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Carol Kaye

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Carol Kaye is an American musician, born in 1935 in Everett, Washington, as Carol Smith. Her parents were professional musicians and her father was a jazz trombonist in big bands. At thirteen she was given a steel-string guitar by her mother. In the 1950s she played bebop guitar with groups in Los Angeles, including with Jack Sheldon and Teddy Edwards, and with the orchestra of Henry Busse.

Music and breakthrough

In 1957 she began studio work. Through a contact at Gold Star Studios she worked for the producers Phil Spector and Brian Wilson. When a bassist failed to show up at a session in 1963, she switched to bass guitar and quickly became one of the most in-demand session musicians of the 1960s. She belongs to the Wrecking Crew, the group of Los Angeles studio musicians, and is estimated to have played on ten thousand recordings in a career of more than sixty-five years. At the end of the 1960s she also began playing on film music, chiefly for Quincy Jones and Lalo Schifrin, and wrote instruction books such as How To Play The Electric Bass. Under her own name The First Lady on Bass appeared in 1994 and Thumbs Up in 1999. In 2025 she was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but she declined the honour.

Influence

Kaye shows that the bass line carries the pop of the 1960s, even when her name is missing from the sleeve. Her mobile, melodic bass gave many records a character of their own.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a 1960s pop song from Los Angeles, such as a record by the Beach Boys, and listen only to the bass guitar. Hear how it does not merely follow the chords but plays a melody of its own.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists