A
backing band or
backup band is a
bandIn music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform songs. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band* Dansband* Fife and drum...
which accompanies an artist at a live performance or on a recording. This can either be an established group or an
ad hocAd hoc is a Latin phrase which means "for this [purpose]". It generally signifies a solution designed for a specific problem or task, non-generalizable, and which cannot be adapted to other purposes....
group assembled for the purpose. Such groups are often made up of
session musicianSession musicians are instrumental performers or vocalists who are available for hire for live performances or recording sessions, as opposed to musicians who are either permanent members of a musical ensemble or who have acquired fame in their own right as bandleaders...
s.
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A
backing band or
backup band is a
bandIn music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform songs. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band* Dansband* Fife and drum...
which accompanies an artist at a live performance or on a recording. This can either be an established group or an
ad hocAd hoc is a Latin phrase which means "for this [purpose]". It generally signifies a solution designed for a specific problem or task, non-generalizable, and which cannot be adapted to other purposes....
group assembled for the purpose. Such groups are often made up of
session musicianSession musicians are instrumental performers or vocalists who are available for hire for live performances or recording sessions, as opposed to musicians who are either permanent members of a musical ensemble or who have acquired fame in their own right as bandleaders...
s.
Some of the best-known long-lived, established backing bands (with lead artist) are:
- Ace in the Hole
The Ace in the Hole are the backing band for country music performer George Strait, who was the band's lead singer before beginning his solo career in front of the group in the early 1980s.-History:...
(George StraitGeorge Harvey Strait is a Grammy Award-winning American country music singer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend...
)
- Big Brother and The Holding Company
Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane. They are best known as the band that featured Janis Joplin as their...
(Janis JoplinJanis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter and music arranger, from Port Arthur, Texas. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist...
)
- Bluesbreakers (John Mayall
John Mayall, OBE is a pioneering English blues singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. His musical career spans over fifty years but the most notable episode in it occurred during the late '60s...
)
- Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse is a rock band best known for its association with Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young. It has been co-credited on a number of albums throughout Young's career, from Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere to Live at the Fillmore East...
(Neil YoungNeil Percival Young, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician and film director. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 1995 and also as a member of Buffalo Springfield in 1997....
)
- Double Trouble
Stevie Ray Vaughan was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Eighteen albums of Vaughan's work have been released...
(Stevie Ray VaughanStevie Ray Vaughan was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Eighteen albums of Vaughan's work have been released...
)
- Miami Sound Machine (Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan is a Grammy Award-winning Cuban-American singer and songwriter. She is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 90 million albums sold worldwide, 26.5 million of those in the United States alone...
)
- Mink DeVille
Mink DeVille was a rock band known for its association with early punk rock bands at New York’s CBGB nightclub and for being a showcase for the music of Willy DeVille. The band recorded six albums in the years 1977 to 1985. Except for frontman Willy DeVille, the original members of the band played...
(Willy DevilleWilly DeVille was an American singer and songwriter. First with his band Mink DeVille and later on his own, DeVille in his 35-year career created songs that are wholly original yet rooted in traditional American musical styles...
)
- Parliament Funkadelic (George Clinton
George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and began his work as a solo artist in 1981. He has been called one of the most prominent...
)
- Spearhead (Michael Franti
Michael Franti is an American poet, musician, and composer of African, Native American, Irish, French, and German descent....
)
- The All Stars (Junior Walker)
- The Animals
The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s known in the United States as part of the British Invasion. Known for their gritty, bluesy sound and deep-voiced frontman Eric Burdon, as exemplified by their signature songs "The House of the Rising Sun" and "We Gotta Get Out of This Place", the...
(Eric Burden)
- The Ants
Adam and the Ants were a British rock band band during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were one of the bands at the time that marked the transition from the 70s punk rock era to the New Wave/post-punk era....
(AdamAdam Ant is an English musician, who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1979 and 1983, including three No.1s...
)
- The Attractions (Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s, and later became associated with the punk rock and New Wave musical genres...
)
- The Bad Seeds (Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and musical styles...
)
- The Band
The Band was a rock music group active from 1967 to 1976 and again from 1983 to 1999. The original group consisted of four Canadians: Robbie Robertson ; Richard Manuel ; Garth Hudson ; and Rick Danko , and...
(Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet and painter who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was, at first, an informal chronicler and then an apparently reluctant figurehead of social unrest...
)
- The Blowfish
Hootie & the Blowfish is an American rock band that enjoyed widespread popularity in the second half of the 1990s. They were originally formed in 1986 at the University of South Carolina by Darius Rucker, Dean Felber, Jim Sonefeld, and Mark Bryan. The band has recorded seven studio albums to...
(HootieDarius Rucker is an American musician. He is known for his role as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, of which he has been a member since the band's inception in 1986 and his work as a solo artist.Along with his work in Hootie & the Blowfish, Rucker has...
)
- The Bluebelles (Patti Labelle
Patricia Louise Holte , best known by her stage name of Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter and actress. She fronted two groups, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, which received minor success on the pop charts in the 1960s, and Labelle, which received acclaim and a...
)
- The Cardinals (Ryan Adams
David Ryan Adams is a Grammy Award-nominated American alt-country/rock singer-songwriter from Jacksonville, North Carolina....
)
- The Crickets
The Crickets are a rock & roll band from Lubbock, Texas, formed by singer/songwriter Buddy Holly in the 1950s.Their first hit record was "That'll Be the Day," released in 1957....
(Buddy HollyCharles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
)
- The Dominos
Derek and the Dominos were a blues-rock band formed in the spring of 1970 by guitarist and singer Eric Clapton with keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon, who had all played with Clapton in Delaney, Bonnie & Friends....
(DerekEric Patrick Clapton, CBE is an English blues-rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Clapton has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds, of Cream, and as a solo performer, being the only person ever to be inducted three times...
)
- The Drifting Cowboys
The Drifting Cowboys were the backing group for American music legend Hank Williams. Jerry Rivers was one of the top performers in the Drifting Cowboys. The band went through several lineups during Williams's career, and surviving members of the group continue to tour and make public appearances...
(Hank Williams)
- The E Street Band (Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss", is an American singer-songwriter. He records and tours with the E Street Band...
)
- The F.C.C.
The F.C.C. originally started as the backing band for Serj Tankian in support for his debut solo album, Elect the Dead. Recently though, Serj announced that 2009 will be the last year that The F.C.C. will be Serj's backing band. It was also announced that The F.C.C. would be writing their own...
(Serj TankianSerj Tankian is a Lebanese-Armenian-American singer–songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, poet, and political activist...
)
- The Faces (Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer and songwriter born and raised in London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English lineage....
)
- The Family Stone
The Family Stone is a 2005 American dramedy film written and directed by Thomas Bezucha. It is an ensemble piece focusing on the Christmas holiday misadventures of the titular family when the eldest son brings his girlfriend home with the intention of proposing to her with a cherished heirloom...
(SlySly Stone is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s...
)
- The Flecktones (Bela Fleck
Béla Fleck is an American banjo player. Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most innovative and technically proficient banjo players, he is best known for his work with the band Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, with bassist Victor Wooten, saxophonist Jeff Coffin and percussionist Future...
)
- The Four Seasons
The Four Seasons is an American pop and rock group, with a sound somewhat reminiscent of doo-wop, although they were not thought of as actually being a doo-wop group. By the mid 1960s, they had become an internationally famous rock-and-roll act...
(Frankie ValliFrankie Valli is an American musician, most famous as frontman of The Four Seasons....
)
- The Funky Bunch
Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch was a hip-hop group led by Mark Wahlberg . The Funky Bunch consisted of Scott Ross , Hector Barros , Duffy Culligan , Terry Yancey and Anthony Thomas...
(Marky MarkMarky Mark may refer to:* Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, Hip-Hop group** Mark Wahlberg, the rapper-turned-actor who led said group* Marky Mark , professional wrestler for Stampede Wrestling* The old nickname of DJ Marky....
)
- The Heartbreakers
For the New York based band, see The HeartbreakersTom Petty and the Heartbreakers are a Heartland rock band, most of whose members are from the United States of America. They were formed in 1976 by Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, and Benmont Tench, all of whom had been members of Mudcrutch...
(Tom PettyThomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
)
- The Impressions (Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions and composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly. From these works and others, he is highly regarded as a pioneer of funk and of...
)
- The Jordanaires
The Jordanaires are an American singing group formed in 1948 best known for backing many of Elvis Presley's recordings.- Members :The group formed in 1948 in Springfield, Missouri, with members Bill Matthews , Bob Hubbard , Bill's brother Monty Matthews , Culley Holt , and pianist Bob Money...
(Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as Elvis and is also sometimes referred to as The King of Rock 'n' Roll or The King....
)
- The Magic Band
The Magic Band were a US rock band. Originally Captain Beefheart's backing band from 1965 to Beefheart's retirement from music in 1982, they reformed in 2003.-History:...
(Captain BeefheartDon Van Vliet is an American musician and painter, best known by the pseudonym Captain Beefheart. His musical work was mainly conducted with a rotating assembly of musicians called The Magic Band, which was active between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s...
)
- The Maytals
Toots and the Maytals, originally called simply The Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group and one of the best known ska and reggae vocal groups. According to Sandra Brennan at Allmusic, "The Maytals were key figures in reggae music...
(TootsToots Hibbert is a ska and roots reggae singer and leader of the reggae band Toots & the Maytals.-Biography:...
)
- The Miracles
The Miracles is an American rhythm and blues group from Detroit, Michigan, notable as Motown royalty, the first successful group act for Berry Gordy's Motown Records...
(Smokey RobinsonWilliam "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown Records, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...
)
- The Mothers of Invention
The Mothers of Invention was an American band active from 1964 to 1975. They mainly performed works by and were the original recording group of composer and guitarist Frank Zappa, although other members have an occasional writing credit.- History :...
(Frank ZappaFrank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, electronic, orchestral, and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album...
)
- The New Power Generation (Prince
Prince Rogers Nelson is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor. He performs under the mononym Prince but has also been known by various other names, most notably the unpronounceable symbol which he used as his stage name between 1993 and 2000...
)
- The News
Huey Lewis and the News is an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually scoring a total of 19 Top Ten singles across the Billboard Hot 100, Adult Contemporary and Mainstream Rock Charts. Their greatest success...
(Huey LewisHuey Lewis is an American musician, songwriter and occasional actor.He sings lead vocals and plays harmonica for his band Huey Lewis and the News, in addition to writing or co-writing many of the band's songs....
)
- Patti Smith Group (Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer–songwriter, poet and visual artist who was a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses. Called the "Godmother of Punk", she integrated the beat poetry performance style with three-chord rock...
)
- The Jimi Hendrix Experience
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter...
(Jimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter...
)
- The Pips (Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight , known as the Empress of Soul, is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author...
)
- The Raelettes (Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He brought a soulful sound to country music and pop standards through his Modern Sounds recordings, as well as a rendition of "America the Beautiful" that Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes called the "definitive version of...
)
- The Revolution
The Revolution was an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1979 by Prince. Although widely associated with rock music, the band's sound incorporated heavy metal, pop, funk, R&B and hard rock elements. Before their official break-up, The Revolution had released one studio album,...
(PrincePrince Rogers Nelson is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor. He performs under the mononym Prince but has also been known by various other names, most notably the unpronounceable symbol which he used as his stage name between 1993 and 2000...
)
- The Rumour
The Rumour were a rock band in the late 70's and early 80's. They are best known as the backup band for Graham Parker, whose early records were credited to Graham Parker & The Rumour...
(Graham ParkerGraham Parker is a British rock singer and songwriter who is best known as the lead singer of popular British New Wave band Graham Parker & the Rumour.-Early career :...
)
- The SFA
Jonathan Davis and the SFA is Jonathan Davis of Korn's solo band.-History:Jonathan Davis and the SFA went on their first tour in the United States in November 2007, and a European tour in May 2008. Their debut album is planned for a release sometime in 2009 and a North American tour is expected to...
(Jonathan DavisJonathan Houseman Davis is the lead vocalist and frontman for the alternative metal band Korn. As well as being Korn's lead singer, he has also recorded and played drums, guitar, and bagpipes in many of Korn's albums...
)
- The Shadows
The Shadows are Britain's most successful instrumental and vocal group with a grand total of 69 UK hit singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and The Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s...
(Cliff RichardSir Cliff Richard OBE is a British singer-songwriter and entrepreneur.With his backing group The Shadows, Richard dominated the British popular music scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s, before and during The Beatles' first year in the charts...
)
- The Shondells (Tommy James
Tommy James is an American pop-rock musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known as leader of the 1960s rock band Tommy James and the Shondells.-Early life and career:...
)
- The Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band that were first active from 1967 to 1974, then reformed in 2003. The Stooges sold few records in their original incarnation and often performed for indifferent or hostile audiences...
(Iggy PopIggy Pop is a songwriter, and occasional actor. Although he has had only limited mainstream commercial success, Iggy Pop is considered an influential innovator of punk rock, hard rock, and other related styles...
)
- The Sunshine Band
KC and the Sunshine Band is an American musical group. Founded in 1973 in Miami, Florida, their style has included funk, R&B, and disco. Their most well known songs include the disco hits "That's the Way ", " Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man", "Keep It Comin' Love", "Get Down Tonight", "Give...
(KCHarry Wayne "K.C." Casey is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and producer. He is most famous for his group, KC and the Sunshine Band and as a producer of several hits for other artists.-Early years:...
)
- The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
(Diana Ross Diana Ross is an American singer and actress. During the 1960s, she helped shape the Motown Sound as lead singer of The Supremes, before leaving the group for a solo career on January 14, 1970...
)
- The Tennessee Three (Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash , born J. R. Cash, was an American singer-songwriter and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
)
- The Vandellas (Martha Reeves
Martha Reeves is an American R&B and soul singer and former politician, and was the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. During her tenure with The Vandellas, they scored over a dozen hit singles including "Dancing in the Street", "Nowhere to Run" and "Jimmy Mack"...
)
- The Wailers (Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the ska, rocksteady and reggae bands The Wailers and Bob Marley & The Wailers...
)
- War
War, originally called Eric Burdon & War and often typeset as WAR, is an American funk band from California, known for the hit songs "Low Rider", "Spill the Wine", "The Cisco Kid" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?". Formed in 1969, War was a musical crossover band which fused elements of rock, funk,...
(Eric Burden)
- Wings
Wings was a rock group formed in 1971 by ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and his wife Linda McCartney. The group was the only "permanent" group that any of the former members of the Beatles were ever involved with after their break-up...
(Paul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE , is an English singer-songwriter, poet, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record and film producer, painter, and animal rights and peace activist. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in the history of popular music...
)