A Singer’s Guide to Voices: Non-Classical
I was struck, after the Inauguration of Joe Biden in Washington, by the vitriol which appeared on Facebook about Lady Gaga. My Facebook friends tend to be mild-mannered and non-confrontational on the whole, many being Classical singers and musicians, and perhaps a little left wing. There are not many ranters, and those who are, tend to like ranting about matters which I consider worthy of their rage. However, quite a lot became agitated over Lady Gaga’s performance of the American National Anthem, criticising her singing style, her tuning, her gestures and her, well, not classical over-emotional rendition. They were unwilling or unable to find any merit in her singing and engaged in some very adverse comments.
Now, I don’t know if any of you have attended American sporting events, like a baseball game or an American Football match, but the often nauseating renditions of the Star-Spangled Banner, sung by local, worthy and, usually, tenor singers, have normally seen me running for the nearest fast food stall. Indeed, this tendency has begun to creep into British sport, and for me the worst examples occur when some young and curvaceous soprano is engaged to sing God Save the Queen, with a gratuitous and horrible top note thrown in at the end. The entirely understandable refusal on the part of most television directors to home in on said singer doesn’t take away from the awfulness of most of these renditions. My point is that, typically, those who railed against Lady Gaga are either first in line to sing these terrible non-anthems if the opportunity arises or see nothing unremarkable about them. I remember when I was working on Wagner’s Ring in Seattle, there was quite some element of competition among the tenors and sopranos to sing at the next baseball game.
It began to dawn on me that I rather liked singers who were not classically trained (in the right repertoire), and that it might be fun and interesting to write an article about the popular singers I do admire, and why.
When I was a wee boy, my lovely Dad used to sing to me at bedtime, his and my favourite being ‘The Rowan Tree’, which I discovered later had been written by Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne. She was exotically named after the Bonnie Prince who had been much admired by her father, an ardent Jacobite, and her songs, contemporary with Burns, reflect a nostalgic view of Scotland before the Rising. ‘Charlie is my darling’, ‘Will ye no come back again?, ‘Wi’ a hundred pipers and a’ and a’ ‘ are just three of her songs which are still sung today, and ‘The Rowan Tree’, with its remembrance of “Hame and Infancy”, still sticks in my mind from my father’s singing. The point of this slight diversion is that my father was, unlike me, no operatic singer, but a devotee of the late great Bing Crosby. I was brought up listening to Bing and Frank Sinatra, and these were the voices I first learned to love. It was only when my voice broke at 14, and I heard Mario Lanza for the first time, that I gave thought to the idea that I might have a decent voice. The nearest my parents came to an appreciation of opera and classical music were Lanza’s films ‘The Student Prince’ and ‘The Great Caruso’ and a box set of LPs from the Reader’s Digest, ‘An introduction to Classical Music’.
This perhaps explains why my first ever solo in public, at some family gathering, was ‘Please release me, let me go’ by the great Engelbert Humperdinck, followed by ‘Edelweiss’ from ‘The Sound of Music’! Opera was a closed book. As my voice matured, I became obsessed with opera, and late Romantic symphonies, but remained true to my Dad in my devotion to the great crooners of the 40s and 50s. I still think Sinatra was one of the greatest singers who has ever lived, a wonderful stylist who could sing a lyric better than anyone else. Whether fast and jazzy or soft and sultry, he was a master. What I loved about Bing Crosby (illustrated by my father’s copy) was the tender mellifluousness of his baritone voice, coupled again with an ability to put over the words clearly and effortlessly.
Other heroes of that era were Andy Williams, the epitome of cool, along with Perry Como, and Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. Tony Bennett thrilled the young Brian with his 60s hit, ‘San Francisco’, although he had become famous more as a jazz singer. His longevity is legendary, still performing into his 90s. I saw him in Glasgow a few years back in his late 80s, and his performance was miraculous. With a natural easy tenor voice, he could still sing fantastically well, and his command of the lyrics was sensational. He recorded, quite recently, an album of duets, one of which was with the aforementioned Lady Gaga. Brilliant!
As readers will know, I on the whole prefer listening to male singers, but I can’t miss out the great Ella Fitzgerald, quite simply the finest jazz singer of all time. Again, note the perfect presentation of the lyrics of her songs, and her albums of the Great American Songbook are a benchmark for future generations.
The finest of my generation of female singers, for me, is Barbara Streisand, a star of stage and screen with a phenomenal voice, capable of tenderness and great blousy showmanship. Once more, we see a singer for whom the words are as important as the notes, and she has produced some definitive performances. Unfortunately, part of her legacy has been the arrival of what my wife calls the “Shouty Women”, singers for whom no climax cannot be topped by another one. No names, but you can work them out for yourselves. I do, on the whole, here exclude Celine Dion from my line up of shouty women, as I reckon she has the capacity to be subtle, despite the noise. Her ‘My Heart will go on’ from ‘Titanic’ still gets to me!
As I grew up, there were two strands of popular singer that appealed to me – the Ballad singer, and the Front Man of rock groups. In the former, I would place Tom Jones, Engelbert and Matt Monro from the 60s with Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney and John Lennon, and Ray Davies of the Kinks in the latter category.
Matt Monro was a singer who died quite young but left us with a legacy of wonderful records like ‘Born Free’ and ‘Portrait of my Love’. Described as the “Man with the Golden Voice”, his smooth baritone was a joy to listen to, a treat for the ears. He sang the title song on the Bond film, ‘From Russia with Love’, and it is just perfection. His collaboration with George Martin (of Beatles fame) was a happy one. Engelbert (born Arnold Dorsey, which changed to Gerry Dorsey after his impression of Jerry Lewis was successful, and then changed again to the composer of ‘Hansel und Gretel’ which has remained ever since) was another ballad singer, who could also belt it out if need be, and who has lasted for a long time (born 1936). The prize for longevity in this category must go to Tom Jones, who I see has just released a new album at the age of 80. From his big hits of the 60s (like ‘Delilah’ and ‘Green, Green Grass of Home’) through to the present day, he has cleverly re-invented himself as a superstar. His voice is tremendous, a baritonal tenor with great power and quality, and I remember an early edition of “Parkinson” on TV when Bing Crosby singled him out as a fine prospect! Both Tom and Engelbert sang with a strong American accent, as did many from that era onwards, and I’m sure it helped them to have long residences in Las Vegas. A quick shout out is necessary here for Shirley Bassey, another Welsh icon of the 60s who is still going strong today, and who also made her name singing Bond songs (‘Goldfinger’ and ‘Diamonds are Forever’) and vampy cabaret-type songs like ‘Hey, Big Spender’.
Great singers from the Rock revolution, for me, start with the two lead Beatles, Lennon and McCartney, both singing their own compositions perfectly, and without American accents, and the great Ray Davies, whose quirky songs lend an eccentric touch to the Kinks albums.
Perhaps the greatest front man of them all is Mick Jagger, the swaggering, sexy, scary lead of the Rolling Stones. I was just too young in the mid-60s to see how good he was, and as a nicely brought up kid in Edinburgh, his raunchy style was too much. Now I can see clearly how fabulous he was (another one who’s still going!), and he was the major influence, with his buddy Keith Richards, on generations of groups and singers. He was the natural successor to Elvis Presley, another great vocal artist who changed the course of history. If you listen to Elvis now, you can hear, not just a superstar, but also a fantastic singer with a big range. His version of ‘O Sole Mio’, ‘It’s now or never’, has a top G Sharp at the end which Corelli would have been proud of. Combined with his legendary sex appeal, and his great rhythm, he was unique. Jagger didn’t have as good a voice, but his magnetism made him irresistible. I often wonder how real “Deep South” Americans react to his accent when he sings, as he is famously from Dartford in Kent, but frankly, who cares?
I have one more singer from the 60s whom I would like to laud, and that is Roy Orbison. A complex character, whose life was a succession of triumphs and tragedies, Orbison sang in a very emotional way, with his high tenor voice allowing him to get the maximum effect out of a three minute song. Hits like ‘Only the Lonely’ and ‘Crying’ earned him the nickname of “The Caruso of Rock”, and indeed his style was quite operatic in a way. Somehow, with his wife dying in a car accident, his house burning down, killing his two sons, and his early death at 52 from a heart attack, his whole life could be said to be worthy of an opera!
One of the best songwriters of the era is Paul Simon, although his singing voice is nothing special. However, his partnership with Art Garfunkel in the 60s produced a string of hits which merit a mention here. Garfunkel met Simon at school in New York and this serendipitous meeting resulted in one of the greatest partnerships of all time. Garfunkel’s beautiful light tenor combined with the brilliant quirky songs of Simon were a perfect match, reaching near perfection in ‘Bridge over Troubled Water’, for me one of the best records ever. It was a shame that personal differences meant that their partnership was relatively short-lived. Paul Simon has continued to write and sing great songs over the years, but the extra addition of a genuinely great voice made the duo special.
Moving on to the 70s and beyond, I will mention the combination of David Gilmour and Roger Waters in Pink Floyd, like Simon and Garfunkel a combination of a lovely voice and a gritty writer. When they split up acrimoniously, the magic was lost, but it was great while it lasted. Interestingly, David Gilmour was hugely influential in the appearance of Kate Bush in the late 70s. You couldn’t say Kate had a particularly beautiful instrument, but the way she used it and the huge range she possessed made her one of the iconic voices. Her weirdness, her extreme youth and her unique beauty made her one of the greats.
Speaking of greats, Freddy Mercury of Queen was a stand-out. A brilliant performer with a powerful and charismatic voice, Freddy has left a lasting legacy of wonderful recordings, and for us aficionados of opera, his duet with Montserrat Caballé, ‘Barcelona’, for the Olympic Games in that city, although a monument to Kitsch, and several miles over the top, was a wonderful and unique moment!
As with my usual articles about singers, I do tend to dwell on my early years’ experience, and the popular voices I have written about here mirror that bias. However, from recent times I’d like to single out one or two special voices for mention. George Michael, once of Wham! - although a complex character whose private life was a mess - possessed one of the most beautiful voices I have heard. It caressed the ear and I don’t think he was capable of producing a harsh sound. Listen carefully to his records, and you will hear a voice as good as the best opera singers. Tom Chaplin of Keane has another very beautiful voice, and it was interesting to hear him recently singing solo. He spent a couple of years at Edinburgh University, so I reckon we can claim a bit of him!
There are a few female singers who are emerging in the 2000s worthy of attention. Although she doesn’t do much for me, I know Adele is a splendid performer, and the big, blousy style of Paloma Faith is worthy of Diva status. This might be a good moment to return to our friend, Lady Gaga. Despite the stupid name, and the outrageous fashion sense, there lurks within this young woman, Stefani Germanotta, from New York, still only 35 in 2021, a terrific performer, which I thought shone out clearly in her Inauguration Anthem. Just to sing the way she did, in front of that global audience, took tremendous chutzpah, and I happen to think she has a fabulous voice and a great sense of style. She can also sing gentle ballads and more thoughtful music, and I look forward to watching her development over the coming years.
There is a whole genre of female singers who have emerged through musicals and films, mostly from America, who possess fine voices used in a non-classical way, but most are not to my personal taste which sees their omission here. Mea culpa maybe, but there you are! It’s my article!
A quick final nod to two transatlantic stars in Josh Groban and Michael Bublé, both slight throwbacks to an earlier era. Groban particularly has a high baritone voice that I would consider of fine quality, and both have made careers out of ballad singing, a style many thought had been lost. It just goes to show that people still like to hear good singing, and it doesn’t matter to me what style or genre they work in. If they’re good, I’ll listen.
I know there will be people screaming at me for omitting some favourites, and I can only apologise if I have forgotten someone. I have also left out any reference to Folk singers, which I know Hugh Kerr will be disappointed by, and there are some terrific voices on the folk scene which would merit inclusion here. Perhaps another of EMR’s writers could make up for that, but I hope this article has shown that all singing of quality has merit, and that the art of singing does not reside solely in the classical domain.
Cover photo: Rob Carr
