Greg Lake's Voice is destroyed!!!!!!!!

  • I got ELP's 1994 CD In the Hot Seat used last week... Was surprised to hear how bad Greg Lake's voice had gotten...Every song is in a bassy low range.. and even then his voice is hoarse and is shot!!!! When my favorite singer is GH...who still has it...It makes others of GH's era that have lost it look even worse. I wonder what are the reasons for folks like Lake and Coverdale to lose their gifts so profoundly..Too many smokes??? Whiskey/Alcohol? Blown out on a tour??? Polyps??? Drugs???


    At least DC can sing the low stuff okay...but the quality of Lake's voice even in a low range is really bad on this release. Sheesh yesterday I put on I was Born to Love You from Queen's Made In Heaven..recorded when Freddy was very sick and he still could sing incredible while dying...

    JH

  • My opinion is that smokes are always bad for the voice. Most all of the great rock singers smoke, which is a shame. Listen to Plant, Coverdale, and some of the others and they are now shells of their former selves (vocally). I think a variation of smokes, nose candy and drugs in general are mostly to blame. Plus when you are messed up or high, you sometimes go beyond what you normally would (if you were sober and could feels the pain & stop), if that makes sense. Granted, most singers lose a bit of their higher range as they get older, but not to the extent that some of these guys do. There are a few singers that really take care of themselves now, Glenn being one, Paul Rodgers is another guy who is in great shape, quit drinking, smoking... does yoga and martial arts. It's about having respect for your body.

    My 2 Cents,

    Frank

    P.S. John thanks for the Platinum live info you posted a while back, a superb venue.

    Frank B.

    Frank B.

  • Yeah,your're right about all those recreational pastimes having eroded voices.Correct me if i'm wrong but i seem to remember that Gillan,DC and even Elton John have had voice/throat operations in their time.
    I've tried loads of drinks to make sure my vocals are reasonable before a gig,beer dries the throat while milk cloggs it up!!!,so in the end i use water....then get drunk after the event.

    Not only a vocallist has to look after the voice but his/her hearing as well, if not this could lead him/her singing out of tune.

    Cheers...

    Pete S. ;) (pardon!!!)

  • I was having a bit of vocal trouble a year ago because I was really pushing myself trying to learn hard stuff like Marvyn Gaye's Sexual Healing... Well with rehearsing it and then having to sing 6 nights a week I was having a bit of a strain. I asked Coverdale for some help and he suggested no ice in the water (it should be room temp) and no sodas (I used to drink a diet coke during the first set) so that seemed to help me alot. I also chew gum on breaks, use Halls throat lozenges. In Sept I was faced with the dry Vegas air for two nights outdoors with my Springsteen Band... And having to tackle Patti Scialfa's screamingly high vocal parts from the new Rising.. lots of water and the lozenges helped.. cause the first night I was struggling but the second was good. Avoid caffeine drinks in general... Also as for alcohol it is also no good of course and now I find I can't even drink a beer during a gig because I immediately start making mistakes. I do a lot of one off and fill in sub gigs where I need all my brain cells, plus play bass and keybass twice a week...bass and keybass being among my weaker strengths...Because I never aspired to be a bass player, I grew up singing and playing keys and guitar, not studying bass. I have found alcohol REALLY screws up my timing on that gig.

    JH

  • Water at room temperature is my choice, lots of it, cause you sweat it out anyway during a gig.
    I used to be as crazy to do lead vocals, bass and keyboard pedals simultaneously (Rush-style), but I have given that up in favour of Vocals/Bass only (Glenn style).
    Still I'm having trouble to quit smoking. Yet my voice has gotten a harder edge from that, but I know it won't get better over the years.
    As for Greg Lake: I saw ELP in Japan back in 1992 and was shocked how bad Lake's voice had turned. He lost it twice during that show...
    I remember reading in an interview that his problems were alc/smoke influenced, but he quit that a while ago, and since then his range has become a little better. Proof? Anybody?
    Chris

    "The Boy Can Sing The Blues"


    MEDUSA

        

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