The Smiley Smile Message Board

Blondie and Ricky both had their fair share of lead vocal spots, but in concert when they'd play the early songs, did they fill in vocals to that signature BBs harmony stack?

Yes.  And Billy Hinsche too.  And for a short time, Toni Tennille & Jim Guercio.  Although the latter not concurrently.

Great post! I'm very interested in in learning where they (and Billy) fit into the stack.

I remember seeing a news brief in some early '72 rock mag ("Sounds", maybe?) announcing Blondie and Ricky joining the BBs. It said Ricky would be the drummer, while Blondie was a guitarist who would also be adding another voice to the harmonies. From all the onstage pictures and bit of video from the era, this certainly seems to be the case. There's even video (seen briefly in "Endless Harmony") of Blondie playing tambourine while singing harmony with the other guys. From the live tapes of the era, I think it sounds like Blondie on the "I Get Around" falsetto. There's footage from the '75-'77 era of Billy playing tambourine while singing the falsetto on that song, so maybe he just inherited that role when Blondie left.

I saw the band perform live with Ricky twice & for a few songs, there was a vocal boom mic at the drum kit for him, but that mic was usually out of his reach, purposely placed away from him.  There were also a few songs where he came down from the kit & played guitar & sang up front, but I think that was mainly for lead vocals on "We Got Love."

Here is something that I found interesting.  I know Ricky sang a few lead lines on the studio version of Funky Pretty.  While reading The Beach Boys FAQ book and the section regarding who sang lead on what, there is a list of leads for the "In Concert" LP.  It lists Ricky as singing lead on that version of Funky Pretty.  We know he played drums on the live version, but I'm pretty certain that it sounds like Blondie singing the lines Ricky sang on the LP version.  Can anyone verify that?

I didn't know Ricky sang any lines on the LP version - I always thought it was just Carl, Al, Blondie, and Mike rotating the lead on that one, on record and in concert.

I concur.  The Definitive Vocal Credits List thread says Ricky is singing Blondie's "second" lines each time but it always sounded like Blondie to me.

Ricky sang the following lines on the Holland version of "Funky Pretty":

"Glow glow glow come on glow"

and

"Why she's a princess imparted to me"