Carol Kaye, one of the most recorded bassists of all time, has declined the invitation to attend this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
“People have been asking: NO I won’t be there,” wrote Kaye in a Facebook post shared on Wednesday. “I am declining the rrhof awards show (and denny tedesco process)…..turning it down because it wasn’t something that reflects the work that Studio Musicians do and did in the golden era of the 1960s Recording Hits.”
During the Sixties and Seventies, Kaye became part of a group of session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, a collective often called upon by the Beach Boys, Phil Spector, the Monkees, and more. However, in her post, the 90-year-old musician criticized the group’s name, while emphasizing the collaborative nature of studio musicians. “[Y]ou are always part of a TEAM, not a solo artist at all….there were always 350-400 Studio Musicians (AFM Local 47 Hollywood) working in the busy 1960s, and called that ONLY ….since 1930s, I was never a ‘wrecker’ at all….that’s a terrible insulting name,” she wrote.
While Kaye featured in Denny Tedesco’s 2008 documentary, The Wrecking Crew, she has long objected to the name, stating that the collective didn’t use it and that drummer Hal Blaine was the one who dubbed the group.
“Just so you know, as a working Jazz musician (soloing jazz guitar work) in the 1950s working since 1949, I was accidentally asked to record records by producer Bumps Blackwell in 1957, got into recording good music, w/Sam Cooke, other artists and then accidentally placed on Fender Precision Bass mid 1963 when someone didn’t show,” Kaye continued. “I never played bass in my life but being an experienced recording guitarist, it was plain to see that 3 bass players hired to play ‘dum-de-dum’ on record dates, wasn’t getting it…..it was easy for me to invent good bass lines…..as a Jazz musician, you invent every note you play……and they used a lot of Jazz musicians (and former big-band experienced musicians on all those rock and pop dates too).”
The famed bassist ended her note by declaring, “I refuse to be part of a process that is something else rather than what I believe in, for others’ benefit and not reflecting on the truth – we all enjoyed working with EACH OTHER.”
Kaye was set to receive the Musical Excellence Award at the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Nov. 8 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Other inductees this year include Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, OutKast, Soundgarden, and the White Stripes.