who has the most versatile singing voice?

Not necessarily the best, but the singer who tries out the most stuff? It surprises me, how the human voice can have such a range and is capable of so many sounds that many singers tend to select a voice and stick within it.

So who does the most with their voice? Any dramatic uses within single songs?

I'm gonna have to say Gene Ween here

Predictably, I'm going to go with Peter Hammill. From a whisper to a scream, often within the same song.

Mike Patton?

Tom Waits has quite a range cF: Temptation vs Oily Night

Prince obv.

The rest of Dylan's albums vs. Nashville Skyline = a slight case for his inclusion here.

Kate Bush, especially on The Dreaming and Hounds of Love

Prince surely

Well, R.I.P., but Freddie Mercury seems the obvious answer.

Nilsson by a mile, imo. As a kid I was amazed to discover that all those disparate songs I'd heard as a kid were sung by the same man

Some obvious candidates:

Bjork
PJ Harvey
Diamanda Galas

probably some professional backup singer that we've never heard of

Gene Ween a good choice. He does a lot of different things. xp

Frank Oz

Todd Rundgren's pretty much covered everything as well.

the dude who does all those freestyle rapper impersonations

Bjork

Her?

Harry Nilsson is a good one.

David Johansen can sing convincingly in a lot of styles.

rahzel

david johansen can sing a lot of styles and make them sound exactly like david johansen

first person i thought of was prince.

If you're talking about range of styles as opposed to how many octaves they can cover or what have you, Arthur Lee!

nina simone didn't have the biggest range but her ability to be effective in a variety of diff styles and modes is p impressive

mike patton and rahzel were the two that i thought of before opening the thread so uh idk hi guys how is your summer going

david johansen can sing a lot of styles and make them sound exactly like david johansen

― von LMO argonaut (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, June 26, 2013 12:18 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is how i feel about everyone on this list, so maybe i don't understand the question. that's why i suggested someone anonymous, because no matter how versatile a singer is, they have to have a specific personality/style if they want to be a star, which limits the versatility.

its harder to come up with women because honestly, most female singers are more versatile than men straight out of the gate. diamanda galas is a pretty good one tho. ute lemper is pretty crazy versatile as well.

brad roberts / crash test dummies

What about Cathy Berberian? Or are we looking for living singers?

Charlie Rich?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hxjCIANddU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dNLAhL46xM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxAqyfewoss

xpost

Sainkho Namtchylak also deserves mention imo. I think I'd rate both her and Berberian a little higher than Galas here.

As pop/rock dudes go, Peter Hamill and Tom Waits are both pretty good picks, I think. I once played "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" for a friend who thought Hamill was singing a duet with a woman.

If you're talking about range of styles as opposed to how many octaves they can cover or what have you, Arthur Lee!

But isn't range in pitch a part of versatility?

no?

ok maybe

I don't get the Bjork mention at all. whenever I hear her guesting on something it instantly turns into a Bjork tune for me. whereas for Gene Ween you could probably fill a whole disc with Ween tunes that someone unfamiliar with the band would never suspect all came from the same group.

then again I guess the OP is a little ambiguous. she's certainly tried her voice in a lot of different things but I wouldn't consider her "versatile"

lee ving

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1FL-DSzo2s

also there's probably a reason that Bowie hasn't come up yet

I once saw a guy do the whole of "Star Trekkin'" by the Firm pitch-perfectly in a karaoke bar in Ilfracombe, Devonshire.

Bjork is one of the greatest singers of our time but i agree with frogbs, "versatlity" is not her forte

Neither is singing

(not a fan)

If we were voting, mine would go to Patton.

Zappa had to hire some pretty versatile vocalists to sing some of the stuff he wrote...thinking mainly of the vocal version of "Holiday in Berlin" sung by Roy Estrada, and a lot of the 73-74 material sung by George Duke and Napoleon Brock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFYiRTPsrqg

any excuse really tbh

this thread is about versatility being a bad thing, right?

cf the darren bent question

the bent thing has all sorts of ramifications worth exploring

most beautiful singers don't fall into this category of "versatile" tho

i think it's a useful thing to have if one is to listen to you for any prolonged period tbh, maybe that's personal

i think a little bit, a pinch of salt, yeah; but a little goes a long way

a lot goes further

Don Van Vliet

Within the range of rock singers only, PJ Harvey

but some backup singer we have never heard of is probably the right answer

Early music & folk, maybe Jantina Noorman?

Heather Nova

Yeah I think there are two ways of looking at versatility, a singer with many different 'voices' vs. someone able to adapt their one 'voice' to a variety of different moods/genres. If it's the latter, Bjork is definitely a good shout.

An interesting side question would be who is the most versatile rapper. Kendrick uses an impressive array of styles on his album.

someone able to adapt their one 'voice' to a variety of different moods/genres. If it's the latter, Bjork is definitely a good shout.

Ooh boy, I'm a fan but her voice always sounds exactly the same, exactly, even when she sounds totally different

I stand by Nilsson bc dude isn't just "wow he can growl AND scream AND cough AND beatbox AND croon" but he was able to utterly inhabit any genre and sound like its greatest singer, whether he was biting Lennon or Chuck Berry or Mighty Sparrow or Joao Gilberto or Sinatra or Chet Baker or playfully imitating Randy Newman or Broadway-style on "Without You". He could crush any style of singing. I'm surprised I haven't heard a recording of him singing Rigoletto (and killing it)

Is there a particular album or collection of songs worth checking out?

Seconding that question.

Here's Naive Teen Idol from the Nilsson poll a couple years ago:

I've recently been recording "Switched On"-style Minimoog covers of Nilsson songs -- so I've been listening to these records incessantly.

Honestly, I couldn't pick one. The graceful, Tin Pan Alley two step of the first two records makes a lot of this material my favorite—it doesn't hurt that he was kind of the greatest male singer alive at that point—but their whimsy almost carries them away at times. Harry belongs in this batch, but it's transitional -- similar to PSS and AB but with maybe a bit more grit, variety and humor (the shout of "Guam!" in "Marchin' Down Broadway" is aces) that makes it a bit more consistently listenable.

Nilsson Sings Newman isn't a record I can put on everyday—the piano and vocal is often too emotionally naked—but when I do, it's often amazing. I tend to prefer the emotional ones—outtake "Snow" is probably my favorite thing on here—but the whole thing is wonderful (cover art with Harry chauffeuring Randy included).

The Point is fairly wonderful -- "Me and My Arrow" is classic, obv, but it's not alone. No song better captures how drugs can turn the mundane into the cosmically planned than "Think About Your Troubles." "Life Line" has been haunting me of late.

Then comes the Schmilsson era (tho in truth, his gruffer, "mature" voice is ushered in with Aeriel Pandemonium Ballet -- rendering the version of "Daddy's Song" definitive). Nilsson Schmilsson is, some revisionism notwithstanding, pretty outstanding -- tho its pleasures tend to run more mountain high than river deep. Still, in addition to the hits, "Gotta Get Up" is undeniable, trombone slides and all. The "bits of crap" line in "Moonbeam" renders it a quintessential Nilsson song. Closer "I'll Never Leave You" is a sort of haunting return to the style of his first records that he would ironically leave with these records.

I just dl'd Son Of Schmilsson more recently...there's a case to be made that this record is no sillier than Nilsson Schmillson and in some ways, a more profound artistic statement. "Spaceman," as noted by others, is epic and awesome -- as is "Turn On Your Radio" but in a completely different way. "Remember (Christmas)" is one of his best ballads. Even though producer Richard Perry was supremely disappointed by Nilsson's refusing to take the sessions seriously—and songs like "I'd Rather Be Dead" don't exactly weaken his case—I think the record reveals itself on repeated plays and is the dark horse in his catalog in a lot of ways.

Far more than Walls n' Bridges, Pussycats is the soundtrack to Lennon's Lost Weekend. In addition to the hooligans tracks with the likes of Keith Moon and children singing ("Subterranean Homesick Blues," "Loop-de-Loop"), there are some outstanding entries into the catalog here. "Save the Last Dance for Me"—destroyed larynx and all—is one of the best things the man ever committed to vinyl -- I never get sick of it. "Don't Forget Me" is one of the all time great divorce songs (the "I'll miss you when I'm lonely/I'll miss the alimony too" couplet is gold). I particularly like the boozy "Mucho Mongo/Mt. Elga."

Duit on Mon Dei and Sandman are definitely of a piece -- these were the records that came after Lennon got RCA to agree to pick up the recording costs (read: full bar spread) of Harry's records. The knock on a lot of these tracks is that he was slumming by writing "novelty songs." That seems to miss the point a bit -- these records are straight up piss takes on the pop music industry (right down to the full bar spread) by a guy who was considered a major star (right up until he recorded these records). For a dude who made partying some kind of art form, the two-drunks-walk-into-a-bar story of "Flying Saucer Song" reveals the guy to be pretty self-aware (maligned or not, I love it). Besides, there are a few things here that rank among his best tunes anyway (certainly, the cosmic "Salmon Falls" and ghostly "Easier For Me"). Van Dyke Parks' arrangements are stunning and central to the, ahem, festive atmosphere of both, importing into Duit Mon... the steel drum sound he featured on his own Discover America/Clang of the Yankee Reaper albums. Essential to understanding the man's genius.

...That's the Way It Is is a covers album and...fine for what it is, tho his cover of George Harrison's "That Is All" not only redeems Harrison's histrionic original -- it reveals the song to be among his best.

After pissing his stardom away over the previous five years, Knnillssonn is understandably cited as some kind of return to form. I like it. All the tracks are good -- and some ("All I think About Is You," "Perfect Day," "Blanket For a Sail") are among the best. But in some ways the chorale string arrangements play it all a bit too straight, depriving the material of the spark that gave his best records an edge. Still, a poignant close to his RCA years.

All in all, an amazing, amazing catalog.

Nilsson Schmilsson! buy that immediately. one of the greatest vocal performances of the 70's. and yeah he does it all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gstqM3GQyAk

also just for overall production and playing that record is hard to beat. MOST of his records sound amazing though. even on rca dynaflex vinyl they sound amazing. he really is someone who rewards re-listening. so talented.

might have to add that album to my list of things people should look to as far as brevity and also unity (despite the disparate styles). vision. if you are a singer-songwriter and you can't say what you want to say in 35 minutes and 22 seconds maybe you should practice more. brevity is like totally the soul of wit or something!

see my: if you are a hard rock band and your album is longer than 36:35 (the length of fun house) then there better be a REALLY good reason for that. (see also: if you are a metal band and your album is longer than 36:54 (the length of south of heaven) then you better be making an album that is better than south of heaven. which you are not. probably.)

35 or 36 minutes. the absolute proven best length for an album. don't care if you have extra room on that cd of yours. its a scientific fact.

yuck @ that dogma!

but I like short albums

And intermissions

see.

Joining in the love for Harry Nilsson, he was my first thought.

Possibly the best advert for his voice alone is Nilsson Schmilsson (really good at a lot of stuff but doesn't get his most delicate or harmonically intricate stuff down) or Nilsson Sings Newman (most delicate/insane harmonies abound, doesn't really get the rock out like Nilsson Schmilsson.

I mean, past 45 seconds this becomes a masterclass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mu3wtJmn4Y

Ooh boy, I'm a fan but her voice always sounds exactly the same, exactly, even when she sounds totally different

'Adapt' was probably the wrong choice of word... I agree that Bjork always sounds like Bjork but what I mean is I feel like she could sing over just about anything and make it work.

that was the context in which I was thinking of her as well

I feel like she could sing over just about anything and make it Bjork.

exactly, the backing hardly seems to matter. her guest spots with 808 state and Plaid just sound like Bjork tunes to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwc9pm8KEQY

Ohhhh I see what you guys mean. Versatile like pickles. They go with anything.

bingo

In that case, Daltrey.

"Versatility" to me suggests an ability to adapt, like "can sing in Italian *and* Russian" not "will sing the same shit in any environment". But I welcome any opportunity to listen to a track from Gling-Glo :)

I totally agree with that, but then there are people like Bjork whose vocal personality seems to fit into a bazillion different boxes and I think it's fair to recognize that as a different type of versatility

I had no idea until reading this thread that Aerial Pandemonium Ballet was different from the original two albums. I thought it was just a convenient repackaging of the same material.

Prince was also my first thought, though Nilsson makes a compelling case. (Arguing against it is that he effectively wrecked his voice by pushing it too far, which I'm not sure qualifies as versatile.)

If MCs are eligible in this, then LL deserves a nod.

APB is wonderful in its own right. great versions. again, just such beautiful sound on his records.

Ha, that Bjork jazz track is wonderful.