Rock’s 20 Best Backing Vocalists

If
our
list
of
Rock’s
20
Best
Backing
Vocalists
proves
anything,
it’s
that
the
genre
is
often
a
team
sport.

Lead
singers
can
find
themselves
in
an
unenviable
position
as
the
de
facto
mouthpieces
of
their
bands.
When
they’re
on,
they get
the
lion’s
share
of
the
glory,
but
the
pressure
to
perform
up
to
their
rigorous
standards
on
record
and
onstage
is
daunting.
It’s
not
a
business
that
takes
kindly
to
sick
days
or
off
nights.

Enter
the
backing
vocalists,
whose
jobs
and
required
skill
sets
are
different.
These
singers don’t
necessarily
need to
have
the
best
voices
on
a
technical
level;
what
matters
is their
ability
to
support,
accompany
or
accentuate
the
best
qualities
of
their
respective
lead
singers.

Keith
Richards,

Cliff
Williams
and

Duff
McKagan
won’t
be
winning
singing
awards
anytime
soon,
but
their
harmonies
and
gang
vocals are
crucial
to
the
fabric
of
their
bands’
sounds.

That’s
also
not
to
say
backing
vocalists
can’t
be
stellar
singers
in
their
own
right.
With
his
rough-hewn,
bluesy
growl,

Richie
Sambora
proved
himself
every
bit
as
worthy
of
a
lead
singer
as
his
counterpart

Jon
Bon
Jovi.
Likewise,

Jerry
Cantrell toed
the
line
between
backing
vocalist
and
co-lead
singer
for
much
of

Alice
in
Chains‘
tenure
—
no
small
feat
while
performing
alongside

Layne
Staley.

Other singers
on
this
list made
a
name
for
themselves
as
legendary
backing
vocalists
outside
their
main
bands.

Michael
McDonald
added
a
much-needed
zest
to
tons
of ’70s
and ’80s
pop-rock
hits,
while
Merry
Clayton
transformed
the

Rolling
Stones‘ “Gimme
Shelter”
from
a pretty
good
rock
song
into
a
generation-defining
anthem.

One
thing
of
note:
We’ve
excluded
bands
and
musicians
that
routinely shared
lead
vocal
duties from
this
list,
so
you
won’t
find
the

Beatles,
the

Beach
Boys,

Fleetwood
Mac,

ZZ
Top
or

Kiss
here.
(The
divide
is
subjective,
of
course,
as
evidenced
by
our
inclusion
of
Cantrell
and
some
others.)
The
rest
is
fair
game,
so
dive
into our
list
of
Rock’s
Best
Backing
Vocalists
below.