Jugulator,
look forward to it.
Ron,
in my experience after gigs, 100% of the compliments I've received have been the result of material I connected with AND fit my voice to a T. Being in cover bands means covering LOADS of songs that are not a "great" fit. I still sing them of course, but the end result is pretty meh on those tunes.
I have a good female friend who is considered one of the most "powerhouse" vocalists around. She changes the key to almost all of her songs(lower and sometimes way lower.) It's extremely diva-ish to do from the band perspective,) but the audience has no idea about key sigs and/or couldn't care less . She wouldn't be caught dead singing something that didn't fit her voice. It was a powerful reminder to me….if you want to connect with an audience, stay in your "sweet spot."
Hobbit Rock,
thanks man. Keep training your voice. You'll get there. An A4 is plenty of range for a LARGE part of the singing catalog. Obviously certain genres require quite a bit more, but most don't. Good luck.
Gneetap,
thank you for your kind words! The Ray Charles thing is interesting, I never thought of that until you mentioned it, but you're right. I used to sing+rap Gold Digger by Kanye West where the intro to that has Jaime Foxx singing the interpolation Of Ray Charles' I Got a Woman. Always went over well.