![](\"http:\/\/image2.findagrave.com\/photos250\/photos\/2013\/88\/107525525_136462617736.jpg\")
Hugh McCracken, a virtuoso guitarist who was in such demand as a studio musician that he could afford to turn down Paul McCartney\u2019s invitation to join the band Wings in 1971, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 70. The cause was leukemia, his wife of 43 years, Holly, said. <\/p>\n
Studio musicians toil in near anonymity as they support the artists whose names everyone knows. Their job is not to draw notice but to subtly enhance the stars\u2019 work. But the elite of the music business know the best ones, and Mr. McCracken was always getting calls. <\/p>\n
Just a partial list of the hundreds of musicians he accompanied includes Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Steely Dan, B. B. King, Jefferson Airplane, Billy Joel, Laura Nyro, Neil Diamond, Van Morrison, Carl Perkins, the Monkees, Carly Simon and James Taylor. He recorded with all four Beatles after their breakup. He recorded with Aretha Franklin and Mr. McCartney in different studios on the same day. <\/p>\n
Mr. McCracken contributed to a host of hit albums, including \u201cBrown Eyed Girl\u201d by Van Morrison, \u201cGirl, You\u2019ll Be a Woman Soon\u201d by Neil Diamond, \u201cHey 19\u201d by Steely Dan, \u201cHappy Xmas (War Is Over)\u201d by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, \u201c50 Ways to Leave Your Lover\u201d by Paul Simon and \u201cIf I Ain\u2019t Got You\u201d by Alicia Keys. <\/p>\n
He would improvise his part once he apprehended the drift of a producer\u2019s intention, his wife said. He arrived early the day Roberta Flack was recording \u201cKilling Me Softly With His Song\u201d and began fooling around on his classical guitar as he waited for the session to begin. Joel Dorn, the producer, asked him to play his riff again, and it became the song\u2019s introduction. <\/p>\n
\u201cHis feel was immaculate,\u201d Leo Sacks, a record producer, said. \u201cIt flowed with such ease.\u201d <\/p>\n
Rob Mounsey, a veteran session musician and arranger, called Mr. McCracken\u2019s work \u201celegantly simple \u2014 sometimes startlingly simple \u2014 and full of feeling.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mr. McCracken had worked with Mr. McCartney on his album \u201cRam\u201d when Mr. McCartney decided to form a new group and asked him to join. He turned down the chance to be an original member of Wings because he did not want to be separated from his children in New Jersey. <\/p>\n
Hugh Carmine McCracken was born on March 31, 1942, in Glen Ridge, N.J., and grew up in nearby Hackensack. His father was a plumber who led his own dance band for a while. His mother liked country music and bought Hugh his first guitar, an electric one, when he was 14. He learned to play to impress girls, he said. <\/p>\n
His instruction began with a music dictionary that explained terms like note and beat. He learned more by borrowing records from an expansive rhythm-and-blues collection maintained by a mechanic in the rear of a gas station. <\/p>\n
Around 16, he formed a band and played local clubs. He dropped out of high school in his junior year to help pay family bills. <\/p>\n
His mother was working as a hat checker in a club where the saxophonist King Curtis was playing when she persuaded him to listen to her son play. Mr. Curtis did and hired him for his 1961 album \u201cTrouble in Mind.\u201d <\/p>\n
In later years Mr. McCracken toured with artists like Mr. Taylor, Mr. Simon and Linda Ronstadt; wrote advertising jingles; and contributed to movie soundtracks. In addition to lead guitar, he played rhythm guitar, mandolin and harmonica. <\/p>\n
Mr. McCracken\u2019s first marriage, to Lynn White, ended in divorce. In addition to his wife, the former Holly Mershon, he is survived by his mother, Ethel McCracken; his sons, Scott McCracken and Marc Langanus; his daughters, Jodi McCracken Capitanelli and Kimberly Hope; his sister, Pat Stephens; and three grandchildren. <\/p>\n
Mr. McCracken delighted in telling stories about his famous friends. When he met John Lennon, he recalled, Mr. Lennon said he had heard that Mr. McCracken had worked with Mr. McCartney. \u201cYes,\u201d Mr. McCracken answered. <\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d Mr. Lennon said, \u201cyou know that was just an audition to get to me.\u201d <\/p>\n
Source: The NY Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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