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Singers who can't really sing anymore

bobbyss

...and who should not be performing again.

Mary Black- Superb singer. Loved her voice. Now it is gone. Sad.

Elton John- Embarrassing now.

Paul Brady. Lovely voice but again not anymore.

Bob Geldof- Haven't heard him in ages but considering he hadn't a note in his head anyway then hopefully that's it with him.

It is really cringe to listen to these folks at this stage.

Anyone else who it really is sad to see can't do it anymore and who should stop?

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tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975412#Comment_120975412

You think I’m listening to two hours of that gimp

Blue850

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120977979#Comment_120977979

But he can make that guitar cry and sing.....

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058308932/singers-who-cant-really-sing-anymore

It is not about singing nor getting new fans, it’s about reliving the good times for the singers and the fans…. Nobody really cares what the young people etc think. It’s just part of growing old.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120978721#Comment_120978721

Even in his heyday his voice wasn’t great

Sgt Hartman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120966410#Comment_120966410

Sumner could never sing and his predecessor Ian Curtis wasn't that much better tbf but there's something really unique about their voices. I could listen to New Order and old Joy Division stuff all day.

briany

David Lee Roth.

It might be that he can still sing, but the original keys appear to be out of his range now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8RB6a0cHkU

trashcan

Id give McCartney a huge pass. The guy is over 80 years old ffs, with one of the greatest voices around up to fairly recently. At Glastonbury last year I thought he wasn’t anywhere near as bad as people made out. I thought he did a decent enough job, all things considered.

I was a huge Elvis Costello fan for years, but the last gig I watched of him on YouTube I was genuinely shocked. It was just him with guitar/piano and his voice sounded well gone. On the flip side, Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze still has an incredible voice. He must be mid to late 6O’s.

Maynis

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120966377#Comment_120966377

Agreed - Saw him earlier this year and his voice was as crisp as listening to his 80's songs on the radio

Maynis

Kylie's summer song 'Padam' is very good and catchy, but her voice is so auto-tuned that it could be almost anyone in the world 'singing' it. I doubt Kyle sounds as good without the technology. It's an easy way to use legacy/aging big names to make money, even if their voices are fading.

the 12 th man

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120980340#Comment_120980340

And she's always been double or treble tracked throughout her career.

padd b1975

Elton would be ok if he dropped that annoying habit of singing only the first syllable of every word.

Ardillaun

What we’re lamenting here are singers who can’t sing like they used to, however that was, although I preferred the late Leonard Cohen with the deeper voice and the back-up singers. I imagine performers with conventionally melodic voices and vibrato are more likely to deteriorate significantly over the decades than those with, let’s say, a huskier delivery?

Strumms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOi_wxypeGc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPy3mJ8soGY

John Martyn, ok he’s dead but the change is his voice over time was incredible… towards the end of his life, I was at his last ever gig, he was quite obviously not well, dying in fact, chronic alcoholic and had part of his leg amputated…. played good guitar but sounded very poor. This was another gig around that time… ^^^. Difference is staggeringly obvious..

bnt

From what I saw of Glastonbury, I thought Elton John was better than he's been in years. Maybe his voice had a good rest & care.

We expect singers to lose some range as they get older, and you can tell by the number of bands who transposing whole songs down. When Led Zeppelin reunited back in 2007, the whole set was like that. John Paul Jones even had a new bass made with a longer neck, just to handle the lower tuning properly.

There have been a few cases from the progressive rock world. Phil Collins made a rod for his own back with the way he sang in the studio, and struggled to recreate that live. On last year's tour he was a wreck overall, not just his voice - he could barely walk after years of abusing his back while drumming. Geddy Lee of Rush was tough on the last tours, not just range but also struggling to control his voice.

The canonical example, though, has to be James LaBrie of Dream Theater. He was among the very best when he joined the band around 1991, replacing another very good singer. In recent years, though, he's struggled, and the story I heard was that he permanently damaged his vocal cords from throwing up while ill. Every recent YT video has seen calls for him to be replaced, but I don't think the band wants to treat him the way Yes treated Jon Anderson: kicked him out while he was ill, but has since fully recovered and (as mentioned) is going strong at 79.

chalkitdown1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120979888#Comment_120979888

He mostly just talks his way through his songs, rather than sing. Has done so for years.

Frank Cruckey

Mary Black can't really sing anymore. Which is a great shame. I have several of her albums which I occasionally enjoy. But she can't sing anything like what she used too. And hasn't been able to for many years. She has an "exhausted" sound to her voice. Surely she knows it? Has no one told her? Sorry Mary. It's time to hang up your headphones and bask in former glory rather than embarrass yourself.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120966056#Comment_120966056

Saw Bonnie Tyler at Forever Young festival in 2019, she was great!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120980261#Comment_120980261

That's a bit worrying as I have tickets to see EC this summer, I know he had health issues so hopefully he's singing better now.

Pistachio19

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121906512#Comment_121906512

I saw her on the LLS a couple of years ago and thought the same. As a big fan, it was hard to hear her voice sounding strained. However I have been to 2 of her gigs since then and she didn't disappoint. I was pleasantly surprised.

Strumms

Saw Liam Gallagher with John Squire in a few YouTube clips doing live stuff from a few nights back …I have to say the band sounded magnificent and Squire still sounds deadly playing….but Gallagher is having real difficulty hitting any of the notes at the upper end of his range, voice just cracking or cutting out and frequently very off key during other parts. Yes his style is very different, individual, shouty, punky, aggressive etc but saw Oasis here and abroad and he was always spot on…. Lads played the Olympia a couple of nights ago and from audience clips on YouTube I’d have been raging if I’d paid to listen to him,

saw Oasis in Paris back in 2002 I think, gig was broadcast on the radio have an FM bootleg somewhere…. Guy was sublime, really good….zero comparison between then and now…. Wouldn’t even call him a pub singer now. 30 years smoking, drinking and singing….

lumphammer2

First to come to mind is Mary Black .... she used to be a great singer but heard her a few times recently and she is nowhere as good as what she was .... to a lesser extent Sandy Kelly is another example ...

~Rebel~

Went to see Jethro Tull a few months ago - poor auld Ian Anderson really struggles singing now. Still plays the hell out of a flute though!

bassy

Shane McGowan

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121911239#Comment_121911239

The "can't sing anymore because they're dead" "joke" has been done already.

KevMayo88

Bonnie Tyler- she just can't do Total Eclipse of the Heart anymore.

briany

Almost all rock singers have lost their voices because typical rock singing is a technically incorrect way to sing, i.e. it uses the nasal cavity a lot and that's subject to breakdown.

On the other hand, someone like Bruce Dickenson, who uses an atypical technique for rock, i.e. singing from the diaphragm, the voice has held up very well.

Esel

Nasal cavity breakdown, you say... 😉

pappyodaniel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120988837#Comment_120988837

John Martyn had this odd thing where sometimes he spoke with a thick Glaswegian accent and other times he had a cockney accent.

Queen-Mise

Blondie's voice is gone. I saw her at EP a few years ago, and TBH it was sad rather than in anyway enjoyable.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121919977#Comment_121919977

Debbie Harry, she has spent her entire career pointing out that she is not Blondie; she is a member of Blondie.

Say Your Number

I remember seeing a clip of Blondie performing live on YouTube a few years ago, yeah her voice is shot unfortunately.

On the other hand saw Rob Halford last week, maybe not as good as his peak but still plenty of power for a 72 year old.