Unhealthy singers...

[Snejk]

I've been thinking about this. We link our links to our favorite singers, have their technique analyzed et cetera... But I never heard someone say "this singer is singing in a bad, deteriorating way"..

I can think of some...

Jeff Scott Soto - While I LOVE his voice my friend (who also played in Talisman way back) told me he had to have throat surgery due to his technique of singing.

Rob Halford - Let's face it, he's lost it all outside the studio. I regard Nostradamus their finest work but... Whatever did Painkiller do to him and why?

Bob Dylan - Has the man gone deaf or is it just in his throat? He's barely even capable of maintaining the one note he has...

I would love to hear a bit more on this, and why et cetera!

[Rick Jones]

I read somewhere that James Hetfield of metallica had to have surgery because he was unable to talk after one tour in the early 90's I think.

I was always amazed that Kurt Cobain didn't hurt himself, saw Nirvana live and he basically screamed all night, it wasn't really a good performance, but I remember thinking that if I shouted/screamed half that long I would be voiceless for days.

[ronws]

I never particular liked Bob Dylan's voice, way too much chest, even in his higher end, which wasn't very high. And he would float up to notes and I don't know if he just couldn't execute on pitch and had to find it en route. However, he was a mighty fine songwriter and a number of people made huge hits out of his song. Example, Jimi Hendrix with "Along the Watchtower." Jimi was also not a trained singer but he was better than Dylan and definitely had the ear to re-arrange that song and make it pop up and wake you up. Dylan said the sound he was going for was that of folk singer/songwriter Woody Guthrie. I think he missed. But his voice is unique.

I've often thought of Bruce Springsteen as singing the wrong way. Especially on "Born in the USA." That was just a hoarse shout all the way through and I thought he was hurting himself. I also think Michael Bolton sings the wrong way, perhaps he is singing out of his range. I can see a time when he can't sing high notes any more.

Robert Plant, who still has a lovely voice, doesn't do the high notes anymore, even on "Stairway to Heaven". Granted, some of these guys started out in a time when the vocal mic and processing was the last thing considered, if ever. You often had to shout or overreach to be heard over the other instruments.

I think some of the older singers have also tried to use more grit in their voice in order to compete with grunge, a style I hope will go away. Granted, it was a unique style but if you listen to live performances of Nirvana, Cobain was wearing himself out and others were doing even more damage just trying to sound like him.

Another one who has hurt his voice is Tom Keifer of Cinderella. He has hemmoraged his vocal chords, suffered paresis of the chords and has had corrective surgery.

Roger Daltry cannot hit the high notes he used to scream anymore. These days, he avoids the high notes and, when possible, they play drop-tuned sets.

Joe Cocker's style has left him with just about no upper end.

Some of this might be due to age. Daltry is over 60, now. As one ages, the muscles can become less flexible, it takes longer to heal from any kind of trauma.

[ronws]

And though I know he is a favorite here, I can hear Brian Johnson these days struggling to do what used to be easier for him such as from the "Back in Black" era. He is singing in a lower register these days, such as their recent single "Rock and Roll Train."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX2xbqWtyJU

[Jeran]

Sebastian Bach sounds like a wounded animal these days.

[ronws]

Here's Sebastian Bach, born Sebastian Phillip Bierk (yes, he is brother to the retired hockey star), in July 2008 performing "I Remember You." He still sings quite well in the mid range with an excellent vibrato. As long as I have listened, he rasped on the highest notes and that may be giving him support issues. He is over 40, now, battling weight, which he attributes to his love for red wine and food. He is reported to be 6' 5", which makes him one inch shorter than I am, at 6' 6".

Then, again, what you hear on an album is rarely what you hear live. So, I think it depends on how his private life is going as to how he sounds live. But I think the more he hangs around Axl Rose, the healthier he will get.

[Jeran]

I saw Baz live, and it was not good. His screams are prerecorded, and his vibrato has become too wobbly, in my opinion. When I stood next to him, to have my picture taken with him, he was actually about an inch shorter than me. I'm 6'4. Maybe publicity hypes him up to be taller than he is.

[VideoHere]

I've been thinking about this. We link our links to our favorite singers, have their technique analyzed et cetera... But I never heard someone say "this singer is singing in a bad, deteriorating way"..

I can think of some...

Jeff Scott Soto - While I LOVE his voice my friend (who also played in Talisman way back) told me he had to have throat surgery due to his technique of singing.

Rob Halford - Let's face it, he's lost it all outside the studio. I regard Nostradamus their finest work but... Whatever did Painkiller do to him and why?

Bob Dylan - Has the man gone deaf or is it just in his throat? He's barely even capable of maintaining the one note he has...

I would love to hear a bit more on this, and why et cetera!

good point and a good question

...but i have to say (thank god) at 56, 57 in october, i've never sung higher...

i was so naive when i was younger, if i had had someone to teach me correct ways years ago..i can only wonder...

anyway...look at all the greats still great....

...paul rodgers, strong, steve walsh (going to see them (kansas) tonight, with styxx and foreigner, what a value-pack) sounds great lately, richard marx, aweome, cornell, awesome, gramm, getting better each day, tom jones, awesome...joe lynn turner...jon bon jovi,

look at the late johhny maestro, awesome.....mickey thomas, mark farner, bobby kimball, john farnham, stevie wonder...

mercury had nodules and sang around them.

so i guess i comes down to vocal "assitance and maintenance?"

we don't know what these guys did or didn't do right.

i fear i will have issues at the 60 year mark, but i'm hoping all this work will delay it or minimize it .

if these guys have lowered the key a half step, that's okay with me

[Snejk]

The point is, there are threads made regularly pointing out great technique and what to "avoid", but when it comes to analyzing singers we can see and hear what they do right, but not what they do wrong? :o

[Snorth]

It is important to take note that singing is a physical activity. Like doing a sport. And imagine what would happen to the best sportman if they took all kinds of drugs, slept poorly, had tournaments almost every day for a whole year before taking a break. Their performances would of course get worse. But singing is abit more forgiving than sports, you can often work out problems later in your life if you just decide to deal with them. An example of a man that suceeded with this is Chris Cornell. In the beginning of the 90s he had the voice of a god. But somewhere after alot of touring and drugs his singing became alot worse. Then sometime in the 2000s he cleaned himself up and quit the drugs, but he still sang quite badly live with audioslave. But after quitting audioslave something happend. He now said in interviews that he had to learn how to sing again without drugs. And then today 2010, he once again can hit those high notes that he could before. I was shocked when I saw this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crILNt7-kj8 compared to his quite average live vocal performances in 2007.

Flawed technique can be a part of why an artist gets worse at singing over time, absolutely, but don't underestimate the effects of the physical decline that most singers experience when they grow older and don't work out. :)

[chele1000]

let's not forget all the people you're pointing out were doing drugs and partying alot when they were touring (Led Zep and The Who). Distorted mind means distorted sounds. No more drugs....can't get that sound anymore. Robert Plant probably can still hit the notes but they would be "clean" and it wouldn't be the same. Just my opinion....because he sings with Allison Crouse now and he's still singing great! Just a different style. (Honeydrippers for example).

There's always been lots of "tweeks" during recordings and then people can't emulate live. I was always disappointed in that!

cheers

[Steven Fraser]

Flawed technique can be a part of why an artist gets worse at singing over time, absolutely, but don't underestimate the effects of the physical decline that most singers experience when they grow older and don't work out.

Snorth: This happens even to singers who work out. Laryngeal cartileges progressively ossify into bone during adulthood, meaning that every few years there are very subtle changes to the mechanical leverage as the muscles act.

But this is not necessarily bad. If a singer uses their voice intelligently, there is no reason that very effective singing cannot last well into the 70's or 80's, even on the professional stage. See the later work of Tony Bennett as a fine example of what is possible.

[Mr Bounce]

Laryngeal cartileges progressively ossify into bone during adulthood

Wow, what!?

Nightmares for me tonight... :p