Prominent Harmonies

[Daniel Shywaoub]

Every once in awhile there's a song that has a "nobody" get some serious vocal time, either backup scatting or equal-volume harmonies. So this leaves out famous people like Michael McDonald when he was a "member" of Steely Dan and you can hear him distinctly on the chorus of "Peg", or Michael Jackson doing the chorus of "Somebody's Watching Me"; or of course, full blown duets, and also when somebody actually gets credit for their backup, like Wendy Fraser on "She's Like The Wind". Here's one I heard this morning, plus two others that have always stuck with me:

LOVE WILL CONQUER ALL Lionel Richie
NO ONE NEEDS TO KNOW Shania Twain
TAKE YOUR TIME Pebbles

I always thought the Pebbles dude was Alexander O'Neal, but apparently not; and that didn't make any necessary sense anyway, since he was a Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis guy, rather than an L.A. and Babyface guy.

Remember, this is Nostalgia, so let's not do anything more-recent than 2005.

[johnnywest]

On American Top 10, Casey did a spotlight on "Acts Known For Their Harmonies." He definitely played Wilson Phillips, The Bee Gees, Fleetwood Mac (this was either "Hold Me" or "Little Lies") and The Eagles. I think Enya was on the list as the only solo artist since she was famous for overdubs.