Bono's Vocal Range

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secretly alone said:
I dunno if it's just me, but it seems like JT is really the first time we start to hear that deeper side of his voice, as in WOWY. On prior albums, when he did sing lower, it just sounds totally different to me (like the first verse of Drowning Man).
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The verses to Love Comes Tumbling sort of get there.
I think that is from 1984, but no later than 1985.
 
Michael Griffiths said:
Can someone please tell me what happened to Bono's voice before the recording of Pop? It seems to me that was the exact point when his voice took a drastic change. You can almost define Bono's voice as "Pre-Pop" when talking about how his voice used to sound before 1997. Why is this?
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That's when he lost the magical rejuvenation elixir.

It's a good thing he found it a few years ago.

Or so it says in the first chapter of Interference Myths Volume 1.
 
Peterrr, that one is just a clip from the same version that I posted. Originally we only had the beginning bit of the song, but now we have the whole thing (in the file I posted). I don't know the exact date it was recorded, but it had to be after April 30th.
 
bonocomet said:
Peterrr, that one is just a clip from the same version that I posted. Originally we only had the beginning bit of the song, but now we have the whole thing (in the file I posted). I don't know the exact date it was recorded, but it had to be after April 30th.
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Ok :) Just thought it was a video.
 
Peterrrrr said:
Ok :) Just thought it was a video.
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Well, I'm not in Ireland either, but I haven't seen anyone say they could see any video yet, and all the versions of it that have shown up on you tube only show slide shows or other footage but nothing of the band. Would be great if actual video did turn up :)
 
last unicorn said:
The 80s were horrible in terms of singing.

Technically, he's best now.

He's voice has been improving since the end of the Elevation tour when it wasn't very good.

I think he is a good singer, not a great one, but he has a lot of soul and passion, that's what counts.
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I dsagree with your post young lady. In your opinion what constitutes a great singer? One that uses melisma and show's off? Bono doesn't have the type of voice for that so it's a bit like asking a fish to fly just because it can swim well. Frank Sinatra, Elvis and Ben Harper are also examples of the heavier type of voice that were too heavy to produce vocal runs. However Whitney, Christina and Alicia Keys do have this more flexible type of voice. They are not better, they are just different.

The type of voice also makes a difference on the maximum vocal range you can achieve. Freddie Mercury, who also had a light flexible type of voice, apparantly had an octave range of 4. Whilst David Bowie who you can tell from listening to Under Preassure has a richer heavier voice in comparisson. Because his voice is more richer, his octave range was 3. In order to achieve a range like Freddie's, you have to undergo training, absolutely. I don't care if he claimed he never had any lessons, no one ever has a natural range of 4 octaves. He was a rock star and it's not very rock 'n' roll to say you have vocal training. He had a reputation to keep up.
 
I find it funny that Annie chose to quote a nine-month-old post to call the poster "young lady".
 
Galeongirl said:
:

What on earth is melisma?
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Melisma is a Greek word that describes a singing technique in which the singer produces a number of different notes within the same syllable in the lyrics, it was typical of ancient singing, especially in religious contexts to induce a trance to the listener , we can hear it in Gregorian singing for example and typically in Arabic chants. It is not much in use nowadays, but there are some artists who use it up to a point, Stevie Wonder and Mariah Carey are good examples. It is "opposed" to syllabic singing, in which the singer produces only a note for every syllable, most western singing traditions are syllabic.

Melisma has nothing to do with the vocal range or skill of the singer, it is just a different technique coming from a different tradition and in fact critics don't usually praise the overuse of it.
 
Oh, I forgot, contrary to some posters' opinion Bono can and does use melismatic singing from time to time, you can watch him singing the "I love you" bit he did before Beautiful Day during the concerts last year. But I suppose he did it just because he forgot he didn't have the voice to do it :wink:


fishcanfly.jpg
 
bonocomet said:
He uses it in Moment of Surrender right?
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Yes, he does, and in some other songs, the thing is that his singing is based in the syllabic model, just because it is rock and roll, he only uses it to enrich the song or to deliver the meaning or the passion he wants to express.

By the way, I love your new avatar, where does it come from? I think I've never seen that pic before.
 
Marien said:
Melisma is a Greek word that describes a singing technique in which the singer produces a number of different notes within the same syllable in the lyrics, it was typical of ancient singing, especially in religious contexts to induce a trance to the listener , we can hear it in Gregorian singing for example and typically in Arabic chants. It is not much in use nowadays, but there are some artists who use it up to a point, Stevie Wonder and Mariah Carey are good examples. It is "opposed" to syllabic singing, in which the singer produces only a note for every syllable, most western singing traditions are syllabic.

Melisma has nothing to do with the vocal range or skill of the singer, it is just a different technique coming from a different tradition and in fact critics don't usually praise the overuse of it.
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Ah, I never heard of that before. Thanks for explaining. :)
 
Marien said:
Oh, I forgot, contrary to some posters' opinion Bono can and does use melismatic singing from time to time, you can watch him singing the "I love you" bit he did before Beautiful Day during the concerts last year. But I suppose he did it just because he forgot he didn't have the voice to do it :wink:

T
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hank you for that information Marian. I never knew that. I'm going to write that bit of information down in my little blue note book. However, Bono can't use melisma technique to the extent of Mariah. They both have a different type of voice.
 
Cactus Annie said:
hank you for that information Marian. I never knew that. I'm going to write that bit of information down in my little blue note book. However, Bono can't use melisma technique to the extent of Mariah. They both have a different type of voice.
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Bono is a man and a rock singer, Mariah is a woman and a pop singer, there must be a difference. The fact that Bono doesn't use melisma to the same extent as Mariah doesn't necessarily mean he can't do it, it means it doesn't suit U2 music, moreover, it doesn't mean that he is a worse or a better singer. Bono has one of the most ductile voices in the present musical panorama, and that after 30 years on stage.
 
Help.

I am tone death! I get my information about singing from reading books about the topic but when I listen to Bono or anyone else sing for that matter I haven't got the foggiest what I hearing. I want to be able to hear a high note and recognize it's name. I want to able to spot vibratto and melisma. I want to be able to spot the difference when a singer uses different types of phrasing for different songs.

Please tell me how to spot the syllable!
 
Erm, right. I do believe you mean the term tone deaf. And it's not a thing you can learn. You're either born with it, or you'll never get it. It takes time to develop it, if you have it though.
 
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