Legendary session bassist Carol Kaye has confirmed she gained’t be attending the 2025 Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame induction ceremony later this yr. In a Fb assertion, the 90-year-old musician defined that she is popping down the present as a result of it doesn’t precisely seize the spirit of studio musicians throughout her heyday.
“NO I gained’t be there,” Kaye wrote. “I’m declining the [Rock & Roll Hall of Fame] awards present… turning it down as a result of it wasn’t one thing that displays the work that Studio Musicians do and did within the golden period of the Nineteen Sixties Recording Hits.”
Kaye additionally took challenge with the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame describing her as a member of the “Wrecking Crew,” a label used to explain the collective work of studio musicians within the Nineteen Sixties and Nineteen Seventies. Kaye has lengthy maintained that the title is an inaccurate and insulting label for session gamers of her period.
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“You might be all the time a part of a TEAM, not a solo artist in any respect,” she continued. “There have been all the time 350-400 Studio Musicians (AFM Native 47 Hollywood) working within the busy Nineteen Sixties, and known as that ONLY. Since Thirties, I used to be by no means a ‘wrecker’ in any respect… that’s a horrible insulting title.”
This isn’t a brand new stance for Kaye. A couple of days after her induction was introduced, she commented on Fb, “Please know our solely title was Studio Musicians.” She later added she was “undecided if I can put up with their ‘wrecker’ ID to go to it.”
One of the crucial prolific bass guitarists in historical past, Kaye is estimated to have performed on 10,000 recordings throughout her profession spanning over 65 years. This consists of work with The Seashore Boys, Frank Sinatra, Simon & Garfunkel, Stevie Marvel, Barbra Streisand, The Supremes, and The Temptations.
In her assertion, Kaye gave additional perception into how she grew to become one of many biggest bassists of all time:
“As a working Jazz musician (soloing jazz guitar work) within the Nineteen Fifties working since 1949, I used to be by accident requested to report information by producer Bumps Blackwell in 1957, received into recording good music, w/Sam Cooke, different artists after which by accident positioned on Fender Precision Bass mid 1963 when somebody didn’t present. I by no means performed bass in my life however being an skilled recording guitarist, it was plain to see that 3 bass gamers employed to play ‘dum-de-dum’ on report dates, wasn’t getting it. It was simple for me to invent good bass strains. As a Jazz musician, you invent each observe you play… and so they used lots of Jazz musicians (and former big-band skilled musicians on all these rock and pop dates too).”
Though Kaye appeared in Denny Tedesco’s 2008 documentary, The Wrecking Crew, she has lengthy said the collective by no means used that title till drummer Hal Blaine coined it years later.
Concluding her assertion on the induction, Kaye affirmed her place: “I refuse to be a part of a course of that’s one thing else fairly than what I consider in, for others’ profit and never reflecting on the reality — all of us loved working with EACH OTHER.”
Different members of the Rock Corridor’s 2025 Class embrace The White Stripes, OutKast, Soundgarden, and Cyndi Lauper. The induction ceremony is about to happen on the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Saturday, November eighth, and can stream stay on Disney+. It’s going to even be obtainable on Hulu following its premiere and can obtain a particular broadcast airing on ABC.