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Singers Who Lost Their Voices

shortfallshortfall Posts: 3,288
edited November 2018 in The cake stop
This is actually a bit sad for those involved but there's plenty of artists touring their back catalogue who not only can't sing anymore but who are actually tragically bad. I guess they must need the money which makes it all the more embarrassing. I'll set the ball rolling by linking to Paul Young absolutely mullering his most famous hit Wherever I Lay My Hat. The singing starts at about 55 seconds.

https://youtu.be/2rnqT15SFHA
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  • robertpbrobertpb Posts: 1,866
    That sounds much better in mute.
    Paul McCartney sets my teeth on edge.
    Now where's that "Get Out of Crash Free Card"
  • ex-pat scotex-pat scot Posts: 939
    Possibly not quite the same genre - but Julie Andrews. She has to "talk sing" nowadays.
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  • mrfpbmrfpb Posts: 4,561
    Maybe you're too young to remember, but Julie Andrews losing her singing voice following a throat op was a big news story in 1997, and led to a legal battle and an undisclosed out of court settlement.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/mor ... 85b7762d1a
  • verylonglegsverylonglegs Posts: 3,768
    robertpb wrote:
    That sounds much better in mute.
    Paul McCartney sets my teeth on edge.

    I read the opening post earlier and that was the first name that came to my mind. Mainly because I read the other day he is rumoured to be a Glastonbury headliner next year which really did surprise me. If I'd purchased a ticket and that turned out to be true I wouldn't be wasting my weekend at the stage when he was on.
  • sniper68sniper68 Posts: 2,910
    Rod Stewart.
    He sounds awful on recordings god knows how bad he is live.An old work mate and his missus used to watch him every time he toured.He went to see him in 2004/5 and said never again his voice has gone....yet he's still touring now :roll:
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  • DeVlaeminckDeVlaeminck Posts: 8,354
    Paul Weller - it isn't as weak as Paul Young and Rod Stewart but it's turned into a really harsh screech.
    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]
  • shortfallshortfall Posts: 3,288
    Check out Meatloaf. This would be too funny if it wasn't so sad. Dreadful.
    https://youtu.be/XZdiaFXW2U8
  • mr_goomr_goo Posts: 3,770
    Ian Gillan - Deep Purple
    Bruce Dickinson - Iron Maiden
    Rob Halford - Judas Priest
    Ozzy Osborne - ex Black Sabbath now 'solo'
    Joe Elliott - Def Leppard
    Robert Plant - ex Led Zeppelin now 'solo'

    All shadows of their former vocal talents yet still performing and raking in the cash on lucrative tours.
    Decades of belting out rock songs does have a price to pay. I'd certainly never pay money to see Deep Purple now, Gillans voice is now awful.
    Always be yourself, unless you can be Aaron Rodgers....Then always be Aaron Rodgers.
  • orraloonorraloon Posts: 11,431
    Cher. With that bleepin' vocoder (as whinged about trivially before). All over the radio the now, roundly abusing ABBA songs and messing with my memories of Agnetha.

    Mind you, did she ever have a voice to lose in the first place?
  • orraloonorraloon Posts: 11,431
    Shortfall wrote:
    Check out Meatloaf. This would be too funny if it wasn't so sad. Dreadful.
    https://youtu.be/XZdiaFXW2U8
    My missus went to see Meatloaf, must have been c. 15 years ago. Walked out before the end. Dreadful indeed.
  • shortfallshortfall Posts: 3,288
    Mr Goo wrote:
    Ian Gillan - Deep Purple
    Bruce Dickinson - Iron Maiden
    Rob Halford - Judas Priest
    Ozzy Osborne - ex Black Sabbath now 'solo'
    Joe Elliott - Def Leppard
    Robert Plant - ex Led Zeppelin now 'solo'

    All shadows of their former vocal talents yet still performing and raking in the cash on lucrative tours.
    Decades of belting out rock songs does have a price to pay. I'd certainly never pay money to see Deep Purple now, Gillans voice is now awful.

    Ozzy just shuffles around the stage muttering "Come on!" Or "Rock n roll yeah!". To be fair it's a miracle he's still alive let alone performing.
  • awaveyawavey Posts: 2,368
    Id say Kylie, but Im not convinced she had a singers voice to lose in the first place, autotune has a lot to answer for.

    I did see Justin Haywood must have been 10 years ago now, and he just couldnt hit the high notes anymore,yet he's still touring somehow

    and Belinda Carlisle tends to growl her songs more than sing now
  • joe_totale-2joe_totale-2 Posts: 1,333
    Ian Brown and Wayne Coyne from the Flaming Lips spring to mind. Not sure Ian Brown ever had a voice outside of the studio though...
  • cooldadcooldad Posts: 32,599
    A much shorter list would be who hasn't?

    Like a list of zero.
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  • pblakeneypblakeney Posts: 22,378
    Shane MacGowan.
    Never had one! :lol:
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  • ProssPross Posts: 35,514
    I took part in a concert last year that was organised by a guy who had played the lead role in most of the big musicals worldwide. Not a household name but it was embarrassing listening to him performing with amateur choirs and groups of kids and being the worst singer on stage. I guess a lot of these ageing rock / pop singers just never kept enough back for their later years and so have to keep going or they just miss the buzz to the extent they don't care if they are embarrassing themselves.

    As for those who literally lost their voices there is Art Garfunkel as well.
  • hommelbierhommelbier Posts: 1,546
    Linda Ronstadt, one of the best singers of her generation (one of her backing bands evolved into the Eagles).

    In 2014 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Still listening to her songs today.

    Due to Parkinson’s disease (since 2013) she can no longer sing.
  • bonk_kingbonk_king Posts: 203
    DeVlaeminck wrote:
    Paul Weller - it isn't as weak as Paul Young and Rod Stewart but it's turned into a really harsh screech.

    I totally agree with this but i'll take it further and say he's never been a good singer.
  • bianchimoonbianchimoon Posts: 3,942
    Pross wrote:
    As for those who literally lost their voices there is Art Garfunkel as well.
    To be fair he set a high bar, on a hiding to nothing after the age age of Forty or so, after the concert in Central Park it was a slow decline
    All lies and jest..still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest....
  • bianchimoonbianchimoon Posts: 3,942
    hommelbier wrote:
    Linda Ronstadt, one of the best singers of her generation (one of her backing bands evolved into the Eagles).

    In 2014 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Still listening to her songs today.

    Due to Parkinson’s disease (since 2013) she can no longer sing.
    Life can be cruel :(
    All lies and jest..still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest....
  • DeVlaeminckDeVlaeminck Posts: 8,354
    bonk king wrote:
    DeVlaeminck wrote:
    Paul Weller - it isn't as weak as Paul Young and Rod Stewart but it's turned into a really harsh screech.

    I totally agree with this but i'll take it further and say he's never been a good singer.

    I suppose it depends what you like, I always thought he was pretty good, saw him several times in the 80s and 90s and his output with the Style Council and early solo stuff would have been beyond a poor singer.

    If you want a really poor singer that still made it I'd agree with the suggestion of Ian Brown and Chuck in Damon Albarn.
    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]
  • hopkinbhopkinb Posts: 7,129
    Mr Goo wrote:
    Bruce Dickinson - Iron Maiden

    shadows of their former vocal talents yet still performing and raking in the cash on lucrative tours.

    I saw Iron Maiden in August - Dickinson can still belt it out in the style of a hyperactive air raid siren. I've seen them half a dozen or so times since 1986, and there's no noticeable decline for my ears, though that could be my hearing.
  • bianchimoonbianchimoon Posts: 3,942
    Saw Carole king on tv recently in concert, her voice has held up quiet well
    All lies and jest..still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest....
  • pblakeneypblakeney Posts: 22,378
    Appropriate typo.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • timothywtimothyw Posts: 2,482
    This one gets me every time - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-0CS-T1HUQ

    Not entirely on topic.
  • mrb123mrb123 Posts: 4,091
    Someone bought me one of the recent Bob Dylan albums (Shadows in the Night) which is absolutely awful. Obviously he was never Pavarotti but this was painful to listen to.
  • haydenmhaydenm Posts: 2,997
    Worth remembering that pretty much everyone can sing, it just depends if they are singing appropriate material for their style of voice...

    Something written for a young 80s ballad singer may not work for a 60 year old version of that person, unfortunately fans want to hear the hits
  • shortfallshortfall Posts: 3,288
    MrB123 wrote:
    Someone bought me one of the recent Bob Dylan albums (Shadows in the Night) which is absolutely awful. Obviously he was never Pavarotti but this was painful to listen to.

    Think it was Andy Kershaw who commented after seeing Bob Dylan murder his own hits, that he was so bad that he'd only come eighth in a Bob Dylan impression competition. Having said that, Dylan was never really about the voice so much as the message.
  • eric_draveneric_draven Posts: 1,192
    Mr Goo wrote:
    Robert Plant - ex Led Zeppelin now 'solo'
    I saw Robert Plant about 4 years ago and I thought he sounded pretty good live,but I never got Led Zeppelin live as of being to young

    I did see Marianne Faithful on Jools Holland quite a few years ago,and was cringing and her begging her to stop
  • pblakeneypblakeney Posts: 22,378
    Shortfall wrote:
    MrB123 wrote:
    Someone bought me one of the recent Bob Dylan albums (Shadows in the Night) which is absolutely awful. Obviously he was never Pavarotti but this was painful to listen to.

    Think it was Andy Kershaw who commented after seeing Bob Dylan murder his own hits, that he was so bad that he'd only come eighth in a Bob Dylan impression competition. Having said that, Dylan was never really about the voice so much as the message.
    I saw Bob play a pre tour warm up gig in a small venue 28 years ago. He was sheeite.
    The Black Crowes as support were much, much better.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
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