Bands that could (and did) send out ringers on tour

[Mitch]

The Ride on Time vocalist for the PAs and TOTP appearances wasn't the actual vocalist, but most of them were unknown anyway.

According to wiki, it was actually Heather Smalls singing that on the record. And the other Black Box singles used one of the women from The Weathergirls. But yeah, the videos, live appearances and cover art all used a model they hired.

[Duncan Gardner]

Beatles while Paul was dead

[George C.]

When was that?

[Toby Gymshorts]

He spent a year dead for tax reasons.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I'd be curious as to the earliest examples of this. There were cases in the Fifties of an R&B act going out on tour with different personnel than recorded the hit single or LP. 'Alvin Stardust' was of course a ringer for the guy who made the original record that made the act famous. Rocket 88 was Ike Turner's band but credited to Jackie Brenston, who just did the vocal.

Back then a fair few studio musicians made recordings in available studio time. B.Bumble and the Stingers (Nut Rocker etc.) were an example. Organised by long time studio dude Kim Fowley, the touring band(s) were never the same as their studio counterparts, who were busy with other session commitments.

[jwdd27]

Not a tour, but a TOTP appearance - the Manics with a roadie in a mask filling in for a honeymooning Nicky Wire:

https://youtu.be/cjIr3UrF0lQ?si=hSpGhPZs3BCpmJ2A

Ian Dury and the Blockheads did something similar when (drummer) Charley Charles disappeared just prior to an appearance. Ian's minder Fred filled in, after some hasty it-was-different-times make-up adjustments to make him seem more Guyanese.

Story and clip:

https://ianduryauthor.wordpress.com/...to-the-rescue/

[San Bernardhinault]

I'm pretty sure that the Beatles had already stopped touring by the time Paul was dead

[Jah Womble]

They had. More than three years before.

[Sporting]

No, he died around September 1966:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_is_dead

[Jah Womble]

Fair enough, however Candlestick Park was the final gig*, the previous month.

(*Unless we count the rooftop of Apple in January 1969.)

[Auntie Beryl]

Re: Black Box - the original single was a patchwork of samples from Loleatta Holloway's Love Sensation:

When the track became a hit across Europe m'learned friends got involved and the UK label RCA arranged a Heather Small re-record of the vocal - Small was signed to RCA at the time as part of the band Hot House.

Love Sensation was a number one on the US dance chart in 1980, so not entirely unknown.

An even more blatent substitution was Aretha Franklin's distinctive vocal from her track Rock-A-Lott on The 49ers Touch Me being mimed by Dawn Mitchell.

[Nurse Duckett]

When Meat Loaf first toured Bat Out Of Hell, it was with Karla DeVito singing the female parts, not Ellen Foley who recorded them in the studio (at least for Paradise...).

[Stumpy Pepys]

Alvin Stardust' was of course a ringer for the guy who made the original record that made the act famous.

And amusingly, he did the same thing when he was Shane Fenton (the original 'Shane Fenton' had died).

[Jah Womble]

Peter Shelley - who passed away last year - was the fellow. He even performed as 'Alvin' on Lift Off with Ayshea before handing the long-term baton to Mr Jewry/Fenton/Stardust.

Shelley of course went on to write most of the act's songs, run the label and also managed a couple of Top Five hits of his own.

[Jobi1]

I'm currently editing a book about Soft Cell, in which I've just come across an amusing story about a time when the record company were demanding they went to Germany to do a TV appearance to try to keep 'Tainted Love' at the top of the charts there, while the band were very busy trying to write and record the follow-up. To keep the label happy and minimise disruption to the recording process, Marc Almond went over to Germany with a mate of his from Leeds who looked vaguely like Dave Ball and was able to stand behind the keyboards without attracting any attention, while Ball stayed back in the studio getting on with the other work.