# Can You name Famous lead singers with a deep bass voice? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [March 21, 2018, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939 "2018-03-21T02:58:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/1 "2018-03-21T02:58:31Z")
How unusual is Trace Adkins career? He has a deep, gravelly bass voice. He is a very successful solo country artist. I can’t think of many basses with solo recording careers. Hoyt Axton had a bass voice and recorded a few hits. The other bass, I recall is the long, bearded guy in The Oakridge Boys. He isn’t the lead singer in that group. Rock celebrates soaring voices. Tom Scholz in Boston, Steven Tyler in Aerosmith, and Lou Gramm from Foreigner come to mind. Who am I overlooking? Name some bass singers with solo acts or that sing the lead in a band. Any genre. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/2 "2018-03-21T03:00:59Z")
Barry White. Would love to have heard him duet with Barry Gibb. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/3 "2018-03-21T03:03:57Z")
Brad Roberts of Crash Test Dummies? ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/4 "2018-03-21T03:04:10Z")
I’m musically inept and tone deaf. But, Stan Rogers? Is he a true bass? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/5 "2018-03-21T03:07:26Z")
Avi Kaplan’s got a solo act now that he left Pentatonix… they couldn’t let him sing the lead all the time because all the women kept getting pregnant. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/6 "2018-03-21T03:09:51Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Barry White. Would love to have heard him duet with Barry Gibb. Yep, Barry White’s bass has been the backdrop for a lot of romance. He had slipped my mind. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/7 "2018-03-21T03:10:36Z")
How 'bout the more modern successor to Barry White’s crown, [Gregory Porter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTMKjJpB7Uc)? He just did a tribute album of Nat King Cole tunes… tasty. And bass-y. Not as big, but Graham Central Station was founded and fronted by Larry Graham, the bass guy from Sly and the Family Stone (who sang “I’m gonna add some botttttom…”). [Here’s one example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3bq5kWry_k) of their live stuff… ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/8 "2018-03-21T03:13:58Z")
I’m not sure if they would officially be classified as “bass” voices, but Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and Scott Weiland (R.I.P.) of the Stone Temple Pilots both sang with lower voices than are typically heard in rock music. Also, Leonard Cohen. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/9 "2018-03-21T03:16:21Z")
I suppose we should consider Johnny Cash… ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/10 "2018-03-21T03:21:27Z")
[J.D. Sumner](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD8gL063qH8&t=127s). His lowest note (G0) wasn’t so much a tone as it was a vibration. Compared to him, [Tennessee Ernie Ford](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joo90ZWrUkU&t=41s) was a boy soprano. Try country gospel music. [Those people love the bass](https://youtu.be/35FILs1qiVA?t=48)… ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/11 "2018-03-21T03:25:45Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I suppose we should consider Johnny Cash… Johnny got lower later in his career. He was probably always considered a bass. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/12 "2018-03-21T03:27:27Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > [J.D. Sumner](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD8gL063qH8&t=127s). His lowest note (G0) wasn’t so much a tone as it was a vibration. Sounds like a Tuvan throat-singing record played at half speed. ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/13 "2018-03-21T03:33:52Z")
How about Leonard Cohen? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/14 "2018-03-21T03:36:13Z")
Mark Knopfler is rather rumbly. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/15 "2018-03-21T03:36:30Z")
Paul Robeson. [Ole Man River](https://youtu.be/yyJtGNk9iEU) Melvin Franklin (of The Temptations) [Ole Man River](https://youtu.be/0T7TgNdN8k8?t=1m39s) ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/16 "2018-03-21T03:44:00Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Avi Kaplan’s got a solo act now that he left Pentatonix… they couldn’t let him sing the lead all the time because all the women kept getting pregnant. Not to mention the speakers blowing out. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/17 "2018-03-21T03:45:21Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Rock celebrates soaring voices. Tom Scholz in Boston Tom Scholz doesn’t sing. Bradley Delp did, and they’ve used other counter-tenors who could hit operatic-soprano notes since his death. Ian Curtis of Joy Division wasn’t well known on this side of the pond, but he definitely had a bass voice. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/18 "2018-03-21T03:58:06Z")
Tom Waits? Also Big John Wallace when he sang on Mr Tanner by Harry Chapin. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/19 "2018-03-21T04:23:32Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Tom Waits? You’re being too kind. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939/20 "2018-03-21T04:48:47Z")
Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers. Louis Armstrong. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-famous-lead-singers-with-a-deep-bass-voice/810939.md?page=2)