Musicians Hall of Fame

In 2007, James was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame. He was inducted as part of the Wrecking Crew.

From the website.

The Wrecking Crew

In the early 60’s, there was a group of studio musicians located in L.A. who, with time, became known as The Wrecking Crew. Although virtually unknown to the public, these musicians played on most of the hits associated with the West Coast sound. These younger musicians inherited their name from the original session players of the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. The older generation musicians did not want to play “that rock and roll music,” and they felt that the younger group of musicians would wreck the industry by playing the emerging genre. Hence, The Wrecking Crew was a fitting name for this talented group of musicians. Most of The Wrecking Crew is also known as a part of legendary producer Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound.”

That sound consisted of artists such as Sonny and Cher, The Association, Ricky Nelson, The Beach Boys, The Fifth Dimension, The Byrds, Herb Alpert, The Mamas and the Papas, Johnny Rivers, Jan and Dean, Andy Williams, Simon and Garfunkel, The Ronettes, The Righteous Brothers, Nancy, and even Frank Sinatra. Members of the Wrecking Crew   played on countless movie scores and television themes such as Hawaii Five-O, Twilight Zone, Green Acres, and M*A*S*H*.