Singers Who've Kept Their Voice

Surprised no one's mentioned Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith already; their voices are still as beautiful and strong as ever.

Also, I must live up to my stereotype and mention Simon Le Bon.

Terri Nunn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EDDT9aHRr0

Not going to pretend Al Green sounds like he did in the 1970s, but was pretty amazed to hear how well is 77-year-old voice is holding up on his new cover of Perfect Day (just hope he has some better material in the pipeline).

Another Al, Al Stewart (whose own thread was recently revived), is still sounding good at 78. His delivery was always very clipped and he never really cut loose live, so it's not surprising his vocal cords are still in good shape.

Cathal Coughlan ;_;

xp Ian Anderson has completely lost it, and his voice and delivery has always struck me as similar to Al Stewart's, I figured he'd be well set up for the long haul.

What little I have heard of Smokey Robinson's recent album leads me to believe he deserves to be included in this thread.

xxp: I hadn't heard of Cathal Coughlan's passing until now. I never got totally into his music, but my best friend and I did our best to spread the gospel of Fatima Mansions to the other 8th graders after seeing Only Losers Take the Bus on 120 Minutes one night.

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.