I can only think of two singers who basically can't be duplicated: Roy Orbison and Janis Joplin. Are there any other vocalists out there who's talent is so unique it can't be copied?
Diamanda Galas. Not really a blues singer (although she sang a few), but the strangest voice I know. Some love it, some hate it, but really unique.
But to stay more in the blues, listen to Lottie Murrell : his growling voice is incredible. Check out also Paul Pena, he was a throat singer. When I heard him first, I thought he was playing Didgeridoo, but in fact it was just his voice !
Apart from that, one of my favorite blues singers is JB Lenoir. Beautiful groovy voice.
BTW, if you like Roy Orbison, there's a little band out of LA who can basically sound just like him. They are called Truly Lover Trio. My wife's Master's adviser wrote a book about Roy, and had his family come down for a special event where he had the ASU orchestra doing Roy songs in the first half, a slide show of Roy's last concert before he died, and then topped off the night with Truly Lover Trio playing some of Roy's most popular songs. Roy's children and widow were in the crowd, and even they agreed that the guy form Truly Lover Trio sounded uncannily like Roy. Funny thing is, the guy is like 26 years old and is from somewhere in Eastern Europe, and speaks English with a heavy accent! He just grew up listening to Roy, and trying to sing like him! Go figure! ---------- ------------------ The magnificent YouTube channel of the internet user known as "isaacullah"
Last Edited by on Mar 07, 2010 4:11 PM
My Bro and i over the last 12 months started doing the regular sunday arvo open mic gigs around town.
I can't sing for shit this is how i get around singing sort of spoken word,
we call ourself Nastycloud,we had a chuckle last sunday when we where introduced on stage, and now it's time for the unique vocals of Nastycloud delta duo..
Bob Dylan, Elvis, Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Johnny Cash, Joni Mitchell, Pavarotti, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Nina Simone, Otis Redding, Precious Bryant, Son House
I don't know. There are lots of voices that I can recognize with just a couple bars, whether it's Sting or Axl Rose or Kurt Cobain or Louis Armstrong or Micheal Jackson or Stevie Nix although I've heard some people trying really hard. I've heard some people take a pretty good run at Janis Joplin.
Actually, my friend has a pretty identifiable voice. I am always trying to think of new ways to describe it. Sort of Johnny Cash meets Stevie Nicks. ---------- Nate Facebook
It depends if the subject is "the voice" or "the way of singing". There's no such thing as two identical voices, although some people have a voice more recognisable than others. I understood the initial question as "singers with a unique/special way of singing".
If you take Howlin' Wolf, sure his natural voice is special and recognizable in itself (for example, when he speaks), but he developed his singing in a certain way, influenced by Tommy Johnson and others, to make it unique.
Last Edited by on Mar 08, 2010 1:29 AM
No one said Stevie or Aretha yet?! Theres also Julie Andrews, Freddy Mercury, James Morris, James Cleveland...and Michael McDonald (but not in a good way)
Alvin is hands down the winner in my opinion
Last Edited by on Mar 08, 2010 6:03 AM
Tim Buckley k d lang Robert Wyatt Kevin Coyne (although he sounds a little bit like Bon Scott to me) Even Frank Zappa and why not Jimi Hendrix? The good artists are unique I could mention Captain Beefheart except that he consciously imitated Howling Wolf What about Alan Wilson? Karen O Bryan Ferry Mick Jagger this is a silly game: it could go on and on
Mick Jagger is impersonated and parodied a lot, so what exactly do you mean by 'can't be copied'? The thing is, it may be simply that no impersonator has bothered with Orbison or Joplin yet. ---------- Kinda hot in these rhinos!
Last Edited by on Mar 08, 2010 10:08 AM
One other voice that can't be duplicated is Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. I asked friends of mine who played in a cover band for years why they didn't cover any Aerosmith. They said that anybody who tries to sound like Steven just sounds like a tool.
---------- "Take out your false teeth, momma, I want to suck on your gums."-P. Wolf
I agree with 5F6H. Everybody's unique. But I guess some are more unique than others.
I was thinking about listing Jim Morrison, but decided not to because there are probably a lot of people that couldn't tell a close match from him as readily as a hard core Doors fan(like myself) could. (But NOBODY can come close to Jim's screams!)
