The great back up singer and songwriter Leah Kunkel died this week. She was 77 and according to reports from her friends, her death was sudden.
Leah Kunkel was the sister of the late Mamas and Papas star Cass Eliot of the Mamas and Papas. When Cass died, Leah helped raise her daughter, Owen.
We learned a lot from the movie, “20 Feet from Stardom” about back up singers. Leah Kunkel was a voice heard on most of the singer songwriter albums of the seventies and early 80s. She was much in demand, singing with James Taylor, Art Garfunkel, Jackson Browne, and many others. She also made solo albums and was part of a group called the Coyote Sisters. She was married for some time to Russ Kunkel, the in demand drummer who played on a lot of those albums.
After her music career, Kunkel became a lawyer.
Songwriter Stephen Bishop (“On and On”) wrote on Instagram: “Leah helped to give me my big break by giving a tape of my songs to Art Garfunkel. She always championed my music, and believed in me when I needed it most. We co-wrote “Under the Jamaican Moon,” together and I’ll always cherish that collaboration. We should have written more songs together. Her talents as a solo artist—her songwriting and her beautiful voice—were remarkable, and yet I feel she was so underrated.”
