A legendary musician is turning down her induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Carol Kaye, a bassist who was part of a group of session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, said Wednesday she will not be attending this year’s ceremony. As one of the most recorded bass players of all time, Kaye was slated to receive the Musical Excellence Award alongside 2025 inductees like Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, OutKast, Chubby Checker, Bad Company, Soundgarden and the White Stripes.
“People have been asking: NO I won’t be there,” Kaye wrote in a Facebook post. “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.”
According to Rolling Stone, Kaye was featured in Tedesco’s 2008 documentary, “The Wrecking Crew,” about the collective that recorded songs with the Beach Boys, Phil Spector, The Monkees and more in the 1960s and ‘70s. However, she objected to the Wrecking Crew name, which came from drummer Hal Blaine.
Kaye said she started as a jazz guitarist who “got into recording good music” in the ‘50s with artists like Sam Cooke. She once replaced a bassist who failed to show for a studio session and soon found it “easy... to invent good bass lines” — but still gave credit to the group of collaborators.
“...You 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. “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.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 8 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Other honorees this year include Salt-N-Pepa and Warren Zevon, who will both receive the Musical Influence Award; late record producer Thom Bell and pianist Nicky Hopkins, who will also receive the Musical Excellence Award; and music exec Lenny Waronker, a former head of Warner Bros. Records who signed Prince and R.E.M., set to receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award for nonperforming music industry professionals.
