This may sound weird, but lately I've been hearing a lot of similarites between Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston specifically in their vocal styling. Undoubtedly, I'm sure Whitney was influenced in some way by Michael, however, when I listen to the songs:

and

...Some of Nippy's "hee-hees!" "hoos!" and growls are reminiscent of Michael Jackson's styling and ad-libs, epsecially in the following songs:

This got me thinking, what are some other songs in which the vocal delivery is suspsiciously similar to another singer?

[Edited 12/5/14 11:26am]

MusicAddict95 said:

...Some of Nippy's "hee-hees!" "hoos!" and growls are reminiscent of Michael Jackson's styling and ad-libs, epsecially in the following songs:

Stevie Wonder was doing that in the early 1970s on songs like Maybe Your Baby.

.

Elvis Presley:

Vince Everett ~ Such A Night

Queen ~ Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Donna Summer ~ The Wanderer

any song by Dread Zeppelin

.

Sam Cooke: Steve Perry, Gerald Alston (Manhattans), Rod Stewart, Johnnie Taylor, Terence Trent D'Arby

Jackie Wilson: Howard Huntsberry (Klique), Elvis Presley

Marion Williams: Little Richard

Little Richard: Paul McCartney

Karen Clark: Faith Evans

Chaka Khan: Toni Smith

Stevie Wonder: George Benson, Charlie Wilson, George Michael, Jay Kay (Jamiroquai)

Glenn Lewis ~ Don't You Forget It

.

Charlie Wilson: Aaron Hall & other new jack swing singers

Babyface: Tony Rich ~ Nobody Knows

Sugarfoot Bonner: Lionel Richie, Larry Blackmon

George Jones: Randy Travis

Frank Sinatra: Landau Eugene Murphy

Melle Mel: Genesis (Phil Collins) ~ Mama

James Brown & Etta James: Wayne Cochran

MickyDolenz said:

MusicAddict95 said:

...Some of Nippy's "hee-hees!" "hoos!" and growls are reminiscent of Michael Jackson's styling and ad-libs, epsecially in the following songs:

Stevie Wonder was doing that in the early 1970s on songs like Maybe Your Baby.

.

Elvis Presley:

Vince Everett ~ Such A Night

Queen ~ Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Donna Summer ~ The Wanderer

any song by Dread Zeppelin

.

Sam Cooke: Steve Perry, Gerald Alston (Manhattans), Rod Stewart, Johnnie Taylor, Terence Trent D'Arby

Jackie Wilson: Howard Huntsberry (Klique), Elvis Presley

Marion Williams: Little Richard

Little Richard: Paul McCartney

Karen Clark: Faith Evans

Chaka Khan: Toni Smith

Stevie Wonder: George Benson, Charlie Wilson, George Michael, Jay Kay (Jamiroquai)

Glenn Lewis ~ Don't You Forget It

.

Charlie Wilson: Aaron Hall & other new jack swing singers

Babyface: Tony Rich ~ Nobody Knows

Sugarfoot Bonner: Lionel Richie, Larry Blackmon

George Jones: Randy Travis

Frank Sinatra: Landau Eugene Murphy

Melle Mel: Genesis (Phil Collins) ~ Mama

James Brown & Etta James: Wayne Cochran

Wow, thanks! A lot of these I didn't even realize! I would also add Carl Carlton under Stevie Wonder. I also knew about Michael Jackson getting his styling from Stevie Wonder, as well.

Double post, sorry.

[Edited 12/5/14 19:49pm]

I hear whitney wannabee's all the time.

Marvin Gaye: Christión, El DeBarge (1990s), Jermaine Jackson (late 1970s)

Luther Vandross: Jaheim

Teddy Pendergrass: Colonel Abrams

John Lennon: Julian Lennon

Eddie Levert: Gerald Levert

Eddie Kendricks: Damon Harris

Frankie Valli (Four Seasons): 1970s era Bee Gees

Minnie Riperton: Shanice Wilson (Shanice's 1st album was kinda Control era Janet Jackson), Mariah Carey, Chante Moore

Rotary Connection & 5th Dimension: Corinne Drewery (Swing Out Sister)

New Edition: Four By 4, New Kids On The Block

Ice T: Freedom Williams (C+C Music Factory)

Michael Jackson: Kathy Sledge, Denise Pearson, Ralph Tresvant, Jesse D. (Force MDs), Alfonzo Jones, Troop

Dreamboy: (Melvin Riley) Ready For The World

Jermaine Stewart: Tevin Campbell

Stephanie Mills: Maxine Jones

Debra Laws: Terry Ellis

Have you seen and heard the commercial for the "Big Hero 6" movie?

I have not seen the movie, but when I heard the song in the commercial - I could have sworn it was an unreleased gem from Freddie Mercury/Queen. After all, it has all the vocal runs and powerful music similar to 'Princes of the Universe' from the 1986 film "Highlander."


Turns out, the new song is NOT Freddie Mercury or Queen, but is a group called Greek Fire. The song is "Top of the World." A link on youtube is here:

http://youtu.be/A_-3ieQKtS0

I did obtain the new Queen deluxe edition, double CD "Forever" however - and that gave me just the fix I needed.

Prince's "trademark" yelp (like in the beginning of "Sexuality") came DIRECTLY from Betty Davis' song "Dedicated To The Press"!!!!!

Billie Holiday: Erykah Badu

Tiny Tim: Robert Smith (The Cure)

Nat King Cole: early Ray Charles, Charles Brown, Diana Krall

Al Jarreau: Kem

Superstition said:

Frank McComb sounds eerily like Donny Hathaway, but it's just his natural voice. He's a talented jazz artist in his own right.

One of the best voices in music

You can't get any more suspiciously similar than this.

^

Man, is this guy for real? I don't know what's worse: the fact that he's trying to emulate 1980 Michael on an 1988 record, or that the intro is jacking some of the stylings of the 'Liberian Girl' instrumentation.

.

Anyway, I always found the following to be needless emulation of a certain style: fastforward to the 2:30 mark:

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4QzM9KqCQU

.

Back around those days, there was something fishy going on with a couple of British boybands/girlgroups that would have one black member who would be the token rapper. Blue tried the same thing with Simon Webb in their early days.

It's funny that they have Shaznay rap a verse on 'I Know Where It's At' and have her imitate the style of Left Eye from TLC, who was hugely popular among younger audiences at the time, and was also safer to reference than ladies like Lil' Kim, Da Brat, or Foxy Brown. UK artists rapping in American accents in mainstream music was soon on its way out, when UK hip hop and 2step/garage found its way into the ears of the larger audience and was using British inflections and slang.

.

Madonna: Alisha, Regina

Run DMC: Devine Sounds

nuttynutmeg said:

This guy sounds just like.....Ralph Tresvant.

Revolution said:

This guy sounds just like.....Ralph Tresvant.

.

Which I guess means that we're coming full circle, considering that in New Edition's early days, Ralph tried his best to sound like little Michael Jackson. Not that he had Mike's volume or control, by any means.

.

.

.

.

Seeing Whitney's 'So Emotional' in the thread starter post reminds me of something else. There was an album track by the same title on Christina Aguilera's album (1999). Now Christina's 'So Emotional' is quite distinct from Whitney's song. However, in 2003, Japanese R&B singer Emyli had a song on her own debut album, called 'Eien Nante', which was basically a beat-jack of Aguilera's 'So Emotional'. Now it happens quite often that the producing team behind a J-Pop act will 'borrow' a beat from an American pop or R&B tune and have the singer sing Japanese lyrics over it. In Emyli's vocal style, even beyond 'Eien Nante', one can hear the influence of Christina Aguilera. In this case, it's not a bad thing; again as with Ralph Tresvant, Emyli doesn't quite have the vocal volume to produce the belting notes that Aguilera is known for. But she is a talented singer in her own right.

.

I personally even feel that 'Eien Nante' is an improvement over the source material it draws from; the emotional arc is more grandiose and the ad libs are more heartfelt, where 'So Emotional' is one of the more easily overlooked tracks on Christina's debut.

.

Another artist who took a lot of vocal cues from Christina Aguilera (especially in her early days) is Indonesian singer Agnes Monica. This is her 2005 single 'Bukan Milikmu Lagi'.

.

ginusher said:

.

Seeing Whitney's 'So Emotional' in the thread starter post reminds me of something else. There was an album track by the same title on Christina Aguilera's album (1999). Now Christina's 'So Emotional' is quite distinct from Whitney's song. However, in 2003, Japanese R&B singer Emyli had a song on her own debut album, called 'Eien Nante', which was basically a beat-jack of Aguilera's 'So Emotional'. Now it happens quite often that the producing team behind a J-Pop act will 'borrow' a beat from an American pop or R&B tune and have the singer sing Japanese lyrics over it. In Emyli's vocal style, even beyond 'Eien Nante', one can hear the influence of Christina Aguilera. In this case, it's not a bad thing; again as with Ralph Tresvant, Emyli doesn't quite have the vocal volume to produce the belting notes that Aguilera is known for. But she is a talented singer in her own right.

.

I personally even feel that 'Eien Nante' is an improvement over the source material it draws from; the emotional arc is more grandiose and the ad libs are more heartfelt, where 'So Emotional' is one of the more easily overlooked tracks on Christina's debut.

.

Another artist who took a lot of vocal cues from Christina Aguilera (especially in her early days) is Indonesian singer Agnes Monica. This is her 2005 single 'Bukan Milikmu Lagi'.

.

What is this trash?

Vocal: 0

Song: 0

Music production: 0

Choreography: 0

Style & Fashion: 0

Total score: 0