BEST SECRET WEAPON

Crystal Taliefero

If you've been to big classic-rock shows over the past twenty-three years, you've seen Crystal Taliefero: She has sung and played guitar, sax and percussion with John Mellencamp, Billy Joel, Bob Seger, Elton John and Bruce Springsteen. Taliefero, who grew up playing R&B and dreamed of one day being a backup singer for Luther Vandross, has instead become the go-to side?woman and onstage foil for the world's most famous arena rockers — with a distinctively powerful voice and boisterous stage presence worthy of a frontwoman. "Every artist that I've had the pleasure and honor to work with was a rock & roller," says Taliefero. "I can't explain it, but maybe rock works for me because I was always a little crazy anyway." It all began with Mellencamp, who discovered Taliefero playing with a band while she was studying music at Indiana University; despite neither knowing nor caring much about rock, she left school to tour with him. When Mellencamp quit the road for a while, he lent her $3,000 ("I love that man," she says) and she moved to New York, where she hooked up with Joel and Springsteen. Taliefero eventually moved to Nashville, and toured with Garth Brooks. But now she's back on tour with her old friend Joel. "My thing is, have fun, but don't get complacent," Taliefero says. "You're not VIP, you know? You're just a guest." BRIAN HIATT

Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images for ACMA

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