Legendary bassist Carol Kaye appears to have declined the invitation to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. She had been set to be given a Musical Excellence award at the 2025 ceremony later this year.
She announced her decision in a now-deleted Facebook post, in which she suggested that she didn’t want to receive an individual award because she always worked as part of a wider group.
“[I am] turning it down because it wasn’t something that reflects the work that studio musicians do and did in the golden era of the 1960s recording hits,” she explained. “You are always part of a team, not a solo artist at all.”
Kaye also took issue with being referred to as a member of the Wrecking Crew, the name given to the group of LA session musicians who played on countless hit records during the ‘60s and ‘70s.
“I was never a ‘wrecker’ at all… that’s a terrible insulting name,” Kaye argues.
Beginning her career “as a working jazz musician”, Kaye said that she was “accidentally” asked to record records by Robert ‘Bumps’ Blackwell, a producer, in 1957. Her first session on a Fender Precision electric bass, she says, came in 1963, when the intended player didn’t show up.
“I never played bass in my life but being an experienced recording guitarist, it was plain to see that 3 bass players hired to play “dum-de-dum” on record dates wasn’t getting it,” she notes. “It was easy for me to invent good basslines… as a jazz musician, you invent every note you play.”
Discussing her greatest basslines with MusicRadar back in 2011, Kaye namechecked (among others) Glen Campbell's Wichita Lineman, Joe Cocker's Feelin' Alright, The Beach Boys' Sloop John B and Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Are Made For Walkin'.
Circling back to her Hall of Fame nomination, Kaye signed off by saying: “I refuse to be part of a process that is something else rather than what I believe in, for others’ benefit and not reflecting on the truth - we all enjoyed working with EACH OTHER. Thank you for understanding.”
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