Vocal demise

[Audio Al]

Vocal demise !

Not sure what part of the forum to post this in so thought I would put it here

Also hope I wont rock the boat with my comments

Do vocalists ever retire ?

I love to listen to powerful clear clean vocal artists , but recently I Have had a problem with several performances on the TV

1 Elton John ( diamond Jubilee Concert )
2 Paul McCartney ( Olympic ceremony )
3 Some time ago Diana Ross ( an audience with )

I will stop at 3 but could go on , my personal opinion " dreadful "
In the day yes great , and I love listening to my Diana Ross LP's when Diana did sing like a angel , Elton John in the day was great as well

Is it only me that thinks the time must come to retire ?

If I see any more TV or Radio shows from now on I will make a point of not listening ,

I find it quite upsetting :(

[Stratmangler]

There's always the option of the off button ;)

[MartinT]

Agreed about Macca, whom I saw at Hyde Park not so long ago sounding excellent. I thought his performance at the Olympics was dreadful.

[Stratmangler]

People forget that singing is a very physical pursuit, and you have to train into it.

Paul McCartney has had a brief hiatus in his performing schedule, so it's going to be a bit hit and miss.
Some of his songs have difficult to hit high notes, and if you're not match fit...

[DaveK]

Add Tom Jones, Tony Bennet, Dinkerhump and, sadly, Russel Watson to my list and even sadder, it's happening to Neil Diamond, who also seems to have lost his song writing mojo as well. Time to call it a day and leave the fans with the good memories rather than the other sort, IMO.
Neil Sedaka seems immune to the problem so far.

[Puffin]

Elton John seems to have re-written the excellent Taupin lyrics to his songs and his set now consists of ONE word songs. Every word is joined to the next into an incomprehensible slur. Best example IMO is Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting.

[Joe]

My guess is that these people will carry on singing as long as people carry on paying to hear them sing.

FWIW, I've never really rated Elton John as a singer. He should have stuck to the piano playing.

[walpurgis]

There are people who should never have been allowed to sing in the first place (in my opinion). And no, I won't quantify that.

[DanJennings]

Add Ian Anderson to the list, he really is struggling with his voice the last few years, a real shame.

[synsei]

And then there's Tom Jones who sounds as good now as he has at any time in his career, a true superstar...

[DaveK]

And then there's Tom Jones who sounds as good now as he has at any time in his career, a true superstar...

Please, please, please tell me you're being ironic :rolleyes:. I used to like him but I suspect he's come back from living across the pond because they aren't shy about letting him know his best days are well behind him.

[DSJR]

I dunno, when you hear Emeli Sande squawking away live last night at the Olympics closing ceremony, out of tune and embarassingly bad IMO in her live porformance, yet "surprisingly" in tune on the recorded bit, and then compare with George Michael singing live for the first time in ages and possibly better than ever, his voice finally shaking off the horrible "Whamboy" timbre and The Who's Roger Daltrey sounding as good as he's ever done, despite being in his 60's now, I think that older singers rely more on interpretation of their best works of old - thinking of Robert Plant here :)