# Blackest sounding white singer and whitest sounding black singer **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335 "2006-10-21T14:39:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/41 "2006-10-23T22:50:15Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] No, Jack Sheldon is correct. Dorough (“3 is a Magic Number”, “Lucky Seven Samson”) has a much softer voice. You can hear them singing together on “The Body Machine” number, and the difference is pretty obvious. [/QUOTE] Hmm. When I saw Bob Dorough live, he performed all those songs. I’ll have to check with my friend who saw him with me, see if I’m crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/42 "2006-10-23T22:57:16Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Hmm. When I saw Bob Dorough live, he performed all those songs. I’ll have to check with my friend who saw him with me, see if I’m crazy. [/QUOTE] Well, you could save yourself some trouble and click on either one of the links I so thoughtfully provided above. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/43 "2006-10-23T22:57:46Z")
He wrote a lot of the SR songs, even if he didn’t sing them. [This](http://www.school-house-rock.com/wav/0.wav) is Dorough. [This](http://www.school-house-rock.com/wav/pro.wav) is Sheldon. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/44 "2006-10-23T23:10:05Z")
Who was that white guy who appeared on _American Idol_ that sounded exactly like a black diva? I always thought he should make some recordings under a pseudonym and release them with CD covers showing a variety of black female models, because he really did sound good. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/45 "2006-10-23T23:15:58Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] He wrote a lot of the SR songs, even if he didn’t sing them. [This](http://www.school-house-rock.com/wav/0.wav) is Dorough. [This](http://www.school-house-rock.com/wav/pro.wav) is Sheldon. [/QUOTE] Warning: links are one-click links to soundfiles. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/46 "2006-10-23T23:28:58Z")
Rick Astley doesn’t sound black. he sounds like Kylie Minogue on testosterone. Don’t believe me? [Here](http://www.gurman.co.uk/stuff/kylieastley.mp3) is a brief clip of Kylie, with the pitch dropped by a little over an octave. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/47 "2006-10-23T23:31:46Z")
Somebody, I don’t remember who\*, said that Van Morrison was the blackest sounding white guy he’d heard. Maybe not compared to some people listed here, but worth adding. Also, a singer named Tim Hockenberry sounds like he could be black, but it’s probably just the cigarettes. \*: I keep thinking it was Smokey Robinson… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/48 "2006-10-23T23:37:53Z")
BTW, doing the Minogue/Astley conversion [the other way around](http://www.gurman.co.uk/stuff/rickminogue.mp3) is slightly less convincing, but still interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/49 "2006-10-23T23:55:02Z")
I’ve read critics who say that Gregg Allman sounds black. I know what he looks like, so I don’t know how to judge that. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/50 "2006-10-24T00:00:44Z")
The [Jack Sheldon](http://www.jacksheldon.com/school.htm) website confirms that he was the singer on “Conjunction Junction” and “I’m Just a Bill”. The older ones among us will remember him as the trumpet player on _The Merv Griffin Show_, and starring in his own '60s television series, _Run, Buddy, Run_. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/51 "2006-10-24T00:13:20Z")
No one here is under any obligation whatever to have ever heard of Chuck Richards, but he was, during the mid 1930s, the ballad singer with the pioneering Black swing group the Mills Blue Rhythm Band. A Black man himself, he sounded a good deal Whiter than even many White singers of the day. Click on [the first 2 cuts on this page](http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:1934-1936:1921171186) to hear Chuck. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/52 "2006-10-24T02:08:34Z")
I always kinda assumed that Chris Farlowe was black. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/53 "2006-10-24T02:38:15Z")
When Tom Jones first came out, a lot of folks were surprised that he was white. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/54 "2006-10-24T03:12:00Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Um, yeah, if by “Jack Sheldon” you mean “[Bob Dorough.](http://bobdorough.com)” [/QUOTE] No, Bob Dorough sounds more like a cowboy. Jack Sheldon sounds black. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/55 "2006-10-24T07:46:54Z")
[QUOTE=Rysdad] When Tom Jones first **came out** , a lot of folks were surprised that he was white. [/QUOTE] Wait - Tom Jones is gay? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/56 "2006-10-24T10:27:16Z")
I think Michael Jackson is one or the other. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/57 "2006-10-24T11:04:52Z")
Dusty Springfield was the blackest sounding white singer and the whitest sounding white singer all in one! Johnny Nash always sounded pretty white. mm ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/58 "2006-10-24T13:11:14Z")
[QUOTE=mamboman] Johnny Nash always sounded pretty white. [/QUOTE] He sounded pretty female! I always knew, for instance, that Frankie Valli was a guy with his balls in a vice, but Nash’s falsetto is so clean and pure it sounded totally like a woman to me when I was a kid. I was dumbfounded when I found out “I Can See Clearly Now” was sung by a man ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/59 "2006-10-25T13:54:18Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] BTW, doing the Minogue/Astley conversion [the other way around](http://www.gurman.co.uk/stuff/rickminogue.mp3) is slightly less convincing, but still interesting. [/QUOTE] That was awesome! ---
**Author:** ![priapus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@priapus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/priapus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335/60 "2006-10-25T22:19:24Z")
Baby Rosemarie.Who dat? When she was young,she had a kickass jazzy voice.When she grew up,she ended up on the Dick Van Dyke Show [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackest-sounding-white-singer-and-whitest-sounding-black-singer/377335.md?page=4)