Germanegro said:

I've heard that singers vocals can peak in their 50s, if U can believe that!

My opinion is that his vocals peak right around that time (50's) judging from his live performances.

In my very humble, non-vocalist, Prince-fan opinion...

All the original Prince-ly vocals were the best between '81-'96.

Prince amazingly never lost even one iota of his vocal ability, even till the end.

The P&M boots from Atlanta and Australia make that very very clear. Pristine, effortless, gorgoeus live vocals, no diminishment at all.

MrSharon said:

Probably the emancipation era The production on the songs may not have aged well on some tracks but his vocals throughout the album sound great He was 38 then [Edited 3/2/23 9:18am]

He peaked when he sang Soul Sanctuary.

bonnie184 said:

Emancipation era. Just check out "One Kiss at a Time" backing vox. A completely different singer than the ultralite Dirty Mind feathery falsetto city, he had now become 100% confident and in-control of his lower ranges. Falsetto better, too.

[Edited 3/2/23 17:23pm]

I don't know that he peaked. He was consistently awesome.

I finally made myself listen to the last Piano and a Microphone show boot that came out. I was so surprised at just how pure his voices sounded. He may have looked ill, gaunt or whatever, but his voice never gave him away.

I think more than anything, Prince was sure of himself when it came to his voice. To do something like "Adore" or "God," or "Solo" took guts. Dude just had it all the time.

TrivialPursuit said:

LoveGalore said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I don't know that he peaked. He was consistently awesome.

I finally made myself listen to the last Piano and a Microphone show boot that came out. I was so surprised at just how pure his voices sounded. He may have looked ill, gaunt or whatever, but his voice never gave him away.

I think more than anything, Prince was sure of himself when it came to his voice. To do something like "Adore" or "God," or "Solo" took guts. Dude just had it all the time.

This! MY 2 CENTS; P was one of a kind. There is simply no other male musician who does what P was capable of. Forget peak, he never peaked, listen to HNR2, people. Listen to When She Comes or fucking REVELATION. My god, listen to Stare, Groovy Potential! Listen to Anotherlove, Future Soul Song, 17 Days on the W2A DVD, the remake of If I Could Get Your Attention. Listen to Little Red Corvette live in Melbourne when he found out Vanity died. That man consistently topped himself and his voice would've been the last thing you could ever take from him!

Yes, those 2 are the P&M shows are conclusive proof.

.

I last saw him live in Feb 2014 with 3EG in a small venue and he sounded flawless.

[Edited 3/3/23 7:45am]

Emancipation era.

From Emancipation onwards his voice becomes flatter, the falsetto more squeaky and brittle. In the choirs, even in the studio recordings, he begins to be supported more and more by backing vocalists instead of superimposing his voice. I still love his voice, but how everyone he was getting older.

Prince's ability to maintain such consistent vocals has always amazed me. Considering the large amount of songs he recorded + his many live performances - for such a long period of time, it wouldn't have been unsual if Prince had more sigifnicant vocal changes.

.

As far as the question of when were Prince's vocals at their peak...I'm not sure if I can say when. I've been listening to some shows from 2015 recently, and while you can hear some changes in his vocals, he still sounds incredible. I do appreciate and understand the reasoning of those who believe he had a vocal peak though.

LoveGalore said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I don't know that he peaked. He was consistently awesome.

I finally made myself listen to the last Piano and a Microphone show boot that came out. I was so surprised at just how pure his voices sounded. He may have looked ill, gaunt or whatever, but his voice never gave him away.

I think more than anything, Prince was sure of himself when it came to his voice. To do something like "Adore" or "God," or "Solo" took guts. Dude just had it all the time.

This! MY 2 CENTS; P was one of a kind. There is simply no other male musician who does what P was capable of. Forget peak, he never peaked, listen to HNR2, people. Listen to When She Comes or fucking REVELATION. My god, listen to Stare, Groovy Potential! Listen to Anotherlove, Future Soul Song, 17 Days on the W2A DVD, the remake of If I Could Get Your Attention. Listen to Little Red Corvette live in Melbourne when he found out Vanity died. That man consistently topped himself and his voice would've been the last thing you could ever take from him!

Maybe "Peak" is the wrong word but I believe his vocals were at his best during that time.

His 'baby baby baby' screams on "The Dance" are much less powerful then on "The Beautiful Ones".

cb70 said:

His 'baby baby baby' screams on "The Dance" are much less powerful then on "The Beautiful Ones".

Maybe because he felt less passion towards the situation at 40 something versus when he was 25.

cb70 said:

His 'baby baby baby' screams on "The Dance" are much less powerful then on "The Beautiful Ones".

Well, it also wasn't "The Beautiful Ones Pt II" either.

TrivialPursuit said:

I don't know that he peaked. He was consistently awesome.

I finally made myself listen to the last Piano and a Microphone show boot that came out. I was so surprised at just how pure his voices sounded. He may have looked ill, gaunt or whatever, but his voice never gave him away.

I think more than anything, Prince was sure of himself when it came to his voice. To do something like "Adore" or "God," or "Solo" took guts. Dude just had it all the time.

I would agree.

I saw Prince live at the Sydney Opera House a couple of months before he died. No backing singers, no sharing the load to give his voice a rest, no slowing down the vocals, no stage theatrics to cover any performance issues.

cb70 said:

His 'baby baby baby' screams on "The Dance" are much less powerful then on "The Beautiful Ones".

Are his banshee screams really an example of "peak vocals"? This is like the rock & roll criterion of great vocalists, some will even rate Bob Dylan highly because his were "unique" or whatever, metalheds highly rate their growlers, etc. Some of the most truly deranged even maintain Billy Corgan in 1995 had great vocals...

Don't get me wrong, it was a badass/cool quirk, but "peak vocals" ehhh.

[Edited 3/3/23 18:54pm]

WhisperingDandelions said:

Are his banshee screams really an example of "peak vocals"? This is like the rock & roll criterion of great vocalists, some will even rate Bob Dylan highly because his were "unique" or whatever, metalheds highly rate their growlers, etc. Some of the most truly deranged even maintain Billy Corgan in 1995 had great vocals...

Don't get me wrong, it was a badass/cool quirk, but "peak vocals" ehhh.

Yeah, it's like saying the ..well, whatever he's doing in "God" is peak vocals. It's not. His voice is not cracking or anything, but it's not peak singing.

TrivialPursuit said:

He definitely hit a peak with Emancipation. But the drop-off from there was slow. He still had it right to the end.

Prince's vocals were at their peak in October, 2013.

I don't know...I think some of those high notes he hit in that last Atlanta show were pretyt incredible. He sure didn't sound like a guy 40 years into his career....

Some of the peaks he hits during Revelation on his last album are pretty darn impressive too.