When top stars surprisingly take the back seat on vocals for other huge artists

I was surprised when I heard about some of the examples of top stars putting their music, and perhaps egos, to one side. I hadn't realized there were so many instances of them working with other top artists as backing vocalists. It seems it’s not a rare occurrence by any means. 

Just to be clear, though, I’m not talking about duets or equal-status collaborations between artists. There are lots of those, and they're very public and obvious, I am just referring here to backing vocals. Often that accompanying role is not easy to spot. It may not be heavily publicized at the time of release, either. It sometimes seems a more casual thing happened to be nearby and dropped in a sort of deal. 

Are they surprises? Sure, not all of them by any means. But some will be much less well-known than others. Let’s take a look at some of the best examples. 

Top stars on backing vocals for other huge artists

Mick Jagger

Mick Jagger is one of the stars most often referenced as a backing singer on someone else’s big hit. It’s a strange mix of a fact that's well-known to many and yet comes as a complete surprise to others when they find out. Jagger sang backing vocals on Carly SImons’ “You’re So Vain”. It’s not Jagger's only such appearance by any means. He’s included on the Beatles' “All You Need Is Love," alongside Eric Clapton, Keith Moon, and Graham Nash, to name just three more of many voices on the song. 

Jagger’s appearance on “You’re So Vain”  did spark some suspicion that perhaps Jagger was the elusive and unnamed subject of the song, but Simons has denied that. She was recording in London, and when speaking with Jagger on a casual phone call she invited him to head down to the studio that day and help out. It’s worth playing the song again if you were unaware of it. I hope you can pick him out on it. 

David Bowie and guests for Steve Winwood

There are lots of examples of David Bowie on backing vocals. It occasionally happened when he was producing an album for an artist. That’s the case for his appearance on several Iggy Pop numbers. Iggy’s Lust For Life album and the top song “The Passenger,” for example. Bowie also sang on Lou Reed’s “Satellite Of Love” while co-producing Reed’s 1972 album Transformer with Mick Ronson. 

It’s also well known that Bowie wrote the Mott the Hoople 1972 hit “All The Young Dudes.” He also produced and sang backing vocals on this one. Much later, Bowie had become a fan of Arcade Fire and offered to drop by their recording studio. He ended up adding backing vocals on their title song from the 2013 album Reflektor.

There are plenty of other examples of Bowie’s supporting workaround. But he also had guests in at times for backing vocals on his own songs too. John Lennon gets a co-writing credit on “Fame” for a bit of help on lyrics. Lennon also sang on the recording. Luther Vandross is sometimes quoted as another backing singer for Bowie, notably on “Young Americans,” but that was before Vandross hit it big in his own right. 

Sometimes an artist will bring in a few different voices on a particular album. That was the case with Steve Winwood for his 1986 album Back In The High Life Again. The album featured backing vocals from Chaka Khan on “Higher Love” and had James Taylor doing the same on the title track. Winwood also had more top voices brought in for “The Finer Things,” which featured both Dan Hartman and James Ingram. 

Kate Bush, Sting, Peter Gabriel, and more

Here are some great examples of how this can all spin off in a variety of directions. Let’s start with Kate Bush, who is yet another artist with guest backing vocalists worth a mention. UK comedian and actor Lenny Henry sang on her “The Red Shoes” song. Prince also added his voice (guitar and keyboards, too) on another track from the same album, "Why Should I Love You?". Another example is Roy Harper, who was the lead vocalist on Pink Floyd’s “Have A Cigar," adding his voice to her song “Breathing.”

Then like Bowie, Bush also added her talents on other artist's work. Bush added her distinctive tones to “The King Is Dead” for the UK pop duo Go West. Her links with Peter Gabriel led to her backing him on “Games Without Frontiers."

As an aside, Gabriel was a backing singer on Phil Collins’ 1985 hit “Take Me Home”. He was also joined by Sting adding his voice to the song too.  The Collins hit was released just a few weeks after Sting had notably added backing on the Dire Straits single “Money For Nothing”

The list doesn't end there and could go on much, much longer. George Michael on Elton John’s “Nikita,” Madonna with Lenny Kravitz on “Justify My Love," and Neil Finn on Sheryl Crow’s “Every Song Has A Winding Road.” Crow herself was a backing singer on Michael Jackson's Bad tour and “Dirty Diana “ song, but like Vandross earlier, it was before her stardom.

That was the case, too, with a then-unknown Cher on The Righteous Brothers 1964 classic  “You've Lost That Loving Feeling,” which feels like the right point to draw the line for now on the world of top names on backing vocals for others.

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