Name the leader of each of these backing bands
- Africa 70
- The Attractions
- The Belmonts
- The Blue Caps
- The Bluesbreakers
- The Boyz
- The Cardinals
- The Clowns
- Crazy Horse
- The Destroyers
- The E-Street Band
- The Famous Flames
- The Heartbreakers
- The Houserockers
- The Jicks
- The Kings Of Rhythm
- The Magic Band
- The Maytals
- The Mescaleros
- The Miracles
- The Pharaohs
- The Pirates
- Prime Time
- The Red Hot Peppers
- The Silver Bullet Band
- The Strangers
- The Teenagers
- The Texas Playboys
- The Vandellas
- The Wailers
- Wings
(the answers have been posted in the comments section)
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It’s funny, but I started this post thinking that it would be something that I could knock out quickly…four weeks later, I finally realize how wrong I was. Obviously this is not a complete list of all the “whathisname and the unknowns” bands, so don’t hold it against me if I have missed someone important and/or interesting.
This was the backing band for the legendary Nigerian musician and Afrobeat originator Fela Kuti, also featuring drummer Tony Allen. He later changed the name of the band to Egypt 80.
Prior to assembling the Attractions, Elvis Costello recorded his first record, My Aim is True, with musicians from the band Clover, who would later form The News, the backing band for Huey Lewis.
Originally known only as The Belmonts, they were one of the bands on the infamous “Winter Dance Party” tour of 1959. The tour would end tragically when Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper died in a plane crash on their way to Fargo, North Dakota.
Rockabilly singer Gene Vincent named his band “Blue Caps” after a term used to describe enlisted sailors in the U.S. Navy.
A pioneer among British blues musicians, Mayall’s band helped launch the careers of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce (Cream), Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Peter Green (all from Fleetwood Mac), Mick Taylor (Rolling Stones), Aynsley Dunbar (Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Journey, Whitesnake), and many others.
Heavy D and the Boyz were the first group signed to Uptown Records (most famous as the label where Sean “Diddy” Combs served as an intern), and also performed the theme songs for the TV shows In Living Color and MADtv.
Since 2005, the Cardinals have been the backing band for former Whiskeytown singer/guitarist Ryan (NOT Bryan!!!) Adams, though he is supposedly quit/broke up the band in March, 2009.
Smith is a legendary New Orleans musician who had a national hit in 1957 with “Rocking Pneumonia and The Boogie Woogie Flu”.
Originally a California bar band, Crazy Horse has been backing up Young on and off since 1969.
Before Allison Krauss came along (especially with her collaboration with Robert Plant), George Thorogood and the Destroyers were the primary cash cow for Rounder Records, allowing the label to devote itself to releasing critically acclaimed (but poorly selling) roots music of all kinds.
Perhaps you’ve heard of these guys? Seriously though, the E Street Band never received an album cover credit on a Springsteen record until the 1996 record Blood Brothers. However his live shows have always been billed under the full group name and (even better!) Springsteen splits the money from these concerts equally among each band member.
Contrary to popular belief, the Famous Flames moniker was not ascribed to Brown’s entire backing band, but just his backing vocalists.
or
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Ok, this was a trick question…
The punk version of The Heartbreakers was formed by Johnny Thunders (New York Dolls), Richard Hell (Television) and Jerry Nolan (New York Dolls) after all three of them had been kicked out of their previous bands. After Hell and Nolan left the group, Thunders tacked his name to the front and soldiered on. Meanwhile, Tom Petty has been performing with his own Heartbreakers since 1976.
For the record, Thunders/Hell/Nolan version of the Heartbreakers came first, predating Petty’s version by about a year.
Well known for his quote “When I die, they’ll say ‘he couldn’t play shit, but he sure made it sound good!” Hound Dog Taylor and his band loved to get hammered and play the blues all night long. Right before he died, Taylor and Houserockers guitarist Brewer Phillips got into a drunken argument, which ended with Hound Dog shooting Phillips twice (in the forearm and the leg). Immediately after this, Taylor ended up being hospitalized with lung cancer. Though Phillips had pressed charges against Taylor, he ended up visiting him in the hospital and forgave him for the shooting. The next day, Taylor died.
The Jicks are the backing band of former Pavement singer/guitarist Stephen Malkmus. They currently include Janet Weiss, the former drummer for Sleater-Kinney.
Almost ten years prior to discovering Tina Turner, Ike and his band (under a different name) recorded “Rocket 88”, which is generally considered one of the first rock and roll songs ever recorded.
Various incarnations of the Magic Band backed up Captain Beefheart through his entire recording career (1965-1982). They are probably, hands down, the most challenging rock group of the past 50 years. If you don’t believe it, try listening to “Trout Mask Replica” from beginning to end.
From their inception in 1962 through 1971, this reggae group was simply known as The Maytals. From ’71 until they broke up in 1982, they went by the name Toots and the Maytals, with singer Toots Hibbert stepping up as the leader. They got back together in the early 1990’s and still perform together. The group holds the record for most #1 songs in Jamaica, with 31 of their songs having reached the top of the charts.
The Mescaleros were the backing band for former Clash leader Strummer from 1999 until his death in 2002.
From 1958 to 1966, this Motown group was known as The Miracles. For the next five years, the group was billed with Smokey as the leader.
These guys are best known for the song “Wooly Bully.”
Kidd and the Pirates were an early 1960’s British group who wrote the classic “Shakin’ All Over”, later covered by The Who.
Prime Time was the name of Coleman’s electric group, which he performed with during the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Through the years it included avant jazz musicians Ronald Shannon Jackson (Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler, Last Exit), Jamaaladeen Tacuma (the Golden Paliminos, James “Blood” Ulmer), Bern Nix, Calvin Weston (the Lounge Lizards), Badal Roy (Miles Davis), and Coleman’s son Denardo.
The Red Hot Peppers were Morton’s backing band during the 20’s, counting some of New Orleans finest jazz musicians as members, including Kid Ory, Johnny St. Cyr, Barney Bigard, Johnny Dodds, and Baby Dodds.
These guys backed up Seger during his heydey from the mid-70’s to mid-80’s.
The Strangers are country legend Haggard’s long time backing group.
Originally known as The Earth Angels, then The Coupe De Villes, once lead singer Frankie Lymon came aboard, the group was renamed The Ermines, and later The Premiers before finally settling on The Teenagers, which reflected the fact that the group were one of the first all teenage group in popular music. After scoring a hit with in 1956 with “Why Do Fools Fall in Love”, the group became Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. Unfortunately, this caused some problems within the band and Lymon left in 1957 (at the age of 15). He was replaced for a short time by Jimmy Castor, who went on to have his own solo successes (“Hey, Leroy, Your Mama’s Callin’ You”, “Troglodyte (Cave Man)” and others) before rejoining the Teenagers in the 1980’s. Lymon, who became addicted to heroin when he was 15, eventually died from an overdose when he was 26 years old.
Wills, known as “The King of Western Swing”, formed the Texas Playboys after leaving The Light Crust Doughboys in 1933. After starting out in Waco, Texas, the band eventually settled into a residency at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma from 1934 to 1942. After a brief stint in the Army, Wills moved the Playboys to California for a few years to until returning to Oklahoma in 1949. A combination crackerjack country band and first rate swing orchestra, the Playboys had as many as 23 members at a time, with over 600 musicians being members of the Playboys through the years. Though Wills died in 1975, the Playboys have continued to perform since then, even holding yearly reunions at Cain’s (the most recent being in March 2009).
From 1962 to 1967, they group was known as Martha and the Vandellas, then from 1967 to 1972 they were called Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. One of Motown Records most popular groups, their hits included “(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave”, “Dancing in the Street”, “Nowhere to Run”, and “Jimmy Mack.”
Originally formed in 1963, The Wailing Wailers were a ska band with Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Junior Braithwaite, and a few others. After changing their name to The Wailers and switching to the rocksteady style for a few years, everyone but Marley eventually left the band. From 1974 until his Marley’s death in 1981, Bob Marley and the Wailers were the best known reggae band in the world.
Wings were the backing band for the Walrus himself, Paul McCartney, formerly of the Beatles.
“Black Man’s Cry”, Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Africa 70, 1975
This is a live recording featuring Ginger Baker from Cream.
“Lover’s Walk”, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, 1981
“B-I-Bickey-Bi, Bo-Bo-Go”, Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps, 1957
“I’m Your Witchdoctor”, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, 1965
This features Eric Clapton and John McVie, and was produced by Jimmy Page.
“Now That We Found Love”, Heavy D and the Boyz, 1991
“Don’t You Just Know It”, Huey ‘Piano’ Smith and his Clowns, 1958
“Opening Fanfare”, James Brown and the Famous Flames, 1963
“Comin’ Around The Mountain”, Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers, 1976
While not one of his best songs, I love this for his introduction about seeing a man about a horse.
“Prancing”, Ike and Tina Turner’s Kings of Rhythm, 1961
Though credited to Ike and Tina Turner’s Kings of Rhythm, make no mistake; the Kings of Rhythm are Ike’s band.
“Low Yo Yo Stuff”, Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, 1972
“Funky Kingston”, Toots and the Maytals, 1975
“I Don’t Blame You At All”, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, 1971
“Please Don’t Touch”, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, 1959
This song was later covered by Motorhead and Girlschool in 1981.
“The Chant”, Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers, 1926
“Swinging Doors”, Merle Haggard and the Strangers, 1966
This features James Burton and Glen Campbell on guitars.
“Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, 1956
“New San Antonio Rose”, Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, 1955
This was the signature song of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys.
“Jimmy Mack”, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, 1967
“Ska Jerk”, The Wailers, 1965
This is a variation on the Junior Walker song “Shotgun”, recorded back when the Wailers were still a ska-styled vocal group.
Regarding the E Street Band, “Blood Brothers” wasn’t a record but rather a DVD documentary.
The only albums on which the E Street Band has received billing credit are “Live in New York City” and the 2009 greatest hits collection.
Actually, there was also a “Blood Brothers” EP (with 6 songs) released at the same time as the DVD.
However, I did mess this one up a bit; the first time the E Street Band received a cover credit was for the box set “Live 1975-1985″, which was released in 1986.
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