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Thread started 06/13/05 1:58am

rainb0y

Question about Prince, his backing vocals and other artists.

Hi. One of the things I have always loved about Prince is how he uses so many background vocals and the fact they are usually all done by himself. I just love that. I was wondering if anyone knew of any other artists that do this? I have recently been listening to Neil Young and Ben Folds who seem to do this. Who else? Thanx!

Leo
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Reply #1 posted 06/13/05 2:16am

Cloudbuster

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Sayer
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Reply #2 posted 06/13/05 2:18am

TheFrog

Nardo.
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Reply #3 posted 06/13/05 7:08am

beret1022

D'angelo
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Reply #4 posted 06/13/05 7:11am

minneapolisgen
ius

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TheFrog said:

Nardo.

Please tell me this isn't a West Side Story reference. eek

Is it?
"I saw a woman with major Hammer pants on the subway a few weeks ago and totally thought of you." - sextonseven
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Reply #5 posted 06/13/05 10:25am

Cloudbuster

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Well for starters there's peeps like Kate Bush & Bjork who do wonderfully inventive backing vocals.
And some guy you may have heard of called Michael Jackson, too.

smile
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Reply #6 posted 06/14/05 11:40am

paligap

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In addition to those already mentioned, here are some other artists who are/were great at multi-tracking their own background vocals:

Marvin Gaye

Brian Wilson

Stevie Wonder

Todd Rundgren

Joni Mitchell

Rickie Lee Jones

Donald Fagen

Chaka Khan

Michael McDonald

Laura Nyro

Lewis Taylor

Bobby Caldwell





...
[Edited 6/14/05 11:53am]
" I've got six things on my mind --you're no longer one of them." - Paddy McAloon, Prefab Sprout
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Reply #7 posted 06/16/05 5:05am

Cloudbuster

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The Bee Gees, too. Their vocal harmonies are beautiful. smile
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Reply #8 posted 06/16/05 5:55am

rocknrolldave

Morrissey on the Smiths's Bigmouth Strikes Again (Played at a higher speed, so as to be at a higher register, the backing vocals are credited to Ann Coates, which is a pun on the Ancoats (spelling?) area of manchester)
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Reply #9 posted 06/16/05 7:22am

npgmaverick

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Gwen Stefani has built her entire catalogue out of singing with her own background vocals.
Listen to me on The House of Pop Culture podcast on itunes http://itunes.apple.com/u...d438631917
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Reply #10 posted 06/16/05 11:32am

andyman91

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I think Buddy Holly was one of the first to harmonize with himself.

It's been done by everone from George Michael to Kurt Cobain

Everyone in R&B does it nowadays. Some folks actually use harmonizers which do it for you. That's what makes Prince's & others' superior. He does it the old fashioned way. In my opinion, it's one of the best aspects of Prince's music.
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Reply #11 posted 06/16/05 3:19pm

jacktheimprovi
dent

andyman91 said:

I think Buddy Holly was one of the first to harmonize with himself.

It's been done by everone from George Michael to Kurt Cobain

Everyone in R&B does it nowadays. Some folks actually use harmonizers which do it for you. That's what makes Prince's & others' superior. He does it the old fashioned way. In my opinion, it's one of the best aspects of Prince's music.


I think Ray Charles might have done it before Buddy Holly, but they're both icons of rock and soul and I love em both.
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Reply #12 posted 06/16/05 3:31pm

andyman91

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jacktheimprovident said:

andyman91 said:

I think Buddy Holly was one of the first to harmonize with himself.

It's been done by everone from George Michael to Kurt Cobain

Everyone in R&B does it nowadays. Some folks actually use harmonizers which do it for you. That's what makes Prince's & others' superior. He does it the old fashioned way. In my opinion, it's one of the best aspects of Prince's music.


I think Ray Charles might have done it before Buddy Holly, but they're both icons of rock and soul and I love em both.


I don't know who did it first, but whoever did it second couldn't have been far behind! They were both blazing trails at around the same time. Too bad Buddy's was so short.

Both artists had that aspect of their careers featured in the movies of their life stories.
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Reply #13 posted 06/16/05 4:06pm

lyecry

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Amel Larrieux does it.
Thank You San Alejo for getting rid of my enemies. :-0
Thank You SO much Saint Expedite for your help smile
Thank You Virgin de Guadalupe for helping my friend smile
Thank You Saint Anthony for returning my wallet to me untouched smile
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Reply #14 posted 06/16/05 5:33pm

JesseDezz

I think Neil Sadaka is generally credited with being the first to utilize his own backing harmonies in a pop song. "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" is a fine example of this.
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Reply #15 posted 06/17/05 2:48am

sdekm1

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lyecry said:

Amel Larrieux does it.

Ahhh, you beat me to her!! smile... It's good to see someone else who appreciates her!
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