Famous Singers and Their Rise to Fame

Every great song has a lead singer that blows you away. Who can argue with the tones of Elton John, John Legend, Adele or Paul McCartney? One important part of a great song is the rich harmonies and or background singer who adds depth to the song. Here are some famous singers who started out behind someone else’s voice…

Madonna is still one of the biggest stars in the world, but needed the help of a rising star to add a male background vocal to her hit “Justify My Love.” Her agent called another agent, that label called her label, and boom there’s Lenny Kravitz on the song.

“You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon had the background vocals of two stars, Mick Jagger and Harry Nilsson. We all found out decades later that indeed the vanity lay at the doorstep of (unconfirmed as the secret was sold at an auction with specific confidentiality terms) Warren Beatty.

Rockwell’s 1984 song “Somebody’s Watching Me” had the background vocals of, his first his cousin Michael Jackson.


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