who is the worst vocalist to have "made it"

[thebraketester]

Elton John

[paulguitar]

thebraketester said:

Elton John

Elton was a superb singer in his earlier days, he damaged his voice and was never as good after having surgery to repair it.

[Alex_225]

FN2TypeR said:

What's the verdict on Ozzy? A prolific solo career and the best known front man for one of the biggest heavy metal acts of all time.

I'd put him in with Lemmy in that his range isn't particularly broad and that his proficiency as a singer is only so so but his style and voice are absolutely one of a kind and suit the music perfectly.

The thing with Ozzy is that he's not the worlds best vocalist nor is he terrible. He makes up for it with character and his showmanship.

I always got the impression he was somewhat marketed as a character and that his albums and band were essentially a super group so was onto a winner. Only have to look at Zakk Wylde and various awesome musicians he's teamed up with.

[Fittster]

Kate Nash - Lilly Allen tribute act, with even worse vocals.

[franki68]

Raygun said:

Freddie Mercury wasn't a bad singer, not brilliant but was a great showman.
Kate Bush regarding her early career had a distinct voice which you either tooked to or not cared for, I was a big fan, I'm not a big fan of Mariah Carey or should I say I'm not a fan of the songs she sings but I think she has a great voice, her range is incredible.
Mick Jagger's voice went home soon after Goats Head Soup going by some of the live clips on Youtube.
As there's a Live Aid thread running, sorry Zep fans but Plant's voice was going home by the time they got to Knebworth in 79, his voice at Live Aid was chronic, great in is heyday mind you. Up to 1977 perhaps?

Freddy Mercury was an amazing singer ,certainly I have never heard anyone with the power and range he had and This is quite widely acknowledged ,people may not like his voice but that is just preference .
Mariah Carey is a great example ,I can’t bear To listen to her but I agree she has a great voice ,she just sings crap songs and uses her voice like a 20 minute guitar solo ,pointless showing off.

[Supernova190188]

franki68 said:

Raygun said:

Freddie Mercury wasn't a bad singer, not brilliant but was a great showman.
Kate Bush regarding her early career had a distinct voice which you either tooked to or not cared for, I was a big fan, I'm not a big fan of Mariah Carey or should I say I'm not a fan of the songs she sings but I think she has a great voice, her range is incredible.
Mick Jagger's voice went home soon after Goats Head Soup going by some of the live clips on Youtube.
As there's a Live Aid thread running, sorry Zep fans but Plant's voice was going home by the time they got to Knebworth in 79, his voice at Live Aid was chronic, great in is heyday mind you. Up to 1977 perhaps?

Freddy Mercury was an amazing singer ,certainly I have never heard anyone with the power and range he had and This is quite widely acknowledged ,people may not like his voice but that is just preference .
Mariah Carey is a great example ,I can’t bear To listen to her but I agree she has a great voice ,she just sings crap songs and uses her voice like a 20 minute guitar solo ,pointless showing off.

Agreed 100%! Freddie Mercury had one of the best voices there’s been in music, he sang in pop, hard rock, opera, punk styles and did it effortlessly! Fantastic live performer and talented songwriter too.

[Deathmole]

I too was baffled by that remark.

Agreed on Mariah Carey, a tremendous voice but my God doesn't she know it, I'd rather listen to my washing machine.

[franki68]

Supernova190188 said:

Agreed 100%! Freddie Mercury had one of the best voices there’s been in music, he sang in pop, hard rock, opera, punk styles and did it effortlessly! Fantastic live performer and talented songwriter too.

Just watch the tribute concert for evidence ,all those great singers mostly butchering the songs ,only George Michael did Them any justice .

[Supernova190188]

franki68 said:

Supernova190188 said:

Agreed 100%! Freddie Mercury had one of the best voices there’s been in music, he sang in pop, hard rock, opera, punk styles and did it effortlessly! Fantastic live performer and talented songwriter too.

Just watch the tribute concert for evidence ,all those great singers mostly butchering the songs ,only George Michael did Them any justice .

Exactly! Some of the biggest stars there and they couldn’t come close except for like you said George Michael who was brilliant and I remember extremes medley being pretty good too but haven’t watched it in a few years!

[WJNB]

If not already mentioned that singer woman that worked on cruise ships & now makes a living getting free cruises (with mummy in tow) & wittering on about them. Worst of all she insists on singing at the end of every darn episode with a voice that is as ordinary & forgettable as her name. Mind you I'm sure she's made a few bob which is heartening for those totally devoid of talent.

[NapierDeltic]

Raygun said:

Freddie Mercury wasn't a bad singer, not brilliant but was a great showman.
Kate Bush regarding her early career had a distinct voice which you either tooked to or not cared for, I was a big fan, I'm not a big fan of Mariah Carey or should I say I'm not a fan of the songs she sings but I think she has a great voice, her range is incredible.
Mick Jagger's voice went home soon after Goats Head Soup going by some of the live clips on Youtube.
As there's a Live Aid thread running, sorry Zep fans but Plant's voice was going home by the time they got to Knebworth in 79, his voice at Live Aid was chronic, great in is heyday mind you. Up to 1977 perhaps?

I think this thread has become 'name a singer you don't like'.

Robert Plant's voice was finished by the end of 1972. On the live album 'How the West was Won' he hits all the high notes in Over the Hills and Far Away. By 1973 he was transposing these parts down. Likewise Rock and Roll lost a lot its power when he started transposing the verses down a third.

Plant had no formal training, smoked, and Led Zeppelin's touring schedule was brutal. They also played three hour gigs. If you check out live recordings from 1969 Robert sings right at the edge of his capabilities. Without any training he had no idea how to protect or fortify his voice. Its a raw, head-voice being pushed too long for too hard. The live recordings that went into The Song Remains the Same were captured at the end of a tour in 1973, and his voice is rough! By 1977 it is far less powerful, he seems to run out of breath quickly, he flubs notes and he's transposing a lot of lines. He had some corrective surgery in 1975 that is only minimally documented, but there is some thought that he lost a bit of power by then.

Live Aid was a total mess for Led Zeppelin. Phil Collins was thrown under the bus, unfairly, as it is Jimmy and Robert who ruined the gig. Jimmy Page was apparently handed an out-of-tune guitar, but a pro guitarist would be able to correct that pretty quickly. Page was stuck in an oblivion of drugs, and clearly couldn't play straight.

[glazbagun]

Fittster said:

Kate Nash - Lilly Allen tribute act, with even worse vocals.

I prefer her to Lilly Allen.. I thought Foundations and We Get On were very funny. I don't think she's Christina Aguilera, but I find her voice inoffensive on track, no worse than Kylie Minogue, etc.

For me a bad vocalist would be someone like Neil Young. I love his music and his voice suits his songs somehow- like burned-out Johnny Cash, but in no universe would I say he has a good voice. Bob Dylan is similar. Come to think about it Jimi Hendrix wasn't blessed with great singing, but he seemed to improve as he went along Machine Gun is just about perfect..

Ditto Dexter Holland, lead singer of the Offspring. Seems to work well with the music, but my god that's not a melodious voice! Googling his name I just found out what a smart cookie he is though. I'll feel more intellectual the next time I'm playing them.

Is there a convention by which the cookie monster vocals of the various death-metalish are graded? I like the more histronic metal, but can't say I've ever been able to listen to vocals lower than maybe In Flames before it all starts to sound much of a muchness.

[kowalski655]

NapierDeltic said:

Robert Plant stuff

.

What do you think if his more recent stuff , like with Alison Krause?

[StevieBee]

Oddly, one with what I thought had a terrible singing voice is also one of my all time favourite artists; Ian Dury. He was more a melodic talker than singer and even that was pushing it, but he was brilliant!.

If you've not done so, give his son Baxter a listen. I never new 'voice' was genetic!

[Wacky Racer]

tumble dryer said:

Wacky Racer said:

tumble dryer said:

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, despite some amazing songs.

Rod Stewart.

Massive Rod fan here.

He's not been great for over twenty years now, he had a nasty throat cancer scare several years ago which didn't help.

You can't expect a 70yr old to be as good as he was in his twenties.

Wacky, I've just spent the last 45 mins listening to him (mostly live) in his younger days.

His voice is as rough as a badgers arse, but fk me, did he make some amazing music!!

Featuring Rod on vocals........awesome.

[Magnum 475]

kowalski655 said:

NapierDeltic said:

Robert Plant stuff

.

What do you think if his more recent stuff , like with Alison Krause?

On that album he managed to stay mostly within his limitations and his vocals worked fairly well. Despite that, Alison’s voice outdid him in every way - but in fairness she’s got one of the best voices in popular music, so she out performs most singers anyway.

[generationx]

StevieBee said:

Oddly, one with what I thought had a terrible singing voice is also one of my all time favourite artists; Ian Dury. He was more a melodic talker than singer and even that was pushing it, but he was brilliant!.

If you've not done so, give his son Baxter a listen. I never new 'voice' was genetic!

I was lucky enough to see Ian Dury on one of his last appearances (possibly the Shepherds Bush Empire?), and despite his obvious illness was absolutely brilliant, more than two hours without putting a word wrong. OK, as you say he's not a singer, but one of the great "People's Poets".

[toasty]

Grian Chatten of Fontaines DC. Utterly tuneless but it suits the band.

[anonymous-user]

glazbagun said:

Fittster said:

Kate Nash - Lilly Allen tribute act, with even worse vocals.

I prefer her to Lilly Allen.. I thought Foundations and We Get On were very funny. I don't think she's Christina Aguilera, but I find her voice inoffensive on track, no worse than Kylie Minogue, etc.

Me too, i like Kate because she seems to be a real person, not some nutcase putting on an act.

Chap i used to do work for had Rod Stewart as his wedding singer a few years ago, i was gutted i was away with work so couldn't attend, he was brilliant as a showman, even though his voice isn't as strong these days.

[Frank7]

jsf said:

Chap i used to do work for had Rod Stewart as his wedding singer a few years ago, i was gutted i was away with work so couldn't attend, he was brilliant as a showman, even though his voice isn't as strong these days.

Veering o/t for a second, we were in a bar in a smallish town in rural Florida some 15 plus years back.
The owner’s young daughter had been seriously ill in a local hospital, and had pulled through okay.
He organised a benefit night for the hospital, and said to my wife, “Try to get here on Saturday night Nicky, I got a guy coming who will blow your doors off.”
That guy was a Londoner, from Camden Town, living in Tampa with his American wife, his voice was so much like Rod Stewart’s that if you were listening from outside, you’d swear that it was Rod.
He didn’t wear a blond wig, or anything that made him look like Mr. Stewart, but his set was absolutely fantastic, even more so for us, as the only Brits in there that night.