# "That was a guy singing?!" wrong calls on singers' genders thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 27, 2007, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808 "2007-04-27T00:43:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/41 "2007-04-27T14:00:03Z")
I thought the lead singer of Sigur Rós was female for quite awhile. I was actually rather disappointed to learn that the ethereally voiced singer wasn’t a hot Viking blonde. 😉 Okay, in my mind, I still pretend the singer is anyhow… ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/42 "2007-04-27T14:11:35Z")
[QUOTE=An Arky] That dude from **Coheed and Cambria** sounds like a little girl, but looks like an ape from Planet of the Apes. Talk about your cognitive dissonance! [/QUOTE] What he sounds _exactly_ like, to me at least, is Geddy Lee. Oh, wait. 🙂 The first 500 times I heard **Nazareth** ’s “Love Hurts,” I thought it was **Heart**. ---
**Author:** ![Smitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Smitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smitty)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/43 "2007-04-27T14:35:23Z")
[Jermaine Stewart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jermaine_Stewart) - **We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off** Even after seeing the video, I couldn’t believe it was a guy singing this. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/44 "2007-04-27T14:40:53Z")
Cool! I get to be the first one who misidentified numerous Cher songs as being sung by a man, until I discovered who sang it. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/45 "2007-04-27T15:20:14Z")
In the classic _To Have And Have Not_ Lauren Bacall, in her first movie role, played a cabaret singer opposite Humphrey Bogart. Her singing voice was dubbed by an as yet unknown (and very young) Andy Williams. I tried to find a clip of it on YouTube, but without success. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/46 "2007-04-27T15:24:28Z")
[QUOTE=Smitty] [Jermaine Stewart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jermaine_Stewart) - **We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off** Even after seeing the video, I couldn’t believe it was a guy singing this. [/QUOTE] One wishes the poor fellow had taken his own advice. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/47 "2007-04-27T15:31:23Z")
I always thought **Smokey Robinson** was expressing some pretty girly sentiments in a _very_ girly voice in **“I Second That Emotion”:** _Maybe you want to give me kisses sweet But only for one night with no repeat And maybe you’ll go away and never call And a taste of honey’s worse than none at all_ I swear that song _had_ to have been written for a female singer. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/48 "2007-04-27T15:33:17Z")
I was listening to Terry Gross yesterday and she played a clip from the cast recording of the 1954(?) show _Three Penny Opera_, and I will be damned if Bea Arthur didn’t sound like a woman. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/49 "2007-04-27T15:35:07Z")
When I was 13 or so, a friend of mine came up to me at school with a tale to tell. He was watching Top of the Pops (a UK music show) the previous night and there was a beuatiful young lady singing a song. She was so sexy he just had to do what all 13yo boys do is such situations 😉 :eek: that night marked the first TV appearence of Culture Club :smack: :smack: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/50 "2007-04-27T16:03:22Z")
I always thought The Stylistics’ “You Make Me Feel Brand New” was one of the moving duets to ever feature a male and a female vocalist singing _to_ each other and proclaiming their love for each other. Ooops. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/51 "2007-04-27T16:15:01Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Yes, but Stevie was a _girl_ If Wayne Newton is first, then second has to be Frankie Valli. [/QUOTE] I don’t remember what Wayne Newton sounds like, but I remember people joking about his high voice! Now, about Frankie Valli – he hits some pretty high notes, but I don’t think he sounds like a woman! Same with Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees – great falsetto voice, but he does not sound like a girl! I can’t really explain why, but to me, they just sound like guys singing high! Robert John, of “Lion Sleeps Tonight” and “Sad Eyes” fame, on the other hand, has a softer tone to his falsetto, and I can understand people mistaking his voice for a woman’s! Same situation with the “Stylistics” falsetto singer – “Stone in Love with You”, “Betcha By Golly Wow”, “You Make Me Feel Brand New”, and “You are Everything” were their big hits! ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/52 "2007-04-27T16:32:04Z")
One song sprang immediately to mind – and for once no one else posted it first, woohoo! _Jackie Blue_, by Ozark Mountain Daredevils (_Oooh-ooh-ooh, Jackie Blue . . ._)/ Sung by drummer Larry Lee, who I’m going to guess, based on the name “Larry,” is a guy. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/53 "2007-04-27T16:45:38Z")
I always thought Supertramp’s lead singer was female, which is why “Breakfast in America” confused me with the opening line, “Take a look at my _girl_friend” (the notion of a female being a lesbian and thus having a girlfriend did not enter my innocent nine-year-old mind at the time). The first few times I heard “I’d Like To Get To Know You” by Spanky & Our Gang I thought a woman was singing in the middle of the song. A distinctly male voice appears at the beginning of the song but when he switches to a higher vocal register it sounds more feminine. ---
**Author:** ![Redfrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@Redfrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redfrost)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/54 "2007-04-27T16:53:57Z")
[QUOTE=BabaBooey] I always thought the chick from Air Supply sounded hot. That ended up kinda awkward. [/QUOTE] Ewww…you liked Air Supply 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/55 "2007-04-27T16:54:15Z")
When I heard “You’re Beautiful” on the radio, I thought that a woman was singing it. Given the subject matter of the song (the singer loves a woman, but she left the singer for another man) I thought it was an odd choice for a female singer, but I figured that maybe this was a cover of an older song. Or maybe the singer is a lesbian. Or both. Then I found out that the singer is James Blunt. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/56 "2007-04-27T17:26:17Z")
[QUOTE=elfkin477] Who did you call wrong? I bet none of your calls are as upsetting as a coworker’s discovering the “cute teenage girl” in Hanson was a teenage boy 😃 [/QUOTE] Quagmire had that same problem on an episode of _Family Guy_ I always thought that Linda Ronstadt did the background vocals on Warren Zevon’s “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” (since she did a very successful version of it before WZ released his own), but it turns out it was Phil Everley. And Lindsay Buckingham sings back-up on another of Zevon’s songs, and I swear he songs like a woman. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/57 "2007-04-27T17:36:57Z")
[QUOTE=Smitty] [Jermaine Stewart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jermaine_Stewart) - **We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off** Even after seeing the video, I couldn’t believe it was a guy singing this. [/QUOTE] Not just the voice, but the lyrical content too. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Hildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Johnny\_Hildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Hildo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/58 "2007-04-27T19:14:45Z")
Years ago, I picked up the Tanita Tikaram album [Eleven Kinds of Loneliness](http://www.tanitatikaram.net/graphics/elevencd.jpg) for two bucks on a whim in a thrift store. Her picture was right there on the cover. Thought it was a guy. Listened to the album. Thought it was a guy. Only after looking her up on the internet did I discover she was a woman. And [not a bad looking one at that.](http://www.stars-celebrites.com/biographie-imprimable/T/tikaram.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/59 "2007-04-27T22:49:21Z")
We’re on the second page and still no one has mentioned “I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash? I was nearly 30 before I found out it was not a woman singing that song. Even worse, my father found out at the same time and was just as shocked – and he could remember when the song first came out! At least I had the excuse of not having been born yet. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808/60 "2007-04-27T23:23:25Z")
I gotta go with Lauren Wood in _Fallen_. I assumed for over 15 years it was a guy singing that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-a-guy-singing-wrong-calls-on-singers-genders-thread/401808.md?page=4)