The vast majority of cover and original bands who use us to find musicians are groups who play clubs, concerts, weddings, casinos, casuals, events, and cruise ships etc. But there are exceptions, and some of our more notable past members are listed below in no particular order:

Kenny Chesney’s management was looking for a keyboardist for him not long before Kenny hit it big.

As far as we know, Tom Petty never used us, but his keyboardist, Benmont Tench, and drummer Stan Lynch were both listed with us to find gigs on their own.

Rick Springfield assembled two different road groups from our files. The girls in our office freaked when he came in because he was already a big heart throb soap opera star.

David Bowie’s guitarist Earl Slick was registered to find side gigs, and later looked for players with two of the Stray Cats..

hed p.e. searched various times for guitarists and bassists, always a touring situation.

Two of Michael Jackson’s guitarists, Gregg Wright and Jennifer Batten, were listed with us at different times. Gregg even signed up with us WHEN he was still performing on Jackson’s Victory Tour, telling us “You never know how long your gig will last!”

Drummer Dewey Martin registered after his stint with the Buffalo Springfield, (and the Standells before that).

Berlin originally found Terri Nunn in our files, and then years later, Terri continued to find musicians for their “Take My Breath Away” tour.

Both keyboardist Jimmy Greenspoon and drummer Floyd Sneed from Three Dog Night were registered independently seeking work.

We still have Billy Joel’s resume from 1972 before his first hit, where he states “I’m not interested in messing around. I just want money. Don’t call unless you have a working band”.

Bobby Hatfield of the Righteous Brothers searched for a guitarist after he split from Bill Medley.

Before joining David Lee Roth and touring with Ringo, drummer Greg Bissonette was registered with us many times to find top 40 bands to “keep me alive” as he said.

James Williamson came in looking for a new singer after Iggy Pop had left The Stooges.

Robert Palmer auditioned female backup singers, but they were told it was for a top 40 band over the phone. Only when they arrived to audition did they realize it was for Robert.

We were surprised that Smashing Pumpkins allowed their ad to be visible so drummers could reply to it. Unfortunately after auditioning many prospects they found their new guy somewhere else.

When Warrant searched for a new singer to replace Jani Layne, they simply wrote “Wanted: Sick Singer” on their ad.

Doug Fieger was listed several times as an available guitarist and again as a bassist before he put The Knack together. And later, drummer Bruce Gary and bassist Prescott Niles listed themselves.

Record producer Kim Fowley walked in one day and shouted “I’ll pay $500 to anyone who can find me a bass player for The Runaways”. The guy at our front desk said “There’s someone who just came in yesterday, Jackie Foxx”. “That’s the girl I just fired!” answered Kim.

Bobby McFerrin listed himself as an available singer, before he had his #1 hit, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”.

Where did Ambrosia find their drummer of over 45 years, Burleigh Drummond? Right here, it was one of our very first connections.

L7 put in an ad to look for a new drummer, but neglected to say they were looking for only females, so a bunch of male drummers responded.

Long before Narada Michael Walden won his Grammy for producing Whitney Houston, he was registered in our files as a drummer seeking work.

Stiv Bators was registered here as a singer before he found The Dead Boys.

Ginger Baker’s son Kofi searched for players several times for his band playing around southern CA.

Bobby Kimball, Toto’s original frontman, put ads out seeking players in different cities for his solo project, so wherever he happened to be, he had a backup band ready to play.

Original drummer for Little Richard, Charles Conners, replaced his sax and keyboard player.

80’s Japanese metal band Loudness searched for a new male vocalist.

Glen Frey’s management once put out a call for 40 vocalists to sing in a choir for a video shoot.

Maynard Ferguson never used us to find musicians, but he did once hire a soundman.

Tina Turner’s backup singer of 8 years, Annie Beringer, assembled an entire band for her new album.

Dr. John came in needing a percussionist for his gig at the Whisky a GoGo. While looking thru the resumes, he fell asleep on our couch!

Studio drummer whiz Jeff Porcaro was listed to find gigs. Didn’t he have enough already?

Rockabilly rebel Link Wray searched for a bass guitarist.

Jethro Tull bassist Glen Cornick, drummer Bill Lordan from Robin Trower, and Chicago guitarist Donnie Dacus were all registered independently at the same time seeking opportunities. They should have formed their own super group!

All female r&b group Klymaxx has used us a bunch of times, for some overseas gigs as well as local shows.

Nena, with 4 albums on CBS and “99 Luft Balloons” needed backup singers, sax and percussion for a video.

Original New York Dolls bassist, Art “Killer” Kane, once came in searching for a guitarist.

Did you know David Hasselhoff was also a singer? He once fill out a resume for vocal work and then years later looked for a sax player.

R&B band Rose Royce hired a keyboardist for a Japan tour.

When a band came in called the Clarke/Duke Project seeking a guitarist, we thought it was just another original group, until a member called thanking us for an audition to go to Europe for 4 weeks with Stanley Clarke and George Duke!

Jan & Dean used us twice, once for a singing bassist and another time for a singing keyboardist.

Helen Reddy searched for female musicians for an upcoming road gig.

The outrageous Nina Hagen hired keyboardist Roger Scott Craig for an English tour.

Management for Sha Na Na came in seeking a bass range singer replacement for Bowser – good luck.

Drummer Carmen Appice searched for a bassist for King Kobra, a new group he was producing.

Louis Johnson from the Brothers Johnson wanted a keyboard player for a side project.

Frank Zappa, whose band rehearsed on the next block down from our office, once sent in Steve Vai to find new keyboardists, but we don’t know the result. Frank’s sister Pat also used us to find a guitarist for her oldies group.

Tower Of Power set up auditions for a new male vocalist and LOTS of singers tried out.

Lita Ford stuck in an ad searching for a guitarist after her breakaway from the Runaways.

A keyboardist came in our office many times seeking a female vocalist partner, then several years later after a few huge hits he came in to locate a drummer. It was Daryl Dragon of The Captain & Tennille, and he wrote on his drummer ad “I came back to Musicians Contact to find a drummer because they are responsible for our duo meeting”.

We found singer/keyboardist Nickey Barclay for Fanny, the very first all female band to be signed to a major label.

Production people came in for Madonna seeking musicians for two videos, but it was for lip syncing so they were only interested in image.

Three original members of The Association needed a new keyboardist.

Ike Turner wandered in one day, (after he got out of jail), and asked “What is this place?”. We reminded him that his management company had used us several times in the past to find players.

When Jake E. Lee left Ozzy Osbourne, their manager ran a cattle call audition for guitarists, and later one for drummers.

Weird Al Yankovic found bassists on two different occasions, one short term, the other a permanent position.

We have a receipt from Nikki Sixx, but we think it was for a group called London, before Motley Crue, but not sure.

Playing together over 45 years, Ron & Russ Mael of Sparks auditioned bassists very early in their career.

Lowell George of Little Feat once came in, but not to find players. He wanted to contact all of our Musicians Union members to urge them to vote for his chosen candidate for President of the Union!

Drummer Matt Abts of Gov’t Mule was registered a couple times.

Several members of The Motels were listed at different times, guitarist Jeff Jourard, guitarist Dean Chamberlain, and drummer John Glascock.

Peter Banks, first guitarist for Yes, produced a 6 song demo of The Sweethearts, Musicians Contact founder Sterling Howard’s new wave band, and tried to shop it to Capitol, but no success.

Freddy Fender looked for a pedal steel player, but we only had one guy to offer him.

The Pussycat Dolls ran several ads searching for new female singers.

An ad was entered for Pink seeking a female bassist, but the ad was placed by an agent, not Pink herself.

Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten, (John Lydon) was looking for a keyboardist for Japan tour with new band PIL.

Dishwalla was looking for a bassist right before releasing “Counting Blue Cars”.

Blues legend Albert Collins hired a couple different bassists from us.

After Earth Wind & Fire was formed, Verdine White came in looking for a guitarist for a record company showcase at the Whisky a Go Go, but couldn’t afford to pay guitarist Carlos Luevano, so he turned down the offer.

Carlos Luevano later joined Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods, who used us many times to find players for tours.

Counting Crows bassist of 14 years, Matt Malley, found players for his new band.

Frankie Valli looked for two new vocalists to add to the Four Seasons, and two of our singers got the gig.

Ice T with Body Count once searched for a drummer, offering the new drummer a 12 piece set.

Terry Bozzio from Missing Persons hired keyboardist Chuck Wild right after their first 5 song demo was recorded, and Chuck stayed with them for 4 years.

Stiv Bators was listed with us before he formed the Dead Boys.

Who was Alban Phisterer? Better known as Snoopy, the drummer on the first 3 Love albums.

Todd Rundgren searched for a keyboardist for his project, Runt.

Jack Ely, singer of “Louie Louie” by the Kingsmen, found a drummer for a Midwest tour.

Bassist Stu Hamm was registered a couple times looking for local gigs between his stints with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai.

Mars Bonfire, who wrote “Born To Be Wild” for Steppenwolf, was looking for a female singer.

Metal guitarist George Lynch of Dokken entered an ad seeking a vocalist for his early band The Boyz, and 30 years later entered another ad still seeking a singer.

Why were drummers Bill Ward of Black Sabbath, B.J. Wilson of Procol Harum, and Ed Cassidy of Spirit all listed at about the same time looking for work? Didn’t they have enough connections of their own?

Danny Elfman found trumpet player Dale Turner for his club band Oingo Boingo, before he went on to write zillions of movie scores.

A guy walked in looking for a guitar gig. Rockabilly legend Gene Vincent needed a guitarist and this guy was the only one who seemed to fit the bill, so he got the gig. A few years later this guitarist, Billy Zoom, put together the band X.

Ratt was looking for a bassist at the same time that Juan Croucier was registered, but we’re not sure if we got him the hook-up.

Iron Butterfly bassist Lee Dorman came in seeking a new band, and soon after, Iron Butterfly came in seeking a new bass player!

Country producer Pete Anderson was listed a few rimes before he connected with Dwight Yoakum.

Remember the wife of Kevin Costner in “A Field of Dreams”? She was Amy Madigan, listed as a singer before her movie career.

Jazz saxophonist John Klemmer entered an ad seeking backup musicians.

A representative from the Beach Boys needed a trombonist, but we only had a few to offer – sorry. And Tom Waits needed a tuba for a video, but we had none to give him – sorry.

Prong, Biohazard, and Michael Penn were all seeking new guitarists at about the same time.

New age guitarist/keyboardist David Arkenstone kept busy with lots of top 40 cover gigs he found thru us before recording his many albums.

The manager for Yngwie Malmsteen entered an ad seeking bassists but withdrew it quickly after too many responses.

Country singers Brenda Lee and Louise Mandrell both needed fiddle players.

Unknown jazz pianist David Benoit listed himself as an available player before he later recorded 25 albums.

All female band Vixen’s leader Jan Kuehnemund found new band members at different times.

The New Edition searched for male & female backup singers for a video.

Long before Ed King joined Lynyrd Skynyrd, he was listed with us as a member of The Strawberry Alarm Clock.

The guitarist that recorded the surf classic “Mr. Moto” was Eddie Bertrand, registered many times.

National touring tribute act Led Zepagain auditioned guitar players.

Guitarist Ty Longley was the only Musicians Contact member to die in the horrific 2003 Rhode Island club fire. Several other players in Jack Russell’s Great White were also members with us.

Long established jazz fusion group Hiroshima searched for a keyboardist.

Robin Zander from Cheap Trick posted a request for 30 guitarists for a video to be shot in the desert.

Barry Manilow also needed players for a video, but they all had to be female.

Richie Furay from Poco came in needing something, but we can’t remember what!

Ok, that’s about all we can think of right now…..thanks for reading.