Very Good Music Facts

This edition of VGMF will highlight guest backing vocalists and musicians on popular songs. We all know Eddie Van Halen played on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” Mick Jagger sang on Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain,” Michael McDonald delivered the goods on numerous yacht rock classics, and Stevie Ray Vaughn ripped an iconic solo on “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie, but what about the lesser-known killer collaborations?

That’s what I’m here for: grabbing the fun facts shovel and digging up some hidden gems.

The following are not songs “featuring” other artists; think more low-key contributions like session work before certain artists were famous, or “I just popped in for a guest spot on my friend’s record, no big deal.”

Ronnie James Dio played trumpet on The Angels’ 1963 #1 hit “My Boyfriend’s Back.”

Jimmy Page played on Tom Jones’ 1965 hit “It’s Not Unusual” and also played lead on Joe Cocker’s cover of The Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends.”

Rick Wakeman played piano on David Bowie’s 1971 hit “Changes.”

Linda Ronstadt sang backup vocals on Neil Young’s 1972 hit “Heart of Gold” along with James Taylor.

Toni Tennille from Captain & Tennille sang background vocals on four songs on Pink Floyd’s classic 1979 album, “The Wall.”

Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross sang background vocals on Chaka Khan’s 1980 hit song “Clouds.”

Kate Bush provided the backing vocals on Peter Gabriel’s 1980 hit “Games Without Frontiers,” singing the French phrase “Jeux sans frontières.” The phrase, which translates to “games without frontiers,” is often misheard as “she’s so popular.” (They reteamed for the popular duet “Don’t Give Up” in 1986.)

Elvis Costello produced Squeeze’s 1981 album “East Side Story,” and sang backing vocals on the hit song “Tempted.” He sang the low-register parts, “people keep on grinding” and “it’s no story I can tell.”

Kirsty MacColl sang backing vocals on Tracey Ullman’s 1983 hit song “They Don’t Know.” Kirsty wrote the song and recorded the original version in 1979.

Chrissie Hynde sang backing vocals on U2’s 1984 hit “Pride (In the Name of Love).” She was credited as “Mrs. Christine Kerr” (she was married to Simple Minds’ frontman Jim Kerr).

Peter Buck of R.E.M. performed the guitar solo on the Replacements’ 1984 song “I Will Dare.”

Sting and Peter Gabriel provide backing vocals on Phil Collins’ “Take Me Home,” the final track on his 1985 album “No Jacket Required.”

Slayer’s Kerry King played the guitar solos on the Beastie Boys’ hits “No Sleep till Brooklyn” and “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)” in 1986.

Kirsty MacColl sang backing vocals on The Smiths’ 1986 single “Ask.”

Bryan Adams provided backing vocals on the chorus of “Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)” by Glass Tiger in 1986.

Joe Jackson plays piano on Suzanne Vega’s “Left of Center” which was featured on the popular “Pretty in Pink” soundtrack in 1986.

Aimee Mann sang backing vocals on “Time Stands Still” by Rush, from their 1987 album “Hold Your Fire.”

Joe Walsh played guitar on the 1987 Richard Marx hit “Don’t Mean Nothing.”

On the Indigo Girls 1988 self-titled album, Michael Stipe provided backing vocals on “Kid Fears” and Luka Bloom provided backing vocals on “Closer to Fine.”

Bootsy Collins provided guest vocals and Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest rapped on the 1990 hit “Groove Is in the Heart” by Deee-Lite.

Michael Stipe sang background vocals and Peter Buck played guitar on Billy Bragg’s 1991 song “You Woke Up My Neighbourhood.”

In addition to sing backing vocals on “Shiny Happy People” and “Me in Honey” from the R.E.M.’s 1991 album “Out of Time,” Kate Pierson sang backing vocals on the band’s song “Fretless” from the 1991 soundtrack “Until the End of the World.”

Eddie Vedder sang backing vocals on Bad Religion’s 1993 song “American Jesus.”

Trent Reznor sang backing vocals on Tori Amos’s 1994 song “Past the Mission.”

Alanis Morissette’s 1995 breakthrough single, “You Oughta Know,” features Dave Navarro on guitar, Flea on bass, and Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers) on organ.

Neil Finn of Crowded House provided backing vocals on Sheryl Crow’s 1996 hit “Everyday Is a Winding Road.”

Paul Weller played lead guitar, whistled, and sang backing vocals on “Champagne Supernova” by Oasis in 1996.

Scott Klopfenstein and Dan Regan of Reel Big Fish played the horns on Goldfinger’s 1997 hit song “Superman.”

Louise Post of Veruca Salt sang backing vocals on the Foo Fighter’s 1997 hit song “Everlong.”

Tommy Keene played guitar on the Goo Goo Dolls’ hit song, “Broadway”, from their 1998 album “Dizzy Up The Girl.”

Alanis Morissette sang backing vocals and Béla Fleck played banjo on the Dave Matthews Band’s 1998 song “Don’t Drink The Water.”

Davey von Bohlen of The Promise Ring sang the bridge on Jimmy Eat World’s “A Praise Chorus” from the 2001 album “Bleed American.”

Liz Phair provided guest backing vocals on Sheryl Crow’s 2002 hit single “Soak Up the Sun.”

John Legend sang background vocals on Alicia Keys’ “You Don’t Know My Name” from her 2003 album “The Diary of Alicia Keys.”

Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco provided guest backing vocals on Fall Out Boy’s 2005 song “7 Minutes in Heaven (Atavan Halen)” from the album From Under the Cork Tree.

Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio sang guest vocals on the song the 2008 H2O song “What Happened?”

David Bowie sang backing vocals on Arcade Fire’s 2013 song “Reflektor.”

Carly Rae Jepsen sang backing vocals on Bleacher’s 2017 song “Hate That You Know Me.”

Phoebe Bridgers and Clairo sang backing vocals on Lorde’s 2021 hit song “Solar Power.”

Chappell Roan sang background vocals and harmonies on “Lacy” and “Obsessed” from Olivia Rodrigo’s 2023 record “GUTS,” as well as “Can’t Catch Me Now” from 2023 “The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” soundtrack.