If you watched Sir Paul McCartney’s performances on Saturday Night Live on May 16, you may have thought that his female backup singer looked familiar. Well, she should have: It was Ingrid Michaelson.
“The Way I Am” singer has explained on Instagram how she got that gig. “I got a call on a monday [May 11] to fill in in Sir Paul Mccartney’s band for that Saturday for @nbcsnl and proceeded to have 6 days of ‘what is my life????’” she writes.
“What an honor it has been to be inside this music that has shaped me. his band and crew and team are all as lovely as he,” she continues. “[A]nd he is lovely. just as you’d imagine. even lovelier i’d say. I will never forget these 6 days for the rest of my life. I wish my father could see me now. he’d be prouder than punch.”
Ingrid backed the Beatles legend on his new song, “Days Gone By,” as well as the Wings classic “Band on the Run” and his 1980 single “Coming Up.”
Ingrid’s most recent album, For the Dreamers, came out in 2024. That year, the Broadway musical The Notebook, for which she wrote the music and lyrics, premiered on Broadway and received three Tony nominations.
Ingrid is launching her Cozy Fall Trio tour on Oct. 9 in Tucson, Arizona, during which she will sing with Allie Moss and Hannah Winkler.
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