We've listened to them all our lives, those back street boys (and girls) who provide the beat, the chords, the harmony, the backup singers, and studio musicians.
Band members are a different story. We all know all of the Beatles names, or the Stones (mostly), or those so-called 'solo' artists who just sing, or maybe play guitar or piano, ranging from Tom Petty to Elvis, for that matter.
Have you ever wondered who played those brilliant sax solos on Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street? I might even say 'plays' because one thing about recorded music is that it freezes time. You are in the moment, when he or she or they sang, and/or played or both. If live you hear those audience shouts or comments. I've even wondered who those people were. Impossible to know, of course.
Gerry Rafferty's saxophone player was Rafael Ravenscroft (what a stunning name! I want to steal it for a book, different first name of course). Ravenscroft was paid the grand total of 27 pounds for his troubles. And the check bounced. Look it up: Raphael Ravenscroft.
Who knows. From his personal history on Wikipedia, Gerry Rafferty was a troubled and complicated person. Well, no worries. He should be able to get whatever help he needs. Rafferty earns $100,000 a year off his 1978 song "Baker Street" Raphael Ravenscroft, not so much.
A similar, although less egregious example was the case of the also utterly perfectly named Vic Flick, who wrote and performed the 007 guitar theme for John Barry and the producers of the James Bond thrillers. He'd been instructed to echo the sound of the surf guitar, which he did, in spades. Oh, and he was paid 15 pounds for this (less than $20). However, unlike Ravenscroft, he did eventually get substantial compensation via royalties, by recent count over $500,000, and John Barry trickled more than a little. Let's remember, however, that the James Bond films have grossed $7,119,553,831. So $500,000, relatively speaking, is peanuts, sliced from well over seven billion dollars.An exception to this trend is one of my favorite rock singers--a true rock star--is Van Morrison. While known to be tempestuous on the stage, he is a truly gifted talent and can play the sax as well as Raphael Ravenscroft. And he's not always tempestuous. A good friend of mine attended one of his recent concerts, and he was cheerful, friendly, outgoing, and even returned for an encore: Into the Mystic, one of my all-time favorite rock songs. And yes, he played his own sax solos.
One of the things I greatly admired about the legendary Duke Ellington, was that after each piece was performed by his big orchestra he would name the soloists and have them stand (if sitting) and take a bow. Count Basie did the same, as did most other great bandleaders of the Big Band era (40's and 50's).
Jazz artists always named their backup players in their album covers and notes, if they are not permanent band members.
Glen Miller did the same. Few people know that Glen Miller had more #1 hits (23) than The Beatles (20) and Elvis (18). And he was still in his youth when killed in WWII while flying back from a USO tour in England. And hey, he even looks like Jimmy Stewart, who played him in The Glen Miller Story.
But what about all those known unknowns: who were the Rayettes, Ray Charles' backup singers beginning in 1958? They're there in the recordings, in the background. Well, here they are in all their non-fame and glory, The Rayettes.
And who are the backup singers for the Rolling Stones on their great 1969 album 'Let it Bleed'? ? Do Madeline Bell, the London Bach Choir, Nanette Newman or Doris Troy ring a bell?
None of these are household names, obviously. Yet when interviewed most agreed that they'd loved doing that gig. Or plural gigs.
The real behind-the-scenes musical artists are the studio musicians, like Raphael Ravenscroft and Vic Flick.
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