I don’t have any particular reason for asking, though I’m curious which female singer best crosses the vocal range into the area usually associated with male singers. Bonus points if you can link to a sound clip / video of said singer.
Tracy Chapman is who first comes to mind.
Natalie Merchant has a fairly deep (and beautiful) voice.
I am fascinated by this topic, and always have been, but, unfortunately, I can’t think of any by name or even specific song. But I will comment on the two that have been offered so far.
I agree her voice is beautiful and fairly low, but she still sounds female to me. Of course, I may be biased because I know she’s female, but see below.
Now this woman sounds male.
Can’t link to youtube at the moment, but off the top of my head: Nina Simone, Marla Glen and Allison Moyet.
To answer your question: I was unaware that Tracy Chapman was women prior to this thread :smack:
Tanita Tikaram was who leapt first to mind for me…
Bonnie Tyler comes to mind for me
The Indigo Girls, KD Lang, Melissa Etheridge, Janis Ian, Tracy Chapman, Ani DiFranco.
Fiona Apple can hit the lows, as evinced here (live performance):
Lavern Baker:
But actually, I prefer this one, which is a bit more girly:
Yeah, I was going to say Melissa Etheridge.
Tracy Chapman is probably a better example.
I grew up listening to Tracy Chapman, so I always knew she was a woman- but a lot of my friends thought she was a guy. The cover of her album Crossroads didn’t really help me prove them wrong.
I personally thought that Nina Simmone has the most mannish voice. I thought she was a dude for the longest time. I think until I checked the soundtrack credits for the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair.
I was going to say Tracy Chapman as well.
Really? Her voice is raspy/gravelly, but I don’t think it sounds masculine at all.
Same with the Indigo Girls, Melissa Etheridge, KD Lang (KD LANG?), etc. Is the reputation of these singers as being a little butch influencing your opinion of their voices? Because I don’t think any of them sound masculine the way Tracy Chapman does. Tracy Chapman, if you only ever listened to her music, is REALLY hard to make a call on. The others, not so much…Lang, especially. She’s a deep alto with incredible depth and strength but the timbre and tone of her voice aren’t masculine at all.
Alison Moyet is who I was going to post about. Check YouTube for her days with Yaz (aka Yazoo), specifically “Don’t Go” or “Situation.”
Edited to indicate that I agree with jayjay: the others I have never thought of as having truly “mannish” voices, but rich and lovely altos for the most part. Moyet actually had me completely fooled, and Chapman could easily have done so as well.
I can see Amy but not Emily.
Ferron’s voice is distinct and she does prefer those lower registers.
Marianne Faithfull’s more recent stuff is definitely on the mannish side (esp. that song she did with Metallica).
Mary Gauthier has a bit of that mannish country swagger.
Sarah Vaughn had such an astounding range that she probably could have faked a baritone/mezzo-soprano duet with herself. She didn’t usually sound like a man, but she had her moments.
Since she did Danke Shoen, Wayne Newton’s voice has ‘manned up’ considerably.
I may not have known at first, but I found out quickly, the MTV generation, and all. Pre-MTV (or at least as it was just starting,) I give you: Will Powers, voiced by Lynn Goldsmith. Details at wikipedia, but try to checkout youtube for a laugh.