Who do you think of when you think of the perfect singing voice?
Ask ten people that question and you are likely to get ten different answers.
What you are unlikely to get as an answer are any of the names listed below.
They are all singers with unconventional voices.
That does not mean they are bad. In fact, these singers all use their unusual voices perfectly.
And in the end, their voices are a big reason for their success.
But no one would ever say that any of them have the perfect singing voice, that’s for sure. Let’s take a closer look, so you can see what I mean.
Famous Singers With Unconventional Voices
Every one of these singers has a very unusual, and very distinct, voice. And they use that voice to great effect.
Tom Waits
Tom Waits is among the scant few extremely successful singers who made it with raspy, raw, and frankly intimidating voices. Beyond singing, he’s also a proficient pianist and guitar player, although most of the world knows him as a vocalist with a set of deep, sturdy vocal cords.
While some modern-day singers use distortion pedals to make their voices bigger, Tom never needed that. Just listen to Telephone Call From Istanbul, for example.
There are not many singers in upbeat jazz who would not only dare to use, but actually double down on, such hoarse vocal tones, while still making the tune catchy.
And then there’s Tom Traubert’s Blues, a ballad in which Tom’s deep, deep voice, followed by scratchy undertones, makes perfect sense.
Some may not like it, but others adore it. Either way, you can’t deny that the man invented a unique singing style built around his gritty voice.
Let’s take a look back at Tom’s The Early Years, with a classic tune like Hope I Don’t Fall In Love With You.
The core of his voice is as rock-steady as in his later works, but we can hear considerably more details, clarity, and subtle accents in his vocals.
Bob Dylan
The great Mr. Dylan is equally renowned for having a uniquely diverse vocal range, a quirky capability to shift between a host of singing styles, and fairly unconventional lyrics.
Some would say he has a perfect radio voice for announcing dynamic news, yet he made quite a few songs where it was just as good for singing.
Ballad of a Thin Man is a textbook example of a Bob Dylan tune where singing patterns, rhymes, and rhythm take a backseat, while his unique narration-like vocal style sit at the forefront.
And then we make a sharp 180-degree turn with songs like New Pony.
You won’t even recognize the sound of Bob’s voice, unless you are not a fan of his work. You certainly would neve guess he had the capability of making his idiosyncratic voice work at higher frequencies.
After that, let’s take a trip to Rough and Rowdy Ways, with the tune Black Rider.
Again, the color and sonic signature of his voice changes and fits a style that resembles reciting more than anything.
If anything, Bob Dylan exemplifies the ever-changing nature and innate adaptability of true artists with unique, unconventional voices.
Lemmy Kilmister
One of the grandfathers of heavy metal, the late great Lemmy will forever be known as a godly bass player, as well as his ultra-gritty, powerful voice.
Some ascribe the latter to decades of smoking and heavy drinking, while others believe Lemmy’s vocals are so raspy and coarse because that’s what his music was bringing out of him.
At any rate, he never seems to have relied on conventional vocal techniques, nor received formal singing lessons or training. His authentic grit simply exploded whenever he took the microphone.
His voice, singing style, and uniqueness as a person made such a huge impact that no one will ever be able to copy him or replace him.
Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Listening to Jimmie Dale Gilmore was my first introduction to progressive country music. Before that, I thought musicians had to follow a preset template and a code to make it into the country scene, but hearing his mellow voice made me think otherwise.
Let me present Mack the Knife to better understand how diverse his vocal range is.
Jimmie’s voice can soar above your classic country singer, and the heavily controlled vibrato reveals that this isn’t the only style he can sing.
What makes Jimmie Dale’s voice unique is that, while you will always hear a tinge of that fake accent many country singers use, he nevertheless makes whichever form his vocals appropriate his own, by consistently staying in character from the song’s start to finish.
Let’s listen to Santa Fe Thief next. There’s a radiant brilliance in Jimmie’s vocals and a heartwarming light to the color of his sound.
He seems aware that the base tone of his voice isn’t enough to top the gorgeous guitar licks, so he molds it with prolonged notes and a masterful display of proper vocal melodies.
While some may not call Jimmie’s vocals unorthodox per se, he is far removed from the norm in country music as far as singing is concerned. And the originality of his sound is largely to blame for it.
Randy Newman
Some people know Randy Newman as a singer, songwriter, and pianist. Others know him as an accomplished composer, arranger, and conductor. Most people know him for his exquisite voice and the myriad of ways he can use it.
It’s important to separate his original works from the soundtracks he did for shows like Toy Story or Monsters, Inc.
One of my favorite Newman originals is I Just Want You To Hurt Like I Do.
It’s full of emotions and brilliantly sung, but it is the way words seem to slide off Randy’s tongue at times that makes this tune so authentic and memorable.
Let’s head back to one of his earlier albums with the tune Short People.
Beyond being pure comedy gold, this song shows us a different side of Randy Newman’s singing capabilities.
The line that connects a heartfelt ballad like the one just mentioned and Short People is Randy’s authentic and exceptionally unconventional voice.
In between these two worlds is a song like I Love L.A.. It solidifies my statement that what makes all Randy Newman’s tunes so recognizable is his vocals: melodic at times, energetic all the time.
Leonard Cohen
A voice so deep it surrounds you, so gentle it takes you to seventh heaven in an instant, yet so dark to reveal the painful truths only the author lived through.
Yes, that’s Leonard Cohen in Avalanche. Mystical, steady, and frankly difficult to compare to anything contemporary, his vocal tone and capabilities are as unique as they come.
I’d replace “dark” with “gorgeous and soothing” when talking about Cohen’s Hallelujah.
I wouldn’t be so disrespectful to say he hit fame with his voice alone, since Leonard Cohen is a brilliant songwriter and lyricist as well. But most of the world knows him because of his one-of-a-kind voice.
Singers With Weird Voices: Final Thoughts
When I think of singers with unconventional voices, the names listed above are the ones I think of. But there are certainly others out there.
If you know of any others famous singers with unusual voices that I missed, please let me know in a comment below. I would love to add some more names to the list.
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