Hi moongirl here!

Just wondering but how high is prince's vocal range? He can go very low and very high. His voice is beautiful!

I had heard in the past he can sing in all 24 octives (octaves)?? Not sure if this is true or not..who knows? One amazing voice

SexualSuicide said:

Wow!!that would cool if thas true!!

tonyat said:

i think that is a bit too much for the human voice.

Moon said:

When he sings 'Damn you' I think he shows off the different ranges of his voice beautifully

SexualSuicide said:

Twelve octaves???

The world record for a man is a six octave singing range with eight recorded for a female.
.

I would guess Prince can sing maybe 4 or 5?

langebleu said:

Yes, Prince has got an amazing range, surprising for a man so small to be able to go so low and so high, but then you wonder about guys like Lou Reed and Kris Kristopherson, and Bruce Springstreen whose vocal ranges are a tad more...limited.

They are able to convey some wicked emotion despite not being able to hit Mariah Carey highs or Barry White lows...

Well, 24 octaves is musically impossible. That's about three times the range of a concert piano .

I think, from what I've heard, his lowest note is a D around two octaves below middle C (in "Diamonds and Pearls") and his highest is somewhere around an A two and a half octaves above middle C (in "7," highest voice). That would put it around four and a half octaves.

Does anyone know of any higher/lower extremes? I didn't really take into account his whistle register a la "God." With that, it would probably be even higher.

langebleu said:

8 octaves? Oh yeah fucking right. That's a lie. They used to say that shit about Mariah and Christina Aguilera. Nobody can go that high. Unless they're half dolphin or something.

I'm guessing about 3 and a half octaves,including falsetto.

Ice9sFine said:

Yea, whatever it is its High.

Astasheiks said:

it's about 1,57 meters.. or 5 feet something

SexualSuicide said:

impossible , 4's max i'd say

well im listenin 2 Jeff Buckley right now and just read something about his vocal range being about 3.5 octaves, and i definatly know P has a bigger vocal range so im guessing about 4 - 5?
ny1 here an actual vocal coach or teacher so we can get proper answers from people who actually know wat they r talkin about?

Ice9sFine said:

The lowest note in "Diamonds & Pearls" is only a G, if I remember correctly. But from the same album, "Daddy pop" is a good example of Prince's vocal range. He starts on a low E, and then works his way up to the falsetto E three octaves higher!

I think the lowest I've heard him sing is an E flat. For instance, the verse of "Letitgo" and the bridge in "Damn U". (There are also some low E flats in "Erotic City", but I suspect those are actually sung in another key/tempo and then slowed down)

He usually doesn't go higher than a G in his chest voice. There are some occasional A's, like in "It", or the end of "The Love We Make" ("for in the NEW world, we will be there").

That means he has a pretty good baritone range with his regular voice, although nothing really remarkable. It's when you add his falsetto (which is incredible in itself) that you get one of the world's most powerful and flexible voices.

Some of his highest falsetto notes are B's, for example in "The most beautiful girl in the world" and "Adore". The highest sustained note in "Gotta broken heart again" (from the Las Vegas DVD) is also a B, although he also hits a couple of C's, but they're really short.

But even more impressive: in both "Free" and "Endorphinmachine" he screams that same high B...

The highest sustained falsetto note that I've found so far is actually a high C in "Until you're in my arms again", and also in the background vocals of "High". But there are probably more to be found...

So all in all, I would say Prince has a vocal range of about 2.5 octaves with his full voice (particularly good at the low end, but actually quite limited at the top). Including the falsetto, his total range would be almost 4 octaves.

RealMusician said:

Thanks 4 ur info!Prince's voice is amazing and not just the highs and lows but
how he but some much emotion and spirit 2 it..and what about his screams

From what I've heard, the highest notes are on the intro of "God" and close is his rendition of Gotta Broken Heart Again on the Alladin DVD.
Lowest is on The Most Beautiful Girl In The World.

united1878 said:

Yeah, I guess I could agree with you on "God", he sings a high G there (and even hints at an A!) - above the B or C that otherwise seems to be his natural "top".

However, to me that's more of a sound than an actual note being sung... For instance, I don't think he could form any word with such a note. But sure, it's probably the highest pitch I've heard him produce.

As for TMBGITW, I can't find anything lower than a G flat there. There are other cases where he has at least sung an E flat (which I mentioned earlier).

DynamicSavior said:

Oh man, that was too damned funny!

DynamicSavior said:

SexualSuicide said:

I would have thought that there were only 8 octaves... as I am pretty sure the OCT is for 8. Like octagon or octopus.

Yeah, RealMusician, I would probably agree with you on "Diamonds and Pearls." The low D is really more of a hint than anything (low D played by bass in line "you will hear me say...that I will never run away..." implies Prince's D). Other than that, the Eb's in the songs you mentioned are about his max (or min, or whatever).

See, I never know whether to take whistle register into account. This Australian guy who sang backups for Mariah Carey could sing every note she could in whistle register, just like she does. He even hit a high B above C alt altissimo (a maj 7th above the piano's highest C!). It was pretty crazy, although it sounded more like radar than anything. I'm pretty sure only bats and dogs could really hear it! His voice was otherwise a baritone-bass, and his lowest note was the C two octaves below middle C (a minor third below Prince's lowest Eb). Techincally, his range would be just short of seven octaves.

That's very extreme. I'm not sure where I heard some sound clips of him before. His name is Adam Lopez, I think. On the same website, I heard that guy, I don't remember his name, but he's one of those Russian Basso Profundo singers, hit a G two and a half octaves below middle C. That was the strangest sound I've ever heard. It was like a growl, but yet still a low G.

RealMusician said:

I find it amazing that some of you can hear what note he sings here and there. I sure can't.

SlamGlam said:

No , 1 octave consists of 8 (whole) tones

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I remember on the Lovesexy tour he was doing that really Deep "GO GO GO - GO GO GO" during ' If I Had A Harem. its also on the video

Now that must have been some Low ass notes he hit there!


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I cant spell 4 shit today
[Edited 3/7/06 15:27pm]

It's not that deep at all , think i can go at least half an octave deeper

The lowest I have heard is on The most beautiful girl in the world and the highest is the word "Touch" on the song temtation off the around the world in a day album.

youngyosh said:

i tought that was from "Lets Go Crazy"

Ice9sFine said:

Also, check out J.D. Sumner, who used to sing backing vocals with Elvis Presley in the 70's. In the song "Way Down", on the very last note, he sings a C that's actually three octaves below middle C...
[Edited 3/8/06 2:45am]