Bassist Carol Kaye tells AP she’s declining Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, ‘Permanently’

By Canadian Press on June 20, 2025.

NEW YORK (AP) — Carol Kaye, a prolific and revered bassist who played on thousands of songs in the 1960s including hits by the Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel and Barbra Streisand, told The Associated Press on Friday that she wants no part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

“I’ve declined the rrhof. Permanently,” the 90-year-old Kaye said in an email to the AP. She said she has sent a letter to the Hall saying the same thing.

Her remarks come two days after a Facebook post — since deleted — in which she said “NO I won’t be there. I am declining the RRHOF awards show.”

Kaye was set to be inducted in November in a class that also includes Joe Cocker, Chubby Checker and Cyndi Lauper.

She said in her deleted post that she was “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.”

Kaye’s credits include the bass lines on Simon & Garfunkel’s “Homeward Bound,” the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” and the Monkees’ “I’m a Believer.”

Along with drummer Hal Blaine and guitarist Tommy Tedesco, she was part of a core of heavily used studio musicians that Blaine later dubbed “The Wrecking Crew.”

Kaye hated the name, and suggested in her Facebook post that her association with it was part of the reason for declining induction.

“I was never a ‘wrecker’ at all,” she wrote, “that’s a terrible insulting name.”

Kaye’s inductee page on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame website makes no mention of the moniker.

Hall representatives had no immediate comment.

Many artists have been inducted in their absence or after their death, and in 2006 the Sex Pistols became Hall of Famers despite rejecting their induction.

In 2022, Dolly Parton initially declined her induction, saying someone more associated with rock ‘n’ roll should get the honor. But she was convinced to change her mind and embrace the honor.

___

Dalton reported from Los Angeles.

Andrew Dalton And Hillel Italie, The Associated Press