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
Even though I love him, I'd have to add Van Morrison to this list. And if anyone is interested in two strange voices together (Van Morrison & Sinead O'Conner) in what is surely the oddest/worst duet I've ever heard check out this album. They sing "Have I Told You Lately" with The Chieftains on the Letterman Show. Some of the music is good on this, but it's worth picking up just to hear the two of them "sing" this.
Sarah McLachlan I probably totally butchered her last name and the recording on her album surfacing is absolutely excellent
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.