The first Madonna song that I heard was “Holiday” and I thought that she was black. Same with the first time that I heard Lisa Stansfield.
Having watched the video, I remain unconvinced.
For more current music, I didn’t know the rapper here is Asian.
And I still cannot believe she’s not from Lawn Guyland.
That’s not a very fitting analogy, as it suggests the Parsi were among the earliest people in India. If you’re just talking about nationality then Mercury was a British citizen for most of his life. He also wasn’t born in India (although his parents were), only lived in India for about 10 years as a schoolboy, and AFAIK always referred to himself as Persian rather than Indian, so simply calling him Indian seems misleading. I wouldn’t totally exclude him from the general category of Indians, but like a lot of people Mercury didn’t fit neatly into just one group and he apparently did not consider himself to be Indian above all else.
I wonder if many Indians felt he was trying to “pass”, though. Especially by calling himself Persian.
And I never got the Madonna = black thing. I love Madonna, but she always sounded like a white girl to me. Especially in “Holiday.”
For bizarro twist, I always thought a man did the vocals for this popular 80s song. Can you guess what man I’m talking about?
El Debarge?
No, but I can see why you think that.
Oh, and speaking of the Debarge’s, I swear I thought it was El who sang the vocals for “A Dream”. But it was his sister, Bunny. Those Debarge’s and their high voices!
I’ve heard that some British Indians do feel Mercury was trying to pass/outright lying, but it seems likely to me that he sincerely did not think of himself as an Indian.
Pure speculation here, but knowing how kids can be it would not surprise me if his classmates in India made it clear to him that a Parsi boy from Zanzibar was not “really Indian”.
For some reason, I knew that was a girl group. I think maybe I saw videos waaaay back. 
It was quite some time before I learned that the background singer in this song was not female.
I’m still in shock about Klymaxx.
I don’t have any investment in the argument; calling him Indian was just convenient (and probably a bit lazy) on my part.
That’s…kinda weird, because to me there is no way that Madonna sounds black. She sounded like a typical 80s white suburban teeny-bopper.
No shit.
Still Not Black.
The White Otis Redding.
Eddie played guitar and wrote songs for all the heavyweights out of Muscle Shoals but never enjoyed the success he deserved.
When I was a kid, they played “The One That You Love” by Air Supply on the radio a lot. I thought the singer was a woman and in my head she looked vaguely like Anne Murray. Listen, but close your eyes and picture Anne Murray. Does it not sort of fit?
I also thought the theme song to The NeverEnding Story movie was a sung by a woman with a nice, rich, robust voice.
… It wasn’t?
Wow.:eek:
(That is an awful album cover, though. His face is way to small to have hair that big.)
Yea, that one threw me for a loop when I first found out. LOVE the band.
This was exactly my reaction just now as well! :o
I always knew the truth about this one, but when I’ve heard John Waite’s “Missing You” on the radio I inevitably think that he sounds a lot girlier than Tina Turner did covering the same song.