[1] The show was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, and features many cover versions of songs sung on-screen by the characters.
The majority of songs are performed by New Directions, which is composed of Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale), Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.), Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz), Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet), Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron), Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith), Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer), Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley), Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera), Brittany S. Pierce (Heather Morris) and Noah Puckerman (Mark Salling), plus club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison).
[19][20] Darren Criss appears as Blaine Anderson, lead singer of rival glee club the Dalton Academy Warblers, and Gwyneth Paltrow guest-stars and performs as Holly Holliday, a substitute teacher.
[25] These performers reappear on Glee: The Music, Volume 4, and are joined by Kala Balch, Colin Benward, Ravaughn Brown, Jon Hall, Samantha Jade, Jeanette Olsson, Zac Poor, Drew Ryan Scott, and Onitsha Shaw.
[26] All but Benward, Jade, Kampe-Flygare, Olsson and Poor feature on Glee: The Music, Volume 5, which also includes vocals by Alex Anders.
[21] The members providing these background vocals consist of Sam Cantor, Conor Flynn, Michael Grant, John Kwon, Cailin Mackenzie, Kent McCann, Eric Morrissey, Evan Powell, Penn Rosen, Eli Seidman, and Jack Thomas.