Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'Falsetto'.
-
Why has falsetto singing had such a major role in American pop music? (And perhaps non-American pop music?) Here are a few examples. That's Russell Thompkins, Jr. singing falsetto. I saw the Stylistics live at the Sugar Shack in Boston in 1974. They were terrific, even without all the studio production stuff in their recordings. This song was a sort of "our song" for me and someone I was having a rather tempestuous relationship with at the time. I never saw Bobby Vinton live, but I remember this song, "Mr. Lonely", vividly from top-40 radio when it was newly released in late 1964: I didn't realize until putting this post together that Mr. Vinton was still living. The great (and I mean really great) Smokey Robinson: One of the best, not just as a singer but as a songwriter. I seem to recall a recent Nobel laureate calling Robinson our greatest living poet, or words to that effect. It's sometimes hard to tell if Michael Jackson was singing falsetto or was just a soprano, but there's no denying his appeal: There are obviously lots of others, from Prince to Justin Timberlake to the Beatles (occasionally). Then there's my favorite falsetto of all, Frankie Valli: What accounts for the popularity of falsetto singing in pop music? In modern times it seems to have started after the Second World War, although I could be mistaken about that. I know why I like it--when well done, it just sounds fucking cool. Am I just like everyone else in this?
- 21 replies
-
- Pop Music
- Male Vocalists
-
(and 1 more)
Tagged with: