Shade on simple chart

[keeney_g]

I have a chart showing client growth over the last 15 years for a company and I want to have a shaded area representing time periods of economic difficulties. I tried making another series into the chart but that didn't work because of the timing of the economic difficulties took place over more than one year. I also tried inserting a shape and custom sizing to fit in the timeframe I'm looking for. This worked fine, but the bars on my chart were covered with the shape and excel wouldn't let me bring them to the front.

Any suggestions? Thank you...