Cher Sings Better Now Than Barbra Streisand

Despite a four year age difference between the gals.\ \ Why is that?

• Um, hello!

  Auto-Tune Machine

• Calm down, girls, she''s allowed a bad night. Doesn''t mean Babs is washed up. %0D\ %0D\ yeah, Cher sings better. Maybe you should join AA.

• How voices hold up with age varies a lot. Some fabulous singers go to pot fairly early, even by 50. Some can manage concerts, even operatic ones, into old age.\ \ I don''t know enough about voices to know if maybe sopranos don''t hang in there as well as altos or vice versa - but I suspect that doesn''t matter and it''s genetics. \ \ Some people have strong, long-lasting vocal chords, and maybe they know how to protect them, by not smoking or living in areas with lower pollution, or whatever, but as a long-time community choir singer, I know lots of old people lose their voices and get fluttery and well, sing like shit when they used to be great (see Whitney Houston) and others, in their 70s, still sound great (a rarer case, in my limited experience.)

• False premise, stupid post, retarded OP.

  Anonymous

• [quote]Some can manage concerts, even operatic ones, into old age.%0D\ %0D\ Right! I heard Robert Merrill in concert when he was in his mid-70s. What a fantastic voice. Those opera stars really know how to project, too. He didn''t need a mic for his voice to get to the back row of the upper balcony. Pitch was perfect - no old-age flutter. He was amazing.

• these are the options?

  M

• Gwynneth Paltrow now sings better than Barbra Streisand!%0D\ %0D\ How Babs can live with that, I don''t know, but I suspect she got home and had Brolin bring her the axe.

• [quote]Doesn''t mean Babs is washed up\ \ yes, it does

  seriously

• here is a singer who WASN''T past her prime

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBBiH92T-Ws

• I love Cher, and she sure does have a strong voice. But she is four years younger than Barbra. But Barbra''s voice was still strong when she was 64 too. Let''s see what Cher sounds like in four years. Barbra is still Queen of the Universe.

• Cher did not and does not have a great or remarkable voice at any age.%0D\ %0D\ Cher''s singing is and always was lousy.

• If we are judging by one, concededly horrifyingly bad performance, then we have no idea who the fuck sings better, OP, but the fact (unerlying your question, however misduigdedly) is that voices age differently, just like they mature.\ \ Barbara Cook at 90 sings a great deal better than Liza Minnelli when she was 40.

• Altos are the best!

  lesbian alto

• Does Cher smoke?

• Some singers just don''t know when to stop. Frank Sinatra went on 20 years too long. People actually think Rosemary Clooney sounded good in her final years. Do they also enjoy the sound of a malfunctioning foghorn?

• Barbra's voice has declined rapidly in the last several years. You could hear it in 2006 with the rasp and change in timbre on her tour-some days she was nearly as good as ever and others she was not good at all. The last CD she made where you could not hear it was the second Bee Gees CD.%0D %0D I want her to stop singing, unless this is really a case of not exercising her voice. But I think that is not the case. Time to let the recorded history end- acting, and philanthropy and perhaps directing should keep her creatively occupied. Funny, she has always said singing was secondary to acting and directing. I haven ever really believed her when she said that. I think she knows how good she is (was) and I also think she derived great pleasure from her music career. It is after all her greatest talent by far, the one that has opened all the other doors.%0D %0D You cannot compare Cher to Barbra as a singer. It's silly. Cher is an entertainer who can carry a tune. She is not a great singer, never was. Cher is also a good actress, although those days are over because of her plastic surgery obsession. I love Cher's openess and honesty.

  charlie

• Did shomeone shay shtop? Shucksh NO!

  http://blog.nj.com/entertainment_impact_music/2008/11/large_liza.jpg

  LM

• Cher has never been a good singer - she just got lucky.%0D\ %0D\ Her range is small and EVERY SONG she sings sounds exactly alike.

• Listening to the original recording of "I Got You Babe," you don''t know if it''s Sonny or Cher singing each line. Both have a totally bland sound.

• Barbra has a new album ready to drop, of the Bergman songs she never got a round to singing before. I hope it''s stuff she recorded earlier her voice is shot to fuck now and I don''t think I could bear to listen to it. Her last studio album was bad enough.

• Cher has a very limited vocal range and is an alto. Her voice has aged well. %0D\ %0D\ Barbra Streisand has a voice which has been compared to a rare, handcrafted violin. Her voice has not aged well (sad to say). %0D\ %0D\ Who has the most to work with at this point in their career? Cher or Streisand? I say Streisand because she has always had more to work with from the start. %0D\ %0D

• I sing much better than Barbra. Have you heard my new release?

  Countess LuAnn

• I love Cher. But she''s one of those freaks on nature who has a strong and it just didn''t fade.%0D\ %0D\ But I still love Barbra forever.

• because you compare Barbra to Barbra at her prime. (sort of like how beautiful women look so much worse as the age than regular woman do-----they had farther to fall and the contrast is more noticeable)

• That''s not much of a feat, OP, and certainly nothing to brag about.

  The kid with the tracheotomy who sings better than Streisand

• [quote](sort of like how beautiful women look so much worse as the age than regular woman do-----they had farther to fall and the contrast is more noticeable)\ \ The unfortunateness of that simile seems to have escaped you.

• "Does Cher smoke?"\ \ So apparently you''ve never seen her emerge from that nebula like fog in her opening act?

• Babs trolls have trouble facing the fact that the ship has sailed. Long live Cher!

• R28 I prefer Cher over Barbra, but lets get real - if anyone''s ship has sailed, it''s Cher''s. Cher hasn''t released an album in 10 years (and it was a flop) whereas Barbra has released 4 (getting ready to be 5) albums in the last 10 years and they''ve all gone gold or platinum. Also, Barbra''s last tour only had 27 shows, yet made $119.5 million. Cher had to tour for 3 years and do 326 shows and made under $250 million.%0D\ %0D\ So you tell me who''s still going strong and who people are willing to pay money to hear and see.

  Hasbeen Cher

• Babs'' (former) vocal range

  http://divadevotee.blogspot.com/2011/01/barbra-streisand-vocal-profile-range.html

• I''m curious to see if Bab''s has been working on her voice since the last album. She must be able to feels the difference when she sings. Is it possible for her to go back to the way thats he used to sound?

• Cher''s vocal range (too bad the video was removed)\ \ Cher worked hard and got vocal coaching to improve her voice. Maybe since Streisand claims she doesn''t vocalize, that has hurt her voice.\ \ \ I was surprised how good Carol Burnett''s (age 77) voice is. She was great on Glee

  http://divadevotee.blogspot.com/2010/12/cher-vocal-profile-range.html

• R31 Interesting point. Vocal exercises and training might indeed help, but most women''s voices deteriorate faster than men''s

• r19 just so you know. Sonny wrote the songs and the range the songs were written in were to fit his limitations. He wouldn''t write modulation into any of the songs until Cher begged him just so she could get out of that one tone sound.

• Patti Labelle still sounds better than both of them put together.

• I''ll take Linda Ronstadt, Carley Simon, or Anne Murray over Cher, Babs, or Patti.

• R29 But Babs charges astronomical ticket prices.

• that''s better than charging gastronomical ticket prices.

• Ella''s voice never deteriorated, even during the sick times.

• Cher rocks. She''s got a powerful voice with substance. Streisand''s voice is high and thin and she definitely does not rock. I''ve been a fan since Cher first burst on the scene with Sonny and have heard her distinctive and terrific pop voice mature into a rich, deep voice with feeling that can rock with the best of ''em. You people shitting on her singing abilities can do lots better, I''m sure. LOL. And if you can''t tell the difference between "The Beat Goes On" and "Gypsys Tramps and Thieves" or "Believe," you need your hearing checked.

• R40 you''ll never convince the Babs trolls that the sun set on that old screech owl''s voice two decades ago. Cher will be singing at Babs'' funeral.

• I hate to admit that your all right. I love Barbra but I really don''t like to hear her sing anymore or act, she has become REALLY annoying. Why does she do these Fucker films and that Seth what''s his name thing? I still harbour hopes for Gypsy but who knows.

• r39 behave! Loved Ella but her later recordings were a shadow of her former glory.

• After age 65, the voice starts that slide and rapidly deteriorates for most singers.%0D\ %0D\ "People actually think Rosemary Clooney sounded good in her final years"%0D\ %0D\ She didn''t sing in her later years, she talked the lyrics. %0D\ %0D\ Cher was never that good to begin with (by her own admission), so there isn''t much difference between then and now.%0D\ %0D\ Lena Horne sang amazingly well at ages 64-67 in her show The Lady & her Music on B''way and on tour. She ruined all of that by "coming back" on CD in the 1990s. Awful, awful, awful.

• Cher was probably at her peak when she recorded her standards album "Bittersweet White Light" back in the late 70''s. It was fantastic.%0D\ %0D\ Barbra doesn''t sound as good as she used to, granted, but she can still carry a song and there''s no one who can beat her when it comes to doing the type of material she does.%0D\ %0D\ That having been said, I''m AMAZED at how Barbara Cook continues to belt them out at her age (80-something?). Good god, the woman is amazing!

• r39%0D\ %0D\ Rubbish. I just heard the numbers she recorded from Chicago and her voice had deteriorated by then (circa 1975)

• Not bad

  http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=CZGRgFjYj0U

• Ella had numerous health problems. Her vibrato was very WIDE and wavering by the time she got into her mid 50s (1970s). She still sounded great, only different.

• Here''s someone 4 years older than Barbra and she still has her voice.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QX5nHbBwGU

• Reminds me of when some stupid bitch told me Barry Manilow was a greater singer than Judy Garland.

• Cher still takes a singing lesson every day to improve her strength. She never was into drugs or alcohol, she used to smoke. I don''t think it''s fair to compare the two, they''re such different styles. But they do like each other, Cher recently tweeted she loves The Brolins!

• Aren''t Jason Gould and Chaz around the same age?

• [quote] Cher still takes a singing lesson every day to improve her strength. \ \ Contrast that to Babs who admits she has never taken a vocal lesson, nor does she do any exercises to keep her voice in strength

• R53, she does NOW.%0D\ %0D\ Btw, Barbra took vocal lessons in the beginning, don''t kid yourself. And don''t repeat that "bee" bullshit story she use to tell.

• BREAKING: Cher''s new album is country (according to Janet Charlton) or dance (according to Cherilyn).

• This is from Barbra''s new album to be released in August. I think she sounds good for 68. There are no pop singers on the scene today who could handle this song so deftly except Barbra and Celine Dion.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMCpUOcdQrg&feature=related

• True, but I wish it weren''t such a shlocky song.%0D\ %0D\ I far prefer this sassy number - even though you can really tell the voice is pretty shot.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4OMAQMv3HY&feature=related

• While I thought Barbra sounds awful at the Grammy''s, she sounds surprisingly good on her upcoming CD.\ \ (And Cher is a personality, not a singer.)

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4OMAQMv3HY&feature=player_embedded#at=106

• Cher is a great singer, not just a personality.

• I can''t stand the songs from Barbra''s new cd -- they''re over produced, and while her voice is okay, it''s nothing special anymore.

• "Cher is a great singer,"\ \ In the same sense that Britney Spears is a "great singer."

• Cher is a much better than Britney, who I don''t consider a singer. Cher''s a contralto, there aren''t too many pop females who are, so already she''s distinctive, but add to this her vocal strength and you''ve got a powerhouse.

• Cher hasn''t sung in years. \ \ I saw her concert over 10 years ago and it was ALL lip synched.\ \ It takes a warehouse full of computers to wrangle her notes into pitch.\ \ And where did this myth start that she has a strong voice? It''s called electronic amplification!

• Cher is also "electronically enhanced."

• All the major divas have lost some of their ability as they''ve aged. The only one who seems to sing at least as well as she used to is Gladys Knight.

• Cher is not electronically enhanced and the only song she lypsynchs is "Believe" - and that one is just partly on tape.

  I used to date her sound guy in Vegas

• Cher''s always had a strong voice, that can''t be debated. Whether one likes her tone and style is another matter. I happen to like her, another thing she''s got on Barbra is she can sing rock convincingly, whereas Babs is too high toned to.

• She''s not singing on the new CD she is speaking, I can do that!

• How anyone can listen to Cher''s "The Way of Love" and say she cannot sing is simply beyond comprehension.

• Have there ever been any lez rumors about either of them?

• Cher has admitted to doing the lez lez.

• I''m not sure who did what with whom, but Barbra had a big crush on Ava Gardner. Lena Horne once refused to attend a party at Bab''s apt when she learned Ava was there. (She had a crush on her too).

• This is a very silly thread, stupid really. No comparisons, very different kinds of long careered show biz greats. %0D\ %0D\ Streisand is a Singer and entertainer, while Cher is an Entertainer and singer.

  charlie

• So Barbra and Lena both had a crush on Ava? And of course Diane Ross had a bit of a crush on Babs.

• Look, Lena followed up on the crush and it resulted in some real girl on girl action. Barbra? Doubt it. %0D\ %0D\ Lena hated Ross. Ross hates Streisand. Streisand doesn''t know who Ross is. Ava was drunk and didn''t care.

• And Liza fucked them all.

• It could be worse - Barbra and Cher could both sound like Miss Ross currently does (i.e., a drowning cat). Her voice has held up the worst of all the divas.

• Streisand had a brief fling with Coco Chanel in Paris. Marlene Dietrich found out about it and wanted in on the action.\ \ Here is a photo of Dietrich trying to flirt with Barbra, and Barbra not having any of it.

  http://bainspiration.com/en/2009/09/01/inspiration-vi-coco-chanel/8-streisand-chanel/

• The vocal chords are simply a part of the human body. They age, lose their elasticity. One can exercise and not abuse them -- just like any other body part, but everything ages, inside and out.%0D\ %0D\ I saw Linda Ronstadt a couple of years ago and was shocked that she had lost so much fine control in the quieter, more subtle, parts of songs -- because she didn''t have as much elasticity -- but could still really belt out because that takes less fine muscle work.%0D\ %0D\ Barbra has certainly lost that same control of "small" singing moments -- something that used to make her just wonderful to listen to.%0D\ %0D\ But hey, people grow old and so do their bodies and everything in ''em.

  Jude

• R77 I saw Diana Ross last year in concert and she was just TERRIBLE! Her voice is gone and she has no stage presence anymore. It was a real snooze fest. I would never see her again.

  Miss Ross = No Longer The Boss

• Listening to Barbra attempt to sing "The Promise" at this years pre-Grammy party was a chore. Whoever had the bright idea to up the second verse and ending a key (a.k.a. her) should have been horsewhipped. She was screaming the last lines. %0D

• None of them can touch Aretha Franklin especially since ReRe has lost weight.

• R69 is RIGHT

• Well, Aretha stopped singing melodies some thirty years ago and has spent much of the last couple of decades singing every note but the ones the composers originally wrote. So yes, she may still be able to sing, but she mostly doesn''t.

• Saw the "my name is barbra"special on netflix. She was unbelievable back then, what a talent.

• Barbra still has one or two albums left in her. After that, maybe she should stop. We have a great catalog of almost 50 years of Streisand, that is magical. I won''t care if she stops and focuses more time to movies/directing/projects.

• WEHT to that album she was supposed to do with Rick Rubin? That would have been interesting.

• Most people''s voices decline, especially women, I think, but it catches up with men as well. Women''s voices mature earlier than men''s so maybe they have the same number of prime years - men don''t settle till the 30''s, women way before in early 20''s - and by the 50''s, women typically start fluttering and losing it - many men do as well, and everybody''s over the hill, voice wise, somewhere in the 60s. Well, there''s a rare exception but very rare, and typically a low register voice, like Cher''s I imagine, but she certainly was never the singer than Barbra was.

• Streisand singing Truman Capote and Harold Arlen

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts5qmvbUqJo

• Thanks r89!

• I love her.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWWGgWk5PYQ

• Capote hated Streisand''s interpretations of his songs!

• I just bought the cd and it''s a compilation. I thought she was singing the material by the Bergmans she had never sung before! It has a few new tracks that sound ok until you head onto some of the old greats like Yentl when she could actually sing. I''m seriously pissed!

• Capote never said any such thing.%0D\ %0D\ Yes there are 10 new tracks of material she has never recorded- that is the CD. A seond edition of the CD contains previously recorded songs as addtions to the 10 new tracks. %0D\ %0D\ A few = 3. Ten R93, 10.

• How can R93 be so ignorant about track listings on an cd - seriously?

• Shirley bassey sung great well into her 60's. billie holiday voice deteriorated early because of well known life stlye choices, but she always had a limited vocal range. I belive it was said she had less than a octave of range left in her singing voice toward the end; But she used what she had left of range quite well. Songs like "I'm a fool to want you" was compose around her limted range. For me it is one of her better songs.

• Streisand had a lovely creamy smooth mezzo-soprano voice. Barbra needs to compose sungs around her new limitations. Cher had the potential to be a singer like Dusty springfield, they both have those beautiful low female voices. Examples of Dusty Springfield brilliants is in songs like "What are you donig for the rest of your life", and "the look of love". For me her version is better than Streisands.

• Karen Carpenter is another warm voice female. I like her voice on songs like Ave Maria, This Masquerade, Close to you. I like Adele to. I love Adele's "Chasing pavements" and "Rolling in the Deep". In "Rolling in the Deep" Adele's highest note in this song is D5 and lowest note is Bb3, as reported by Wikipedia, which she is also listed as a contralto there. Adele must be a lyric contralto, because their voices are lighter in timbre than other contraltos like a dramatic contralto like Della Reese. Listen to Della Reese's "What are you doing for the rest of your life" and "Don't you know".

• Adele highest note in "Rolling in the deep" ( D5 ) was sung using headvoice. That is what Wikipedia is claiming.

• "Well, Aretha stopped singing melodies some thirty years ago and has spent much of the last couple of decades singing every note but the ones the composers originally wrote. So yes, she may still be able to sing, but she mostly doesn't." When singers do that it's because they can't hit those notes anymore. They never change the melody to something higher because that's more difficult. It's always lower. They make their background vocalist sing the original melodies to cover for them while they ad lib or whatever. It's a telltale sign of a voice gone bad.

• I'm sorry to tell all of y'all. Cher is not the best singer in the world. THere are better feamle singers than her. You motherfuckers been riding on her dick for years. Ugh!!!

• Ewww, I have never thought that Cher was a good singer. She has a unique sound at best, but her solo career post Sonny, has all been based upon hype and tabloid. Honestly, I've never understood the appeal in Cher?

• Cher sounds like a man. Even she said when she released her first single, people thought it was a man singing a gay love song.

• Wow, Judy Collins is like 71 and her voice is amazing. Her DVD, Bohemian is the best yet. She got a great review in the NY Times on her last concert there. Just saw her a few days ago in Austin and I was blown away by her voice.

• What Capote said was, Every song is a goddamn 3-act play with her.

• R65 you are sooooo right! Gladys Knight still has an amazing sound...does total justice to songs she made famous more than 40 years ago. She's an amazing talent.

• This is an absurd comparison - like Apples & Oranges. Cher is a flamboyant all around entertainer, known more for her costumes, than voice. She can kind of dance, kind of sing, and is a good actress. Puts on a great flashy show. But the test , for me, is always put a mike on a stage, no costumes, or props, and let a singer see if they can mesmerize an audience. There are only a handful who can do that. And Barbra is one. No Beyonce wind machine, no Rhinna sex moves, it's called TALENT - and very few today have it . Barbra did, and still does. Anyone can have an off night. You may all be too young to realize it, but there was a time when talent mattered. Babs is 70 this year , and the fact she can still sing beautifully, is amazing. Compare it to Garland, who died at 47, croaking out notes, poor thing. Babs still has her voice, at almost 25 years older. Give the woman a break.

  Yes%2C%20I%20am%20an%20EG

• [quote]Cher has never been a good singer - she just got lucky. Her range is small What moron programmed you with the idea that singing is about "range"?

• Cher is a great singer. No, she's not Streisand (whom I also love), but Cher's voice is still as strong as ever.

• If a professional singer sings very little for 5-10 years, is it possible to get his/her vocal power back, and how long would it take, approximately?

• Cher could sing very well on occasion. She did a lovely rendition of "Alfie" - and looked gorgeous.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQNwtoZqW1k

• Barbra v Cher vocally = DeNiro v Clooney. One is a master, the other lovably talented. Big difference.

• They're both good, but Judy Garland kicks both their asses.

• Barbra v Cher vocally = DeNiro v Pacino.

• Oh come on. Cher is wonderful- she is an entertainer and fine actress (although she has kind of ended her serious acting career with her plastic surgeries.) Barbra is one of the most gifted non operatic singers who ever lived. She is a serious vocalist and artist with supreme talent. Most on these thread are not even aware of the scope of her recorded catalogue. You will not find great opera singers discussing Cher's vocal technigue in archived interviews and published materials. You will with Barbra- all over the place, and all composers from the beginning of her career sending her their music. Why? Because she is one the greatest singers who ever lived. To each their own- you may not hear it at all-If are not familiar with her work since 1963- not People, not Evergreen, not the Way We Were- yes some of her signature stuff is great- Parade, Clear Day, perhaps What Are You Doing the Rest of Your life- but the rather the great ballads of the great songwriters since the 1920 from Gershwin to Sondheim, and even some classical- more obscure stuff as well- have you heard her sing Auld Ang Syne on her 2000 concert CD? She dabbled in rock, lots of pop in the 70's- but its the ballads by the great songwriters and lyricists that have always been featured more or less on her albums and CDs that put her in a class by herself. Garland was great, Sinatra was great (but the biggest asshole in the world), Aretha is great- I think Barbra is the best of the lot- and then there are lots of superb stylists like Ella, Peggy Lee, Billie Holiday, Vic Damone, etc, as opposed to singer songwriters. Some people like Judy Collins are harder to catagorize because she is very much a stand alone singer performing other's music, brilliantly, yet also a singer-songwriter, underratated- if not towering like Joni. It's silly to compare Cher to Barbra- as others have said- it's like comparing Streep to Jennifer Aniston, although Cher is a better actress and more interesting persality by a mile than JA.

  charlie

• I wish Cher did more standards. I love her music when it sounds like this.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4eV4aWLjQk

• RE : 115 - spot on . Her catalog of recordings is astounding. No one else comes close.

• bump

• Amazing voice, yes, but that nose!!!

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DS0mC6TjdZIw%26feature%3Drelated

  Sonny%20%22watch%20out%20for%20the%20tree%22%20Bono

• R119 I like her old nose. It suited her face. She was so gorgeous in the '70s.

• Barbra has the better voice but if I had to pick I'd choose Cher to spend the afternoon with. She doesn't take herself as serious as Babs and I think Cher would be way more personable.

• Dude I thought Cher song 'Believe' was sung by a man... Just saying.

  Not%20telling

• No, Cher does NOT sing better than Streisand, never has and never will. Just a sheer impossibility. Streisand, despite the amazing gift she was given, should have had a voice that lasted with better quality than it did. She never took care of it. Just listen to her voice from 1970 On a Clear Day You can See Forever and listen to the entire album, but most importantly, the closing title song and you will learn why she was the greatest singer in the world. That performance blows anyone and everything away in my opinion. Also, Singer Maureen McGovern (look up her hits) had a great voice in 1972, and it is SO MUCH better today because she took care of it as she should. Yes, part of it is genetics.

• Cher haters get out of here. Cher has lasted all these years because she rocks a song.

• Cher's voice also has changed A LOT over the decades. Her voice is similar to Joan Baez's in vibrato. Cher actually had kind of a high-pitched voice during the 60's. Listen to her cover of Bob Dylan's song "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright". You'd be very surprised. I would say that it is kind of hard to analyze Cher's vocals when her voice had gone through so many changes especially during the late 60's-mid 70's. The mid 1970's is when her voice started getting deeper. She's sounded pretty much the same since the 90's.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DmaXNXdeggfs

  Your%20Mom

• Honey, they are both goddesses. Even the angels have bad nights. Cher and Babs are national treasures and should be worshipped as such. Babs can still out-sing Cher, but they are both above everyone else. These divas will rule on high until they draw their last breaths. I still find myself weeping when I see them live in concert (even if it's only on the TV screen). I know I am in the presence of the divine. The showmanship, the glamour, the hair, the clothes, the spectacle. Anyone who thinks Babs has lost it has lost their marbles. She will always have it.

• They hate each other.

• R126 - BIG MARY!!! LOL. Chill out, girl.

• No, like many others I have to say that Cher never sang anywhere near as well as Steisand and never will, though she may 'sound' better now. It is all relative to the voice given and the technique of singing. Cher is a mouth and throat singer with one small range of sound. Contraltos voices sound better to many as they age because the natural deepening of voice is not so noticeable or sometimes shocking, but there is much more involved. Streisand has never sung or practiced or even listened to music unless she is getting ready to record or tour. And she let it go too long. Her concert tour in the early nineties when she was past 50 showed her in pretty spectacular voice, and put all those who said she did not sing live because she could not rumours to rest. Plus streisand had a much larger range than Cher, though no where near as large as Julie Andrews or Whitney Houston or Celine Dion. It was the quality of her tone and vibrato and her mostly soprano voice that wowed along with whatever people thought about her singing. All singers range decrease over time, mostly in their fifties, but the vocal fluidity usually goes a bit before that, the ease of movements between notes. See Mariah Carey, long before forty. For all our pleasure there are freaks of nature like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan who sounded pretty fine well into their sixties. The vibrato and breath changes, the tone deepens but their overall ability to sing and wow were pretty undiminished. Many singers are better in their thirties and forties than in their twenties. Diana Ross was a reedy string like singer in all her supreme years but developed her lower range and became a much more talented singer. NO lie. Sinatra as well, originally a thin tenor, moved into his more comfortable and resonant baritone voice and was much better vocally in his forties than his twenties. Someone posted Cher singing Alfie when she was young out here once and I was surprised that she could pull it off in tune. It was amateurish but I was impressed that she could place those notes, because she really is a one trick singer. Mouth and throat singer, with an ability to belt, but no head voice at all and no technical understanding of breath, phrasing or singing. People like the tone of her voice. In the real analysis that is what makes us like a singer or not, their tone. When I was at the Royal Conservatory, one of my teachers made us sing "In the Ghetto", first verse in Elvis baritone, second in Cher's vibrato crazed contralto, and last verse in Joan Baez warbly yet clear soprano. He impressed upon us that they all had essentially the same voice and flaws, but it was a matter of their range and style. I still do this as a party trick sometimes, but am a pianist aocompanist by trade. Great vocalists known for their range and power, control and perfection suffer the most from aging in the ears of the fans. It is hard on them I can assure you just as it is on opera singers when they switch to singing less challenging works. But pop singers have the curse that their fans want to hear the hits and want them to sound the same as they always did. Performers love to perform and smart ones know how to transpose and reinvent old material, avoid it completely or develop a new approach to it. Streisand has lost the clarity of her voice much more than her range and it was that clear bell sound that made her exceptional. She was never the most powerful singer or had the largest range. Cher what to say. If you love her, god bless you. She is a fun and iconoclastic icon. She did not have much voice to lose, but her small range of throat belts are still operating. She is not technically a singer. I am not a snob. I loved Amy Winehouse, but her voice was all about the tone and her mouth singing as well. Well, plus her musical vibe and genius style. Style always counts. Don't need to say that out here.

  musician

• Sugar Plums, Bette Midler still dwarves both of them. She still has the look and the voice. Barbra is a legend and Cher is great, but Bette is the true queen of the divas. She is the Wind Beneath MY Wings

  Carlton

• Sorry Eldgergays. Adele is where it's at these days. Barbra and Cher are 20th Century relics. Adele will be queen for the next half century.

• R126 Honey settle down and have a vodka

• Adele couldn't even last a few years before needing throat surgery. How is her voice going to make it through the next few decades intact?

• I'm not a big fan of Barbra's. Simply because I don't much care for her material. I love her voice though. I'm just not into that over the top stop. So I was hoping that someone would start a Streisand thread so I could pass this by her hardcore fans. I wish back in her prime. I guess it would have been the late 70s or early 80s? She had sat down and recorded, maybe live, with a guitar a two. Took it down a couple of notches and did an acoustic set of some of her stuff or covered some stuff. Come on. A stage. A chair. A light. A guitar. And Barbra doing the Way We Were?

• That's a very interesting post, R129.

• I am posting Sarah Vaughan singing Send in the Clowns. She is not a Cher/Barbra kind of singer, but she is well into her sixties here and swoops down into baritone and goes into a soprano head voice, if not perfectly. Her placement of her voice and phrasing finesse the loss of any perfection. This is a great mature singer, she sweats a bit. She smoked and drank and sang most every night of her life. Maybe that is why she sounds so good.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D6Sy-5AEXW5g

  musician

• Last night's Oscars proves that Cher sings better than Barbra There is now no dispute.

• Stereotypical elderghey thread. Frightening.

• One would think that there could have been some type of enhancement to help Barbra's voice. If they can make Taylor Swift sound as if she can sing on key, surely there most be something to help poor Barbra. At least she still sings with feeling.

• Off-topic, but I love that Barbara Cook can still sing at 85. Not like in her prime, of course, but still pretty damn good.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DtjOoTD1k7OE