Singers Who've Kept Their Voice

Ray Price sounded amazing well into his 80s.

Bruce Dickinson has amazed me the times I have seen them in the past few years. A lot of singers who didn't lose much as they got up there in years didn't have a lot to begin with (which is fine, technically impeccable singers are nice but not necessary) but he was always someone with a distinctive range and watching him keep most of it even now is really phenomenal.

The underrated Kevin Hewick can still sing as well as he did in 1980.

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.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, July 3, 2019 12:16 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Love Reign etc was in the set I saw at MSG, sounded very good fwiw

Neil Tennant definitely belongs here. It’s always odd seeing him all old and wrinkly but still singing as a younger version of himself without much effort.

I know I should be suspicious of someone who's known for high-gloss production, but Jeff Lynne still sounds the same.

Ol’ blue eyes kept his voice for a very long time, didn’t he ?

I've just checked Sinatra's 86 live recording and, yeah, he still had it !

Nick Cave
I actually think Cave's voice is improving with age

I totally agree!

A couple of classic singers that I have heard in the past couple years that seem to still have a strong voice were Judy Collins and Roger McGuinn.

Don't know about Judy Collins but I'll second Roger McGuinn.

Nick Lowe

Joe Jackson still sounds great.

Yeah, actually, I just saw him play a few weeks back and he sounded really good.

It may initially seem like cheating to include death metal dudes, but I would submit that in fact doing that kind of ultra-guttural stuff is probably more damaging to your vocal cords long-term than being a conventional singer, so the fact that George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher from Cannibal Corpse still sounds just as powerful as he ever has - while headbanging so furiously it's amazing he doesn't have NFL-player-style head trauma - is pretty astonishing.

John Tardy from Obituary still sounds great, too ("great" meaning "like the kind of person you move as far away from as possible on public transit" in this context).

❤️ June Tabor!!! ❤️

https://youtu.be/BWz0IqNHA3Q?t=1553

It's a from a few years ago, but this is a Judy Collins show I heard on the radio. She seems pretty cool.

Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode hasn’t changed it much and I think he has even improved it “playing the angel” onwards.

yeah, I agree re DG.

Love Reign etc was in the set I saw at MSG, sounded very good fwiw

― mott the hoopleheads (voodoo chili), Thursday, July 4, 2019 12:04 AM (eleven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Huh, for some reason I thought they'd dropped it. But yeah, Daltrey sounds great in all the clips I've seen of the current tour.

On a similar note, Bettye LaVette sings the he11 out of "Love Reign O'er Me". Awesome voice.

Saw Jonathan Richman the other day, age late 60s now, and while he was hardly ever a classically tuneful singer, he's lost seemingly none of the boyish playfulness and vibrancy. Close your eyes and he sounds little different from the Modern Lovers days.

Dave Gahan started vocal lessons and care after he got clean.

Paul Buchanan, if not the range, the effect seems the same to me.

Neil Young. I saw him yesterday in the Waldbühne and when he sang "Old Man" he sounded almost exactly like almost 50 years ago and his impersonation of the "young man" still convinced me though when I looked at him I realised that his "old man" - if he still lives - might be a centennial now. I think for singers with high voices it might be easier to preserve their voice.

He's also been nominated in the "singers who've lost their voice" thread.

I agree with Alex, saw him at a small theater, solo acoustic this year and I think his voice is still great

hard to say with neil since he always had a creeky, goofy voice.

Neil’s def lost some of his upper register

James Dean Bradfield

he sounds like Neil Young still, maybe he lost some top end but I'm telling you not much

compared to joni mitchell he hasn't lost a lot of his top end...

what about tom waits? the voice he is sharing with the public hasn't changed a lot, has it? it's not his normal voice, i think but that is another story.

James Dean Bradfield

not that old yet (just now 50 - the Manics started real young) but yeah no decline I've noticed

not that old yet (just now 50 - the Manics started real young) but yeah no decline I've noticed

Yeah, I wondered whether to get a relatively young singer in, but he's been singing for a long time with pretty amazing consistency. I remembered how my wife walked in the room when I had their last record on & she asked me if the guy ever aged, as the vocals seemed unchanged from their earlier albums.

Saw Jonathan Richman the other day, age late 60s now, and while he was hardly ever a classically tuneful singer, he's lost seemingly none of the boyish playfulness and vibrancy. Close your eyes and he sounds little different from the Modern Lovers days.

on a similar note...Gary Wilson. his comeback albums, despite being 30 years after the fact, feature the exact same voice. its kinda creepy.

Green Gartside (Scritti Politti) has kept his voice intact. I saw him on the last Scritti tour a few years back, and it's pretty impressive that THAT voice comes out of such a tall, bearded man...

Robert Smith is the best example I can think of. Remarkable how good he sounds 40 years into The Cure's career. Can't speak on Bono but I feel like he's preserved - can anyone confirm?

Reminds me of this piece she wrote
http://diamandagalas.com/writings/the-greek-vampire-a-threat-to-the-enemies-of-artists/

Until his recent passing (or at least into 2014, when Soused came out) Scott Walker seemed to have kept his voice pretty well.

I also remember being impressed by Robert Smith when I saw the Cure a couple of years ago — certainly hearing that voice perform so well was the best part of the show.

some indie-ish singers have gotten better with age simply because they learned how to sing. ...mac mccaughan...

You think? If anything his voice has gotten higher and screechier which is a big part of why I don't ever revisit any recent Superchunk album.

I agree with Alex, saw him at a small theater, solo acoustic this year and I think his voice is still great

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, July 4, 2019 1:35 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

still kicking my own dumb self for not making time to go to one of those shows what the FUCK was i thinking

Bono's definitely lost something in recent years. on their latest album, he doesn't go for the high notes as much and he sounds more tired (doesn't help that the album is bad)

bono's voice started sounding compromised and strained in 2000

that's a fair assessment. even "Beautiful Day" doesn't have the ease of his singing in the Zoo TV era. but I was struck by Songs of Experience, he sounded like he just couldn't put feeling into those songs

Alice Cooper.

John Fogerty sounds amazingly good in 2019.

oh yeah that’s v true

Little Anthony

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3tyP2bDvX4

there's something about hearing these old-school doowop songs that still have some original members still performing and keeping the shit alive a little longer.

I saw the O'Jays once with Eddie Levert sometime in 2006 and it was awesome

this is even fuckin better and this was just last year!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU9EM0PPv7s