Singers Who've Kept Their Voice

Staying out of the debate over whether she sings flat or not, Chrissie Hynde sounds exactly the same as in 1980 (I caught her opening for Stevie Nicks not long ago)

I was listening to some live Rundgren recordings a few months ago and thinking that he has lost a lot of plosives and fricatives and does a lot of moaning-the-melody.

Russell Mael

Tony Bennett, mostly

Ian Hunter's 80 and still sounds more or less the same. Not saying he was ever really known for his vocal prowess, but what he had he's still got.

Stevie Wonder

McCartney has kind of kept it together, especially for someone who can do a 3-hour show with no rest. Only in very recent years has the natural decline seemed more apparent.

Al Green
Toots Hibbert (and can still perform at age 76. after being bludgeoned with a liquor bottle while onstage)

Rundgren is an interesting case. I think he has kept a lot of his vocal chops, but can't just blare them out at any time anymore (which is totally understandable). But when I saw him at a fundraiser for his charity two years ago, he was in pretty good form most of the night but def. had to pick his spots to really let it fly (ie, "Love Is the Answer").

Ian Hunter's 80 and still sounds more or less the same. Not saying he was ever really known for his vocal prowess, but what he had he's still got.

Roger Daltrey can’t do the CSI scream anymore but he still sings with a full-bodied voice in the same range as back in the day. The version I saw of Love Reign O’er Me in May would’ve been impressive for a singer of any age.

Stella Vander of Magma, 68 and doesn't seem to have lost anything of her range. Although I haven't seen them for a few years so maybe things have changed, I'll find out in October when they play London.

kind of surprising but Van Morrison still sounds in good voice on his recent albums

Buck Dharma from Blue Oyster Cult sounds exactly the same (Eric Bloom on the other hand...)

wonder if she can still sing her yé-yé stuff (xpost)

I 100% agree with Robert Smith. I was really struck by the RRHOF set by how he literally sounded like he fell directly out of the 80s. (Also, he changes melodic lines and speak-sings some things in almost all of his live performances going back at least to 1992, when I first saw them live.)

Also I haven't heard Dennis DeYoung this year but I know within this decade he was still incredible

Rundgren is an interesting case. I think he has kept a lot of his vocal chops, but can't just blare them out at any time anymore (which is totally understandable). But when I saw him at a fundraiser for his charity two years ago, he was in pretty good form most of the night but def. had to pick his spots to really let it fly (ie, "Love Is the Answer").

he sounded really good when I saw him about a year and a half ago though he did lean pretty heavily on his newer material which doesn't have as many crazy notes

to chime in I saw the Cure over a year ago and was reaaaalllly surprised by how well Smith still sings

Xpost, Van Morrison sounds surprisingly good live as well. He’s lost the higher notes he could hit in the early 70s but that’s about it.

I forgot a pretty obvious one, Gary Numan

having an odd, inimitable voice seems to help...see Peter Hammill or Mark E Smith

or Elvis Costello

Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden actually sounded better when I saw him - five times between 2003-2008 - than he did on Live After Death, recorded in 1985.

Diamanda Galás still has all her range and power, and may have actually gotten stronger in the last decade or so, too.

colin blunstone

The problem with Van is when he lost his tenor range, he lost what was so great about that voice. Now he rumbles in the low ranges like an old blues guy, and it's fine, but it no longer astonishes. Listen to You Don't Pull No Punches or anything pre-75.

saw the Zombies give an interview and a stripped down Blunstone/Argent performance of their hits in a tiny theater a couple years ago and Blunstone's voice wasn't what it was, but considering he was 72 or 73 at the time he really worked some magic with the classics.

Roger Daltrey can’t do the CSI scream anymore but he still sings with a full-bodied voice in the same range as back in the day. The version I saw of Love Reign O’er Me in May would’ve been impressive for a singer of any age.

― mott the hoopleheads (voodoo chili), Wednesday, July 3, 2019 12:17 PM (forty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

On the 2015-16 Who tour, the screams on "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Love, Reign O'er Me" were pre-recorded -- likely the original screams from the records triggered by a sampler. Which on one hand is disappointing, but on the other hand, jeez, the guy's in his 70s, and he can't reasonably be expected to do those screams on every show and still have a voice. I thought he sounded great the last two times I saw them ('15 and '16). More surprisingly/impressive, I heard him hit notes in 2000 that he seemed unable to hit in 1989.

Wisely, "Love, Reign O'er Me" isn't in their current setlist, and when they do "Won't Get Fooled Again," it's just Pete and Roger playing acoustic, and no scream.

i actually think Kylie has improved over the years.
someone could suggest studio based tweaks, however, Sundays performance (and last years Hyde Park show) would definitely contest that idea.
she has learnt how to use her range really well.
― mark e, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 17:14

as per ..

oh, and agree 100% re Robert Smith comments.
was very impressed on Sunday.

xpost wrt Van I'm very familiar, and if the criteria is "someone's voice is exactly as powerful and good at 70 as it was at 25" I think this is a blank thread.... but here's In Tiburon off Keep Me Singing, I think he still sounds good and this is not blues growling

https://youtu.be/TDkkXovCCCE

Mark Stewart of The Pop Group

Lydia Lunch's voice is still super strong and powerful as the Teenage Jesus Years, but she sings those songs an octave lower now

I saw the Zombies at the Rock Hall induction thing a few months ago. Not only was Blunstone's voice still pretty much intact, but Rod Argent's nimble fingers were very impressive. Easy to take for granted, but physical dexterity into one's 70's cannot be assumed!

if the criteria is "someone's voice is exactly as powerful and good at 70 as it was at 25" I think this is a blank thread....

nah Diamanda Galas would still be on it

Susumu Hirasawa is 65 and his range is actually better now than it was in his 20s, not sure how he does it

Richard Thompson
Nick Cave

I actually think Cave's voice is improving with age

it's actually not _that_ rare for a singer to sound as good in their 60s as in their 20s -- if you think about classical music and opera.

Sure but plenty of pop/rock performers don't take care of their voices as classically trained singers do.

also, the 20s is a weird benchmark (tho I get it -- in the context of singers in bands, as that is when they tend to start) -- I just remember my classical voice teacher when I was in my late teens telling me, "I hear a lot of young people sing some of these songs, but their voices are too young, you won't have the best voice for them until you are in your 30s or 40s" -- certain things are likely to lead a continued "decline" as it were (a heavy smoking habit, lots of drinking, certain drug use, some medical problems), but if those things aren't going on, I think vocal development peaks later than the 20s.

xp - plenty of pop/rock performers are classically trained or get training at points in their careers!

I sing and my range really changed somewhere in my...forties, I guess? I don't have the higher range. Don't know as that the timbre of my voice has gotten worse, though. Maybe better!

Mark Eitzel is another one who, at 60, seems to keep improving.

See, when VDGG did the tour where they did all their old epics - "Lighthouse Keepers", etc - I thought the wear on Peter Hammill's voice was apparent. He was still good enough to attempt it, at least!

When I saw the Monkees a couple years back I was really impressed with Micky Dolenz's pipes, particularly considering the legendary amount of drinking he did back in the day...

Mark Eitzel is another one who, at 60, seems to keep improving.

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Wednesday, 3 July 2019 22:38 (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yes! He has developed into an amazing singer. Great phrasing

Both Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins?

I also thought Paul Simon's voice was pretty amazing during his farewell performance & on his most recent albums.

Al Jardine

Colin Blunstone

Morrissey

I went back to Rank to see if I was being unfair but... Morrissey wasn't that good in his prime so he really didn't have anywhere to go but up

second Richard Thompson

from footage posted by friends on FB and IG of Duran Duran's performance at the Minnesota State Fair, I rather surprised to be nominating Simon LeBon to this thread.

second Richard Thompson

from footage posted by friends on FB and IG of Duran Duran's performance at the Minnesota State Fair, I rather surprised to be nominating Simon LeBon to this thread.

was mentioned before but Russell Mael sounded amazing when I saw Sparks a couple months ago, he's genuinely just as good as he was in the 70s

yeah i saw them w/franz ferdinand when that came out and was pretty amazed

While I haven't heard them live, Graham Gouldman and Graham Nash still sound great in records at least.And none of them have the kind of hoarse or deep "rock" vocal style that is easier to combine with age.

David Crosby obviously songs no more but his voice remained intact when be still did.

neil has for the most part, too

oh yeah re: Al Stewart, I just watched a video on youtube from a few months ago of him doing Year of the Cat live and he sounds exactly the same as he did in the 70's, and the dude is almost 80 years old.

Russell Mael is the gold standard for this thread imo

Brian Ross of Blitzkrieg and Satan fame still sounds like butter almost 40+ years later.

Jon Anderson also sounds incredibly good right now

xpost i would love to see Satan live

i mean performing live, he was there when we signed the paperwork

lol

granted this was a few years ago but hoo boy Chaka Khan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMCxw_nENWA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsCIeklgp1M

A rickroll for your Thursday

Ann <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBq_THTWNM4

Russell Mael is the gold standard for this thread imo

Listening to her Sun’s Signature EP, Liz Fraser still has her wonderful voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0f-gwU5dhI

David Crosby obviously sings no more but his voice remained intact when be still did.

I saw him in 2019 and this was indeed a pleasant surprise, especially given his various addictions over the years. They took a toll on him in every way EXCEPT on his voice. I only went to see him because it was free but I'm so glad I went - it exceeded every expectation I had, helped by a near-flawless setlist. (I'm a far more of a Byrds fan but besides his best work with them, he also picked the CS&N(Y) and solo songs that I actually liked, closing out with a furious take on Young's "Ohio.")

I'll also add Bonnie Raitt. I've never done a direct comparison, and to be fair, given the blues and R&B nature of her work, rougher textures in anyone's voice can actually help, but I saw her last year and for all I know she didn't sound different from the first time I saw her on a VHS copy of her Road Tested concert video.

I mentioned this in the Taylor Dayne thread, but I saw Taylor Dayne recently, and… well, Taylor Dayne has kept her voice!

Couldn't quite believe my ears when I heard Jimmy Somerville's falsetto as a guest vocal on Oliver Sim's Hideous last year.

David Hidalgo, although he always had this "Elder Zen" thing going on.

#onethread

Check out Smokey Robinson's NPR Tiny Desk Concert. What a singer!

Kevin Rowland is sounding good on his/Dexys' current tour. If you were being churlish you might say he's not as strong on the high notes as he used to be, but still I thought he was on fine form, sounding very much himself.