Carol Kaye (born March 24, 1935) is an American musician, best known as one… Read Full Bio ↴Carol Kaye (born March 24, 1935) is an American musician, best known as one of the most prolific and widely heard bass guitarists in history, playing on an estimated 10,000 recording sessions in a 55-year career.
As a session musician, Kaye was the bassist on many Phil Spector and Brian Wilson productions in the 1960s and 1970s. She played 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.
Kaye was born in Everett, Washington to professional musicians Clyde and Dot Smith. She grew up in poverty near the Port of Los 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.[citation needed] 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 famed "Wrecking Crew" studio musicians, who played on almost all hit records recorded in Los Angeles in the 1960s.
Throughout the 1960s, she played bass on a significant percentage of records that appeared on the Billboard Hot 100, though almost wholly unknown to the general public at the time. Kaye played bass on many of the Beach Boys hit recordings, including Good Vibrations, Help Me, Rhonda, Sloop John B, and California Girls. She worked on Brian Wilson's ill-fated but legendary Smile project (and was present at the Fire session in late November 1966 when Wilson reportedly asked the studio musicians to wear toy fire hats). Kaye's work also appears extensively on well-known television and film soundtracks from the 1960s and early 1970s.
She worked under most of the leading producers and musical directors in Los Angeles during that era, including Brian Wilson, Michel Legrand, Phil Spector, Elmer Bernstein, Lalo Schifrin, David Rose, Dave Grusin, Ernie Freeman, Hugo Montenegro, Leonard Rosenman, John Williams, Alfred Newman, David Axelrod and Lionel Newman. Kaye played the bass tracks on several of the Monkees hits, did soundtrack work (including sound effects on bass guitar) for a young Steven Spielberg and tracks for Quincy Jones whose 2001 autobiography Q noted, "... women like... Fender bass player Carol Kaye... could do anything and leave men in the dust."
Kaye performed on several American television themes including the Quinn Martin produced Cannon, The Streets of San Francisco, Mission: Impossible, M*A*S*H, Kojak, Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes, The Love Boat, McCloud, Mannix, It Takes a Thief, Peyton Place and the Cosby Show. She is credited with performing on the soundtracks of Hawaii Five-O, The Addams Family and The Brady Bunch along with Ironside, Room 222, Bonanza, Wonder Woman, Alias Smith & Jones, Run for Your Life and Barnaby Jones.
Beginning in 1969, she wrote How To Play The Electric Bass, the first of many bass tutoring books and DVD courses. She gave lessons to thousands of students, including John Clayton, Mike Porcaro, Alf Clausen, David Hughes, Tony Sales, Karl E. H. Seigfried, Roy Vogt and David Hungate. Kaye retired from studio work during the 1970s because of arthritis. She later became active again as a session musician, live jazz performer, and teacher of bass and guitar, giving seminars and interviews.
Kaye played 12-string guitar on Frank Zappa's album Freak Out!. She also played on a few songs for his next album but declined to continue, saying she found some of the lyrics offensive. Kaye later said Zappa was good-natured and understanding about her qualms and they remained on friendly terms.
Kaye played on hundreds of commercially released recordings and soundtracks. These lists represent only a small fraction of her recorded performances.
-Electric bass credits:
Credits for recorded singles on bass
Soul Reggae (Charles Kynard)
Andmoreagain (Love)
Homeward Bound (Simon and Garfunkel)
California Girls, Sloop John B, Help Me, Rhonda, Heroes and Villains (The Beach Boys)
Natural Man (Lou Rawls)
Come Together (Count Basie)
Feelin' Alright (Joe Cocker)
I Think He's Hiding (Randy Newman)
Games People Play (Mel Tormé)
Cantaro (Gene Ammons)
Wait 'Til My Bobby Gets Home (Darlene Love)
Goin' Out Of My Head/Can't Take My Eyes Off You (The Lettermen)
Go Little Honda (The Hondels)
Hikky Burr (Quincy Jones & Bill Cosby & TV theme)
I'm a Believer (The Monkees)
Indian Reservation (Paul Revere & the Raiders)
In the Heat of the Night, I Don't Need No Doctor, America The Beautiful, Understanding (Ray Charles)
It Must Be Him (Vikki Carr)
Little Green Apples (O.C. Smith)
Midnight Confessions (The Grass Roots)
Mission: Impossible Theme (Lalo Schifrin)
Mannix Theme (Lalo Schifrin)
Out of This World (Nancy Wilson)
Wichita Lineman ... Don Bagley played bass on Wichita Lineman. Carol Kaye played percussion. See link to contract for session work - http://www.wreckingcrewfilm.com/afmcontracts/Campbell,Glen_WichitaLineman.pdf and Rhinestone Cowboy (Glen Campbell)
River Deep - Mountain High (Ike & Tina Turner)
Scarborough Fair/Canticle (Simon and Garfunkel)
Sixteen Tons (Tennessee Ernie Ford)
Somethin' Stupid (Frank and Nancy Sinatra)
These Boots Are Made for Walkin' (Nancy Sinatra)
This Diamond Ring (Gary Lewis & the Playboys)
The Twelfth of Never (Johnny Mathis)
The Way We Were (Barbra Streisand)
Soul & Inspiration bass, You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' guitar (The Righteous Brothers)
Carry On (JJ Cale) - JJ Cale Styles Book
Album credits on bass
Selected highlights include:
Pet Sounds (The Beach Boys)
Light My Fire (Gábor Szabó and Bob Thiele)
Music from Mission: Impossible (Lalo Schifrin, 1967)
Song of Innocence (David Axelrod, 1968)
Songs of Experience (David Axelrod, 1969)
Release of an Oath (The Electric Prunes, 1968)
There's a Whole Lalo Schifrin Goin' On (Lalo Schifrin, 1968)
More Mission: Impossible (Lalo Schifrin, 1968)
Mannix (Lalo Schifrin, 1968)
Bullitt (soundtrack) (Lalo Schifrin, 1968)
Dirty Harry (score by Lalo Schifrin, 1971)
Northern Windows (Hampton Hawes)
Big Man (Cannonball Adderley)
Reelin' with the Feelin' (Charles Kynard)
Cameo (Dusty Springfield, 1972)
Hugo In Wonder-land (Hugo Montenegro)
Your Good Thing (Lou Rawls)
You've Made Me So Very Happy (Lou Rawls)
The Funky Organ-ization of Henry Cain (Henry Cain)
The Zodiac : Cosmic Sounds
Pride (Pride) (1970)
Thumbs up (Ray Pizzi, Carol Kaye, Mitch Holder)(1999)
Picking Up On The E-String (Carol Kaye) (1995)
Freak Out! (Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention)1965
Absolutely Free (Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention) 1966
Cosmic Brotherhood (Bill Plummer, 1968)
-Recorded credits on guitar:
Then He Kissed Me (The Crystals)
Danke Schoen (Wayne Newton)
Johnny Angel (Shelley Fabares)
La Bamba (Ritchie Valens)
Let's Dance (Chris Montez)
Needles and Pins (Jackie DeShannon)
The Beat Goes On (Sonny & Cher)
You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling (The Righteous Brothers)
The Birds and the Bees (Jewel Akens), with a Leslie speaker effect
Mannix Theme (Lalo Schifrin)
The Daily Planet (Love)
As a session musician, Kaye was the bassist on many Phil Spector and Brian Wilson productions in the 1960s and 1970s. She played 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.
Kaye was born in Everett, Washington to professional musicians Clyde and Dot Smith. She grew up in poverty near the Port of Los 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.[citation needed] 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 famed "Wrecking Crew" studio musicians, who played on almost all hit records recorded in Los Angeles in the 1960s.
Throughout the 1960s, she played bass on a significant percentage of records that appeared on the Billboard Hot 100, though almost wholly unknown to the general public at the time. Kaye played bass on many of the Beach Boys hit recordings, including Good Vibrations, Help Me, Rhonda, Sloop John B, and California Girls. She worked on Brian Wilson's ill-fated but legendary Smile project (and was present at the Fire session in late November 1966 when Wilson reportedly asked the studio musicians to wear toy fire hats). Kaye's work also appears extensively on well-known television and film soundtracks from the 1960s and early 1970s.
She worked under most of the leading producers and musical directors in Los Angeles during that era, including Brian Wilson, Michel Legrand, Phil Spector, Elmer Bernstein, Lalo Schifrin, David Rose, Dave Grusin, Ernie Freeman, Hugo Montenegro, Leonard Rosenman, John Williams, Alfred Newman, David Axelrod and Lionel Newman. Kaye played the bass tracks on several of the Monkees hits, did soundtrack work (including sound effects on bass guitar) for a young Steven Spielberg and tracks for Quincy Jones whose 2001 autobiography Q noted, "... women like... Fender bass player Carol Kaye... could do anything and leave men in the dust."
Kaye performed on several American television themes including the Quinn Martin produced Cannon, The Streets of San Francisco, Mission: Impossible, M*A*S*H, Kojak, Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes, The Love Boat, McCloud, Mannix, It Takes a Thief, Peyton Place and the Cosby Show. She is credited with performing on the soundtracks of Hawaii Five-O, The Addams Family and The Brady Bunch along with Ironside, Room 222, Bonanza, Wonder Woman, Alias Smith & Jones, Run for Your Life and Barnaby Jones.
Beginning in 1969, she wrote How To Play The Electric Bass, the first of many bass tutoring books and DVD courses. She gave lessons to thousands of students, including John Clayton, Mike Porcaro, Alf Clausen, David Hughes, Tony Sales, Karl E. H. Seigfried, Roy Vogt and David Hungate. Kaye retired from studio work during the 1970s because of arthritis. She later became active again as a session musician, live jazz performer, and teacher of bass and guitar, giving seminars and interviews.
Kaye played 12-string guitar on Frank Zappa's album Freak Out!. She also played on a few songs for his next album but declined to continue, saying she found some of the lyrics offensive. Kaye later said Zappa was good-natured and understanding about her qualms and they remained on friendly terms.
Kaye played on hundreds of commercially released recordings and soundtracks. These lists represent only a small fraction of her recorded performances.
-Electric bass credits:
Credits for recorded singles on bass
Soul Reggae (Charles Kynard)
Andmoreagain (Love)
Homeward Bound (Simon and Garfunkel)
California Girls, Sloop John B, Help Me, Rhonda, Heroes and Villains (The Beach Boys)
Natural Man (Lou Rawls)
Come Together (Count Basie)
Feelin' Alright (Joe Cocker)
I Think He's Hiding (Randy Newman)
Games People Play (Mel Tormé)
Cantaro (Gene Ammons)
Wait 'Til My Bobby Gets Home (Darlene Love)
Goin' Out Of My Head/Can't Take My Eyes Off You (The Lettermen)
Go Little Honda (The Hondels)
Hikky Burr (Quincy Jones & Bill Cosby & TV theme)
I'm a Believer (The Monkees)
Indian Reservation (Paul Revere & the Raiders)
In the Heat of the Night, I Don't Need No Doctor, America The Beautiful, Understanding (Ray Charles)
It Must Be Him (Vikki Carr)
Little Green Apples (O.C. Smith)
Midnight Confessions (The Grass Roots)
Mission: Impossible Theme (Lalo Schifrin)
Mannix Theme (Lalo Schifrin)
Out of This World (Nancy Wilson)
Wichita Lineman ... Don Bagley played bass on Wichita Lineman. Carol Kaye played percussion. See link to contract for session work - http://www.wreckingcrewfilm.com/afmcontracts/Campbell,Glen_WichitaLineman.pdf and Rhinestone Cowboy (Glen Campbell)
River Deep - Mountain High (Ike & Tina Turner)
Scarborough Fair/Canticle (Simon and Garfunkel)
Sixteen Tons (Tennessee Ernie Ford)
Somethin' Stupid (Frank and Nancy Sinatra)
These Boots Are Made for Walkin' (Nancy Sinatra)
This Diamond Ring (Gary Lewis & the Playboys)
The Twelfth of Never (Johnny Mathis)
The Way We Were (Barbra Streisand)
Soul & Inspiration bass, You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' guitar (The Righteous Brothers)
Carry On (JJ Cale) - JJ Cale Styles Book
Album credits on bass
Selected highlights include:
Pet Sounds (The Beach Boys)
Light My Fire (Gábor Szabó and Bob Thiele)
Music from Mission: Impossible (Lalo Schifrin, 1967)
Song of Innocence (David Axelrod, 1968)
Songs of Experience (David Axelrod, 1969)
Release of an Oath (The Electric Prunes, 1968)
There's a Whole Lalo Schifrin Goin' On (Lalo Schifrin, 1968)
More Mission: Impossible (Lalo Schifrin, 1968)
Mannix (Lalo Schifrin, 1968)
Bullitt (soundtrack) (Lalo Schifrin, 1968)
Dirty Harry (score by Lalo Schifrin, 1971)
Northern Windows (Hampton Hawes)
Big Man (Cannonball Adderley)
Reelin' with the Feelin' (Charles Kynard)
Cameo (Dusty Springfield, 1972)
Hugo In Wonder-land (Hugo Montenegro)
Your Good Thing (Lou Rawls)
You've Made Me So Very Happy (Lou Rawls)
The Funky Organ-ization of Henry Cain (Henry Cain)
The Zodiac : Cosmic Sounds
Pride (Pride) (1970)
Thumbs up (Ray Pizzi, Carol Kaye, Mitch Holder)(1999)
Picking Up On The E-String (Carol Kaye) (1995)
Freak Out! (Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention)1965
Absolutely Free (Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention) 1966
Cosmic Brotherhood (Bill Plummer, 1968)
-Recorded credits on guitar:
Then He Kissed Me (The Crystals)
Danke Schoen (Wayne Newton)
Johnny Angel (Shelley Fabares)
La Bamba (Ritchie Valens)
Let's Dance (Chris Montez)
Needles and Pins (Jackie DeShannon)
The Beat Goes On (Sonny & Cher)
You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling (The Righteous Brothers)
The Birds and the Bees (Jewel Akens), with a Leslie speaker effect
Mannix Theme (Lalo Schifrin)
The Daily Planet (Love)
Session Legend Interview
Carol Kaye Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Carol Kaye:
Better Days Ooh child things are going to get easier Ooh child things…
If I Were a Bell Ask me how do I feel, Now that we're cosy and…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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Profile
“Just wanted to say that I thought it was great to work for Brian Wilson. He always was and always has been a good guy, musical genius (us studio musicans all admired him and still do), and a good commander-in-chief.
He wrote practically all the music (once in a while we'd get a lick in but all the notes came from his head), produced it all, and I thought he sung it all, well nearly all. Chuck Britz would just sit by after setting up the board at Western and Brian would also mix it.
Never saw drugs or booze in the studio (one beer one time that's all) and don't know where the dumb books and terrible lying TV stories get their stuff (probably from the same garbage the other music bio book writers get their dirt, so the public will spend good money to read trash), but it was so unlike Brian I almost laughed. You can believe that news media hype if you want to.
But you are right to believe in Brian. He is someone good to believe in. I'm not trying to whitewash anything, just relate the truth about him. What he did in his personal life is none of my business. We all have some tough times, but the fact is when I worked for him a few months ago, he was the same ole Brian, a pleasure to know and work for.
We all respected Brian. Yes, those were 99% his notes. Once in a while we got a lick in, but he arranged, wrote, produced (once the engineer set up the board Chuck usually just sat there) and experimented. This took the time and made the dates long, but it was our job and we liked Brian very much. Still do.”
-Carol Kaye
J O
It took me a while to find this
but, my God, what a wonderful
and talented lady ! Hall of Fame ?
Absolutely ! And, on top of it all,
she's humble and a great person.
Who would Not want to know
someone like her. Insprational, not
just for musicians but for all
creative people.
The Snapshots Foundation
We're digging everyone's thoughtful comments on Carol. Thank you! Visit: http://snapshotsfoundation.com/
Rich One
DOES SHE DO ANY WORK THESE DAYS.
The Snapshots Foundation
@Rich One You can write Carol and ask her. The last we heard, she teaches from on Skype.
Anthony Gainsford
The Snapshots Foundation
What a lovely natural lady. Says it like it is and with great modesty without being fawning, which must have been hard whilst working with egos. I’m no expert but I get, know your chordal sounds, scales are not all. The sound starts in your mind and imagination.
Baby Daddy
This whole video blew my mind, what a gifted and talented soul. I had no idea she was on so many tracks I've heard my whole life. This lady is leagues above and beyond 99.99 percent of modern musicians as far music comprehension, very impressive.
Reggae Fan
Start a drive to get her into the RnR Hall of Fame. She's done enough for the foundation of rock.
Vigo The Carpathian
This woman is a straight genius of stringed instruments. Its insane shes not in the rock and roll hall of fame.
steven marchand
Check out some musical greatness with carol. The "Wrecking Crew" was her friends and co-workers(session workers) at, I think it was Capital. On a modern note, I've learned a ton from Rick Beato. He has some books and web series and just a great teacher and . person. You might enjoy him if you have not already.
Bob shedden
She has been noticed lately as an important Part of Rock and roll so time will tell
Sarah
Carol Kaye's story needs to be commemorated in a major feature film. She is a musical magician and should get the recognition she deserves. Her instrumental ingenuity permeates throughout American music for decades and yet people rarely even know her name. She's amazing and inspiring 🎸