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The Wrecking Crew was a nickname given to a group of session musicians in Los Angeles, California, who earned wide acclaim in the 1960s. They backed dozens of popular singers, and were one of the most successful "groups" of studio musicians in music history.

The Wrecking Crew's members typically had backgrounds in jazz or classical music, but were highly versatile. The talents of this group of 'first call' players were used on almost every style of recording, including television theme songs, film scores, advertising jingles and almost every genre of American popular music, from The Monkees to Bing Crosby.

The figures most often associated with the Wrecking Crew are producer Phil Spector (who used the Crew to create his trademark "Wall of Sound"), and Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson, who utilized the Crew's talents on many of his mid-Sixties productions including the songs "Good Vibrations" and "California Girls" and the acclaimed album Pet Sounds.

Apart from Glen Campbell, who became far more famous due to his enormous success as a solo artist in the late 1960s and 1970s, the best-known 'members' of this unofficial group are bassist/guitarist Carol Kaye (one of the few women instrumentalists to achieve success in the recording industry at the time) and drummer Hal Blaine, who has played on tens of thousands of recording sessions, and is believed to be the most recorded drummer in history. Among his vast list of recordings, Blaine is credited with having played on at least forty U.S. #1 hits and more than 150 Top Ten records. Guitar Player magazine cites Wrecking Crew member Tommy Tedesco as "the most recorded guitarist in history".

Notable members of 'The Wrecking Crew' included:

• guitar: Glen Campbell, Barney Kessell, Tommy Tedesco, Billy Strange, Carol Kaye
• saxophone: Steve Douglas, Jay Migliori
• trumpet: Tony Terran, Ollie Mitchell
• keyboards: Leon Russell, Mac Rebennack (aka Dr John), Mike Melvoin, Don Randi, Larry Knechtel
• bass: Carol Kaye, Joe Osborn, Max Bennett, Chuck Berghofer, Ray Pohlman, Larry Knechtel, Lyle Ritz
• drums: Hal Blaine
• percussion: Julius Wechter, Gary Coleman
• conductor/arranger: Jack Nitzsche
• The Ron Hicklin Singers often performed backup vocals on many of the same songs on which The Wrecking Crew had played instrumental tracks.

They worked long hours and 15-hour days were not unusual, although the rewards were great — Carol Kaye has commented that during her peak as a session musician, she earned more per year than the President.

• March 2007 article about the Wrecking Crew in American Heritage Magazine