[ad_1]
When guitarist/bassist Carol Kaye took her first gig as a session participant in 1957 for a Sam Cooke session, she merely noticed herself as a working mom who wanted to supply for her youngsters. “I knew it looked like money, and I had two kids to pay for,” she as soon as instructed Far Out.
Kaye was born to working-class, skilled musician dad and mom and grew up in a housing venture throughout World War II. At the age of 9, her dad and mom divorced, and she or he started working to assist make ends meet, paying for her personal guitar classes. By the time she was fourteen, she was already knowledgeable – helping her guitar instructor with classes and taking part in jazz gigs within the Long Beach space.
The jazz work led to the Sam Cooke session, and from that sprang a profession that encompassed over 10,000 periods on each rhythm guitar and bass for artists like The Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, Herb Alpert, Quincy Jones, Cher, and Joe Cocker in addition to scores for movie and tv.
As one of many few ladies to search out constant work within the session world, she is seen at present as a trailblazer who broke the glass ceiling for different ladies musicians like June and Jean Millington, Bobbye Hall, and Sandra Crouch.
Kaye maintains, nonetheless, that her focus in these years was much less lofty: “I never thought of myself as a woman at all. I knew I was a woman because of the way men looked at me, but not as a guitar player. The guitar was my voice, so I used my guitar to play and make money with. I was born in 1935 and my parents were not extremely poor, but there were times that we didn’t have enough to eat. When you work on that basis, it changes everything.”
Glen Campbell – Wichita Lineman
“‘Wichita Lineman’ is one of my favorite records,” Kaye as soon as stated. “I got to improvise most of my bass line on that….We just had a chord chart to work from, and they came up with a lead-in line…so they asked me to ‘start it with a pickup on bass’…and what you hear is what I invented.”
Brenda Holloway – You’ve Made Me So Very Happy
Kaye performed on greater than 175 tracks for Motown artists like Diana Ross & The Supremes, the Four Tops, Martha & The Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, and others between 1964 and 1971. Her bassline undergirds this gradual burner that hit the highest 40 of Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1967. It grew to become a fair larger hit for Blood, Sweat & Tears, peaking on the quantity 2 place on the identical chart, two years later.
Righteous Brothers – You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling
Produced by Phil Spector, Kaye performed rhythm guitar on this recording that hit the primary place on each the American and British charts in February 1965. Kaye recollects of the Spector periods, “The room would usually hold a crowd of musicians, Sonny Bono would sit in with the percussion section playing tambourine until Phil would call him saying, ‘Telephone, Sonny.’ Then as soon as he was out the door, we’d do the take (to the gratefulness of the percussionists). The booth was constantly crowded with people. What a scene, but fun!”
Tina Turner – River Deep, Mountain High
This 1966 Phil Spector manufacturing was no extraordinary session, costing $22,000 to document with over twenty musicians. Kaye offered the music’s memorable bassline. She instructed Songfacts, “It felt like another thing that was going to be a hit, but to walk in the booth and there’s a ton of people in the booth, and there’s a ton of us out in the studio, it almost felt like a party.”
Wonder Woman (Theme)
It appears becoming that Kaye would obtain the decision to play on the theme music for The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, starring Lynda Carter, which aired on CBS from 1976-1979. Kaye’s bass is distinguished within the combine alongside session royalty like Emil Richards, Joe Porcaro, and Tommy Tedesco.
[ad_2]