Most dramatic voice changes in music industry

Nope, not a word. I understand that there are keys, but I don't get them. Is this something you have an ear for or is this actually documented?

Marianne Faithfull.

From “As Tears Go By” to “Broken English” with a lot of drugs and drinking in-between.

Jeez, queens, Joni Mitchell.

Ahem.

This is dull.

Tori Amos had the quickest and most jarring vocal decline (of a healthy human) of any artist I follow.. From 2017 to 2022/2023- She has no range, no power, cannot really sing one line without cracking/croaking through it.

She brought up in an interview possibly touring with background singers. I don't know man.

Natalie Merchant

Definitely Joni. Such a high folk-singer soprano voice at the start. So different several decades (and 100,000 cigarettes) later.

Billie Holiday.

Celine Dion has been lip-syncing for the past 17 years. She typically sang the lower parts live and then used a track for the higher belting parts. I don't really understand what happened with her? She had a well-trained voice and always took good care of it. This was long before her stiff woman disease took hold. I think she initially lipped songs to preserve her voice, but when she sang the high parts live there was a definite raspiness and strain.

John Lennon

Phil Collins used to do a really direct impression of Peter Gabriel when he first took over as the singer of Genesis. On the first album with him it’s uncanny.

R10 it’s still her voice. Which voice was great at Paris 2024

Crack is WHACK!!!

R7 what happened to Natalie Merchant’s voice between 1998 and 2001? It was a huge decline in a short amount of time.

R10 Celine sang live way too much. Even with taking precautions, she wore out her voice just by using it too much. Barbra didn’t sing live as much and her voice didn’t get raspy until she was 59.

Lucille Ball. You know what it was like by the time of "Mame," but back in the day she had a thrilling pitch-perfect coloratura. She used to perform the Queen of the Night's aria on "The Bell Telephone Hour" and it was electric.

It’s a natural change that occurs with many voices—deeper with time.

Listen to Whitney Houston early and late. Same with Leontyne Price and so many others

Human vocal chords change with age and can atrophy, becoming lower or breathier, reducing range, as people age. No one is going to stay at their top range forever.

I'm with R1, most of this is Greek to me but that's one more thing I love about you bitches: We have so many smart people here.

[Quote] it’s still her voice. Which voice was great at Paris 2024

She did not sing that live. There’s a guy on YouTube who does computer analyses of performances. That one was recorded (as one would expect with such a major moment)

Barbra sounds like shit now. She has old woman-voice. She needs to retire.

Liszha, too. With that car-revving vibrato and the 'esh' shoundsh.

Bob Dylan had a good strategy for this: start out sounding like a rheumatic 80 year old when you're young!

R20 what makes you think they know of what they write? Assuming that from this site could be deadly in the real world.

R21 who said it was live? No one. It was her voice.

Well, r22, almost EVERYONE'S voice sounds terrible at their age. It's not like it's unexpected.

I do agree Barbra should stop releasing records.

Cyndi Lauper had the best voice in pop music during the 1980s, but now sounds like a dying cow. She has not taken care of her voice over the past 30 years.

Easily Joni Mitchell. The 1969 and 2000 versions of "Both Sides Now" sound as though they were recorded by two different people.

After a few decades of smoking, Aretha was sort of growly, not as clear-voiced.

Marianne Faithfull

R27 What the fuck? No. Not even close. She had a speech impediment and a very whiny voice.

Cyndi Lauper had a great vocal as well as emotional range in her songs. Certainly unconventional and not for all tastes, but to me, a fantastic singer who peaked early and struggled in the nineties to find material that matched her work in the eighties.

Her At Last album from 20 years ago has a few gems that suggest what she can do when she dials down the eccentricity, which might work well for her as a septuagenarian with a more limited vocal range.

Mine is Linda Ronstadt. I'd always hoped she'd record my favorite standard, "The Way You Look Tonight."

Dionne Warwick can't hit the notes anymore

Joan Baez’s voice was very, very high on her early albums and deepened as she got older. She was not a substance abuser of any kind, it just came with age.

My Native American vibrato has always sounded the same.

Courtney Love never had a "pretty" voice, but the change in tone when she released "Nobody's Daughter" in 2010 was very noticeable and it drew many comparisons to Marianne Faithfull, which pissed Courtney off—but the music critics weren't wrong. I guess that's what three decades of chain-smoking, intermittent crack use, and scream singing do.

I don’t think Linda Ronstadt is a fair member to this category.

Elizabeth Frazier. listen to the first Cocteau Twins album Garlands, and the first few EPs, her voice is often an atonal yelp or murmuring or whispering. But by the second LP a few years later, Head Over Heels, her voice was turning into something wonderful and just kept getting better. According to the book about 4AD she trained herself using “learn to sing” cassettes you could send away for.

Siouxsie Sioux. Again, listen to the first few Banshees albums… very punkish and flat, lots of shouting (which seemed intentional). The third LP Kaleidoscope her vocals become softer. But by their fourth LP, Juju, is when it really begins to be turns into something rich and unique. Her voice really peaked through the 80s but definitely got deeper closer to the 90s, and later Creatures albums.

Marianne Faithfull, As Tears Go By

1964

Marianne Faithfull, As Tears Go By

2018

The original 1964 version is catchy and lovely, but her youthful delivery is misguided.

The 2018 version carries a lot more power. Her voice is shot, even compared to Broken English, but fuck if she doesn’t know how to deliver using what she’s got: the weight of disappointments, heartbreaks, and self-inflicted misery from over the course of nearly eight decades.

I’d love to hear one more albums from the vaults from her.

Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now

1969

Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now

2000

R2, you beat me too it. The most dramatic voice change ever. For the better, in my opinion. Same with Joni Mitchell @R44, her voice sounds much better huskier, I hate that high voice she sang with in the 60s and 70s.

r10 Celine famously suffers from stiff vocal cords syndrome.

Oddly like Marianne Faithfull, the first version of Both Sides Now is better suited to the older singer, for largely the same reasons.

While I miss Mitchell’s unique soprano, I think the latter Joni, her voice wrecked by age and cigarettes, sounds more (sadly) confident in her interpretation. She may have written the song when she was young, but it wasn’t truly ready for her until she was old.

R6, I don't get what happened to her. I am listening to "Thoughts", "Sugar" and "Smells like Teen Spirit" right now and her voice really makes those songs (yes, obviously the last one is a cover). She still sounded great in the 00s, at least on Scarlett's Walk. Did she decided to drink and smoke somewhere along the way?

R47, I'm trying to imagine young Marianne Faithful sing "why'd you spit on my snatch?" and it just doesn't work. Her post-drug addiction voice was distinct, nobody else sounded like that. Young Marianne Faithful's voice could have been anybody's.

[quote] Cyndi Lauper had the best voice in pop music during the 1980s

Man, crack is wack!

R48- If you follow Tori live, you could see a big shift in her live vocals in 2017- Which I figured was natural aging... But she could still sing and it was listenable.

When she toured again in 2022- she had no voice left- no range and shockingly no power- like none. She cannot sing one phrase in tune- she sounds like she has seriously damaged vocal cords and always sounds like she has a serious case of bronchitis.

Tori has lived a cushy and healthy lifestyle- private chef, organic foods, loves great wine but is by no means a drinker, she does not smoke.. So I don't know what happened, minus genetics and not taking care of her voice when she was younger (She would give INSANE live shows- just hardcore)

I truly don't know of another singer who's voice just disappeared in 5 years- especially a healthy person. (She did not tour for five years during Covid, etc)

It was clearly the vaccine, R51.

R51, that's bizarre. I better just revisit her old concerts on youtube.

It’s true about Tori, the voice has gone weak and thus her piano playing predominates more than it should. From 2 years ago…

Julian Lennon's deliberate attempt with "Now You're In Heaven" to sound *unlike* his father (unfortunate on every level).

It's a shitty song, too! Too bad for him.

Elton owns this thread. He’s now at the talk-singing phase.

Many of these singers are smokers, which takes a toll after decades. In Mariah’s case, she’s a heavy boozer.

I’m kind of impressed with my fave Stevie Nicks, her voice turned a bit harsher in tone with a much more limited range around ‘97-‘01, but in the quarter century since then she’s worked assiduously with vocal coaches to keep it from deteriorating further.

[Quote] Elton owns this thread. He’s now at the talk-singing phase.

There’s a recent rash of 1980’s icons who are doing their final tours—they all talk sing: Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, Elton John, Neil Diamond (granted, he spent his whole career doing that)

Then there's the Frankie Valli zombie tour

R58- I use Stevie as an example of someone with nearly NO range but TONS of power- her voice is still shockingly powerful.

(Whereas Tori above, has absolutely no power- its almost scary)

Stevie doesnt even need much of a range, she still can sing in tune and just drops the notes lower--Its crazy.

Agreed, R61. People who dislike her voice can argue that Stevie only has a nine-note range and can argue that she sounds goat-like, but at age 77 she wields what she's got left with a lot of power and precision.

Torta I don't even like Stevie anymore (I was the dude who instantly banned for days for saying she has a massive ego)

However, I stand by that- she is pushing 80!! And has a fucking powerful voice- The range doesnt even matter with her, her voice alone is so singular that she can still do well live-

That Tori example was a seriously good one to use as an example- Its horrible to see/witness as a fan. Her piano is playing is better than ever and a show in and of itself. But I cannot fathom the degradation.

She has some seriously obsessed fans (always have) and many of them still think she sounds great, while the other half of the fanbase think these people are nuts and Tori is unlistenable. Her fans are very similar to Stevie's in their dedication.

Bette Midler also doesn have much of a range but can be loud