So Motown had the Andantes, Stax / Isaac Hayes had Hot Buttered Soul, Philly had the Sweethearts of Soul, Atlantic had the Sweet Inspirations … 

… THEN … Ike & Tina had the Ikettes, Ray Charles had the Raelettes, Bobby Bland had the Blandolls (bad name that really, they were far from Bland), Joe Tex had the Texettes and James Brown had the Brownettes (& numerous solo femme / male singers who handled his backing vocals) … but which other artists had dedicated backing vocal groups for studio & / or live work.

I know in later years, the likes of the Pips stepped out from behind Gladys Knight for some recordings of their own, lots of other outfits such as the Bluebelles and the Vandellas were backing vocalists but got a namecheck … HOWEVER …  I'm really meaning singers who mainly stayed in the background and most of the time went almost unheralded.

Edited March 22, 20196 yr by Roburt

Did Parlet or the Brides of Funkenstein ever sing behind Funkadelic or George Clinton on live shows ?

I know that Parlet would open shows on tour with P-Funk and that the Brides started out as part of the P-Funk camp, so I guess at least the Brides acted as backing singers for George & the group.  

Edited March 22, 20196 yr by Roburt

Johnny Otis also had his in-house backing singers outfit; the Otisettes … 

The ' Love Generators ' appeared on a few Oscar Perry tracks...maybe the Peri tone house band?

 

Ed

I'm glad I read this thread as it just made me realise how Steve Washington [Slave/Aurra/Civil Attack] became George Clintons bass player in the early to mid eighties. Steve married Sheila Horne, who is credited on a number of releases as "The Bride." It's only when you mentioned The Brides' above, I suddenly remembered Sheila The Bride, and thus established she was in The Brides Of Funkenstein. I have both of their studio LP's though can honestly say I can't recall having looked at them in any detail or played them this century. As I recall they were quite hard going though Disco To Go was a great tune. Thanks

Further to the above, has anyone got this Motown LP please? I can't enlarge it enough on Discogs to see the text on the sleeves, but Discogs data shows a credit for Stephen C Washington on 12 string guitar on the track Wink Your Head, which is 4 years prior to the first Slave LP and there's nothing else listed in between for him. Can any owner check that credit is correct on the LP in the pic below, and not an error on Discogs. Thanks.

https://www.discogs.com/Stephen-Cohn-Stephen-Cohn/master/807042

 

 

Edited March 23, 20196 yr by Guest

6 hours ago, Martin S said:

Further to the above, has anyone got this Motown LP please? I can't enlarge it enough on Discogs to see the text on the sleeves, but Discogs data shows a credit for Stephen C Washington on 12 string guitar on the track Wink Your Head, which is 4 years prior to the first Slave LP and there's nothing else listed in between for him. Can any owner check that credit is correct on the LP in the pic below, and not an error on Discogs. Thanks.

https://www.discogs.com/Stephen-Cohn-Stephen-Cohn/master/807042

 

 

Inner gatefold showing Stephen NOT Stephen C Washington.....well spotted

Edited March 23, 20196 yr by Blackpoolsoul

The Blackberries were Motown’s California-based backing group.

Bob Brady and the Conchords !!..

Curtom (Curtis Mayfield and others) had Kitty & The Haywoods and The Jones Girls (before they signed with PIR).

The TNJ's backed Bunny Sigler; The Futures backed Barbara Mason and some PIR artists (they are great backing Lou Rawls on "What's The Matter With The World"); Jones Girls backed also Lou Rawls on PIR ("Sit Down & Talk To Me" album) and some Rinder & Lewis' disco productions as Le Pamplemouse; LaBelle backed Laura Nyro;… the list is so long

Also I read that The O'Jays started as back singers for Lou Rawls under the production by Sid Nathan and I have seen some 45 by "Jimmy Norman & The O'Jays" (I ignore if they are the same group…)