A "Unique" Voice...


A bunch of the artists I enjoy most have what may be considered as a very unconventional vocal quality. Now everyone is "unique' as are their fingerprints, to be shure, but the artists I'm thinking about are real standouts in that they are unmistakeably...well....odd perhaps. An aquired taste as their voice could easily grate on many. Maybe I should give some examples and that would be a better way to get what I mean accross:

Tom Waits comes first to mind. The little girl voice of Joanna Newsom. Those two I enjoy very much. One I just can't stand to listen to myself, Diamanda Gallas - Hey If I wanted to hear screaming like that I can just 'forget' to do the dishes a few nights in a row! Oh, yeah, Sean reminded me recently of the most bizarre, Klaus Nomi, whose mezzo soprano voice sounded more like a woman than a man. Actually Klaus was difficult to categorize himself. But actually, his voice was quite lovely as far as conventions go. So he wouldn't really qualify.

I guess what I'm saying is that these are not conventionally 'pretty' voices, yet they are engaging to many nonetheless, and certainly gifted artists, as far as those I've mentioned goes.

I'll leave it at that...any others come to mind?
jax2

Showing 5 responses by zinfan2

Robin Holcomb, wife of saxophonist Wayne Horvitz. She has a fey and haunting voice that works well with her compositions, which are also otherworldly and haunting. Try her first CD on Nonesuch, "Robin Holcomb." If you like Iris, you'll probably like her too, yet they're quite different. Her piano-based songs remind some people of Charles Ives.
Jimmy Dale Gilmore. High keening voice that I think is great, but which sends my kids scurrying from the room.
Julie Miller, for sure. And at the other end of the spectrum, down in the gravel throated range witb Joe Cocker, how about Rev. Gary Davis and especially Blind Willie Johnson.
John Jacob Niles -- singer, folksong collector and composer: "I Wonder As I Wander," "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair." Could go from baritone to counter-tenor in blink.
Thom y recommended Devendra Banhart -- yeah, I second that. Also Kevn Kinney. And on the jazz front, Blossom Dearie. And has anyone mentioned Iris Dement?