Band Singers

A lot of jobbing musicians have stories galore about dealing with female band singers.   Most of the experiences that I've encountered or heard about were not exactly complimentary. It should be mentioned that these singers were more or less amateurs and were new to the music business.  I guess everyone has to start somewhere.

Some years ago there was a lot of dance work and subsequently a lot of bands.   It seemed appropriate in those days to have a female singer to front the band. If you were lucky she was both talented and attractive.

Some of my musician buddies that have backed these singers have a lot of stories about these girls not knowing their keys, the words to a lot of songs and in most cases having time problems. The list of these professional inadequacies is unfortunately not a surprise.

One very astute piano player that backed a lot of singers, (especially in Night Clubs) told me that most of these girls used lead sheet and rarely had any meaningful arrangements written. The lead sheets were always in concert keys.

Invariably if the girl wanted the tune in the key of B natural he would play (fake) it for her either in C or in B flat, (a more manageable key). The singer never caught on to this piano player's tactics. He would just play the most natural and fluid key close to what the singer requested. This ploy seemed to work most of the time. He didn't expect to run into a singer with perfect pitch and he didn't.

He eventually found out that the singer worked with a lot of guitar background and got these awkward keys from these players.   They had a tendency to favour these odd keys that were more or less complimentary to that instrument.

One charming and talented singer I worked with was always trying to be accommodating and helpful. Actually she was a very good singer and I might add was very attractive.  She knew all sorts of styles and for the most part was rather professional.   I always used her when the gig called for a lot of tunes sung in Spanish.

We would be playing ballads and I would request a tune to extend the set and make it into a medley.   She would wait till the bar before the pick-up and turn to me and ask in those remaining beats, "Or do you want me to sing such and such?"   This would drive me nuts. (Sometimes you can be too accommodating.) Apparently I wasn't the only bandleader that found this habit a bit disconcerting.

A lot of singers of this ilk also couldn't feel the four bar or eight bar introductions. Nothing new here. 

There was a time in Toronto (working the wedding circuit) when you backed a lot of different singers on a steady weekly basis. There was bound to be a few "train wrecks" during these performances.  However, a few of these "stars" had the "habit" of always blaming the band and the backup for their mistakes or miscues.  It was always the band's fault. It seemed they blamed the band for everything.

I remember hearing a story about one such a club singer that took a job on a Cruise Line.   However, Shirley (not her real name) was really affected by motion sickness.  She boarded the ship on the Sunday and was to be ready to rehearse with the band the next day the Monday afternoon.   All this time she was very sick with motion sickness and was in terrible shape come Monday's rehearsal.

That Monday she was late for the two o'clock rehearsal and the bandleader asked the Cruise Director to go knock on her door and see why she wasn't there.    The Director knocked on her door and was greeted by this ashen creature that had obviously been sick most of the night.   Drake (the cruise director) said, "Shirley you look terrible are you OK? (He was quite concerned.)  The musicians are waiting for you in the Ball Room. Why are you crying?"

She responded through teary eyes and running mascara as to her lateness,   "I feel terrible …… and did you hear that "bloody" band?" 

Oh boy. It was going to be a long cruise.

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