List of people who performed on Beatles recordings

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Aside from John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, numerous musicians and other people featured on official recordings by the Beatles. These include friends and family of the group, the band's entourage, and numerous session musicians. Original members Pete Best (drums) and Stuart Sutcliffe (bass guitar) appeared on early recordings; the former on the group's recording of "My Bonnie" with Tony Sheridan, and both on various tracks released on Anthology 1.

The instruments contributed to Beatles recordings range from traditional orchestral instruments—such as violin, viola and cello[1]—to an alarm clock and a pile of gravel.[2][3]

The first half of the Beatles' career—from the early 1960s until 1966—rarely saw the band use any extra musicians, though

overdubs.[11][12] After producer Glyn Johns left the project, Phil Spector hired in numerous session musicians to provide orchestral overdubs, in contrast to the group's original back-to-basics ideas.[13]

Omissions

Session musicians' names and roles for some performances were not recorded or have been lost—this is the case for the recordings of "

The End";[22] the orchestra on "Hey Jude";[23] the saxophonists on "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da";[24] the trumpeters and trombonists on "Mother Nature's Son";[25] the brass and string players on "Let It Be";[26] the cellist on "Blue Jay Way"[27] and the Asian Music Circle musicians on "Love You To" (performing on sitar and tambura)[28] and "Within You Without You" (performing on dilruba, swarmandal, tabla and tambura).[29]

In February 1978, session drummer

overdubbed drums for 21 Beatles recordings in the summer of 1963. He stated that Brian Epstein paid him a five-figure sum to overdub a drum track at Capitol Records' West 46th Street studios in New York City, and that the payment also bought his silence.[11] Purdie has also implied that some guitar parts for early Beatles recordings were also overdubbed, and there are also suggestions that Purdie and Cornell Dupree overdubbed drums and guitar parts for the Tony Sheridan recordings.[11][30] His claim was repeated in Max Weinberg's 1984 book The Big Beat: Conversations with Rock's Greatest Drummers, where he refused to name which songs he had played on and stated that "Ringo never played on anything [...] not the early Beatles stuff."[31] Barry Miles wrote that Purdie was hired in 1962 to replace Pete Best's drumming from some of the band's recording sessions that had taken place in Hamburg.[32]

Also omitted from this list are the instances where people's voices are captured on the recordings, but do not constitute part of the musical performance, such as

Live at the BBC
.

5DN in Australia.[34][35]

Indirect performances

By the mid-1960s, the Beatles became interested in

Sibelius's Symphony No. 7 is also included[38]) and "I Am the Walrus", which contained a radio broadcast of the BBC Third Programme's production of King Lear.[27] The part of the broadcast included on the record features John Hollis as Oswald, John Rye as Edgar, and Brewster Mason as the Earl of Gloucester.[39][40]

For the introduction to "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill", a stock Mellotron sample of a Spanish guitar was used. The recording, performed by an unknown guitarist, was supervised by Eric Robinson.[41]

A

B

Pete Best in 2006

C

Eric Clapton in 1975

D

E

F

Marianne Faithfull in 2008

G

H

J

K

L

M

George Martin in 2006

N

O

P

Billy Preston in 1974

R

S

T

U

V

W

See also

Footnotes

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  4. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 87)
  5. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 88)
  6. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 157)
  7. ^ Julien (2008, p. 3)
  8. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 231)
  9. ^ Huntley (2004, p. 10)
  10. ^ Womack (2006, p. 91)
  11. ^ a b c Ingham (2003, p. 363)
  12. ^ Matteo (2004, p. 25)
  13. ^ Womack (2009, p. 60)
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewisohn (1988, p. 144)
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewisohn (1988, p. 81)
  16. ^ The Beatles Bible (2008a)
  17. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 276)
  18. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 368)
  19. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 348)
  20. ^ a b c MacDonald (2005, p. 356)
  21. ^ a b MacDonald (2005, p. 355)
  22. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 361)
  23. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 302)
  24. ^ a b MacDonald (2005, p. 294)
  25. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 305)
  26. ^ a b c d e MacDonald (2005, p. 337)
  27. ^ a b MacDonald (2005, p. 269)
  28. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 194)
  29. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 243)
  30. ^ Spizer (2007, p. 90)
  31. ^ Vallance
  32. ^ a b Miles (2009)
  33. ^ Womack (2007, p. 235)
  34. ^ Greenwald (1995, p. 99)
  35. ^ Winn (2008, p. 199)
  36. ^ Everett (1999, p. 37)
  37. ^ a b Everett (1999, p. 175)
  38. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 290)
  39. ^ BUFVC (2013)
  40. ^ Lewisohn (1988, p. 128)
  41. ^ Reid (2002)
  42. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Lewisohn (1988, p. 159)
  43. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag Lewisohn (1988, p. 127)
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  46. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Prog Archives (2023)
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  50. ^ Womack (2009, p. 33)
  51. ^ Lewisohn (1988, p. 72)
  52. ^ a b c d e Lewisohn (1988, p. 129)
  53. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewisohn (1988, p. 90)
  54. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Lewisohn (1988, p. 161)
  55. ^ a b c Lewisohn (1988, p. 156)
  56. ^ a b c d e f g Lewisohn (1988, p. 79)
  57. ^ a b c d e Lewisohn (1988, p. 133)
  58. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewisohn (1988, p. 103)
  59. ^ a b c d Lewisohn (1988, p. 101)
  60. ^ a b c d e f The Beatles Online (2007a)
  61. ^ a b c d e Lewisohn (1988, p. 102)
  62. ^ a b c d e f g MacDonald (2005, p. 274)
  63. ^ Lewisohn (1988, p. 153)
  64. ^ a b c d e f Lewisohn (1988, p. 138)
  65. ^ a b c d e f MacDonald (2005, p. 321)
  66. ^ a b c d e Lewisohn (1988, p. 111)
  67. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewisohn (1988, p. 59)
  68. ^ Chittenden (2005)
  69. ^ Lewisohn (1988, p. 99)
  70. ^ a b c Lewisohn (1988, p. 152)
  71. ^ a b Lewisohn (1988, p. 154)
  72. ^ Bosso (2009)
  73. ^ a b The Beatles Bible (2008b)
  74. ^ Lewisohn (1988, p. 15)
  75. ^ Miles (1998, p. 438)
  76. ^ a b Lewisohn (1988, p. 68)
  77. ^ a b Lewisohn (1988, p. 142)
  78. ^ a b MacDonald (2005, p. 122)
  79. ^ a b c MacDonald (2005, p. 236)
  80. ^ a b c d MacDonald (2005, p. 259)
  81. ^ a b MacDonald (2005, p. 237)
  82. ^ Perone (2012, p. 85)
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  90. ^ a b c MacDonald (2005, p. 309)
  91. ^ a b c d MacDonald (2005, p. 239)
  92. ^ a b MacDonald (2005, p. 376)
  93. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 304)
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  96. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 296)
  97. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 264)
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  109. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 297)
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  112. ^ Lewisohn (1988, p. 83)
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  127. ^ Lewisohn (1988, p. 95)
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  151. ^ MacDonald (1998, p. 281)
  152. ^ The Beatles Bible (2008c)
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  155. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 90)
  156. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 112)
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  158. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 148)
  159. ^ MacDonald (2005, p. 160)
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References