A while back, I watched a video of Peter Cetera singing that was recorded in recent times. His voice was cracking, and he just couldn't really do it anymore.
The other night, I got bored, and started watching 2013 performances by 80's artists using FOIS on demand. I watched Belinda Carlisle's performance of "Heaven Is a Place On Earth", and her singing was downright awful. Anybody at a Karaoke bar could've done better.
How common is it for once-good or great singers to lose their singing ability, and at what age does it typically happen?
There's enough physiology involved I'd be surprised if there is a "typical"age. One can take care of one's body - including the sound-producing structures - or not. Jazz and classical vocalists often perform into their sixties and seventies. Performers have a lot of pressure to perform whether or not they have a cold, sore throat, allergies or are otherwise feeling ill. Even mere fatigue can sap one's voice - ever tried to sing after a long fight with the dry air, jet-lag, exposure to irritants, etc? But many musicians have to do this on a regular basis. So, I'm not sure I would say they've lost their singing ability based on one performance. Of course, many performers (esp non-classical) shout or scream in ways that are destructive to vocal tissue as a standard element of their performances. Many also smoke, sometimes deliberately to get a "husky" voice. These folks will almost certainly lose their ability to perform earlier than they would have otherwise.
I've heard that Rob Halford can't hit the dildo-in-the-ass high notes that he could hit back in Priest's heyday.
I saw Paul McCartney about a year ago and except for some of the screams, he sounded great.
Listen to any of the recent Rush live albums, dating back to "Different Stages," and hear how the older songs like "The Temples of Syrinx" are tuned down, and that will tell you plenty about what's happened to Geddy Lee's vocal range.
For me the saddest example was Linda Ronstadt, who has lost her ability to sing due to Parkinson's.
I read somewhere that Whitney Houston attempted a comeback tour shortly before her death, but was booed off stage because she couldn't hit the high notes like she once did. As she once said, "crack is wack..."
Jagger can't hit the high notes like he used to, and Dylan's voice has become quite whiny and occasionally indecipherable. Bob Weir has some trouble with the high stuff that he used to hit with ease when Jerry was around. On the other side of the coin, John Fogerty sounds exactly the same as 1970. It's amazing how David Crosby has been through so much yet can still wail out Almost Cut My Hair. Neil Young still sounds great too.
We saw Billy Joel in concert last weekend. His voice has certainly changed over the years, but he can still sing and he still gives a good performance. He joked with the crowd prior to singing "An Innocent Man" about how he hadn't performed that song very often in recent years due to his difficulty hitting the high notes and how if his voice cracked on us we'd know we were getting our money's worth because it'd prove he wasn't using a recording.
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on August 04, 2014, 02:48:34 PM
Dylan's voice has become quite whiny and occasionally indecipherable.
there was a time when it wasn't?
Saw Elton John last year. He's completely abandoned the idea of trying to hit certain notes (cf. 'Crododile Rock'; 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road') but apart from that he sounded pretty good.
I saw Peter, Paul and Mary toward the end of their touring era. They should have billed themselves as Peter, Paul, and some unintelligble growling.
Geddy Lee was once a good singer?
Quote from: bugo on August 04, 2014, 08:08:36 AM
I saw Paul McCartney about a year ago and except for some of the screams, he sounded great.
I saw him perform on SNL around the same time and he wasn't very good. He sounded like he had trouble getting up to the higher notes in many of his songs.
I'm sure Billy Joel can still sing some of his old hit songs, while Elton John can't (save for Your Song, which he sang in his normal baritone voice) and hasn't since 1986.
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 04, 2014, 02:55:54 PM
We saw Billy Joel in concert last weekend. His voice has certainly changed over the years, but he can still sing and he still gives a good performance. He joked with the crowd prior to singing "An Innocent Man" about how he hadn't performed that song very often in recent years due to his difficulty hitting the high notes and how if his voice cracked on us we'd know we were getting our money's worth because it'd prove he wasn't using a recording.
We saw Billy in Vegas in June and he sounded far better to me than he did when we saw him in Birmingham about 7 years ago.
Despite having "desert throat" and constantly drinking tea throughout the show, his voice sounded clearer to me than the last time I saw him. He did "An Innocent Man" at the Birmingham show, but he had his backup singer Crystal covered the high notes for him. He did not perform the song in Vegas, but I felt his voice was stronger after taking a long time off before this tour.
Ozzy Osbourne used to have a decently intelligible voice, but the years of drug and alcohol abuse have definitely taken its toll. But I don't think it's so much the voice going as it is the mind. You can barely even understand him talk, let alone sing (growl). And this is coming from a longtime fan of his.
If I hear/see that Kenny Rogers insurance commercial one more time I think I will go out in the driveway, douse myself with gasoline, and immolate myself.
Quote from: Henry on August 05, 2014, 09:41:53 AM
I'm sure Billy Joel can still sing some of his old hit songs, while Elton John can't (save for Your Song, which he sang in his normal baritone voice) and hasn't since 1986.
That'll teach Elton John (playing in the background, coincidentally, while I am writing this) to publicly lecture Billy Joel.
Quote from: Jardine on August 08, 2014, 10:44:32 PM
If I hear/see that Kenny Rogers insurance commercial one more time I think I will go out in the driveway, douse myself with gasoline, and immolate myself.
Poor Kenny Rogers. The man finally gets past his infomercial rut and back onto mainstream TV, and the reaction is threats of suicide. At this rate my "Six Pack II: The Next Generation" script is never going to get off the ground.
Meat loaf has destroyed his vocal range. He basically can't hit a correct note anymore, even by accident... :/
Quote from: tchafe1978 on August 08, 2014, 10:36:30 PM
Ozzy Osbourne used to have a decently intelligible voice, but the years of drug and alcohol abuse have definitely taken its toll. But I don't think it's so much the voice going as it is the mind. You can barely even understand him talk, let alone sing (growl). And this is coming from a longtime fan of his.
His rendition of "Take Me Out To the Ballgame" at Wrigley Field is telling enough.
Quote from: golden eagle on August 09, 2014, 09:55:18 PM
Quote from: tchafe1978 on August 08, 2014, 10:36:30 PM
Ozzy Osbourne used to have a decently intelligible voice, but the years of drug and alcohol abuse have definitely taken its toll. But I don't think it's so much the voice going as it is the mind. You can barely even understand him talk, let alone sing (growl). And this is coming from a longtime fan of his.
His rendition of "Take Me Out To the Ballgame" at Wrigley Field is telling enough.
Who in the bloody blue hell thought THAT was a good idea??? :ded: :pan:
Quote from: cjk374 on August 09, 2014, 10:19:14 PM
Quote from: golden eagle on August 09, 2014, 09:55:18 PM
Quote from: tchafe1978 on August 08, 2014, 10:36:30 PM
Ozzy Osbourne used to have a decently intelligible voice, but the years of drug and alcohol abuse have definitely taken its toll. But I don't think it's so much the voice going as it is the mind. You can barely even understand him talk, let alone sing (growl). And this is coming from a longtime fan of his.
His rendition of "Take Me Out To the Ballgame" at Wrigley Field is telling enough.
Who in the bloody blue hell thought THAT was a good idea??? :ded: :pan:
Probably the same idiot in San Diego who had Roseanne "sing" the national anthem all those years ago.
^^^ I had forgotten all about that fiasco. You're probably right. X-(
Can Todd Rungren sing his songs Hello Its Me and I Saw The Light like he once did? I think his voice is no longer feminine anymore?
I am asking cause I myself have not heard him sing lately and when he did I Don't Want To Work his voice sounded more like a man.
BTW I am not knocking his voice at all as I liked the way he sang his classics just as I like Roger Hodson of Supertramp who sings still like Rungren did and most of all enjoy Take The Long Way Home and Give A Little Bit.
Paul Stanley. View any recent live performance over the last 5 years (maybe more).
He can still sing better than me, though.
Quote from: roadman65 on August 10, 2014, 10:36:32 AM
Can Todd Rungren sing his songs Hello Its Me and I Saw The Light like he once did? I think his voice is no longer feminine anymore?
I am asking cause I myself have not heard him sing lately and when he did I Don't Want To Work his voice sounded more like a man.
BTW I am not knocking his voice at all as I liked the way he sang his classics just as I like Roger Hodson of Supertramp who sings still like Rungren did and most of all enjoy Take The Long Way Home and Give A Little Bit.
I saw him front the "New Cars" a few years ago. Of course most of the time he was doing his best Ric Ocasek impression, but you can get a good feel for what he sounds like now on the (mostly) live album they recorded of Cars songs and a couple of Rundgren tunes.
I guess the lesson is that as a young rocker you should make sure to write some songs without any high notes, so you'll still be able to sing them when you're 64.
One of my favorite artists, Gordon Lightfoot, immediately comes to mind. I grew up listening to his albums in the 1970s, and saw him in concert at Boston's Symphony Hall in 1975.
A couple of years ago, I caught the tail end of his "Live In Reno" special on PBS (which was taped about 2002). Sadly, he was barely recognizable in both appearance and voice from the Lightfoot of yore.
Air Supply's Russell Hitchcock sounds utterly terrible. The light, feminine voice has slowly become just yelling that sounds un-harmonious. "Lost in Love" and "All Out of Love" just sound like two old guys yelling. "Even the Nights Are Better" is fine when Graham Russell is singing, but when he isn't, Hitchcock is terrible.
Quote from: roadman65 on August 10, 2014, 10:36:32 AM
Can Todd Rungren sing his songs Hello Its Me and I Saw The Light like he once did? I think his voice is no longer feminine anymore?
I am asking cause I myself have not heard him sing lately and when he did I Don't Want To Work his voice sounded more like a man.
BTW I am not knocking his voice at all as I liked the way he sang his classics just as I like Roger Hodson of Supertramp who sings still like Rungren did and most of all enjoy Take The Long Way Home and Give A Little Bit.
You can hear Todd sing I Saw The Light on Daryl Hall's Live from Daryl's House. His voice can no longer hit the high notes, but at least he can still sing in tune.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMyneh_5ooI
Quote from: skluth on August 17, 2014, 01:33:35 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on August 10, 2014, 10:36:32 AM
Can Todd Rungren sing his songs Hello Its Me and I Saw The Light like he once did? I think his voice is no longer feminine anymore?
I am asking cause I myself have not heard him sing lately and when he did I Don't Want To Work his voice sounded more like a man.
BTW I am not knocking his voice at all as I liked the way he sang his classics just as I like Roger Hodson of Supertramp who sings still like Rungren did and most of all enjoy Take The Long Way Home and Give A Little Bit.
You can hear Todd sing I Saw The Light on Daryl Hall's Live from Daryl's House. His voice can no longer hit the high notes, but at least he can still sing in tune.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMyneh_5ooI
Having seen Todd Rundgren five times in concert, I can say that his range is not as high as it once was, but he can still partially pull off his falsetto. That said, he does generally sing his most known hits in a lower octave from when they were originally released.
Here's an example of a song that he can still nail at a higher octave: Zen Archer, from his 1974 album A Wizard, A True Star:
Original studio version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kYgsELoMNE
Live on the AWATS Tour 2009 (which I saw live, but in DC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqHKb1Neqyc
Steve Tyler from Aerosmith and Brian Johnson from AC/DC. There's a couple of singers whose voices are shot.
Ian Gillan of Deep Purple.
In the studio, with all it's magic, all is well.
Live, not so much. Not every song, though. "Highway Star" has become quite painful to listen to - partly because of lost range, and partly because of a change in enunciation.
We saw a Def Leppard/Journey double bill a few years ago. DL's singer has really lost it. As for Journey, well they'll just keep getting new singers. At our particular show, however, Journey's singer at that time disappeared about half way through, and then the rest of the band cycled around singing lead on their various hits, including the drummer who wasn't bad. We found out later that the signer had some problems with his voice that night and left leaving the rest of the guys to fill in for him...
Joe Elliott from Def Leppard is indeed another vocalist that benefits greatly from in-studio wizardry - and that's nothing recent.
Journey's current lead singer - Arnel Pineda - has been with the band since 2007.
Perhaps you saw them when Steve Augeri was lead singer - allegedly they parted ways with him due to his chronic throat infections.
Quote from: Stratuscaster on September 07, 2014, 09:58:41 PM
Ian Gillan of Deep Purple.
Is he back with them?
Kinda off on a tangent, and inspired by the comment about Journey's members filling in to sing various songs, one of my all-time favorite bands is Chicago. They had three lead singers: keyboardist Robert Lamm ("Saturday In The Park," "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is," Beginnings"), guitarist Terry Kath ("Colour My World," "Make Me Smile," "Wishing You Were Here") and bassist Peter Cetera ("Questions 67 and 68," "25 or 6 to 4" and every hit from their sixth album until he quit the band).
As previously mentioned, Cetera quit in the mid-80s and Kath died in 1977. Current bassist Jason Scheff (son of Elvis Presley's bass player) has a vocal range similar to Cetera's, but they've never really been able to find a replacement vocalist to match Kath's style. Donnie Dacus (Kath's first replacement) wasn't quite the same and neither was Bill Champlin (a later replacement). The closest vocalists to Kath are trombonist James Pankow and trumpeter Lee Loughnane. In fact, I always thought it was Kath who sang "Song Of The Evergreens" on the seventh album, but it was actually Loughnane.
They've been shuffling things up a bit on recent tours. Lamm has been doing some of Kath's vocals, and I recently saw a video clip of Loughnane singing "No Tell Lover" and "Love Me Tomorrow," on which Cetera originally sang. I've also heard that Loughnane sang "Colour My World" recently.
Quote from: Stratuscaster on September 07, 2014, 11:26:19 PM
Joe Elliott from Def Leppard is indeed another vocalist that benefits greatly from in-studio wizardry - and that's nothing recent.
That must be how they re-recorded all their songs for digital distribution (due to a copyright dispute).
Quote from: Stratuscaster on September 07, 2014, 11:26:19 PM
Joe Elliott from Def Leppard is indeed another vocalist that benefits greatly from in-studio wizardry - and that's nothing recent.
Journey's current lead singer - Arnel Pineda - has been with the band since 2007.
Perhaps you saw them when Steve Augeri was lead singer - allegedly they parted ways with him due to his chronic throat infections.
I think it was Augeri...it was probably mid 2000s that we saw them.
I thought Gillian only did "Perfect Strangers" and the following live album with them, then left again.
Amy Winehouse
Quote from: NE2 on September 10, 2014, 01:55:19 PM
Amy Winehouse
This is a given, considering the obvious.
Ian Gillan was in a band in the early '80s with Janick Gers who is now in Iron Maiden.
One of my favorite Black Sabbath albums is "Born Again," on which Gillan was the lead singer.
Quote from: hbelkins on September 10, 2014, 01:24:30 PM
I thought Gillian only did "Perfect Strangers" and the following live album with them, then left again.
Perfect Strangers, The House of Blue Light, then Nobody's Perfect (live). Left in '89, back in '92.
Quote from: hbelkins on September 10, 2014, 09:27:59 PM
One of my favorite Black Sabbath albums is "Born Again," on which Gillan was the lead singer.
The cover sucked, but the music was OK. "The Dark/Zero The Hero" is a favorite.
My favorite Black Sabbath albums are the Ronnie James Dio albums: Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules, and Dehumanizer. I consider The Devil You Know to be a Black Sabbath album and I would put it on the list.
The name that comes to mind for me is Greg Lake. ELP released their disastrous Love Beach album in 1978. Emerson, Lake, and Powell I believe came out in 1986. In just eight years Lake's light, airy voice was gone in favor of this deep, baritone growl-like thing. The first time I listened to ELP's "comeback" album from 1992, Black Moon I was certain at first it wasn't him.
Quote from Roadgeek Adam:
QuoteAir Supply's Russell Hitchcock sounds utterly terrible. The light, feminine voice has slowly become just yelling that sounds un-harmonious. "Lost in Love" and "All Out of Love" just sound like two old guys yelling. "Even the Nights Are Better" is fine when Graham Russell is singing, but when he isn't, Hitchcock is terrible.
I've always found it odd how feminine their voices are. When listening to them, it's very easy to forget that they are not women. However, I still like their music.
On this subject, Ann Murray's voice sounds masculine to me. She sounds like a lot of the male singers of the 70's, especially Neil Sedaka.
As far as current music goes, Adam Levine (front man of Maroon 5) has a feminine voice in my opinion. I really don't care for his work. It's strange how few good male artists there are these days, especially when you consider that there were tons in the 70's and 80's.
Saturday Night, Bob Seger and Jason Aldeen did a concert together on CMT Crossroads. Bob is looking very old, and his voice didn't seem too great.
I had to change the channel after about 15 minutes. Granted, one of the reasons I couldn't stand it was that they were doing several of Jason's "Hard Country" style songs. I find these very unpleasant.
Bob has several songs that I really like.
Ha. I stumbled on that while flipping through channels while they were doing "Turn The Page." (I was never a huge Seger fan and that's one of those songs that if I never hear it again, it will be too soon, even Metallica's version). I didn't know who the country singer was, but my wife up and said, "He can still outsing that country boy."
On the other end of the spectrum, Supertramp appears to be two for two for "voices that haven't aged". :cool: