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.
― sarahell, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 20:10 (five years ago) link
xp - plenty of pop/rock performers are classically trained or get training at points in their careers!
― sarahell, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 20:12 (five years ago) link
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!
― timellison, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 20:27 (five years ago) link
Mark Eitzel is another one who, at 60, seems to keep improving.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Wednesday, 3 July 2019 20:38 (five years ago) link
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...
― Quilter Ray (rushomancy), Wednesday, 3 July 2019 20:45 (five years ago) link
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Wednesday, 3 July 2019 22:38 (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
Yes! He has developed into an amazing singer. Great phrasing
― Duke, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 20:49 (five years ago) link
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.
― Valentijn, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 20:59 (five years ago) link
Al Jardine
― PaulTMA, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 21:02 (five years ago) link
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
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Wednesday, 3 July 2019 21:23 (five years ago) link
unsurprisingly, Akiko Yano's voice has held up really well
― frogbs, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 21:34 (five years ago) link
(Frank) Black (Francis) Charles Michael Kitteridge Thompson IV- not that I care to listen any more, alas
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Wednesday, 3 July 2019 21:55 (five years ago) link
Saw Petula Clark in her late 70s sing in a cabaret setting and she had flawless pitch
― Josefa, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 22:26 (five years ago) link
also to those folks citing live performances as evidence that singers don't rely on studio trickery - you know AutoTune et al can be applied to live vocals, right?
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Wednesday, 3 July 2019 22:28 (five years ago) link
Kate Bush comes to mind.
― octobeard, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 23:01 (five years ago) link
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.
https://youtu.be/l3ChFfKsaXI
― earlnash, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 23:02 (five years ago) link
I just saw Mark Eitzel at a living room show with a bad flu and no amplification and he still sounded great
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 4 July 2019 00:14 (five years ago) link
also Morrissey's new albums have more autotune than T-Pain
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 4 July 2019 00:15 (five years ago) link
Although he just technically retired from live performances, Garland Jeffreys still sounds pretty good at 75, wait 76 now.
― Vini C. Riley (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 4 July 2019 00:22 (five years ago) link
Aimee Mann
― Paul, Thursday, 4 July 2019 02:14 (five years ago) link
Ray Price sounded amazing well into his 80s.
― Ρεμπετολογια, Thursday, 4 July 2019 03:20 (five years ago) link
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.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Thursday, 4 July 2019 03:29 (five years ago) link
The underrated Kevin Hewick can still sing as well as he did in 1980.
― lingereffect (Kent Burt), Thursday, 4 July 2019 03:40 (five years ago) link
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
― mott the hoopleheads (voodoo chili), Thursday, 4 July 2019 04:04 (five years ago) link
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.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 4 July 2019 06:02 (five years ago) link
I know I should be suspicious of someone who's known for high-gloss production, but Jeff Lynne still sounds the same.
― Hideous Lump, Thursday, 4 July 2019 06:28 (five years ago) link
Ol’ blue eyes kept his voice for a very long time, didn’t he ?
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 4 July 2019 06:36 (five years ago) link
I've just checked Sinatra's 86 live recording and, yeah, he still had it !
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 4 July 2019 08:57 (five years ago) link
Nick CaveI actually think Cave's voice is improving with age
I totally agree!
Don't know about Judy Collins but I'll second Roger McGuinn.
― Valentijn, Thursday, 4 July 2019 09:36 (five years ago) link
Nick Lowe
― Sam Weller, Thursday, 4 July 2019 11:27 (five years ago) link
Joe Jackson still sounds great.
― Fried Egg Sandwich, Thursday, 4 July 2019 11:35 (five years ago) link
Yeah, actually, I just saw him play a few weeks back and he sounded really good.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 4 July 2019 13:05 (five years ago) link
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).
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Thursday, 4 July 2019 14:57 (five years ago) link
❤️ June Tabor!!! ❤️
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 4 July 2019 15:22 (five years ago) link
https://youtu.be/BWz0IqNHA3Q?t=1553
― earlnash, Thursday, 4 July 2019 15:30 (five years ago) link
It's a from a few years ago, but this is a Judy Collins show I heard on the radio. She seems pretty cool.
― earlnash, Thursday, 4 July 2019 15:33 (five years ago) link
Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode hasn’t changed it much and I think he has even improved it “playing the angel” onwards.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 4 July 2019 15:40 (five years ago) link
yeah, I agree re DG.
― mark e, Thursday, 4 July 2019 15:47 (five years ago) link
― 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.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 4 July 2019 15:52 (five years ago) link
On a similar note, Bettye LaVette sings the he11 out of "Love Reign O'er Me". Awesome voice.
― earlnash, Thursday, 4 July 2019 16:24 (five years ago) link
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.
― Soundslike, Thursday, 4 July 2019 17:21 (five years ago) link
Dave Gahan started vocal lessons and care after he got clean.
― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Thursday, 4 July 2019 17:27 (five years ago) link
Paul Buchanan, if not the range, the effect seems the same to me.
― Vapor waif (uptown churl), Thursday, 4 July 2019 17:44 (five years ago) link
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.
― je est un autre, l'enfer c'est les autres (alex in mainhattan), Thursday, 4 July 2019 18:01 (five years ago) link
He's also been nominated in the "singers who've lost their voice" thread.
― van dyke parks generator (anagram), Thursday, 4 July 2019 18:10 (five years ago) link
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, 4 July 2019 18:35 (five years ago) link
hard to say with neil since he always had a creeky, goofy voice.
― bookmarkflaglink (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 4 July 2019 18:35 (five years ago) link
Neil’s def lost some of his upper register
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 4 July 2019 18:37 (five years ago) link
James Dean Bradfield
― Valentijn, Thursday, 4 July 2019 20:06 (five years ago) link