On first three albums Prince was singing in falsetto ,

using it as his main voice

while he sang in normal register for back vocals.

Prince was upset when he was bad recived when he was one

of the opening acts on the

Rolling Stones 1981 concert.

ON 1999 album beside International Lover and Free Prince

sings in his chest voice on all the songs.

Was his more frequent use of normal singing voice because he wanted to get more mainstream rock audience ?

thebanishedone said:

Was his more frequent use of normal singing voice because he wanted to get more mainstream rock audience ?

I'd say so. Purple Rain has even less falsetto.

My opinion is that he probably just became more confident in his singing voice.

Prince doesn't have a great voice. It's not bad, but also not great.

I always saw his early falsetta as a a cheap, easy way to express himself.

But there is NOTHING that exudes confidence when it comes to his voice

in any of his 3 earlier albums---Dirty Mind comes closes with the "You're

gonna have to fight your own damned war" chant.

There is a remarkable and stark difference between that and Purple Rain.

In Purple Rain Prince's falsetta and regular singing voice had reached an

apex of confidence. Hell, the Beautiful ones switches between the two

modes in a VERY confident mannor.

I think I read in a book somewhere that Prince used to have to have

his sound engineer face away or NOT be in the same room while he

was laying down vocals, because it was the only way he could get

the performance, right?

SagsWay2low said:

Prince doesn't have a great voice. It's not bad, but also not great.

I used to think this too, but now I think is vocals are phenomenal. What he does better than just about anyone is adapt his vocals to fit the song. For instance, you need rougher sounding vocals for a song like Darling Nikki than a song like Adore. Don't confuse that with not having a great voice when there are plenty of examples like Adore where there aren't all that many people who could even attempt what he does vocally.

And how many people have covered a song like Purple Rain (I see at least 40 covers in iTunes)? Nobody that tries puts the emotion in the vocals he does. Even though they've seen how it's supposed to be done.

[Edited 4/22/11 0:40am]

regardless of whether you like his voice or not, his vocal range IMO is excellent and comparable to anyone

SagsWay2low said:

My opinion is that he probably just became more confident in his singing voice.

Prince doesn't have a great voice. It's not bad, but also not great.

I always saw his early falsetta as a a cheap, easy way to express himself.

But there is NOTHING that exudes confidence when it comes to his voice

in any of his 3 earlier albums---Dirty Mind comes closes with the "You're

gonna have to fight your own damned war" chant.

There is a remarkable and stark difference between that and Purple Rain.

In Purple Rain Prince's falsetta and regular singing voice had reached an

apex of confidence. Hell, the Beautiful ones switches between the two

modes in a VERY confident mannor.

I think I read in a book somewhere that Prince used to have to have

his sound engineer face away or NOT be in the same room while he

was laying down vocals, because it was the only way he could get

the performance, right?

You got everything right except that his voice isn't great. His voice is absolutely great and that's what makes his 80s harmonies so massive. Those are not single tracks with a chorus effect on it - those are each individually layered vocal tracks harmonizing together. Beyond whether or not the arrangement is any good, the fact Prince can replicate the same exact vocal performance in various different keys at various different pitches is nothing short of acrobatic.

Prince's high highs are exceptionally high for a male register and his lows are exceptionally low for someone who can hit those high notes.

Spinlight said:

SagsWay2low said:

My opinion is that he probably just became more confident in his singing voice.

Prince doesn't have a great voice. It's not bad, but also not great.

I always saw his early falsetta as a a cheap, easy way to express himself.

But there is NOTHING that exudes confidence when it comes to his voice

in any of his 3 earlier albums---Dirty Mind comes closes with the "You're

gonna have to fight your own damned war" chant.

There is a remarkable and stark difference between that and Purple Rain.

In Purple Rain Prince's falsetta and regular singing voice had reached an

apex of confidence. Hell, the Beautiful ones switches between the two

modes in a VERY confident mannor.

I think I read in a book somewhere that Prince used to have to have

his sound engineer face away or NOT be in the same room while he

was laying down vocals, because it was the only way he could get

the performance, right?

You got everything right except that his voice isn't great. His voice is absolutely great and that's what makes his 80s harmonies so massive. Those are not single tracks with a chorus effect on it - those are each individually layered vocal tracks harmonizing together. Beyond whether or not the arrangement is any good, the fact Prince can replicate the same exact vocal performance in various different keys at various different pitches is nothing short of acrobatic.

Prince's high highs are exceptionally high for a male register and his lows are exceptionally low for someone who can hit those high notes.

I think I just can't get past how croaky it sometimes sounds to me live.

I like his voice, mostly because it's unique. But, I'm not a good judge of voices I guess--I'm absolutely irritated by Thom Yorke's voice for example, and my friends tell me I'm insane.

that's exactly right.

Also, i think it's perhaps easy to overlook just how versatile his vocals are because we know it's all him. It's been my experience that people new to his music are generally as surprised when you tell them all of the vocals are his with few exceptions as they are when you tell them all of the instruments are him with few exceptions. Quite a few songs sound like he has backup singers or is at least singing a duet (i.e. forever in my life).

I used to think Barry Gibb had the most versatile voice I have heard, quite a few years ago I changed my mind.

[Edited 4/22/11 0:54am]

SagsWay2low said:

My opinion is that he probably just became more confident in his singing voice.

That's all. Period.

No need to see unnecesary things behind everything.

Gosh! What may the Stones opening act performance have to do with singing in falsetto or chest voice?

Maybe the stones can open for p now kieth cant hold ps guitar strap he never shows p any respect

Prince didn't sing with his falsetto at all during those shows with the Stones.

ARJUN said:

Prince didn't sing with his falsetto at all during those shows with the Stones.

yeah, and im pretty sure he was well received.. with the exception of "jack u off."

and his clothes lol

ive never seen or heard anybody ever say prince had a bad voice until i read this thread...

I've been quite pleased with how his falsetto has sounded live more recently. Judged by the recent live recordings he's in a better shape in that regard than with his normal register. At least he sounds like he is more focused when singing the high notes. His falsetto wasn't always that great live during the 1990s, even if that impression might have something to do with the quality of recordings.

Oh yeah, that's not what the thread's really about. Oh well...

Spinlight said:

SagsWay2low said:

My opinion is that he probably just became more confident in his singing voice.

Prince doesn't have a great voice. It's not bad, but also not great.

I always saw his early falsetta as a a cheap, easy way to express himself.

But there is NOTHING that exudes confidence when it comes to his voice

in any of his 3 earlier albums---Dirty Mind comes closes with the "You're

gonna have to fight your own damned war" chant.

There is a remarkable and stark difference between that and Purple Rain.

In Purple Rain Prince's falsetta and regular singing voice had reached an

apex of confidence. Hell, the Beautiful ones switches between the two

modes in a VERY confident mannor.

I think I read in a book somewhere that Prince used to have to have

his sound engineer face away or NOT be in the same room while he

was laying down vocals, because it was the only way he could get

the performance, right?

You got everything right except that his voice isn't great. His voice is absolutely great and that's what makes his 80s harmonies so massive. Those are not single tracks with a chorus effect on it - those are each individually layered vocal tracks harmonizing together. Beyond whether or not the arrangement is any good, the fact Prince can replicate the same exact vocal performance in various different keys at various different pitches is nothing short of acrobatic.

Prince's high highs are exceptionally high for a male register and his lows are exceptionally low for someone who can hit those high notes.

I completely agree. He has an amazing range and can have his vocals wrap around each other in an amazing way when he harmonizes with himself.

vitriol said:

SagsWay2low said:

My opinion is that he probably just became more confident in his singing voice.

That's all. Period.

No need to see unnecesary things behind everything.

Gosh! What may the Stones opening act performance have to do with singing in falsetto or chest voice?

Still, it may not have to do with the Stones' performance specifically, but you have to admit that in and around '81, America was in full-on "Disco Sucks" mode; if Prince really wanted to cross over, singing all his songs in falsetto would definitely not have been the way to do it.