I would agree with those of you who say that El has the better falsetto with Prince having the better range. Prince isn't as polished a vocalist as El but he uses his range well. However, El and Bobby definitely had "pretty" voices and they knew how to work them. I especially love El's voice on "Stay with Me." I think he does a good job showing some range there.

With all this talk about falsetto singers, I am shocked no one has mentioned Eddie Kendricks who had a fantastic falsetto. I also have to give props to William Hart from the Delfonics (btw I think Prince did a good job showing his range in covering their tunes).

I am a little confused about MJ being considered a falsetto, though. Can someone list songs where he sings in this range? I have to go back and listen to them.

filmnoirdame said:

Who is Wayne Cooper?

They both have a good falsetto but I prefer Prince's. It's more sassy, or in other words, more "gayer" sounding (which is a good thing). When it comes to putting other falsettos up against Prince, I'd rather choose Wayne Cooper, Philip Bailey, or Otis Stokes. Those are some sassy as hell falsettos.

He was in Cameo from the 1970s up until around 1980. His falsetto was so good that if you had never seen him, you would think it was a woman on the record.

What's the falsetto's name from the Stylistics? He killed it on "Hurry Up this Way Again."

Russell Thompkins, Jr I believe so.

Forgot about Butterflies

We all know P can hit them high notes, but don't sleep on El. He is probably one of the greatest rnb singers EVER.

bellanoche said:

Your Ways - Triumph Album
Don't Stop Til U Get Enough - Off The Wall
Butterflies - Invincible

Check these out to hear his range.

Bishop31 said:

He doesn't have much range where falsetto is concerned. Don't Stop is a great song but Michael's falsetto isn't what makes it great. He too sounds like he strains to hit the high notes.

They both have a good falsetto but I prefer Prince's. It's more sassy, or in other words, more "gayer" sounding (which is a good thing). When it comes to putting other falsettos up against Prince, I'd rather choose Wayne Cooper, Philip Bailey, or Otis Stokes. Those are some sassy as hell falsettos.

filmnoirdame said:

I should slap you silly for saying shit like that. Have you forgotten Marvin, Luther, Teddy, Phillip Baily even Rick James? Where the fuck does El DeBarge fit in this company? El's falsetto sounded a bit strained and forced at times trying to hit the extremely high notes. Prince does it naturally, in the studio and live (even more amazing).

dseann said:

Interesting but compared to El and Phillip Bailey and the Cameo dude, I can see what you mean.

Dude, we are so OT

prodigalfan said:

Timmy84 said:

I have to admit that I have been struggling to consider MJ an falsetto. I just have never seen him in that light. It might be because my idea of a falsetto is more in line with the brothas that have been mentioned here. I remember when people thought MJ was singing on Secret Garden before they knew it was El. My reaction was always that MJ didn't have that kind of range so it couldn't have been him. Again, I'll have to listen more closely to the songs that have been offered here as support.

dseann said:

Interesting but compared to El and Phillip Bailey and the Cameo dude, I can see what you mean.

Timmy84 said:

I don't think there are many who can be compared to Phillip, the singer from Tavares and Kendricks are in the same league but not much others. I made the same comment about El that I made about Michael's falsetto. He was good but, maybe I'm a little too old school to consider him great (El that is).

I grew up on old school too, courtesy of my parents, but El just always stood out to me. I think history will rank him as a fab singer, esp compared to music these days

It would be a falsetto that could be mistaken for a woman. DeBarge, Switch, and The Stylistics have great falsettos but there voices sound more like a nice or sweet falsetto. Prince, Phillip, and Wayne have more of a loud sassy "bitchy" type falsetto.