Subject line pretty much says it. Name a singer you’ve heard whose voice is…unusual. Not necessarily in range or skill, but in sound.
Brad Roberts from Crash Test Dummies comes to mind. The standard claim is that he’s got a low voice. Really it’s not that low, but it has an unusual timbre to it, an odd sort of clarity that makes it feel somehow lower than its actual fundamental frequency.
And there’s Lisa Gerrard. If you’ve seen the movie Gladiator or listened to Dead Can Dance, then you’ve heard her voice. I’m not even sure how to describe it, as her style and vocal quality seem to range from tribal chant to primal/guttural growl to operetta.
I only knew her from the song “Lovin’ you (is easy 'cause you’re beautiful)”, which seemed like kind of a joke at the time. But she had a five octave vocal range. You get a bit of that in that vocal glissando she does in Lovin’ you, but apparently it’s not representative – she could actually sing in all those registers. She tragically died at 31 in 1979 due to breast cancer that metastasized. I’m curious now to hear more of her work
Willie Nelson. Not that he actually sings anymore. His concerts resemble a “William Shatner tribute to Willie Nelson” more and more, although his singing always had a kind of unique spoken-word quality to it.
