# Do singers know when they shouldn't? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [January 2, 2025, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502 "2025-01-02T22:48:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502/21 "2025-01-03T23:43:51Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I saw the Three Tenors singing “New York, New York” once. Their style was completely inappropriate for the song – too much power one a song that should be smooth. Oh, gawd, that reminds me of the two-CD disk set of Pavarotti’s “greatest hits” I acquired as a reward for a public radio donation. Disc one was all opera arias, and glorious. Disc two [shudder] was Pavarotti trying, and failing embarrassingly, to sing duets with various pop singers, or do solos of pop songs. I struggled through it once and could never listen to it again. Why he did it, more than once, I cannot fathom. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502/22 "2025-01-03T23:56:16Z")
Thinking further about this, I recall attending a performance of the [musical Ain’t Misbehavin’](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ain%27t_Misbehavin%27_(musical)) in Boston decades ago. I don’t recall who performed, but I do recall one of the women started singing and I knew immediately she’d had voice training suitable for opera; another was an Aretha-style belter – and both were brilliant, each in her own style. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502/23 "2025-01-03T23:56:44Z")
Willie Nelson did all those duets. But you know Willie, he basically did his own thing while they sang around him. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502/24 "2025-01-04T00:06:03Z")
You never know. My favorite version of “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails was sung by Johnny Cash. Though to be fair, even the original sung by Trent Reznor wasn’t your standard NIN song in the first place. Most NIN songs I’m familiar with tend to be fast-paced, with heavy industrial/techno instrumentals and a fair amount of screaming. Hurt is slow and mournful, and was just right for Cash. I wonder how he would have performed “Down In It”… ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502/25 "2025-01-04T00:10:29Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > If we are mentioning instrumentalists you can’t leave out Wynton Marsalis. He’s the only musician to win a Grammy in the classical and jazz categories in the same year. The only criticism Marsalis gets from some quarters is for his jazz playing. He was classically trained at Juilliard, but comes from a strong jazz family background. I think he does a pretty good job in both genres. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502/26 "2025-01-04T01:49:17Z")
my guesstimate: they mostly know, but sometimes there is the concept of size-of-the-prize …(prize might be new audience if things work out) I cringe looking back at the 80ies duett’s craze … anybody remember: **Perhaps Love** with John Denver and Pavarotti? only surpassed by the Jagger/Bowie freakshow (“_southameeeereeeca_”) … and a couple of really sad McCartney/Jackson colabs (_I told you I am a lover, not a fighter_) there are some interesting approaches that mostly work (if listened to it for what it is) Carla Bruni singing AC/DC www.yo [utube.com/watch?v=xFTBzRUxSGQ](http://utube.com/watch?v=xFTBzRUxSGQ) (delete blank) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502/27 "2025-01-04T02:05:56Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > > [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > > > I think Celine Dion covering AC/DC may have been a misstep > > Also Pat Boone trying on heavy metal. Or Fred Astaire attempting disco: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/zZw3Ulpqv54/maxresdefault.jpg "Attitude Dancing") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZw3Ulpqv54) ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502/28 "2025-01-04T02:26:16Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > anybody remember: **Perhaps Love** with John Denver and Pavarotti? It was Placido Domingo, not Pavarotti. I kind of liked it. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502/29 "2025-01-04T03:07:34Z")
never mind ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502/30 "2025-01-04T03:25:32Z")
Oh, Fred honey, no 😟 ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502/31 "2025-01-04T07:58:41Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > But would he have been good at, say, Jerry Lee Lewis-style rock and roll? He would have dispatched the note runs in his sleep but I doubt the result would have been “in style”. ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502/32 "2025-01-04T08:20:30Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > > [@Tibby](#): > > > > Here’s Yuja Wang, one of the finest living classical concert pianists, dipping her [toes into jazz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr9mwqHyvGs). I don’t think there’s anything she can’t play insanely well. > > If we are mentioning instrumentalists you can’t leave out Wynton Marsalis. He’s the only musician to win a Grammy in the classical and jazz categories in the same year. Yes to both. I’d also mention **Khatia Buniatishvili** , another of today’s great pianists, who’s equally at ease in some of the most virtuosic piano concertos in the repertoire (Rachmaninov, Liszt, Grieg) as in [a jazzified version of a French classic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPICcSvTRv8), [or in Gershwin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U-IXWaapx4). ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2025, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502/33 "2025-01-04T13:28:44Z")
Great performance! Like Yuja Wang, Khatia Buniatishvili is a top-tier, world-class pianist—and they each bring their own distinct flavors. Khatia’s style often has a sultry, sensual warmth, while Yuja’s style crackles with high-octane energy and jaw-dropping precision. Personally—I love them both. Here’s Yuja’s take on [‘Rhapsody in Blue,’](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce3OERuCY0E) which is one of my favorite pieces. A perfect fusion of classical and jazz. ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502/34 "2025-01-05T08:53:15Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > Great performance! Like Yuja Wang, Khatia Buniatishvili is a top-tier, world-class pianist—and they each bring their own distinct flavors. Well, then you’ll like seeing them [play](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARCs5BOeCpA) [together](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGShwX3krds). ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502/35 "2025-01-07T01:03:29Z")
I find that Michael Buble’s autotuned voice isn’t well-suited to the older jazz style of a lot of the music he sings. His natural voice would probably be better for it. I find that autotune-voice in that style of music sounds jarring. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502/36 "2025-01-07T02:58:54Z")
Jazz singers live for subtle imperfections—like a leaning into a bent note or a gritty rasp that adds color and raw emotion. I think adding autotune to the mix would airbrush out the color and leave something too polished and lifeless. Jazz shouldn’t chase perfection. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-singers-know-when-they-shouldnt/1012502.md?page=1)