Great singer takes "voice lessons" - and never sings the same ever again??

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Baba Oh Really, Sep 14, 2014.

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  1. Baba Oh Really

    Baba Oh Really Certified "Forum Favorite" Thread Starter

    Location:
    mid west, USA
    The most glaring example would be John Lydon. Almost immediately after the Sex Pistols, he took voice lessons to learn to become a better singer, and he never sounded the same again.

    Any other examples?
     
  2. Harvest Your Thoughts

    Harvest Your Thoughts Forum Resident

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    Anthony Kiedis took some voice lessons at some point. He trys to sing now, regrettably.
     
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  3. cgw

    cgw Forum Resident

    Location:
    Upstate NY
    Funny you mention it. I was just thinking about him. It may or may not have anything to do with the lessons but the difference to me is that Rotten sang the original SP songs with anger. In the clips I have seen of him recently with the reformed SPs, he is singing the songs with irony. (not that I wouldn't go to a show in a heartbeat)
     
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  4. Prog_Wizard

    Prog_Wizard Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
  5. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Ringo Starr.
     
  6. R. Totale

    R. Totale The Voice of Reason

    I thought Joanna Newsom's singing on her first two records was great, but she developed throat problems (nodes maybe), hardly talked for a few months and then took good medical advice to tone it down a bit. I still enjoy her singing but it's a lot more restrained on her third record.
     
  7. There are a lot of older musicians (and some younger) that have done this as much to preserve their voice as to use it to its maxim advantage. Having said that, Elton John with his node removals, etc. just doesn't sound the same. Still enjoy his singing though.
     
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  8. TheiPodAvenger

    TheiPodAvenger Forum Resident

    Location:
    TX
    This often comes up in discussions of Elvis Costello's latter-day singing.
     
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  9. rockerreds

    rockerreds Senior Member

    Joey Ramone
     
  10. SpinningInfinity

    SpinningInfinity Forum Resident

    My guess is Serj from System of a Down. He approaches singing and screaming in a very safe manner now...cleaner notes less distortion etc.

    Will be better in the long run for his chords..but loses a little of the charm and edge live.
     
    onionmaster likes this.
  11. Sax-son

    Sax-son Forum Resident

    Location:
    Three Rivers, CA
    A lot of rock singers are untrained and its the character of their voice that is unique and attractive to some listeners. Most musicians are always trying to improve their craft. If they begin to change their vocal deliveries it goes along with evolution of their art. That's just the way it is.
     
  12. aceman400

    aceman400 Power to the Metal

    Location:
    mn
    Jon Bon Jovi. Listen to any recent recording of Living on a Prayer.
     
  13. zebop

    zebop Well Known Stranger

    Michael Jackson
     
  14. Although his voice had deteriorated over the last decade or so, Brian Wilson still sounded like a damaged version of his younger self through the 1970s. However, once he was placed under the "care" of Dr. Eugene Landy for a second time, he started to receive vocal coaching from someone (presumably under his psychiatrist's direction) who thought it was a good idea to condition Brian so that he projected more like a typical rock star, destroying any remaining subtlety and a lot of his character, which I suspect wasn't helped by the cocktail of drugs he was taking - it's even rumoured that he suffered a stroke while having an implant fitted to cosmetically repair a shattered cheekbone suffered at the hands of his father years before. Yes, at times his falsetto proved just as resilient as ever, but for the majority Brian Wilson has changed for the worse since about 1983, though to be fair his most recent studio work resembled what I might have expected him to sound like if his once signature instrument had been allowed to age naturally.
     
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  15. Pizza

    Pizza With extra pepperoni

    Location:
    USA
    I suspect Belinda Carlisle got some pointers from Stevie Nicks. If I recall correctly, she gave a nod to her in the credits of her album Heaven on Earth. She sounded more like Stevie from that album on.
     
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  16. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Madonna got lessons for her role in "Evita" and that experience strongly influenced her singing for years. She sounded way more mannered and less casual than pre-1996.

    Eventually she balanced the best parts of the pre-and-post lessons vocals. Around 2005 or so, she started to sing in a way that showed the extra strength she got from the lessons but lost most of the stiffness...
     
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  17. rstamberg

    rstamberg Senior Member

    Location:
    Riverside, CT
    I dunno about any voice lessons per se, but Ry Cooder's "untrained" singing on his early '70s albums holds a lot more charm and character for me than do his later, gruffer, but more conventional vocals.
     
  18. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    Pete Seeger once told me that his natural singing as he had been doing since the 30s was "wrong" and he had gone to a voice teacher for help. Too late. The damage to his vocal chords was permanent. He had lost the top end(his "split-tenor) and his voice would go out altogether is he pushed it too much. He was in his 80s then, and while he continued to do concerts, he usually had another act or two on the show with him to spell him, and his portions were basically him leading a sing a long.
     
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  19. Dennis Metz

    Dennis Metz Born In A Motor City south of Detroit

    Location:
    Fonthill, Ontario
  20. Mr Bass

    Mr Bass Chevelle Ma Belle

    Location:
    Mid Atlantic
    The example that came to mind was Bing Crosby. Although Bing quickly realized that it was changing his basic delivery style and abandoned it. This is a very interesting subject but there is no simple answer as to whether it is good or bad. Some people who are not formally trained rather sound like they are, such as Grace Slick. My understanding is that she listened to classical music as a child but never had voice training. I believe Gary Puckett did have vocal training of some kind.

    There are two major reasons why voice training is not that immediately useful in pop singing: the microphone and the half spoken way that most pop songs are sung, which has the classical terms of parlando or sprechstimme. Voice training does not emphasize little vocal nuances that can only be picked up by the microphone but a steady, relatively unvarying and secure hitting of each note and pronouncing the lyrics clearly. This goes against most pop styles.
     
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  21. TubularBell

    TubularBell Forum Resident

    Location:
    Finland
    Didn't they tell Ozzy not to learn to play any instrument in case he could have accidentally learn to be musical?
     
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  22. notesofachord

    notesofachord Riding down the river in an old canoe

    Location:
    Mojave Desert
    PiL > Sex Pistols
     
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  23. Baba Oh Really

    Baba Oh Really Certified "Forum Favorite" Thread Starter

    Location:
    mid west, USA
    Hmm. Let me think about that for a minute.... Noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
     
  24. Kim Olesen

    Kim Olesen Gently weeping guitarist.

    Location:
    Odense Denmark.
    Bruce Dickenson comes to mind. But rather than changing his voice it changed it back to his heyday. Suddenly he could sing songs that he wasn't able to sing for a long time.
     
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