GrimsbyFan wrote:

  
 

 

 
 
  

Poor Little Fool - Ricky Nelson
The Jordannaires sang background on many of Ricky's songs.  Their vocals seemed to be the perfect complement to a great performance by an amazing singer on this tune.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=poor+little+fool+ricky+nelson

Shoutout to the Jordanaires!

Elvis was very fond of them and stated words to the effect that "...if it wasn't for you guys there may not have been a me..."

Elvis wanted them to accompany him to Las Vegas for his engagements but they turned him down.

I had the pleasure of meeting the Jordanaires tenor singer, piano player & group manager, the late Gordon Stoker in Vegas about 25 years ago.

Funnily enough he (and I) were in the audience that night of an Elvis impersonator named Trent Carlini. Mr. Stoker was introduced from the stage & following the shows completion I made a point of waiting to shake his hand and say hello as he emerged from the small showroom.

Their backup vocals are so strong that they come close to being lead singers, but I'll still suggest that The Edwin Hawkins Singers' performance on "Lay Down" by Melanie would qualify here.

A couple of rather interesting backup vocals, different from the usual shoo bop,shoo bop:

In She's A Fool (Lesley Gore). the male voices sing Shag A Doola, Shag A Doola.

In Lightening Strikes (Lou Christie), the backup singers (Denise Ferri, Bernafette Carroll, Peggy Santiglia) sing Puppy Ah OO, Puppy Ah OO.

 

Can't think of a better example of incredible background singers than on Rod Stewart's "Motown Song." No less than The Temptations provide the background and even get to sing a verse of their own on the tune.

Rock And Roll Lullaby - B.J. Thomas
The background vocals on the chorus really help aid with the lullaby aspect of the song, and towards the end of the record they also remind me of The Beach Boys' harmonies. The singers were The Blossoms (Darlene Love, Fanita James and Jean King), Dave Somerville (former lead singer of The Diamonds), Ron Hicklin, Tom Bahler, and Gene Morford. 

Ah, yes, the late 50s and early 60s..  A time when political correctness wasn't even a concept, as evidenced by the background vocals in these two songs:

Running Bear - Johnny Preston
George Jones and producer Bill Hall were the ones doing the "Uga Uga" chant as well as the Indian war cries.

Mr Custer - Larry Verne
Background tribal war chants that would be considered offensive and taboo today.

 

Last edited by GrimsbyFan (June 11, 2026 6:59 am)

Runaround Sue - Dion
Although The Del-Satins backed up Dion on many of his solo records, they were never given label credit on any of them. I've long thought that they deserved to receive credit in this case in particular, given how prominent their vocals were throughout the record.

Help Me Rhonda - Johnny Rivers
I would have liked his version of this song anyway, but the fact that Brian Wilson sang backup on it made it even better to me. 

This one may not exactly fit, but I think it's appropriate. It seems to me it wouldn't be entirely wrong to include Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard as great back-up singers. Although they were supposedly equal members of The Supremes, there's no denying Diana Ross was the lead of the group, until she left at the end of the 60s.

The dynamic duo made a major contribution to those Motown classics, even if they never quite got the credit they deserved. I've heard both had really great voices and it's a shame they never really got the chance to demonstrate it on vinyl.