<\/p>\n
Long before her breakout hit \u201cAll I Wanna Do\u201d\u2014as well as the nine Grammy Awards<\/a> that followed\u2014rock legend Sheryl Crow spent several years in the late \u201880s and early \u201890s working as a backup singer in Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/p>\n Having initially talked her way into auditions<\/a>, she was even hired to tour the world singing backup for Michael Jackson in the late 80s, and likewise worked alongside the likes of Foreigner, Jimmy Buffett, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Rod Stewart, Don Henley, Belinda Carlisle; she can be heard in the background of Carlisle\u2019s 1991 hit “Little Black Book” (albeit credited<\/a> as \u201cCherryl Crowe\u201d).\u00a0<\/p>\n Artists singing backup before they make it big is one thing, but some artists also quietly guest in the background of others\u2019 tracks even after they have broken into the mainstream, and often go uncredited in the process. 10 instances of well-known backup singers both pre- and post-fame are explored here.\u00a0<\/p>\n Recorded in 1964 and released worldwide the following year, the Righteous Brothers\u2019 version of \u201cYou\u2019ve Lost That Lovin\u2019 Feelin\u2019\u201d not only had Phil Spector in the producer\u2019s chair, but also had a then-unknown singer named<\/a> Cher at the backing singers\u2019 microphone.\u00a0<\/p>\n The main background vocals on the track were recorded by two of Spector\u2019s legendary girl groups, the Blossoms and the Ronettes, but Cher joined the groups for the song\u2019s immense crescendo. In fact, despite initially clashing (she and Spector had \u201cabsolutely no chemistry,\u201d according<\/a> to Sonny Bono), Cher provided uncredited backing vocals for a number of Spector\u2019s early successes, including the Ronettes\u2019 own hit “Be My Baby” and Darlene Love\u2019s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”<\/p>\n Carly Simon has long remained tight-lipped about who her blistering 1972 hit single \u201cYou\u2019re So Vain\u201d was written about, but one name that has long been associated with it is Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.\u00a0<\/p>\n The rumors became so great that in a 1983 interview<\/a> with The Washington Post, Simon was compelled to say once and for all that Jagger was not the song\u2019s subject\u2014which is perhaps just as well, given that he was invited to contribute backing vocals to the song\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t you, don\u2019t you, don\u2019t you?\u201d chorus after he happened to telephone the studio <\/a>during its recording.\u00a0<\/p>\n The second single from Elton John\u2019s classic album Caribou, \u201cThe Bitch is Back\u201d featured <\/a>backing vocals from none other than \u201cSon of a Preacher Man\u201d singer Dusty Springfield.\u00a0<\/p>\n David Bowie\u2019s first Billboard chart-topper, 1975\u2019s \u201cFame\u201d was not only co-written<\/a> with John Lennon (during a one-day jamming session at Electric Lady Studios in New York) but featured <\/a>the Beatles legend as both guitarist and backing singer.\u00a0<\/p>\n Admittedly, this story is less about a secret backup singer, and more about a singer thrown momentarily and unknowingly into the vocal forefront. As well as being one of the biggest TV stars of the 80s and 90s, comedian Tracey Ullman released two pop albums in the early-to-mid 1980s.\u00a0<\/p>\n British singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl\u2019s classic 1979 track \u201cThey Don\u2019t Know\u201d was featured on one of these albums (and later was chosen as the theme song of Ullman\u2019s HBO comedy series Tracey Takes On\u2026). At the end of the song\u2019s central instrumental break, the lyrics return with a high-pitched \u201cBaby!\u201d which was a note Ullman wasn\u2019t <\/a>able to hit herself during the recording sessions. <\/p>\n The solution was simple: in a 2021 interview<\/a>, Ullman explained that Kirsty MacColl\u2019s vocal was used for this one word instead, before Ullman returned for the remainder of the song.<\/p>\n The same year that they joined forces<\/a> to perform \u201cDon\u2019t Let the Sun Go Down on Me\u201d live on stage for Live Aid, George Michael provided unbilled backup vocals <\/a>for Elton John\u2019s 1985 hit single, \u201cNikita.\u201d<\/p>\n After her initial commercial outing as the frontwoman of 80s synth rock outfit Y Kant Tori Read flopped<\/a>, singer-songwriter and virtuoso pianist Tori Amos returned to work as a backing singer, and recorded for several big-name artists in the late 1980s and early \u201890s (including Sandra Bernhard, Tom Jones and Stan Ridgway).\u00a0<\/p>\n In 1988, she provided vocals for a handful of tracks by legendary \u201cYear of the Cat\u201d folk singer Al Stewart, which later appeared on his album Last Days of the Century. Having bonded over a shared<\/a> love of fine wine, the two soon became friends. In an interview<\/a> in 1998, Amos recalled that Stewart asked her to write a song for him\u2014but she ended up keeping the first song she wrote for him for herself instead, after a friend told her<\/a> that it was clearly her \u201clife story.\u201d The song in question later became her shattering breakout solo hit, \u201cSilent All These Years.\u201d<\/p>\n Recorded for the soundtrack to her 1996 movie The Preacher\u2019s Wife, Whitney Houston\u2019s single \u201cStep By Step\u201d was originally written by Eurythmics legend Annie Lennox during the production of her debut solo album Diva in 1992. Listen carefully to Houston\u2019s version and you\u2019ll hear Lennox\u2019s backing vocals<\/a> too.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
The Righteous Brothers, \u201cYou\u2019ve Lost That Lovin\u2019 Feelin\u2019\u201d (1965): Cher\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Carly Simon, \u201cYou\u2019re So Vain\u201d: Mick Jagger (1972)<\/h2>\n
Elton John, \u201cThe B*tch Is Back\u201d (1974): Dusty Springfield<\/h2>\n
David Bowie, \u201cFame\u201d (1975): John Lennon<\/h2>\n
Tracey Ullman, \u201cThey Don\u2019t Know\u201d (1983): Kirsty MacColl<\/h2>\n
Elton John, \u201cNikita\u201d (1985): George Michael<\/h2>\n
Al Stewart, \u201cLast Days of the Century\u201d (1988): Tori Amos<\/h2>\n
Whitney Houston, \u201cStep By Step\u201d (1997): Annie Lennox<\/h2>\n
Britney Spears, \u201cPiece of Me\u201d (2007): Robyn<\/h2>\n