Carol Kaye

Carol Kaye (born March 24, 1935) is an American musician, known as one of the most prolific and widely heard bass guitarists, playing on an estimated 10,000 recordings in a career spanning over 50 years.

As a session musician, Kaye was the bassist on many Phil Spector and Brian Wilson productions in the 1960s and 1970s. She recorded guitar on Ritchie Valens' "La Bamba" and is credited with the bass tracks on several Simon & Garfunkel hits and many film scores by Quincy Jones and Lalo Schifrin. One of the most popular albums Carol contributed to was the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds.

Life and career

Kaye was born in Everett, Washington, to professional musicians Clyde and Dot Smith. She grew up in poverty near Port Angeles and in 1949, at the age of fourteen began teaching guitar professionally. Throughout the 1950s, Kaye played bebop jazz guitar in dozens of nightclubs around Los Angeles with many noted bands including Bob Neal's jazz group, Jack Sheldon backing Lenny Bruce, Teddy Edwards and Billy Higgins. By her own account, Kaye got into lucrative studio work "accidentally" in late 1957 with Sam Cooke. A few years later, when a bass player failed to show for a session at Capitol Records in Hollywood, she was asked to fill in on what was then often called the Fender bass. She was a member of The Wrecking Crew, which she insists was actually called "The Clique", a group of studio musicians who played on a large number of hit records from Los Angeles in the 1960s.

Kaye

Kaye may refer to:

See also

Kaye (given name)

Kaye is a feminine given name. Notable people with the name include:

Kaye (surname)

Kaye is a surname, and may refer to:

Music

Modelling

Television and film

Politics