Prince is a perfect singer.
his natural voice is not as great as Luther or
Terence Trent but he use his voice with full capacity .
From the low bass notes to the highest falsetto Prince's vocal
range and the way he uses it is amazing .
And Prince never sings a wrong note on concert ,Or maybe he did?
So you ever heard Prince sing off key ?

thebanishedone said:

yes. I've heard him forget the words and sing off key. He's human.

Erik

I have never heard Prince sing off key.

Tame said:

You should get yourself some bootlegs. He's great singer, but he's human and sometimes he sings off key (but not so often ).

He sounded off-key with Tamar, doing "Beautiful, Loved and Blessed" on Saturday Night Live.

But he sounded great on "Fury".

i dont give damn whachall say....prince is tenacity embodied! ...!

He has sung off key, and he's forgotten the words to his own songs.

i would too if i had like 9300 cagillion in my CATAlog...

His singing on "All The Midnights" sounds a bit off key to me at points - but I suspect this is intentional ie. happy-go-lucky vibe...

Besides, how does one define a 'wrong' note? We only hear notes as being out of tune because our ears are so well accustomed to hearing 12-tone tuning. It's all we hear from the moment we're born mostly... but I'm getting off topic

ernestsewell said:

tends to happen when you've recorded oh.. a thousand songs? to say the least

Yes, Prince has indeed, sang off key...forgotten the lyrics...and deliberately changed them mid performance...I've personally heard him do it!

But in all honesty...Prince singing off key, forgetting the lyrics and deliberately changing them...is STILL better than more than 75% of today's Hot 100! So I don't hold THAT against him!

I don't think I've ever heard him sing offkey as bad as Taylor Swift at the Grammys. That would just be embarrassing.

I've heard him not quite hit the right note in live performances after dancing or moving around a lot, but I don't think it was ever a really glaring. More like something minor.

Efan said:

Oh hell to the naw! Prince has been fucking up...for quite a while now! I'm one of the few that will honestly admit it but if I ever laid down and DREAMED Prince was as bad as all THAT!! I'd call for an international intervention, the likes of nothing ever before seen, my damn self! I SWEAR!!!!!

The Somewhere Here On Earth Leno performance had a few hiccups.

thebanishedone said:

do you even sing???

Listen to The Cross. When he goes into his falsetto he goes severly off key. But I just overlook it and smile.

setyrmindphree said:

It does? Oh, do enlighten us

jeez you people are defensive.

InsatiableCream said:

That's because some people are nutjobs and think he's the messiah.

Erik

mel2006 said:

studio or live (which one)?

Oh no, not this again.

No, he doesn't sing perfectly at all. There's tons of live stuff around where he struggles with his falsetto. It hardly matters to me though, I don't mind singers not hitting notes precisely.

Prince has perfect pitch, right?...So, the only reason he'd ever be off pitch is live, e.g., whenever he can't hear himself, no?

novabrkr said:

Exactly. It's what makes him human and interesting. If you want pitch perfect singing, stick with computer enhanced stuff in the charts.

What gets me though are those on here who deny he ever sings off key. I'm assuming they are the same people who never listen to other artists in another thread on here the other week.

Erik

"Question of U" and "Somtimes.....in April" Very tricky songs!

"when doves SCREAM" , not cry ..
it's on a bootleg
don't know if he's really mad or if he's just fooling around

Mostly Prince sings in tune, on record as well as live. When you compare him to other artists, he stands out in a very positive way. To me this is a prove of his great musicality. He seems to have great control over his voice.

One of the few concerts I listened to where he is off key quite a few times is the Detroit 1986 birthday concert. While it is a great concert to watch overall, I was amazed that Prince (the perfectionist) allowed it to be on TV without vocal overdub corrections. Anybody else noticed this too?

thebanishedone said:

BTW, I find that TTD's voice has some sort of quality that makes him sound slightly off pitch almost all the time. Not to diss him, just an observation.

brechten said:

You're joking right? They're totally messing around. Listen to the whole segment, before the song starts. They are noodling around and eventually get into a garage version of "When Doves Cry". It was all for fun. He's not serious all the time, ya know.

he slips off on purpose sometimes .... in a playful manner or to exstract an emotion...like on, tamborine, condition of the heart, sometimes it snows in april, GOD, ect

The screams at the end of "The Beautiful Ones" on the "Prince and The Revolution Live" VHS tape from 1985.