overqualified backing vocalists

George Michael (and Nik Kershaw apparently) on Elton John’s “Nikita”.

David Bowie is also on Arcade Fire’s Reflektor.

Here’s a few:

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/07/9-famous-backup-singers-on-classic-pop-songs.html

And this one is fairly more interesting:

https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/unsung-heroes-18-songs-with-secret-superstars-on-backing-vocals__17833/

Several in there that I had no idea existed like Robyn on a Britney song.

Neil Young, on the live version of "Downtown" on Tonight's the Night (though he pretty much takes it over by the end).

Stephen Stills, moaning over the outro on Neil's "Til the Morning Comes".

Barry Gibb (or is it all the Bee Gees?) backing Dionne Warwick on "Heartbreaker". Not sure if "Emotion" counts given how he dominates the chorus.

Don't know about overqualified but I want to include the Jesus & Mary Chain shouting "guilty" on Drama! by Erasure

Debbie Harry guesting as D.H. Lawrence jr on several tracks on the Gun Club's Miami. It was produced by Chris Stein and Jeffrey lee Pierce had been Blondie's fan club head.

Chrissie Hynde (billed as “Mrs. Christine Kerr") on U2's "Pride (In The Name Of Love)"

Of all people, Joe Satriani is credited with backing vocals - vocals - on the first Crowded House record.

！

Pete Townshend sings backup (but doesn't play guitar, for some reason) on the Ramones' cover of "Substitute."

Squeeze's Black Coffee In Bed has both Elvis Costello and Paul Young (No Parlez, not Sad Cafe guy)

EC is all over those squeeze records (the ones he produced, anyway)

I know Eno does a lot of backing vocals on some of the albums he produced too

Maya Angelou on Herbie Mann's The Common Ground

Springsteen has an uncredited cameo on Lou Reed's "Street Hassle," but I think cameos like that are almost a totally different thing. Like, I dunno, Tom Waits popping up in "Tommy the Cat" by Primus or Iggy Pop popping in "New York City" by the Cult.

Back to Phil, "Take Me Home" has both Sting and Gabriel on backing vocals.

EC didn't produce Black Coffee In Bed, Phil Wainman did (it's on Sweets From A Stranger). The only other song he sings on is Tempted (from the album he did produce): "The people keep on crowding, I'm wishing I was well"

I mainly hear Eno in the Once In A Lifetime chorus, same for U2's Lemon

Squeeze's Black Coffee In Bed has both Elvis Costello and Paul Young (No Parlez, not Sad Cafe guy)

Talking of Paul Young and "No Parlez", Dagmar Krause provides backing vocals on his version of "Love Will Tear Us Apart".

Just listening to it now and she actually does a spoken word section - a bit like Nico does on Tiny Tim's first album.

Eno is all over the place on he albums he's produced. That's his thing. But, like, Joe Ely as part of the Spanish call and response in the Clash's "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?", yeah, that's a bit closer to the thread theme.

... talking of unlikely appearances by female German vocalists. (xp)

Certainly Aimee Mann popping up on Rush's "Time Stand Still," that was always pretty random. "Girls," by Dwight Twilley, has Tom Petty on backing vox.

I thought about Mann, but that feels like a real "featured" guest vocal, as you (and I) both dissected upthread

Yeah, it's more a lead part.

(I apparently posted a lot in this thread y'day, and none of my answers were on-point, lol)

Neil Tennant on Boy George's 'The Crying Game' and Dusty Springfield's 'Nothing Has Been Proved'.

Squeeze again, both Difford & Tilbrook not exactly hidden in the mix here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArXL7uEQsEg

I'm not sure Tennant counts in those contexts. PSBs produced "The Crying Game" and "Nothing Has Been Proved."

Fair point. So onto...

Liam Gallagher on Echo & The Bunnymen's 'Nothing Lasts Forever'.

a few from the grandest listening thread of them all:

Billy Joel, "My Life" - Peter Cetera and Donnie Dacus of Chicago
Billy Joel, "Everybody Has A Dream" - Phoebe Snow
Billy Joel, "Storm Front" - Richard Marx
Billy Joel, "All About Soul" - Color Me Badd, and Frank Simms aka the Kool-Aid Man
Cyndi Lauper, "Maybe He'll Know" - Billy Joel
Mick Jones, "Just Wanna Hold" - Billy Joel

and the alt-rock edition:

Dave Matthews Band, "Don't Drink the Water" - Alanis Morrissette
The Wallflowers, "Sixth Avenue Heartache" - Adam Duritz
The Urge, "Jump Right In" - Nick Hexum

Steely Dan, "FM" - Frey, Henley and Schmitt of the Eagles

can't believe i misspelled "morissette," shame on me

Eagles (and others of the LA ilk) pop up all over Randy Newman's albums.

Robert Plant's Now and Zen has both Kirsty Maccoll and future Curve vocalist Toni Halliday on backing vocals.

We could fill half a thread with Kirsty BV credits

Several in there that I had no idea existed like Robyn on a Britney song.

this is Piece Of Me, and it's not that surprising - it was written by her main songwriter & regular co-producer Klas Teddybear with Bloodshy & Avant, and it sounds to me like they had Robyn do a guide vocal for Britney to track to, then kept it in the track (& mixed her way up in the choruses).

nominating:
Michael Hutchence on Motorcycle Baby by Ecco Homo
and Bono on New York New York by Ecco Homo.

xpost to Myself Eagles et al. singing all over Randy Newman *and* Warren Zevon records. And how did I not know McVie and Fleetwood were the rhythm section of "Werewolves of London," or that (other) McVie and Buckingham sing backup on "I Love LA?"

"Girls," by Dwight Twilley, has Tom Petty on backing vox.

Twilley sings on Petty's first album, and Phil Seymour is on both "Breakdown" and "American Girl".

Yeah, but I think only Petty on "Girls" counts as overqualified!

Twilley & Seymour were (arguably) more famous than Petty when they recorded with him in '76-77.

Kind of a shoe on the other foot thing.

Twilley don’t mind singin background vox

Alison Moyet did backing vocals on Fad Gadget's Under the Flag. It was recorded just before Upstairs at Eric's but released a few weeks later. She's part of a chorus of backing vocalists and doesn't really stand out. Waste of Alison Moyet basically.

Not vocals, but Simple Minds are credited with handclaps(!) on Gary Numan's "The Aircrash Bureau", an album track from Telekon. Apparently they were the opening act for his tour and happened to be in the studio that day.

how have the Turtles not been mentioned yet

(well, Flo & Eddie specifically)

I thought about mentioning them but were they really “overqualified”? Thought guesting as backing vocalists was just one of their things.

Kind of a waste of Howard Kaylan, who is a fantastic singer, whereas Mark Volman was a backing vocalist in the Turtles.

Fair enough

Ellie Greenwich on Blondie's "Dreaming" and "Atomic"

Lorna Luft on Blondie's "Accidents Never Happen" and "Slow Motion"

Mary Hansen tbh. she had impeccable pitch live

Toni 'Captain and' Tennille along with Carl and Bruce from The Beach Boys on Elton John's 'Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me'.

Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham on "Magnet and Steel"

xp Bruce also does the almost inaudible backing vocals on John Prine's "Take a Look at My Heart."

...and that's also Bruce, very audible, on Graham Parker's "Endless Night"

Q-Tip, Slick Rick, and Biz Markie back up Jay-Z on “Girls, Girls, Girls”

A Tom Waits song is the only possible context where Keith Richards would count as an "overqualified" backing vocalist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgG4rxq8DhY

David Crosby on "Another Day in Paradise" (phil colins)

James Taylor on "Back in the high life" (steve winwood)

Shannon Hoon on "Dont Cry" (gnr)

Liz Phair on "Work" (jimmy eat world)

Liz Phair on "Soak Up The Sun" by Sheryl Crow.

apparently michele phillips and diane warren harmonize on the chorus of “heaven is a place on earth”

Billy Ocean on Scott Walker’s Track Three

Billy Ocean sings the high harmony for about 90% of the song, to be fair it's practically a duet.