Singers Whose Voices Changed The Most - Vocal Evolution Thread

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NevskyProspekt

NevskyProspekt

Is that you, John Wayne? Is this me?
kiwifarms.net
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Mar 30, 2019
Prompt of this thread is simple enough. Which vocalists in your opinion changed their timbre the most over time? It can be due to age, poor singing technique, physical illness, etc. Heck, I'd be interested in hearing singers whose voices improved as time went on.

For me, Meat Loaf (RIP you glorious fatass) stood out quite a bit. He always had an operatic timbre to his voice which he pushed to the limit on Bat Out of Hell. It was throaty and raw with quite a bit of distortion.

The "Bat I" tour eventually blew out his pipes (he couldn't even record the follow up Bad for Good resulting in composer Jim Steinman releasing it as a solo album) and by the time his second album Dead Ringer was released he sounded much smoother and a bit more heady.

Once Jim Steinman was back in full force in the writer's seat he managed to pull out a spectacular performance from Meat for the entirety of Bat II.

After the Bat II tour (1993-1995) Meat's voice entered a very noticeable reduction in power and range. The latter was still there for the most part but you could tell he really had to force it. Come the mid-2000's his voice shifted to a lower register and began sounding a bit... Kermit-like?

Sadly by the time his (and Steinman's) final album Braver Than We Are, his famous heroic tenor was just gone and we were left with a low warble which, though not terrible, was pretty difficult to hear coming out of Meat Loaf. Female vocalists were used to fill in the higher vocal parts.
 
I nominate Liam Gallagher.
Completely normal in the first Oasis albums, then he busted his vocal chords due to a mixture of heavy drug usage and lack of training/warming up. So much so he shifted to a more nasally voice in the 2000s before he busted those as well. You listen to him now and you'd think he's pushing 80 when in reality he's in his early '50s.
 
Age has not been kind to Paul McCartney's voice. Whenever I hear him sing these days I feel a little bad because it sounds like he's having a hard time.
 
Johnny Cash, may he rest in peace. In his earlier songs his voice was like a whip, but with age became smoother and quieter. Not like it was a bad thing or something, it just was different.
 
A bit Neche but the main Vocalist from Kittie (I forget her name) has changed her voice but it's aged well, and she has said that she regrets trying to force it at times.

I know the Original vocalist from Nightwish left as she wanted to use more of her range and I've listened to some of her stuff that was recorded more recently and while it's mellowed a little it's still really nice to listen to.

Till lindeman from Ramstein has just gotten really gravelly over the years, he tried to make it more that way but he's really changed his voice but I think a lot of that might be him really forcing himself to perform.

Danny Filth - He used to be able to do a lot of his screams and vocals naturally but as that became more and more of a signiture he's over stressed his voice to the point he's damaged it, to the point he's not able to hit converstational tones without effort.

The Dunlop Sisters, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It5s9z5m0Kg I've been a fan of them for a long tike but they are changing up there style as they get older, however they are only semi professional musicians and work as doctors full time.
 
When Bowie was young his voice was very sharp and reedy and he'd lean heavy into his Brixton accent. As he got older he settled into a smooth baritone and his inflection became deeply American. He never sounded bad though, and could play around at both ends his whole career, with a little loss of the upper register in his final years.
 
Didn't Marylin Manson blow his voice out due to breathing in a ton of fire used in his shows?

Billy Corgan. Not a huge change. But compare Today to Doomsday Clock. He just stop singing in a higher register. I think his voice is more palatable this way.



1969 (When Zep was first starting out)

1970 (Since I've Been Loving You):

1971 (Basically identical to the studio recording; Rock and Roll):

1972:

1973 (lost his voice; rock & roll):

(learned to use it again. basically the voice he had for the remainder of zep)

1985:

2007:
 
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Trent Reznor, and I mean that in thee best possible way. His voice got a lot deeper and lower, which I really like.
 
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