jayaredee said:

So I'm the only person who hears her voice sounding out of breath and quivery, as if she doesn't know or have the ability to breathe correctly when she sings? And I'm not just talking about when she's dancing. She never had a super great voice, but it seemed like she could at least pull off an okay live performance pre-Evita.

Teena Marie

William Hart from the delfonics.. now thats just sad..i blame age probably smoking.. and not warming his voice properly or just health in general

heybaby said:

as much as i love rick james, it's true that he didn't sound very good on the BET awards.

heybaby said:

Becoz of that exceptional MTV awards?

Personaly, she reminds me of Sarah Vaughan in terms of how her voice got thicker in time. If she recorded her latest album in 2 days then I sho as hell don't know how her voice gone down hill

I don't think Chaka's voice has gone down neither Teena Marie. Now if you can get up at 5am to perform at 6am for the Tom Joyner Sky Show and still rock it than I don't think you should be listed and both have done this. I believe these two were listed because of the award show appearances where both had "off" nights. When your a Legend like Chaka Khan and Teena Marie you can have an "off" night! I've seen both live recently and they are both holding it down!
As for Whitney, she's definitely gone down, she should have been tops on the list!

What do you people expect?? All of the singers mentioned above are getting older. Christ, some of them are in their 50's & 60's. Do you really expect their voices not to change? Come on!

MJ,,,,didn't go downhill but its different than say circa-Thriller.

dancerella said:

She sounds great in last year's Standing in the Shadows of Motown movie.

Natural aging of the chords is one thing but abuse and misuse is another. Dionne Warwick sounds really bad these days. Singers who take particular care of their voices still sound good 20+ years later, especially men who sing falsetto. While they may have changed Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, MJ, Chaka, kdLang and Prince still have killer voices. I've read about the first 3 being really protective of their voices but I don't think many singers are that careful.

Anxiety said:

she lip-synched most of her TV perfmances pre-Evita.

GrayKing said:

You've done Madonna no justice by saying this

Philip Bailey--based on his grammy performance
Bob Seger--based on his RRHOF performance
Paul McCartney--This is the same guy who sang "Do It in The Road?"

and the quickest ruining of a voice:
Axl Rose--like a different person from "Appetite" to "Use Your Illusion"

jayaredee said:

I've never thought Maddona had a good voice. Her singing and performance in Evita were very good, but for the most part I've always considered her voice to be quite average. She doesn't have much range and she does sound quivery at times.

andyman91 said:

I was actualy in tears when I saw him struggling to hit his own signature high note. I thought to myself "Damn, those suckas are getting old"

I still love them tho.

Harlepolis said:

Yeah, I thought maybe he was just having a bad night. I saw them somewhere else on TV just a few years ago and he had no trouble.

Harlepolis said:

You gotta keep loving them even when they're getting old. That's the whole point of being a true fan. Everyone gets old and no one stays the same, so just because are favourite singers no longer hit the notes like they used to, doesn't mean we stop loving them and remembering how great they were. For example, James Brown was in my town the other night and a friend went to see him. He told me he was on stage for less than 80 minutes. Some people would feel totally ripped off by that, but if you stop and remember how old the man is, I think it's great that he can still perform even if it's just for 80 mins.
To be honest, I can't wait to see what Prince is doing 20 years from now. I know he will still be making great music. It may not be popular, but it will always be great!

kisscamille said:

Well said

jayaredee said:

i'm not paid to do her justice. i'm just a huge fan.

JackieBlue said:

Cigarettes.

Supernova said:

What I don't understand is, how folks like Sarah Vaughan & Chaka mentain their vocal chops even tho they were heavy smokers too?

jayaredee said:

there's a lot i like about madonna, but her live singing is not one of them. before "evita", though, it seemed like she was able to pull her weight and make up for her weak pipes with great performances and super stage presence. i believe she sang live on the legendary MTV "like a virgin" performance, and while she didn't sound fantastic, she pulled it off. same with the oscar (grammys? i forget) performance when she did the marilyn monroe schtick. it was great, and her voice didn't get in the way. but take for example the performance of "ray of light" she did with lenny kravitz on the MTV awards...awful! painful! hideous! and i've noticed that her rickety pipes have gotten in the way of her live performance ever since, unless she's lip synching, which i guess kinda speaks for itself.

Anxiety said:

well, yes, ROL on the VMA's was fucking awful. even the most die-hard fan will admit that.

Anxiety said:

You better be careful Anxiety, these kind of feelings towards Madonna can get you excommunicated from the gay community

GrayKing said:

and i don't begrudge her for lip synching now and then - the performance of "vogue" that she did in full elizabethan drag was more about spectacle than vocal gymnastics, and i don't think anyone cared. that's something that madge can (or COULD) pull off, and i really miss the fact that she's gotten so far away from that kind of spirit. it's great that she wants to grow and all, but it just hasn't been working...for me, at least.

Anxiety said:

i agree, to a large extent.

she has done decently in 99 and 01 on the grammys. and other various live performances since Evita (though You Must Love Me at the Oscars was only so-so) have gone very well. so well that i didn't have the usual cringing, nervous "oh god, she's gonna do this" moments. she sounded excellent on this tour. and on the last one. and okay on the Girlie Show and Blond Ambition for that matter. it's usually when she hasn't been on the road (or rehearsing for a road show) or the early stages of promoting an album that she sounds awful. her performances for the American Life publicity were pretty good, on top of being low-key affairs.

Harlepolis said:

Maybe it depends on how long they had the habit.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Stevie Nicks.

She sounds weathered.

Elton John sounds a little haggard too... I was listening to "The One" (from 1991) and Peachtree Road (2004) and his voice changed at some point between these 2 records. I still think he sounds ok, but he's much rougher sounding now.

Aside from the aging process, the causes of their vocal demise are quite obvious.

Harlepolis said:

did you hear Chaka at this year's VMA's? she didn't sound too good at all.

GrayKing said:

Elton has in fact re-arranged most of his old, falsetto-register songs. He's either transposed them to a lower key (for example "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road") or changed parts of the melody (for example "Tiny dancer"). Elton is a very skilled and flexible performer, and I'm sure this is no difficulty for him.

He would probably love to just choose other songs instead (he has a very rich catalogue, you know), but I guess his fans still want to hear his old songs...and being sung "the old way", which means he can't change too much...

Elton admits his throat operation had a negative impact, but apart from that he thinks his voice has only gotten better over the years... Personally, I don't agree. He has indeed more power and depth, but his range is smaller, he's much less flexible, and his intonation is not what it used to be. It's a little sad actually...even in his new songs, you can sometimes hear what he's trying to do vocally, but it just doesn't come out the way he wants it to...