[Charles Martel]

I guess it depends on how you define "fake band". The Carpenters relied on The Wrecking Crew for a lot of their studio recordings, though both Richard and Karen were musicians.

This was apparently a common thing in the early days of A&M Records - Herb Alpert (and some studio musicians) created those chart-topping hits of the '60s, but the "Tijuana Brass" didn't exist outside of the studio until Alpert had to create it to play live shows.

[CommerceComet]

I guess it depends on how you define "fake band". The Carpenters relied on The Wrecking Crew for a lot of their studio recordings, though both Richard and Karen were musicians.

That was probably true of almost every popular band that come out of California at the time, except CCR.