William Guest (singer) William Guest (singer) William Franklin Guest (July 2, 1941 – December 24, 2015) was an American R&B/soul singer best known as a member of Gladys Knight & the Pips. Guest was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and was a cousin of Gladys Knight. Following his stint with The Pips, he and fellow Pip Edward Patten formed Patten and Guest Productions, and following Patten's death in 2005, he continued to manage artists though the Crew Entertainment company he formed with members of Patten's family. Guest died on December 24, 2015, of congestive heart failure in Detroit, Michigan, his home for fifty years.
Backing track only the vocals live to simplify the process of mixing the performance, because it means that the sound engineers do not have to set up microphones for different backing bands. Backing tracks can also be bought online through a backing track supplier and used for home practice or use in live shows. Prior to the advent of computers, backing tracks were generally employed through the use of audio tape synced with the live performance. In the 1980s, Timbuk 3 was an early band which openly used backing tracks in live performances. The band openly displayed their "boom-box" as the third