I can't say i've ever heard Prince hit any bad notes in all the live performances i've seen. He may have missed a verse or mixed something up, but his singing is very consistent.

So can any of you Prince-heads tell me of a bad note hit during a live performance?

try listening to Solo.

muirdo said:

i think that's an amazing vocal performance.

Anx said:

i'd second that

Anx said:

it makes my ears bleed.

muirdo said:

its beautiful

muirdo said:

i agree it's difficult listening, but how many male vocalists have a range like that? that's what makes the song so amazing to me.

andykeen said:

It's completely beautiful.

That said, he's hit plenty of bad notes. All singers have. There's one part in Livesexy, I can't remember where, but he clearly struggles for a minute and it makes me cringe. It might be "I Wanna Be Your Lover."

andykeen said:

i'll third that. but honestly, i believe i hear some straining on ONA Live. not bad notes but his voice is reaching for that note and he can't seem to hit it hard enuff.
[Edited 4/12/06 11:16am]

FunkMistress said:

i've heard him go off key before, but he always makes a quick save.

Milty said:

I'll eat that.

Anx said:

That he does.

FunkMistress said:

Anx said:

it is. many people have a hard time with this song. you do need to be in the right place. Like when I "got it", It was Sunday Morning in the desert and it was pretty much quiet except for that song blaring Prince's soul. Pretty Special, if you ask me.

Milty said:

I don't remember that, but check out "Gotta Broken Heart Again" on the live ONA DVD... nothin' wrong with that. His high falsetto is perfect.

Anx said:

Jack might.....

Solo is modern symphonic in range and flavor, I like it when he leaves the limits of pop convention.

Anx said:

Upon first listen, I was wondering what in the world he was doing, but the passion in his voice forced me to really "listen" and understand what he was talking about.

muirdo said:

i've never watched will and grace, so the context of this is lost on me. but anyway, just to be polite.

Pretty much everything he sings on the SNL performance of "Beautiful, Loved and Blessed" is off-key.

Same performance, when Tamar and the twins leave the mic for the second "ahhh...ahhhh...ahhh", you can hear he's not sounding so good.

I think he had a cold or something that night.

Do you remember the Baby I'm a Star video -- which is essentially a segment of the PR tour?

It's totally fab, but there is a moment when he goes Oh Yea-eah and it is so completely off key. I was like, wow. But, hey, I love that about it. These days with the sound mixers and the pitch correction taped tracks, you'd never hear that. I like my live to be "live."

Anyway, that's the only time I really remember this happening -- and that was 20 yrs ago.

Prince has never hit a bad note while singing, but he has introduced some acidental into his well known catalogue songs.

Anx said:

Not difficult at all. Solo is breathtakingly beautiful.

RodeoSchro said:

I noticed that too. There are also some off-key moments in "I Would Die 4 U"-official (live)video, TAC in Brits etc., so it's not that unusual. It's hard to hit (especially the low notes) in the large halls, if your monitoring doesn't work properly. Falsetto is also fragile for hearing problems. Every singer has to face similar problems, even Whitney Houstons misses the notes, if the conditions are bad enough. It's a lot easier to sing in some small club, than in huge stadiums or halls.

However that BLB-performance was done in small studio, so that is a different matter. I quess the problem was just the mixture of bad monitoring and the low range of vocal-part.

The most horrible sounding note I've heard him do live, was at the Musicology opening night during Purple Rain, third verse I think. His voice crackles for a moment and it sounds absolutely dead wrong. Even I could hear that.

white mansion - sing a tune a chazz's bar
the 'bar' bit sounds flat

goodbye - why'd I let you come inside my door
'why' is flat and a few goodbyes near the end grate.

apart from that (and they are only very slight) i cant remember much official released stuff being bad.

jayaredee said:

As vocalist and musician I can say Prince sings very well but He did hit some wrong notes (it happens 2 everybody, not only 2 him, the secret is finding a note 2 "repair" it asap). I remember a concert of ONA....He was getting lower and he was very much wrong....

During the Livesexy video his falsetto was off almost the entire show.

His early falsetto was pretty shitty too. Probably why the rock audience didn't buy Dirty Mind.

2freaky4church1 said:

FINALLY someone to say this besides me. I wouldn't say this is neccessarily true for his studio recordings (except for the bridge and chorus of Uptown), but definitely live. I love those Dirty Mind Club Tour recording as much as the next one but seriously - he wasn't much of a live singer back then.