Star bassist Carol Kaye rejects Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honor
Carol Kaye, one of the most prolific bassists in rock and pop history, said she does not want to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The in-demand musician, who collaborated with Barbra Streisand, Stevie Wonder, The Beach Boys and The Supremes among many other hitmakers starting in the 1960s, is listed as a 2025 Hall of Fame inductee in April alongside the late record producer Thom Bell and the late pianist Nicky Hopkins in the Musical Excellence category. The category honors artists whose “originality and influence have had a dramatic impact on music.”
Kaye, 90, announced her decision to turn her back on one of rock music’s most famous accolades on Facebook earlier this week, according to Bass Magazine and other outlets.
The magazine described the news of Kaye’s induction as “as a triumph to her fans and to bassists everywhere.” (Very few women bassists have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Others include Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads and The Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine.)
Kaye’s Facebook post was taken down on Thursday, but Bass Magazine and other outlets shared its contents: “It wasn’t something that reflects the work that Studio Musicians do and did in the golden era of the 1960s Recording Hits…….. you are always part of a TEAM, not a solo artist at all,” Kaye reportedly wrote on Facebook. “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……..Thank-You for understanding.”
Another likely issue is Kaye’s aversion to the name “Wrecking Crew.” Coined by drummer Hal Blaine, it was given to a group of in-demand session musicians in the 1960s and 70s which included, among others, Blaine, Dr. John, Glen Campbell, and Kaye. Kaye has publicly refuted the name in the past, including in her now-deleted Facebook post: “I was never a ‘wrecker’ at all….that’s a terrible insulting name.”
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame does not reference The Wrecking Crew in connection with Kaye in its current online content about the artist. But an old version of the artist’s biography on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame website does explicitly connect Kaye to this group: “A first-call member of the elite stable of Los Angeles session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, Kaye played on an estimated 10,000 recordings, making her one of the most recorded bassists in history,” the biography states.
Neither the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nor Kaye immediately responded to NPR’s requests for comment.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, musician Benny Goodman, who goes by the moniker The Neurotic Guitarist and has close to 45,000 subscribers on YouTube, said the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, “kept saying she [Kaye] was from The Wrecking Crew over and over.” Goodman, who described Kaye as being like “a grandma” to him, added: “That name holds trauma for her.”
Kaye isn’t the first potential inductee to push back against the accolade. Dolly Parton initially rejected her induction in 2022. The county music star posted a statement on social media saying she was grateful for the nomination, but didn’t think she had necessarily “earned that right.” Despite her qualms, the artist ultimately acquiesced and went ahead with the induction.
The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on Nov. 8 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
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