Do you think Prince's voice has changed over the years?

Do you think his lost a bit of his vocal range?

I would say yes but i heard a recent Madison Squere Garden rendation of the Beautiful Ones and

sounded like Prince was singing even better the on the studio version.

His screaming seemed flawless to me last year when I saw him (Europe)...

he can still scream, all is good

Prince's voice is like a fine tuned instrument, that is capable of great versatility

Prince seem more into teasing than screaming nowadays. He knows that you want it, so he would pretend to give it to you, just for you to want it even more. The same way you get laid.

Yeah, I'm not saying that he can't scream anymore. Maybe it was just those nights or maybe he was trying something new with the song on those nights. I've seen footage of performances from the 20Ten Tour last summer where he screams just fine.

4get the guitar, songs, clothes, arse.. for me it's all about his sumptuous voice, his most precious instrument

lol ill never forget hearing him scream during the beautiful ones. i totally didnt expect it, and as soon as i heard the piano in the beginning i got chills. that song makes me cry when i listen to it on my ipod. i was like, sobbing when i heard it live. i was really impressed with how well he can still scream. i guess the only thing he cant do like he could in the 80's is dance.. thats it lol

He needs to scream in his albums more often.

He sings in a lot less falsetto now. I don't understand why. He always said he preferred his falsetto to his lower register (even saying it hurts in that Dirty Mind era interview). Sucks, cuz I think most falsetto songs he does tend to be better!

dyvrdown said:

lol ill never forget hearing him scream during the beautiful ones. i totally didnt expect it, and as soon as i heard the piano in the beginning i got chills. that song makes me cry when i listen to it on my ipod. i was like, sobbing when i heard it live. i was really impressed with how well he can still scream. i guess the only thing he cant do like he could in the 80's is dance.. thats it lol

Yeah that does remind me. At one of the W2A concerts, I rememer that just before the screaming part he said, "Oh yeah. I'm still that dude." Then he started screaming, "Do you want him..." That scream sounded perfect and the crowd went bananas.

I think he finds it hard to do the falsetto for a couple of songs in a row nowadays, even though he still can. Apart from that, nothing wrong with his voice and in great shape for his age, imo.

PurpleChi said:

dyvrdown said:

lol ill never forget hearing him scream during the beautiful ones. i totally didnt expect it, and as soon as i heard the piano in the beginning i got chills. that song makes me cry when i listen to it on my ipod. i was like, sobbing when i heard it live. i was really impressed with how well he can still scream. i guess the only thing he cant do like he could in the 80's is dance.. thats it lol

Yeah that does remind me. At one of the W2A concerts, I rememer that just before the screaming part he said, "Oh yeah. I'm still that dude." Then he started screaming, "Do you want him..." That scream sounded perfect and the crowd went bananas.

omg, I was there lolol and I was like oh please? bring him back? please????? lolololol

His voice & range is better than ever..........

mblevels said:

I think he finds it hard to do the falsetto for a couple of songs in a row nowadays, even though he still can. Apart from that, nothing wrong with his voice and in great shape for his age, imo.

particularly live, the range he used to sing in on "I wanna b your lover" or "uptown" doesn't cut through quite as much as the middle range of "Musicology" That is where he spends most of the night.

he hits the high notes, and hits them well.

I think the comment about the lower register hurting came from a teenager who was still finding his voice. Now, the lower register is the stronger one. He has a huge range, but for singing live, there is a limited range that has a lot of power. That is normal for men.

His voice has changed over the years, but there is still no other voice like his-NONE.

To be honest, I don't like his voice much..

I would say that the timbre of his voice is probably a little bit darker than it was 20 or 30 years ago (which happens to everyone).

His range seems to be pretty much intact - both the full voice and the falsetto. However, he uses it much more economically these days (doesn't hit high notes as often, etc). Personally, I don't think that has to so much do with his vocal condition, I think it's more a result of artistic growth and maturity. Prince no longer feels the need to be loud, provocative and over-the-top to get his message across - neither vocally, nor in his music as a whole.

But his greatest vocal improvement is that he has much more control of his voice than when he was younger. The subtle nuances he can achieve today in sound, pitch, dynamics, and phrasing reminds me of the great Ray Charles.

RealMusician said:

I would say that the timbre of his voice is probably a little bit darker than it was 20 or 30 years ago (which happens to everyone).

His range seems to be pretty much intact - both the full voice and the falsetto. However, he uses it much more economically these days (doesn't hit high notes as often, etc). Personally, I don't think that has to so much do with his vocal condition, I think it's more a result of artistic growth and maturity. Prince no longer feels the need to be loud, provocative and over-the-top to get his message across - neither vocally, nor in his music as a whole.

But his greatest vocal improvement is that he has much more control of his voice than when he was younger. The subtle nuances he can achieve today in sound, pitch, dynamics, and phrasing reminds me of the great Ray Charles.

Great, authoritative answer. Thank you for the musicain's input.

I was watching a purple rain concert the other day and I was shocked how bad his voice live was back then. Its really weak on songs like the Beautiful Ones.

He has certainly improved over the years.

RealMusician said:

I would say that the timbre of his voice is probably a little bit darker than it was 20 or 30 years ago (which happens to everyone).

His range seems to be pretty much intact - both the full voice and the falsetto. However, he uses it much more economically these days (doesn't hit high notes as often, etc). Personally, I don't think that has to so much do with his vocal condition, I think it's more a result of artistic growth and maturity. Prince no longer feels the need to be loud, provocative and over-the-top to get his message across - neither vocally, nor in his music as a whole.

But his greatest vocal improvement is that he has much more control of his voice than when he was younger. The subtle nuances he can achieve today in sound, pitch, dynamics, and phrasing reminds me of the great Ray Charles.