Old Dude
I do not suffer fools gladly.
It seems to me that the key to the discussion is what makes any singer "good". There are singers who can hit the notes, but who inject no life, no spirit, into what they sing. There are singers who, in their prime, used their larynx's like it was a Les Paul through a Marshall stack with a boatload of effects pedals. When their vocal cords get old, their abilities diminish. But, there are singers who might not have excellent pipes, but who can pack more emotion into a performance than you can imagine.
Johnny Cash was always entertaining, but never a really great vocalist. Towards the end of his life, he made some recordings that were among the best of his career. You could hear the age in his voice, the grit of all the years grinding away on his voice, but some of those songs would stab right into your heart. He never could have sung this song when he was younger.
People mentioned Leonard Cohen already. He's another great example.
All that notwithstanding, since the basic needs of a rock 'n' roll singer are just keeping up with the other instruments, when the pipes get old, it's time to get into management or switch to a different genre. An old rocker can always do like Rod Stewart and switch to being a standards-singing lounge act.
Johnny Cash was always entertaining, but never a really great vocalist. Towards the end of his life, he made some recordings that were among the best of his career. You could hear the age in his voice, the grit of all the years grinding away on his voice, but some of those songs would stab right into your heart. He never could have sung this song when he was younger.
People mentioned Leonard Cohen already. He's another great example.
All that notwithstanding, since the basic needs of a rock 'n' roll singer are just keeping up with the other instruments, when the pipes get old, it's time to get into management or switch to a different genre. An old rocker can always do like Rod Stewart and switch to being a standards-singing lounge act.
