you miss Patti Brooks?

**Blaxman** · August 16th, 2002, 08:45 AM

On 2002-08-16 09:32, Discomanic wrote:
How could you miss Patti Brooks?

Who??? :???:

**markydefad** · August 16th, 2002, 12:27 PM

Blax--Miss Pattie Brooks never made any sensation down in Brazil?????

She was a second-string-Donna Summer Casablanca recording artist. She never made a real big splash except for "After Dark" from the T.G.I.F." soundtrack... some other good cuts were "Girl Don't Make Me Wait" and a very good cover of First Choice's "This Is The House Where Love Died" . Simon Soussan produced her. I think she did 3 Casablanca solo LP's and previously did a lot of backup work.

**Blaxman** · August 16th, 2002, 12:38 PM

On 2002-08-16 13:27, markydefad wrote:

Blax--Miss Pattie Brooks never made any sensation down in Brazil?????

Marky,

Yes, she did. I was just joking about a question like: "how could you...."

You know, people could not remember someone, inst it?

Anyway, thanx for some extra info about her.

Peace

**Robbie** · August 16th, 2002, 01:33 PM

Pattie also did background vocals for Olivia Newton-John, and also sang on Paula Abdul's "Opposites Attract".

**zeca azevedo** · August 16th, 2002, 10:38 PM

Ok, ok, here's the ALL STAR CHOIR that recorded STATE OF INDEPENDENCE with Donna Summer:

Dara Bernard (who?), Dyan Cannon (the actress), Christopher Cross ("Ride Like The Wind", "Sailing", remember?), James Ingram, Michael Jackson, Peggy Lipton-Jones (actress, Q's ex-wife, she was the blond girl that made the TV show MOD SQUAD in the early 70's - probably the most beautiful woman on American TV ever - one of my first platonic love affairs!), Quincy Jones, Kenny Loggins ("Footloose", hmmm...), Michael McDonald, Lionel Richie, Brenda Russell, Donna Summer, Dionne Warwick and Stevie Wonder. And you're talking about star-studed backing vocals!

Peace,

zeca azevedo

**markydefad** · August 16th, 2002, 11:06 PM

Good one, Zeca--The Energizer Bunny Is BACK!!! Thanks for saving me the trouble of typing all those names. I was planning on it, you know. :lol: Yeah, I remember this superstar backing choir. I wonder was Dara Bernard, Neil Sedaka's daughter, Dara??? He did a duet with her "Should've Never Let You Go" that was a big hit in 1980. Maybe this was her married name???? Just a wild guess.

**markydefad** · August 16th, 2002, 11:13 PM

NO, I"M WRONG!!!!!!

I went to allmusic and Dara Lynn Bernard was, most prominently, a Donna Summer back-up singer. She's listed on lots of Donna's LPs.

Now how did Dyan Cannon get invited to that recording session, I wonder???? :roll:

**zeca azevedo** · August 17th, 2002, 12:43 AM

Hey Marky,

it's good to come back. I really don't know how Dyan Cannon ended on this recording session. Probably she was having a coup of tea with one of the singers invited to the session and just go there to watch. Q saw her on the studio and said "Come on, U 2!", I'm just guessing. All I can say is: I don't know if Dyan can sing, but she has a lot of hair indeed!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember that Bruce Springsteen plays in this album by Donna too (I don't remember the name of the song right now). Anyway, I don't like STATE OF INDEPENDENCE, the song. I prefer LOVE IS IN CONTROL, a real groover, from the same album. It's a great record and, in my opinion, very underrated. It's one of my favorite song by our goddess Donna.

When I was a teen (a looooooong time ago), I used to read all these credits on the records to see who recorded backings, etc. Today I'm just a lazy guy, and the microletters on CD booklets does not help me at all. I have to buy glasses so I can read again! It's the 40's doing their job on me (LOL).

Peace, Marky.

zeca azevedo

[ This Message was edited by: zeca azevedo on 2002-08-17 01:50 ]

**markydefad** · August 17th, 2002, 01:20 AM

Zeca, I totally agree with you about "Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger)"!!!!! One of my absolute favorites from Donna!!!! In fact, I included it on my last list of alltime faves for the Disco 500 (It didn't place though. :sad: FTR, Donna has 15 records listed in the current Top 500--more than twice as many as the next artists with 7).

I remember the first time I heard it at Aloha. Steve the Tauntress was spinning records and I was stocking shelves and all of a sudden I heard this great groove with a heavy, heavy bassline and I said "oooh, this is good--what's this?" And Tauntress says nonchalantly (yawn) " oh, it's the new Donna Summer". NEW DONNA SUMMER!!!!! I'd been waiting nearly TWO YEARS for the Donna/Quincy collaboration to be released. I loved it on that first play. When it ended, I asked him to play it again and he said "NO--maybe later!!!" That Bitch!!!! Everyone else had already heard it a bunch of times--I must have been off for a few days!!! :lol:

As far as Bruce Springsteen goes, he contributed the song "Protection" and played guitar on that rock track.

I liked this LP--"Lush Life" was a nice departure for Miss Summer, BUT the GREAT track was "Love Is In Control". It peaked at number 10 on the Pop chart, though. NOT the smash that Geffen records, who had paid a fortune to Donna, had expected. The times had changed, sadly enough. She would hit the Top 10 twice more, however, with "She Works Hard For The Money" (#3 in 1983) and "This Time I Know It's For Real" (#7 in 1989).

_________________
Make My Feet Wanna Dance!

Markydefad

[ This Message was edited by: markydefad on 2002-08-17 02:25 ]

**SandraDee** · August 18th, 2002, 03:00 PM

I know this is late (I cant always get access to a PC)& not really what you asked for & possibly of no interest to you but did u know that Sharon Redd did background vocals on Boz Scaggs 'Middle Man' LP?

Sharon is one of my all-time favourite divas & JoJo by Boz is one of my favourite tracks ever.