Meaning how Bruce's voice has held up through the years, yes I know we've had lots of discussions everywhere about that. However, friends and me have also recently been talking about artists' voices going to shit even very young in age because of how they sing, according to music voice teachers, when they're not trained to sing properly they end up with damaged vocal chords that surgery may temporarily fix but the surgery is never supposed to be a permanent solution. Celine Dion, Adele at 26, Keith Urban, Meatloaf, Jon Bon Jovi, etc., have all had voice problems through their careers, Adele sang so good but how she sang was too much for the chords so she took a long mutha break and may never sing the same again after major vocal chord surgery. Now, the headline I just read that prompted me to write this post is likely a matter of booze and drugs and not being the best singer to begin with, but now Vince Neil had to walk off stage during a recent festival. Nothing I will ever miss, but imagine how it would have been for us had Bruce had to do the same when he was younger at Neil's age, or even now? Yikes.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/03/entertainment/vince-neil-voice-trnd/index.html
I recall that Bruce said in one of his interviews that he never warmed up his voice before going onstage, as opposed to Patti, who did a lot of voice exercises beforehand.
When he came out with Western Stars there were some high notes I was sure he could not have reached without training, but he apparently did so in the movie as well.
As for Dylan, there were times when he could do no more than croak, and then he came up again with (almost) melodic singing. I guess there is no rhyme nor reason to all of this.
Kay, thinking back to music class in school I always recall the teachers saying that you sing from your diaphragm rather than anywhere closer to the surface.
I guess the technical/medical side of things is a bit more complex, but does that remain the basic principal?
In my job I'm required to talk a lot, often in a public forum requiring projection.
As I get older I find I'm getting "froggy' more and more, needing to guzzle more water as I go along. (Bringing the concomitant middle-aged-man's bladder into play, but that's another tale........)
In my case this is probably connected to other sinus and respiratory issues, but I can only imagine that, if you don't take care of things, banging out stomping party tunes night after night, year after year, would take a helluva toll.
On a tangential issue, I'm sure I read someplace (few years back now) that Dylan hardly sang "Lay lady lay" live as he recorded it when he'd quit smoking and couldn't quite nail it when he was back on the tabs.
Back in the day, most badass front men (and women) liked a smoke, but nowadays I'd guess that's less common.
Though I know Adele was partial to a gasper, not sure if that is still the case.
Oh yeah, Bono the last time I heard has been singing exceptionally well too.
Something very interesting to me, music coaches who teach a doctor I work with how to sing all say that Brad Delp from Boston had one of the most incredible vocal ranges on the planet.
There are two singers who's material I'm really familiar with and who I wonder whether they had some sort of vocal coaching or training on their journey. As far as I'm aware, neither has spoken about it nor has it come out anywhere but both for mine could suddenly sing in a way they never could before.
The first, obviously, is Bruce. To me, the change in how Bruce could and did use his voice in 1980 as opposed to 1978 is remarkable. Back in 78, when Bruce really sang it was in that Orbinesque tone he had. By 1980, he could do that when needed but had other incredible sounds and tones he could not reach before that. Did he have any formal training in that period that opened up some of the more varied vocal tones we've since heard, and has that helped him to preserve the voice on an ongoing basis?
The other one is Bono. There is no way that the Bono of even the Unforgettable Fire period could nail some of the incredible performances of With Or Without You (as one example) he nailed in 1987. Again, perhaps he had some training at that time that has helped him keep his voice in the way that he has.