Carol Kaye Top 10

A lot of you may ask. Who? Carol Kaye may be the least appreciated musician of all time, and she played during a time when women were not considered real musicians. The sexual discrimination she would have constantly faced must have been unreal. She has played in over 10,000 songs. She started out on guitar , but when she was at a job to play guitar, the bassist didn’t show up, so she grabbed the bass and without any prior experience played the bass on the track as well. Later, as a member of the famed Wrecking Crew of studio musicians, she was constantly hired to play on albums, mostly in the 1960’s and 1970’s, including some of the most famous tv theme songs ever. I could easily do a top 10 just in her theme songs, but I’ll narrow the 10,000 down to 10.

10 Ritchie Valens – La Bamba (guitar)

9 Sonny & Cher – The Beat Goes On (Bass)

8 The Mothers Of Invention – Any Way The Wind Blows (12 string guitar)

7 Motherlode – When I Die (Bass) It’s pretty cool how Carol played on this London, Ontario, Canada band.

6 Mission Impossible Theme (Bass)

5 Buffalo Springfield – Expecting To Fly (Bass)

4 David Axelrod – Urizen (sampled by Jurassic 5 A Day At The Races) (bass)

3 Nancy Sinatra – These Boots Are Made For Walking (Bass)

2 Elvis Presley – A Little Less Conversation (Bass)

1 Beach Boys – Good Vibrations (bass)

Happy 87th Birthday Carol.

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