Comparing the Top Artists by Vocal Range

[Paul Smeenus]

Still no mention of Frykdahl. I can't think of anyone that approaches his range, he can seemingly hit any note he wants. I chatted a little with Carla Kihlstedt a few years ago (Two Foot Yard was here in Seattle) and she emphatically agreed with me on this

[progeezer's ghost]

I nominate Tarja Turunen (of Nightwish fame), a classically trained opera singer, as the most commonly overlooked/dismissed female vocalist of all-time. I get chills every time I hear her. YMMV and to each his own.

[spellbound]

I nominate Tarja Turunen (of Nightwish fame), a classically trained opera singer, as the most commonly overlooked/dismissed female vocalist of all-time.

I forgot about her, and she should have been the first singer I thought about when range was discussed.

As a point of comparison, where is Richard Thompson on the chart? He has joked publicly about his limited vocal range.

[Jerjo]

Richard Thompson is on the same chart as Howlin' Wolf: it ain't what ya got, but what ya do with it.

[jkelman]

Richard Thompson is on the same chart as Howlin' Wolf: it ain't what ya got, but what ya do with it.

Agreed 100%, adding Leonard Cohen, Randy Newman and Lyle Lovett to that group. I'm Your Man, a tribute film to Cohen, proved (at least to me) that Cohen is almost always the perfect singer for his songs; the other singers - good though they were - were all too concerned with the singing and not the words. For folks like Cohen, Dylan, Lovett, Newman, etc, if you forget the words you are singing then you lose what makes the songs great.

Range is great, but it's not the only definer of a good singer. There are singers with tremendous range who are like guitarists with lots of chops - impressive, technically, but unless they use that range in service of the song, then it's just a lot of technique....all style and no substance.

[ronmac]

Range is great, but it's not the only definer of a good singer. There are singers with tremendous range who are like guitarists with lots of chops - impressive, technically, but unless they use that range in service of the song, then it's just a lot of technique....all style and no substance.

Exactly.

A couple of years go, I started a thread here about great vocalists who had not-so-great voices. I spent more time trying to distinguish the two than discussing them.