Great harmonies from one singer.

I'm curious how many groups/artists create great vocal harmonies from layering a single person's voice as apposed to group harmony.

I know Freddy Mercury layered his own voice for much of Queen's great harmonies. How many members of Queen sang? Who sang on "Bohemian Rhapsody"?

I know Richard Carpentar layered voices for the great Carpentars songs. Most of the voices were Karen.

Tim

 

Roger, Brian and Freddie supplied those great backing vocals.....especially Roger Taylor! Great raspy voice. Joe Elliot of Def Lepperd says Roger was the heart of those vocals.

 

Elliot Smith was a pro at this. Check out the XO album...

 

Prince!

 

Billy Joel-Uptown Girl
Harry Nillson-You Can't Do That

 

Neil Young on "Round & Round" (at least I think so!).

 

Aldo Nova on his S/T and Subject albums.

 

Brad Delp and all those harmonies that lace seemingly every song on Boston's debut. And yes, he sang ALL those harmonies, even those REALLY high ones without any computerized help at all (as would probably be the norm these days)

"More Than a Feeling." 'Nuff said

 

Didn't Neil Sedaka do this on several of his early sixties RCA hits?

 

The Beatles

Mostly you hear John and Paul sing harmonies on songs, where you might think both of their voices were involved.

 

Lindsey Buckingham, both on later Fleetwood Mac efforts and with his solo material.

 

Matthew Sweet is one of the best at this. Every album from Girlfriend on has had beautiful harmonies. Of course he is a great fan of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys and it shows. It would be nice to see some Matthew Sweet SACD's.

 

Yes, as did Bobby Vee, Gene Pitney, and Lesley Gore. Patti Page also used overdubbing to harmonize with herself in the late 40's and early 50's.

 

Harry Nilsson is king of "one-man harmonies", IMO!

Also check out an artist that calls himself "Linus Of Hollywood" (He has a very similar "Nilsson" voice and style!

Chris C.

 

Todd Rundgren

 

Keith, I have sooooo many friends that swear by Todd Rundgren! I have tried and tried to get into him, but I almost always find myself feeling empty after listening to him! He often comes close to getting to me (Marlene, I Saw The Light, Will They Ever Learn?) and then he pulls out a loud distracting song that reminds me of great melodic Pink Floyd and then Roger Waters walks in the room to "noise" it up! I would love to hear Todd make just one complete album where he keeps true to the "pop" sound and loses all of the "Todd" effect, but not as "bachelor pad-ish" as his "With A Twist" album was! Can he do it???

Chris C

 

Jason Falkner does all of the vocals on his excellent power pop releases, "Presents Author Unknown" and "Can You Still Feel".



Ed Hurdle
HeavyDistortion

 

Seal: Kiss from a Rose and other songs.

 

Lewis Taylor

On a limited edition CD he was selling at live shows, he does an a capella version of Brian Wilson's Melt Away singing in 4 (?) part harmony with himself. But all of his studio albums have this kind of layered vocals.
In fact, though I'd love to see him perform live, I'm sure that's what I'd miss most about the sound he creates in his lab.

 

Elvis Presley did some great harmony tracks on a few of his tracks from the 60's and early 70's.

 

Marvin Gaye

 

Matthew Sweet and Jason Falkner both do all their own layered harmonies and they are both excellent at doing it.

one day I'll work out why they're both not international superstars, I can't work it out - such talent , in so many areas and good taste will hopefully warrant success of some kind.

Tim

 

timothy b. schmit does this quite often, with astoundingly beautiful results.

david crosby on "if i could only remember my name", simply gorgeous.

 

Julia by John Lennon

 

HOW WEIRD!!!!

I'm listening to "Nilsson Sings Newman" JUST AS I LOGGED ON!!! And that's the topper of them all!

Strange.

Also, yes, someone above mentioned Linus of Hollywood. You all should check him out. He's the best of modern pop. Young guy - 29 I think. Nilsson meets McCartney meets Gilbert O'Sullivan. In another thread I mentioned his harmonizing with himself on that "Popular Artists Tribute to McCartney" on "Warm and Beautiful."