Rock 'n' roll singers DON'T get better with age.

Lynch

Here for the cookies and the tunes
Joined
Jan 5, 2010
Posts
32,251
Reaction score
11,187
Location
The Land of Sky Blue Waters
one of the VERY few lead singers that has lost very little off of his voice would be Sammy Hagar. He can still belt out Montrose, Solo and Van Halen stuff, as well as everything from his post-Van Halen career. Honestly, I can't think of one single singer that has stood the test of time as well as he has (maybe McCartney, but Paul doesn't sing the wide-range of stuff or hard rock that Sammy does)
 

Schmetterling

Senior Member
Joined
May 11, 2014
Posts
202
Reaction score
82
Van Morrison has withstood the test of time


It seems to be the case that the more - dare I say - delicate voiced singers can withstand the trials and tribulations of the years rather more robustly than the screamers. A couple of people have mentioned some good examples above : namely yourself and BikerDude with your examples of Van, Dylan and Leonard Cohen. On the other side of the coin have a listen to Geoff Tate these days, his voice is finished, as is Labrie's - quite embarrassing I find. Old Rob Halford can still sing but you can hear he's struggling a bit with it, and I was pretty disappointed with the last Priest live album recorded at that Wacken show in Germany a couple of years back, mainly due to the vocal quality....
 

Schmetterling

Senior Member
Joined
May 11, 2014
Posts
202
Reaction score
82
one of the VERY few lead singers that has lost very little off of his voice would be Sammy Hagar. He can still belt out Montrose, Solo and Van Halen stuff, as well as everything from his post-Van Halen career. Honestly, I can't think of one single singer that has stood the test of time as well as he has (maybe McCartney, but Paul doesn't sing the wide-range of stuff or hard rock that Sammy does)


Yep, agreed on that. Sammy is still great for his age. He's probably about the only exception I could think of too....
 

Big Ears

Music Lover
Joined
Jul 3, 2011
Posts
5,195
Reaction score
136
Location
Hampshire, England
Greg Lake's voice became slightly deeper and improved as a result, in my view anyway. Glenn Hughes had a very wide range, so it is difficult to spot the difference with him.

Age reveals the deficiencies in weak singers, but no-one can turn back time. I hated it when Andy Williams kept singing into his dotage.
 

Romulus

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2015
Posts
913
Reaction score
308
Location
Devon, UK
Ian Gillan has defnitely lost the ability to scream or hit the high notes in songs like Child in Time but he still manages to sing quite decently on other less strenuous songs for his age.
 

Speed King

Rockin to the East & West
Joined
Feb 4, 2014
Posts
879
Reaction score
449
Location
Back home, at Conry's Bar
Vocal chords wear out with age, as do other parts of the human body,....also factor in the extreme abuse that rock singers subject their vocal chords to (and not mention smoking, both tobacco and other forms of smokables as well as hard liqueur, most of them do or did), it's no wonder these guys can't sing any more.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 8, 2017
Posts
1,796
Reaction score
246
Lulu-To Sir With Love Live 1968

Lulu-To Sir With Love Live 2007

Lulu-To Sir With Love Live 2017
 
Last edited:

Schmetterling

Senior Member
Joined
May 11, 2014
Posts
202
Reaction score
82
I'm thinking Paul Rodgers also still sounds remarkably good; least the last time I heard him... 'bout 2 years ago.


Yes, Paul still sounds good too - I hadn't thought of him.... With his more bluesy roots and singing style I would put him in the more delicate class of singers rather than in with the screamers though....
 

Find member

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
30,655
Posts
1,064,720
Members
6,354
Latest member
edmerka

Members online

No members online now.
Top