The human voice is an amazing instrument. There are 6500 spoken languages.
We have the ability to make incredible sounds. We are capable of mimicking animal sounds, bird calls etc.
When we listen to music and our voices vocalize songs magic can happen. It can stimulate all kinds of different emotions. I am sure everyone has gone to a concert and seen, heard, and experienced a variety of feelings.
Opera is not something I follow. But I appreciate the ability. I have listened to music from all over the world. Some grab me others leave me.
Vers turned me on to Melody Gardot. To my ear she is as good as any female singer I have heard.
Male singers. I don't know if it possible to sing better than Nat King Cole.
But within perfection comes style, emotion, feeling, touch, and the ability to communicate mood.
There are many singers that do not have great voices in the traditional sense. Bob Dylan and Tom Waits come to mind. Yet when they sing there songs somehow it fits. It connects.
Amy Winehouse some love her others not so much.
Maybe there is something in the way each person hears. Maybe we don't all hear the same.
Maybe it's the music that comes with the voice. I can't say I am a big country music fan. But when I listen to Patsy Cline sing some songs. Damn. I am moved.
Some voices I call "big mouth" singers. Like Miriah Carey or even Barbara Streisand. Not my cup of tea.
Other have "small voices" not powerful. Billie Holiday falls into that category. I listen to her and just melt. She gets to me on a level that is hard to explain.
Johnny Cash. I remember when his nickname was one note Johnny Cash. Yet there are songs especially as he aged like "Four Strong Winds" bring me to tears.
I am sure everyone has their favorites voices and others that are like chalk on a blackboard.
This thread is about them all. Voices that get you and the ones you need to leave the room.
You’re correct. Sometimes a voice doesn’t need to be great to be really really good in its own way. John Popper doesn’t have the greatest tone, but he sings his arse off with a ton of heart. It fits Blues Travelers’ sound perfectly. Once, while falling down the YouTube rabbit hole I stumbled across this performance. A French street musician. She goes by Zaz. She’s now a famous act in France I guess. In this oerformance her voice captivated me. It’s not the prettiest but it fits her, the song, the moment perfectly. I don’t know a lick of French, yet since discovering this I’ve gone back to listen to it many times... because of her imperfectly perfect voice.
For the record. I was just talking about great voices and not how certain voices fit w/certain types of songs. For example, I don't listen to Whitney Houston, but she had a beautiful voice.
I have lots of favorite female vocalists - Linda Ronstadt, Grace Slick, Ann Wilson, Alison Krause, and others, but I want to feature Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde here ... this song really reaches me for some reason.
Another great voice that comes to mind after thinking of Anita is Roberta Flack. I know almost everyone has heard this, but it's worth revisiting.
I want to bring a male back into the mix. Roberta and Donny Hathaway had some wonderful duets. Two great voices who complimented one another in the best way possible.
In my opinion, Oleta Adams is one of most underrated and possesses one of the most beautiful voices in the history of music. Yo bonefish, I know you liked me turning you onto Melody Gardot. Check this girl out.
Of course, the greatest voice in history belongs to Luther Vandross. It's not even close. LOL.........I am only kinda kidding. Dude had the best voice ever, for reals...
Y'all, check out Dionne's expressions as well as the rest of the audience. They are in wonderment of such a voice. Dude's voice wasn't just a voice. It was an instrument w/incredible flexibility.
i like all kinds of voices, for all kinds of reasons.
Mostly, if it sounds good - the vocals, the song - then it's good.
I admire the high-octave guys (Plant, Rik Emmett, Steve Perry), because they have a gift. I admire high-pitched chick singers (Whitney, Mariah, Celine Dion). They have/had major ability, and attention to their craft.
I also like Bob Dylan's early voice.... George Jones, Etta James ,Bob Seger, Allison Krauss.
This was long ago in the past. The 60s British musicians were assimilating and replicating American blues and they tried to hide their accents by sounding American.
By the 70s, British Punk put a fat middle finger up at being told to sound American and they wore their Cockney, Liverpudlian, Newcastle, Mancunian etc. accents with pride. As did Ozzy (Birmingham), Madness, The Jam, the Clash and many other rockers including Blur, Oasis, Radiohead, Prodigy etc. British grime, hip hop also proudly uses and expresses its accent.
I have to throw Amy in here. She had a quality. Undefinable. She represents the point of how we all sound different. Our voices are distinguishable. Just like people who narrate. Amy connected to many but not all.
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