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A backup band or backing band is a
A backup band or backing band is a musical ensemble
A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, ...
that typically accompanies a single artist who is the featured performer. The situation may be a live performance or in a recording session, and the group may or may not have its own name, such as " The Heartbreakers" (the band of Tom Petty), or "Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys
James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although S ...
" in the 1930s. Often, backup bands contain sidemen who are skilled but not known to the public; these musicians may be replaced or substituted at any time without noticeable impact on the performance.
A number of cohesive stand-alone groups of musicians have emerged from the shadow of the starring celebrity (whom they are backing) to achieve a stature of their own. An example is the Eagles
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
in 1971, emerging from being the backing band for Linda Rondstadt. Another example is The Band, a group who backed Bob Dylan on his world tour in 1966, his first tour with electric instruments.
A backing band may also be a cadre of elite studio musicians who serve as a house band
A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment.
It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...
for major studios. The same musicians may perform on records by a number of different artists. Examples are Stax Records' band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s; Detroit's The Funk Brothers; and Nashville's A-Team
'' The A-Team'' is an NBC television series that aired from 1983 to 1987.
The A-Team may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Music Groups
* The rap/ hip-hop duo, consisting of Aceyalone and Abstract Rude
* The Nashville A-Team, a g ...
.
Examples
Notable backing bands (with lead artist) include: * Ace in the Hole (George Strait
George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited for ...
)
* Booker T. & the M.G.'s ( Otis Redding)
* Bluesbreakers (John Mayall
John Mayall, OBE (born 29 November 1933) is an English blues singer, musician and songwriter, whose musical career spans over sixty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among it ...
)
* Coral Reefer Band (Jimmy Buffett
James William Buffett (born December 25, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and businessman. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffet ...
)
* Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse ( lkt, Tȟašúŋke Witkó, italic=no, , ; 1840 – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota war leader of the Oglala band in the 19th century. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by wh ...
( Neil Young)
* Double Trouble (Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...
)
* Drifting Cowboys (Hank Williams
Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...
)
* Flying Cunts of Chaos
Flying Cunts of Chaos (F.C.C) is a rock band on Serj Tankian's label that was also his backing band on his tours from 2007 to 2009.
History
Serj Tankian was asked how the name "Flying Cunts of Chaos" was chosen and he stated; "Well, I was ori ...
( Serj Tankian)
* Full Tilt Boogie Band (Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...
)
* Joy Boys ( Col Joye)
* Manassas (Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has com ...
)
* Miami Sound Machine (Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan (; born Gloria MarÃa Milagrosa Fajardo GarcÃa; born 1 September 1957) is a Cuban-American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is a seven-time Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been ...
)
* Mink DeVille ( Willy Deville)
* Neverland Express ( Meat Loaf)
* New Bohemians ( Edie Brickell)
* Parliament Funkadelic ( George Clinton)
* Scarlet Fever
Scarlet fever, also known as Scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'' a Group A streptococcus (GAS). The infection is a type of Group A streptococcal infection (Group A strep). It most commonly affects childr ...
( CeeLo Green)
* Spearhead
A spearhead is the sharpened point (head) of a spear, similar to an arrowhead. It is often a separate piece called a projectile point.
Spearhead may also refer to:
Armed conflict
* Armoured spearhead, a tactical formation
* HMS Spearhead ( ...
( Michael Franti)
* The Aces ( Desmond Dekker)
* The Attractions (Elvis Costello
Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...
)
* The Bad Seeds
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian rock music, rock band formed in 1983 by vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and guitarist-vocalist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throughout its care ...
(Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...
)
* The Belmonts ( Dion DiMucci)
* The Blackhearts ( Joan Jett)
* The Blockheads ( Ian Dury)
* The Bluebelles (Patti LaBelle
Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer, actress and businesswoman.
LaBelle is referred to as the " Godmother of Soul".
She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singe ...
)
* The Cardinals ( Ryan Adams)
* The Crickets (Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...
)
* The Dakotas ( Billy J. Kramer)
* The Delaware Destroyers (George Thorogood
George Lawrence Thorogood (born February 24, 1950) is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Wilmington, Delaware.
His "high-energy boogie-blues" sound became a staple of 1980s rock radio, with hits like his original songs "Bad to the ...
)
* The Detroit Wheels ( Mitch Ryder)
* The E Street Band (Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...
)
* The First National Band
The First National Band or Michael Nesmith and The First National Band was a short-lived American collaborative band, led by Monkee Michael Nesmith. During the two active years, The First National Band released three albums in the country rock g ...
( Michael Nesmith)
* The Flecktones (Bela Fleck
Bela may refer to:
Places Asia
*Bela Pratapgarh, a town in Pratapgarh District, Uttar Pradesh, India
*Bela, a small village near Bhandara, Maharashtra, India
*Bela, another name for the biblical city Zoara
* Bela, Dang, in Nepal
* Bela, Janakpur, ...
)
* The Foggy Mountain Boys ( Flatt & Scruggs)
* The Four Seasons (Frankie Valli
Francesco Stephen Castelluccio (born May 3, 1934), better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer, known as the frontman of the Four Seasons beginning in 1960. He is known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice.
...
)
* The Free Nationals
Free Nationals are an American R&B band formed in Los Angeles, California. The group consists of Jose Rios (lead guitar, backing vocals), Ron "T.Nava" Avant (keyboard, rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Kelsey Gonzales (bass guitar, bass synth) an ...
(Anderson .Paak
Brandon Paak Anderson (born February 8, 1986), better known by his stage name Anderson .Paak (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and drummer. He released his debut mixtape, ''O.B.E. Vol. 1,'' in 2012 and went on to rel ...
)
* The Funky Bunch ( Marky Mark)
* The Glitter Band (Gary Glitter
Paul Francis Gadd (born 8 May 1944), best known by his stage name Gary Glitter, is an English former singer, songwriter, and record producer. He achieved success during the glam rock era of the 1970s and 1980s, and his career ended after he w ...
)
* The Heartbreakers ( Tom Petty)
* The Hooligans ( Bruno Mars)
* The Impressions ( Curtis Mayfield)
* The J.B.'s
The J.B.'s (sometimes punctuated The JB's or The J.B.s) was the name of James Brown's band from 1970 through the early 1980s. On records the band was sometimes billed under alternate names such as Fred Wesley and the JBs, The James Brown Soul T ...
(James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...
)
* The Jordanaires ( Elvis Presley)
* The Magic Band (Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet (; born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as Th ...
)
* The Maytals ( Toots Hibbert)
* The Miracles (Smokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...
)
* The Modern Lovers (Jonathan Richman
Jonathan Michael Richman (born May 16, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970, he founded the Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band. Since the mid-1970s, Richman has worked either solo or with low-key acoustic a ...
)
* The Mothers of Invention (Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...
)
* The New Power Generation ( Prince)
* The News ( Huey Lewis)
* The Nice ( P.P. Arnold)
* The Pacemakers ( Gerry Marsden)
* The Pips ( Gladys Knight)
* The Raelettes ( Ray Charles)
* The Raiders ( Paul Revere)
* The Range ( Bruce Hornsby)
* The Revolution
A revolution is a drastic political change that usually occurs relatively quickly. For revolutions which affect society, culture, and technology more than political systems, see social revolution.
Revolution may also refer to:
Aviation
*Warner ...
( Prince)
* The Rides (Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has com ...
)
* The Rumour ( Graham Parker)
* The Scene ( Selena Gomez)
* The Section (Jackson Browne
Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States.
Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...
, James Taylor)
* The SFA ( Jonathan Davis)
* The Shadows ( Cliff Richard)
* The Shondells
Tommy James and the Shondells are an American pop rock/psychedelic rock band, formed in Niles, Michigan, in 1964. They had two No. 1 singles in the U.S. – " Hanky Panky" (July 1966, their only RIAA Certified Gold record) and "Crimson and Clov ...
( Tommy James)
* The Silver Bullet Band (Bob Seger
Robert Clark Seger ( ; born May 6, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and The Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s, break ...
)
* The Sixers (Stephen Kellogg
Stephen Richard Kellogg (born November 28, 1976) is an American singer-songwriter and former leader of Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers.
Career
Kellogg founded his band Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers in 2003. The band went on hiatus in the fal ...
)
* The Spiders from Mars
The Spiders from Mars were rock singer David Bowie's backing band in the early 1970s, and initially consisted of Mick Ronson on guitars, Trevor Bolder on bass guitar, and Mick Woodmansey on drums.
The group had its origins in Bowie's earlier ba ...
( David Bowie)
* The Steep Canyon Rangers
Steep Canyon Rangers is an American bluegrass band based in Asheville and Brevard, North Carolina. Though formed in 2000, the band has become widely known since 2009 for collaborating with actor/banjoist Steve Martin. In 2013, the Steep Canyon ...
( Steve Martin)
* The Stooges (Iggy Pop
James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...
)
* The Strangers
Strangers are people who are unknown to another person or group.
Strangers or The Strangers may also refer to:
History
* Elizabethan Strangers or Strangers, a name applied to French and Belgian immigrants to Norwich, East Anglia, England, during ...
( Merle Haggard)
* The Stray Gators ( Neil Young)
* The Sunshine Band ( Harry Wayne "KC" Casey)
* The Supremes (Diana Ross
Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...
)
* The Tennessee Three
The Tennessee Three was the backing band for singer Johnny Cash for nearly 25 years; he was known especially for his country/rockabilly style, although he won awards in numerous categories. In 1980, he reorganized the group, expanding it and namin ...
(Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
)
* The Texas Playboys ( Bob Wills)
* The Tremeloes
The Tremeloes are an English beat group founded in 1958 in Dagenham, England. They initially found success in the British Invasion era with lead singer Brian Poole, scoring a UK chart-topper in 1963 with "Do You Love Me". After Poole's departu ...
(Brian Poole
Brian Poole (born 2 November 1941)Eder, BruceBrian Poole Biography, Allmusic. Retrieved 17 August 2014 is a singer and performer who was the lead singer of 1960s beat band The Tremeloes (1957–62) and then Brian Poole and The Tremeloes (1962†...
)
* The Vandellas ( Martha Reeves)
* The Voidoids ( Richard Hell)
* The Wailers ( Bob Marley)
* The Waves ( Katrina Leskanich)
* TWRP ( Ninja Sex Party, Starbomb)
* Twisted Brown Trucker (Kid Rock
Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock (also known as Bobby Shazam), is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. His style alternates between rock, hip hop, country, and metal. A self-taught musician, ...
)
* Union Station ( Alison Krauss)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Backup Band Accompaniment Occupations in music Temporary employment