I read somewhere that Mike is a big fan of Prince and Sade, and if my memory serves me well, I think I also read somewhere that he tried to cop that Prince feel (singing-wise) in The Real Thing album. Maybe he was influenced by some of the Camille materials? Anyway he practically stopped singing like that starting from Angel Dust onwards.

Mike is a really interesting singer in that he is influenced by many different people and every album it is a different style.

The Real Thing though i felt more of a grandmaster flash / Kool Moh Dee style of rap sing talk with some rock and r&b thrown in... never really saw much Prince but Camile that could be so.

Angel Dust was more of a mix of heavy metal singing, Diamanda Galas (Who he watched many times before doing the album), and Lionel Richie... maybe even some George Michael.

By the next album he was as he sadi trying to emmulate buddhist chants and other thing's

I think it is cool that he did that for his voice and changed the vocal style for each album