She couldn’t have. She had left 10,000 maniacs and released her first solo album, Tiger Lily, before the advent of autotune. I think her voice just has an unusual timber, not to mention her odd diction too.
Sting has an unusual voice, or at least nobody sounds like him.
“His biggest influences included Skip James, Robert Johnson, Son House, Charley Patton, Tommy Johnson, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and Bukka White. James, in particular, was a highly exalted figure in Wilson’s personal music journey. In high school, Wilson studied James’ 1931 recordings with great ardor. Subsequently, Wilson began singing similar to James’ high pitch. Wilson eventually perfected the high tenor, for which he would become known.[7]”
Howlin' Wolf had a voice like no one else on Earth.And no one has named David Bowie…?
Also about Al Wilson, isn’t he the guy who located Son House and even showed him some guitar parts that he’d forgetten?
I’m a very big fan, but his voice doesn’t strike me as all that unusual (Annie Lennox and others seem similar to me in this regard). I’d call it an operatic voice, because it sounds (to me) like they’re very consciously trying to sing correctly.
I remember being very surprised and puzzled upon learning of Bowie’s collaboration with Bing Crosby. Makes more sense to me now (think “crooner”).
Here’s one that just came to mind, Al Green.
And what about Frank Sinatra? Instantly recognizable voice, flawless technique, and no one else sounds like him. There was a special on tv a while back where current popular recording artists were recruited to sing some of his songs and most of them were scared shitless at the prospect.
Victoria Williams
Gin Wigmore.
A couple not mentioned yet:
Katy Perry sounds like she is panting in her songs.
Susanna Hoffs, who also does not look her age by decades.
“Sang in chords” would by definition mean singing at least three tones simultaneously. Ondar, the Tuvan Throat Singer mentioned in Post 9, could in fact do this. It’s a strange and beautiful effect, but bear in mind that it does not sound like a normal singing voice with two overdubs.
You take that back, right now!! That woman (and her voice) is a treasure!!
{{deep breaths}}
Okay, I’m better now. I passionately love her singing, but I will admit she stays within a about a 5 note range most of the time.
Immediately bought Morticia Addams to mind. Which then bought to mind how old I am.
Régine Chassagne from the band Arcade Fire. It’s an odd falsetto.
standingwave, could you link to an example of Anderson singing the way you describe?
Genuinely curious, not snarking. I was a casual fan of early Jethro Tull (saw them live in 1969 and 1970, gradually lost interest after Thick As A Brick) and never noticed any unusual vocal characteristics, but obviously that doesn’t mean it wasn’t happening.
Sainkho Namtchylak
No one said Ringo Starr yet, can’t tote a tune in a bucket! Love him nevertheless!
Buffy St. Marie
Peter Bellamy
I loves me a weird voice.
I thought Mortcia’s sister Ophelia was the one who sang in two-part harmony (yes, I know Caroline Jones played both roles, but still).
Slim Whitman
Then, of course, there is Kermit the Frog.
I stand corrected. I’m just going by complaints at the time that she used a lot of “enhancements” to “correct” her voice. I admit to not knowing what people mean at the time, and in retrospect, just assumed they meant autotune. I guess they just mean her voice was tinkered with in the studio.
Then, there’s Marlene Dietrich. No one could sound so sexy singing off-key as she could. My gawd.
But the all-time winner has to be Allesandro Moreschi. As far as I know, he is the only Catholic Church castrato to have lived into the time of vocal recording, and committed his voice to wax-- or vinyl, whatever. He’s known as the “Last Castrato,” and he actually had a career in theater after rejecting the church in his adult life. I don’t know that he was the last male ever castrated for the sake of the church choir, but he apparently really was the last to die, so in that sense, he truly is the last castrato.
It should be noted, however, that there are “sopranists,” or adult men with intact genitals who sing soprano. They are rare, but they exist. Because the recordings of Moreschi are primative, they sound strange in a way that’s hard to separate from the voice of the man himself, but his voice sounds different from sopranists, who sound different still from women sopranos. I am on a laptop without a mouse, so it’s hard to create links, but both Moreschi and “sopranist” seem to have wiki pages.
So what is ‘falsetto’?