# Do any contemorary popular artists have the vocal range of Jay Black of "Jay and the Americans"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-contemorary-popular-artists-have-the-vocal-range-of-jay-black-of-jay-and-the-americans/613802 "2012-02-24T03:29:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-contemorary-popular-artists-have-the-vocal-range-of-jay-black-of-jay-and-the-americans/613802/1 "2012-02-24T03:29:36Z")
Here he is singing [“Cara Mia”.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jm4p_HCwKA) Any male popular artists with that range singing today? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-contemorary-popular-artists-have-the-vocal-range-of-jay-black-of-jay-and-the-americans/613802/2 "2012-02-24T04:14:08Z")
Not that I know of. Jay Black was a mutant. I once heard him sing that song live, and he held the note (starts at 1:45) for at least twice as long, and drop right back into the song without a pause. ---
**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:** [February 24, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-contemorary-popular-artists-have-the-vocal-range-of-jay-black-of-jay-and-the-americans/613802/3 "2012-02-24T05:03:48Z")
Weird… I _ **just** _ listened to that song while I got my hair cut yesterday (and it fit the ambiance; salon was decorated in 1962 and never “updated”). ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-contemorary-popular-artists-have-the-vocal-range-of-jay-black-of-jay-and-the-americans/613802/4 "2012-02-24T06:43:18Z")
He shifts into falsetto for that octave, but I’m not sure many American Idol contestants would know what I mean, much less how to do it effectively. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-contemorary-popular-artists-have-the-vocal-range-of-jay-black-of-jay-and-the-americans/613802/5 "2012-02-24T06:51:32Z")
ETA: Except I was listening but not writing; ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-contemorary-popular-artists-have-the-vocal-range-of-jay-black-of-jay-and-the-americans/613802/6 "2012-02-24T13:03:56Z")
I had not heard that. That was schmaltz-errific; what a vocal talent. His vocal style is more grounded in opera-ish techniques than your average rock/pop performer, but from a range/vocal quality standpoint a few guys that have similarly high-quality voices today could include **Bruno Mars** , \*\*Jim James \*_of My Morning Jacket_, \*\*Colin Melloy \*\*of The Decemberists (who sounds like a prog John Denver to me) and **Prince** …oh, and \*\*Thom Yorke \*\*of Radiohead, easily. ETA: And what about that flamboyant American Idol guy - Adam Lambert? \*I really need to listen to more of MMJ; I only know snippets. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-contemorary-popular-artists-have-the-vocal-range-of-jay-black-of-jay-and-the-americans/613802/7 "2012-02-24T13:28:39Z")
Prince - [How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=14805777). I love Alicia Keys’ cover, but her version doesn’t compare to the original B-side here. Simple piano accompaniment, a bit of echo on the vocal at key spots. Bam. It ain’t operatic, and in this song, he stays mostly in falsetto, but his vocal technique and fluid range are just amazing. I love the stretch from about 1:40 or so, the second verse - “I stilllllllll like it better when you’re holding me tight.” ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-contemorary-popular-artists-have-the-vocal-range-of-jay-black-of-jay-and-the-americans/613802/8 "2012-02-24T13:30:37Z")
That’s just a very high, controlled falsetto. Lots of people can do that - I know a countertenor who can still go baritone - but maybe not so many these days in contemporary music. Freddie Mercury perhaps. And he’s got the most amazing successor - if you’ve never heard him before, you have _got_ to watch this: [Marc Martel](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPhkfk8EBsI) doing _Somebody to Love_. Here’s him talking about singing, falsetto, and doing [Nessun Dorma](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNMZfFPLoKg) explaning that he’s tuned it down a semitone so he doesn’t have to use falsetto. ---
**Author:** ![Stormcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@Stormcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stormcrow)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-contemorary-popular-artists-have-the-vocal-range-of-jay-black-of-jay-and-the-americans/613802/9 "2012-02-24T13:49:21Z")
How about Justin Hawkins from The Darkness - best exemplified by “I Believe in a Thing Called Love”? [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sRYNYb30nxU/hqdefault.jpg "The Darkness - I Believe In A Thing Called Love") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRYNYb30nxU) ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-contemorary-popular-artists-have-the-vocal-range-of-jay-black-of-jay-and-the-americans/613802/10 "2012-02-25T03:28:08Z")
No longer with us, not as operatic, but [Gene Pitney](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGfvSPLqYFs) had some range. ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-contemorary-popular-artists-have-the-vocal-range-of-jay-black-of-jay-and-the-americans/613802/11 "2012-02-25T03:51:50Z")
[The Range Place](http://therangeplace.forummotion.com/) is an entire forum dedicated to discussion of singers’ vocal ranges you might check out. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-contemorary-popular-artists-have-the-vocal-range-of-jay-black-of-jay-and-the-americans/613802/12 "2012-02-25T05:04:09Z")
Honestly, I would argue that his range isn’t really that special. he’s got a mid C\* in falsetto, and a G in full voice, and only goes down to E an octave below that G. Even with the falsetto, that’s not even a two octave range, which is the norm for most singers, I believe. \*It’s the tenor high C, but for falsetto high C usually means the octave above that, i.e., the soprano high C. ---
**Author:** ![ussclaudejones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d9b06d/32.png) [@ussclaudejones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ussclaudejones)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-contemorary-popular-artists-have-the-vocal-range-of-jay-black-of-jay-and-the-americans/613802/13 "2015-07-12T23:37:16Z")
Been looking at a few of the comments and I notice someone mentioned Jay Black goes into a falsetto for part of Cara Mia. And that a lot of singers can do that and for the most that’s true. But to do it as good as him is something else! But if you wanna hear someone who doesn’t go into a falsetto, listen to Gene Pitney’s version of Cara Mia! But getting back to Jay Black, he simply has a great voice no matter what! Wayne Arthur