QUESTION: How many backing singers became bigger than the star they were backing?
The four most famous are Elton John, Marvin Gaye, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.
Elton John provided piano and vocals for lots of acts while he was starting out in the music business.
In 1968, when still Reg Dwight, he provided vocals for Tom Jones’s hit Delilah, and also lent his voice to The Scaffold’s track Lily The Pink.
He continued to work as a session musician even as he released his first albums, perhaps most notably playing piano on songs for The Hollies, including He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.
Elton became the best selling star of the 1970s and the fourth biggest of all time.
The four most famous are Elton John, Marvin Gaye, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Pictured: Young Elton John
Whitney Houston (pictured) sang background vocals on tracks by artists ranging from Chaka Khan to Lou Rawls and her mother, Cissy
Marvin Gaye, the greatest soul singer of his generation, started out singing backing vocals for bands such as The Marquees, The Moon glows, Billy Stewart and Chuck Berry.
Gaye also provided drums on a number of Motown hits, including Martha and the Vandellas’ Dancing In The Street (which he co-wrote) and The Marvelettes’ Please Mr Postman.
Whitney Houston sang background vocals on tracks by artists ranging from Chaka Khan to Lou Rawls and her mother, Cissy.
Whitney became one of the biggest pop stars of all time, selling more than 200 million records worldwide.
Mariah Carey worked as a backing singer for Brenda K. Starr and sang on her hit power ballad I Still Believe.
Starr helped Carey get her demo tape to Columbia Records and get her start in the industry.
Carey recorded I Still Believe in 1998 in tribute to her mentor.
Keith Watson, Horsham, West Sussex
QUESTION: Does Norwich’s system of undercrofts still exist?
Norwich’s undercrofts are medieval vaulted cellars constructed beneath buildings, primarily in the 14th and 15th centuries, during the city’s heyday as a hub of trade and commerce.
The subterranean spaces were storage facilities for valuable goods such as textiles, wine and spices, providing a secure and climate-controlled environment.
They are unusual as they were mainly built of brick, due to the shortage of stone in the area.
The undercrofts often featured elaborate vaulting and were accessed via staircases from the main building above.
They were commonly found beneath wealthy merchants’ houses, shops, and ecclesiastical buildings.
Today, around 70 still exist in Norwich, although many remain hidden beneath modern structures. These surviving undercrofts are a testament to the city’s architectural ingenuity and economic prosperity during the medieval period.
Some of the most accessible examples can be explored beneath buildings such as the Strangers’ Hall and St Andrew’s Hall.
The one beneath the Guildhall was probably a prison. Other examples can be found under the Bridewell, the Assembly House, Dragon Hall and Curat House.
The undercrofts reflect the importance of Norwich as a trading centre in the medieval period.
L. T. Cowan, Dereham, Norfolk
QUESTION: Did the Nazis perform deception operations similar to our Operation Mincemeat?
According to Sun Tzu, ‘All warfare is based on deception’ and Operation Mincemeat was a classic.
It involved planting a corpse with false documents to mislead the Germans about Allied invasion plans in the Mediterranean.
Its success depended on a deep understanding of how the Germans processed intelligence.
The Germans understood the value of deception. Operation Kreml was aimed at misleading the Soviets about the true target of their offensive of summer 1942.
The Germans conducted a series of diplomatic and military feints, pretending they were preparing for another invasion of Moscow, rather than to the south of the Soviet Union.
England spiel (‘England Game’) or Operation North Pole was an operation by the German Abwehr (military intelligence) in which the Germans captured Dutch resistance agents working for their British counterparts, the Special Operations Executive (SOE).
They used their radio transmitters to send misleading messages back to Britain.
The Germans tricked the SOE into thinking their agents were still operational, leading to the capture or killing of additional agents parachuted into the Netherlands.
It was a complex operation that lasted for almost two years (1942-1944).Operation Greif in 1944, devised by Hitler himself, was led by Waffen-SS commando Otto Skorzeny.
It aimed to sow confusion among Allied forces during the Battle of the Bulge by deploying German soldiers disguised as US troops, to capture one or more bridges over the river Meuse before they could be destroyed. It failed.
John Hillman, Corbridge, Northumberland
