mrdespues said:

I don't have the disc to hand but i'll take your word for it. I've never noticed him get beyond baritone, but i'll certainly give it a listen.

mrdespues said:

Ohhh, I am a trained musican too. :p
Prince is not Tenor. Tell me one song where prince sings in the tenor register. When he starts to enter in teh tenor register his voice starts to get all raspy, he couldn't sing the end of beautiful ones with a clean voice. Prince could never sing Holding onto you.

but i luv him,
calm down frog
falsete falsete falsete falsete boy. ehehe

7salles said:

Yeah, Holding on To You is a good example of a song Prince could not do

7salles said:

missfee said:

I have all of Terence Trent D'arby CDs. He is worthy of the comparison. Sometimes an artist is ahead of the times, and their commerical success is mediocre- so to speak. I think this is true of TTD. Prince was ahead of the times, also. His commercial sucess was measured, as well, until the roar of Purple Rain. I love Prince, but I wonder what his appeal would have been if had been more "ordinary" , instead of mysterious- prior to Purple Rain...

i forgot, falsetes aside, michael jackson reach notes prince can't reach too. Go jacko!

7salles said:

Maybe..but MJ doesn't have the range that Prince has..plus his voice is not as gritty and soulful as P's IMO.

Prince is great singer. Yeah, He is not like Stevie Wonder or Michael Jackson (at least in technique) but his durability in singing is probably the best I know. It's just incredible. He can scream as much and as high as he wants in a live concert. Michael Jackson can't do that, his voice is not so strong. Prince is the best screamer, he screams SO high and SO much and loud. It's just INSANE. Just try to scream with him, you'll probably lose your voice for forever

Listen to Terence Trent D'arbys song " Lets Go Forward and THEN tell me he has no range compared to P. He's a fantastic singer. In fact the entire Symphony Or Damn album is outstanding.
Also TTD has a massive internet following. Hence why he now chooses to release his stuff online. His website has millions of hits still, so he aint doing too friggin bad ! And he's rich

AS for P's range though, only Cindi Lauper , Celine Dion and Mariah Carey have as many octaves in their voice . Which says alot.
Prince's range and harmonies are second to none.

Listen to 7salles and y'all might learn something...geez.

7salles said:

I'm just wondering...
Are you getting paid for every time you type "falsete"?
(and isn't it falsetto?)

In Brazil it is falsete, i don't know in USA. whatever. No i am not getting paid, but for me FALSETTO is faking the voice. So i respect much more the singers that do not uses this all the time. Iof it.

7salles said:

Hmmm... I'm no scholar of music, but it seems a bit much to say that he's faking his voice. I do realize that the root of the word "falsetto" is "false," but I know I couldn't fake that shit if my life depended on it. Prince's vocal range is astounding, and the sounds he produces are among the most beautiful I've ever heard.

You do have a serious hard-on for that word, though.

I read an article in Details magazine years back about which singers have the broadest vocal range, and they put Prince right below Diamanda Galas. And if you've ever heard Diamanda, you know that's no simple accomplishment.

FunkMistress said:

It's because nobody sings in falsetto better than Prince. I love falsetto. But great singers use it less than Prince, Prince uses it all the time. falsetto falsete falsetto falsetto falsetto.
Prince only shines in falsetto, ehehhe

7salles said:

:backingawayslowly:

This thread is about Prince's vocal range, folks.

Someone earlier said, "even lenny kratiz must have a better natural voice than Prince"

HUH??!!

Lenny Kravitz barely sings more than two to three notes on nearly all his songs. He has one of the most limited ranges in Pop. I like his stuff, but his voice gets on my nerves after a while.

Prince's vocal range is most definately under-rated... especially on the low side. He does have very impressive range, and (especially) vocal agility.

TTD definately has a great vocal range.

Stevie Wonder MOST definately has tremendous range.

Under-rated and barely known female soul vocalist Carleen Anderson has the widest range of any female I've ever heard.

For some of U 2 compare singers, in the way of "he could never do that tune and so-and-so can" is ridiculous, 'cause even with a wide vocal range, a singer's range is generally different from the next, and every singer has particular keys within certain ranges that they are comfortable in.

Peace.

G.

And just for the record, Nuno bettencourt is a better guitar player than Prince too. You bunch of idol worshippers.

Giovanni777 said:"This thread is about Prince's vocal range, folks.

Someone earlier said, "even lenny kratiz must have a better natural voice than Prince"

HUH??!!

Lenny Kravitz barely sings more than two to three notes on nearly all his songs. He has one of the most limited ranges in Pop. I like his stuff, but his voice gets on my nerves after a while."

I didn't said kravitz is better singer than Prince. the fact his voice gets on your nerves is subjective, i won't argue that. I was talkign about natural voice, and proper singing, not faking your voice like you're a little girl. And at natural voice, lenny kravitz reach tones that i never saw Prince reach.

"Prince's vocal range is most definately under-rated... especially on the low side. He does have very impressive range, and (especially) vocal agility."

I agree

"TTD definately has a great vocal range.

Stevie Wonder MOST definately has tremendous range."

yes they have.


"For some of U 2 compare singers, in the way of "he could never do that tune and so-and-so can" is ridiculous, 'cause even with a wide vocal range, a singer's range is generally different from the next, and every singer has particular keys within certain ranges that they are comfortable in."

I second this. But the more versatile singer is the signer that can do more things with his voice. And there is guys out there that can sing whatever they want. Prince voice is limited in a way that he could never sing Michael Jackson tunes, stevie wonder and these kinda of male soul kind of vocal. He sings like a girl, he can't cary the higher tones of a male voice.

G.

Prince is a good vocalist -- not the best of his genre -- but good. However, I appreciate his vocal talents because they're vastly different from most other singers. I love to hear him go from one scale to the next on songs like 'International Lover' and 'Temptation'. Highly entertaining. Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé -- they have great voices with incredible range, but they sound a lot like other singers. People like Prince, Chaka Khan, Stevie Nicks and Steven Tyler always impressed me the most because of their distinctive voices.

Also, didn't Prince once say he sang mostly in falsetto because it was uncomfortable singing in a lower range?

I don't get that. How can you sing high notes without singing "falsetto"? I thought that meant male singer using their "head's voice" (or whatever the correct English term is). And when you sing high, you switch to that. Everyone can try this, humm a deep note. The voice comes from your belly or chest. Then go higher and voice seems to come from the throat.

BTW, I have no idea if Prince is technically better than others or not. But when he comes to his voice he is really daring and unique, IMO. He just doesn't go by the books.

That's what I appreaciate about Prince..he is daring. Technical-wise he is not the best singer. His voice is not as polished as Luther Vandross or Stevie Wonder and he may not have the same type of control that they have...but it's the rawness and edginess of his voice that sends my head spinning...

7salles said:

Yeah, Extreme really raised it to another level.

calldapplwondery83 said:

Head's voice is different from falsetto. When you use Falsetto your voice loses much of it natural timbre. Chris Cornell is a great example of a singer that sings high and uses his head's voice intead of falsetto. Think about a song like dirt diana from michael jackson, in this song he uses falsetto and head's voice, it's very easy to hear and tell the difference. falsetto is like don't stop till you get enough and kiss. The tone is very thin compared to a full head's voice.

DO you remember that 80's hair metal hit "I remember you" from Skid Row. That is a prime example of reaching high notes without using falsetto. Go listen to the song. The vocalist take 4 years of lesson and recorded this song with 19 years.

7salles said:

I think 7salles is Sebastian Bach.

No, I am not. I'm just a musican who loves to talk about music. It's more interesting to me than "what would you do if you sit next to Prince on a airplane". It's a shame that there are few people that can join on discussions like this. But that's ok, it is a prince FAN site, and fans think he is the better singer , better guitar player, better drummer and better pianist. So if you can't join the discussion why don't you stay quiet?