Session Musicians facts
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The lyrics to Percy Sledge's "When A Man Loves A Woman" were completely improvised by Sledge on the recording. He improvised so well that his the session musicians assumed that he had pre-written lyrics.
how much do session musicians make?
The members of the 1980s pop/rock band Toto were prolific session musicians. Their work includes Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'. Collectively, the members have been recorded on over 5,000 albums, selling over 500,000,000 albums.
What are session musicians?
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what do session musicians do?
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The members of the 1980s pop/rock band Toto are some of the most prolific session musicians in history. Their work includes Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'. Collectively, the members have been recorded on over 5,000 albums, selling over 500,000,000 units.
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In addition to his solo work and as a member of Yes, Rick Wakeman was also a prolific session musician, performing by his estimate on 2,000 songs, including David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and "Life on Mars".
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Hulk Hogan was a session musician before his wrestling career. He attempted to contact Metallica in the bands early days to play bass for them, but nothing ever came of it.
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The Wrecking Crew' was a group of session musicians that recorded albums for bands/artists like The Beach Boys, The Mamas & The Papas, Frank Sinatra, Simon & Garfunkel, The Monkees (yes, the monkees), Neil Diamond, and The Carpenters.
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"Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots" is named after Yoshimi P-We, the lead singer from OOIOO and drummer from Boredoms, who was also a session musician on the album.
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Christine McVie joined Fleetwood Mac in 1970 (Christine Perfect at the time) and provided the album artwork for their 1970 album Kiln House. She was already well known for being a singer/pianist for Chicken Shack, and played as a session musician for several Fleetwood Mac songs before joining.
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Hulk Hogan was a session musician before his wrestling career, he was asked by Lars Ulrich to play bass for Metallica in the bands early days but it didn't work out.
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Lou Reed started off as a staff music writer & session musician for a record label that made compilation albums of generic cover versions of pop songs. He worked there with John Cale, leading to their founding the Velvet Underground.
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Carol Kaye, a session musician and one of the most widely-heard bass guitarists ever. She is credited with playing bass on some of the biggest hits of all-time.
What is true about session musicians?
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The Funk Brothers were a group of session musicians who played on virtually all Motown recordings from 1959 - 1972.
Deep Purple's original singer Rod Evans fronted a fake version of the band (comprised of Session Musicians), which toured under the name Deep Purple until the real Deep Purple sued them (and stripped Evans of future royalties for his work with the band). - source
American Idol Judge Randy Jackson was a session musician for the rock band Journey in 1986-87 - source
Richard Wright was the only member of Pink Floyd to profit from the initial The Wall tours in 1980-81. At the time, he wasn't officially part of the band but a salaried session musician so he didn't have to cover for the cost of the shows that were so expensive they caused a net loss.
For the recording of the Byrd's version of Bob Dylan's "Mr Tambourine Man" (as well as it's B-side), all instrumentation was recorded by session musicians rather than band members (except for Roger Mcguinn). The producer was not confident enough in the members musicianship at the time. - source
