Michael's Vocals?

chris123678

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Hey everyone.
I was listening to some Acapella of Michael through the years.
Does anyone think his vocals sounded different over the years?
I mean, yes, I know he aged, but his voice in Thriller sounds different from how he sounded in Bad and future albums.
Does anyone else notice?
 
Yeah his voice changed dramatically between Thriller and Bad era. It changed slightly again between Bad era and Dangerous Era. It got more mature and deeper over the years. For me Michael's best voice was from Dangerous Era onwards.
 
his voice definitely deepened from Thriller-Bad-Dangerous.. More so than most through a persons 20's-30's.. Reasons we can only theories, there are plenty rumors.. None the less I like as his voice deepened and matured.
 
Yes, He lost range in just the span of five years.. As the years progressed his "gritty" voice became more strained (imo) and in Invincible his voice sounded a little bit nasal. Also his vibrato was very different, but that could be due to processing more than anything. Still I really enjoyed his more mature vocals in his later years. I want to hear an angry song with gritty vocals from post 2005

In retrospect, I really think that the Bad Tour negatively effected his vocals. After the Bad Tour his voice wasn't the same.
 
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'Keep The Faith" had to be reworked for Michael because he could not hit the notes required.
 
1987 was the sweet spot. Flawless vocals a cross between Thriller and Bad.
 
1987 was the sweet spot. Flawless vocals a cross between Thriller and Bad.

I agree.
There were moments in Thriller where I could hear his vocals sounding stronger and more like Bad, and vice versa.
I love his vocal progression.
Love listening to Accepelas like Wanna Be Starting Something and then hearing something like Scream.
Amazing.
 
It's normal that his voice changed. The same for his Live voice.
 
His vocals on the HIStory album were the last time they sounded grand. I felt that the ad libs in We've Had Enough didnt have quite the power or brute force he had in 95.

That being said, even though he lost the strength, he never lost the natural flow.
 
yes it's normal for a voice to chance through the 20's but to the level of that Michaels did is unique to say the least.
 
His vocals on the HIStory album were the last time they sounded grand. I felt that the ad libs in We've Had Enough didnt have quite the power or brute force he had in 95.

That being said, even though he lost the strength, he never lost the natural flow.

His voice got damaged around HIStory tour. During Invincible era, his voice wasn't still back to his best although it was quite good. After watching This Is It and listening to songs like Best Of Joy and Hold My Hand, I feel that Michael's voice was back to its best in his final years. Of course we would get a better idea if and when we get to hear the Will.i.am tracks.
 
The more I work with people as an athletic coach I am starting to believe Michaels immune system had a lot to do with his unique voice and personality!! regarding his voice changing in his mid 20's-30's etc.
 
There is a lot that can be speculated and attributed to the change in his voice. Singing while being sick and/or singing while having laryingitis, poor sleeping habits, over working the vocals, poor eating habits, damaged lung, painkillers I think can also have an adverse effect on the voice. There's probably a lot more that could or could not have contributed to the change.
 
I personally think his voice continued to develop positively after the Bad tour, in a studio setting.

His stamina and overall ability as a live performer vocally, did not.
 
I personally think his voice continued to develop positively after the Bad tour, in a studio setting.

His stamina and overall ability as a live performer vocally, did not.

Oh yeah no doubt. His voice was still as great as ever. The dangerous era has some of his best vocal performances imo, but he still lost some of his upper range in just the span of 5 years. I can imagine for an artist like Michael that must have been worrisome to say the least.
 
His voice got damaged around HIStory tour. During Invincible era, his voice wasn't still back to his best although it was quite good. After watching This Is It and listening to songs like Best Of Joy and Hold My Hand, I feel that Michael's voice was back to its best in his final years. Of course we would get a better idea if and when we get to hear the Will.i.am tracks.

Well considering he didn't really sing much live on the History Tour, (still my favorite tour) I think the damage that his voice suffered as a result prior to the tour, maybe during the recording of the album, and back to Dangerous.

Live vocals started to do down drastically in quality by the 1993 leg of the Dangerous tour. He was def dealing with alot but his vocals were rough.

I prefer Michael's voice near History album over Thriller voice.
 
Michaels voice deepened differently than normal 'wear and tear'.. Yes his voice went through a lot and it did effect, but the pitch dropping was more than that.. hormonal, it has to be!
 
Well considering he didn't really sing much live on the History Tour, (still my favorite tour) I think the damage that his voice suffered as a result prior to the tour, maybe during the recording of the album, and back to Dangerous.

Live vocals started to do down drastically in quality by the 1993 leg of the Dangerous tour. He was def dealing with alot but his vocals were rough.

I prefer Michael's voice near History album over Thriller voice.

Yeah I too prefer his voice on HIStory album than Thriller.

And his voice sounded fine during the Royal Brunei concert which was just a couple of months before the HIStory tour. I always wonder what happened to his voice between the Royal concert and the first HISTory concert
 
Yeah I too prefer his voice on HIStory album than Thriller.

And his voice sounded fine during the Royal Brunei concert which was just a couple of months before the HIStory tour. I always wonder what happened to his voice between the Royal concert and the first HISTory concert

Eh Royal Brueni was meh for me.
I thought he sounded well with songs like I Just Can't Stop Loving You, She's out of My life , Earth Song adlibs, but everything else sounded off to me. Especially when compared to Dangerous vocals.

Which is why I wish he sung Stranger In Moscow, and Heal the World live. SOngs his voice were more adapted too.
 
Eh Royal Brueni was meh for me.
I thought he sounded well with songs like I Just Can't Stop Loving You, She's out of My life , Earth Song adlibs, but everything else sounded off to me. Especially when compared to Dangerous vocals.

Which is why I wish he sung Stranger In Moscow, and Heal the World live. SOngs his voice were more adapted too.

Yes, I agree. Even during HIStory Tour, when Michael sang that J5 Medley or the ad libs durings Heal The World and You Are Not Alone, he sounded alright/good. He sounded poorly when he sang WBSS, a high tempo song. I think his voice at that time was more suited to singing slow tempo songs.
 
I think for me my absolute favourite complete studio vocal performances are spread between the Dangerous and HIStory albums.

But that's the wonderful thing about Michael's voice is the journey. The youthful powerhouse, to the inbetween Dancing Machine, to the unbridled joy of burgeoning adulthood in 77-78, to him really sketching out his blueprints as an adult singer on Off the Wall to fully realising them with Thriller. It's just a fascinating journey to me that continued deeper and more profoundly beyond Thriller right up until the mid-90s. His Invincible voice is the only one that lets it down as by all accounts the few examples of post-Invincible voice we have seem to show some kind of improvement.

For me there's no other male singer who's gone on that journey.
 
I think for me my absolute favourite complete studio vocal performances are spread between the Dangerous and HIStory albums.

But that's the wonderful thing about Michael's voice is the journey. The youthful powerhouse, to the inbetween Dancing Machine, to the unbridled joy of burgeoning adulthood in 77-78, to him really sketching out his blueprints as an adult singer on Off the Wall to fully realising them with Thriller. It's just a fascinating journey to me that continued deeper and more profoundly beyond Thriller right up until the mid-90s. His Invincible voice is the only one that lets it down as by all accounts the few examples of post-Invincible voice we have seem to show some kind of improvement.

For me there's no other male singer who's gone on that journey.

Invincible sounds like Michael was returning to the Thriller style voice. I liked it.
His gritty vocals, particularly with songs like One More Chance, sounded somewhat strained
 
respect77;4183363 said:
No it doesn't.

We will have to disagree....
I deal with people’s hormones on a regular bases and thesound change in Michaels voice from (lets say) Thriller-Dangerous deepeningsounds much more like the expansion of the larynx which is caused by raised testosterone.(*Note even how Michaels facial hair looked in his mid-late twenties vs. 30’sand beyond)
To side note to that, Michaels ‘deeper’ registers on offThe Wall and Thriller sound similar to Michaels mid register vocal choices inlater albums - which reflects in pitch dropping more so than tone quality whereyou’ll find more ‘natural’ change vs. ‘damage’.
 
Yes. I think he was definitely one of the best singers in popular music. His use of his voice was so varied, it had so many colors and so much creativity - eg. the percussive use of his vocals, the unique little trademarks he put into the way he sings etc. And on top of that he had one of the most soothing voices ever.

It's really astounding to me to think that after 25 years of professionally recorded singing, Michael Jackson was using his voice in a way he never had before.
 
Yes. I think he was definitely one of the best singers in popular music. His use of his voice was so varied, it had so many colors and so much creativity - eg. the percussive use of his vocals, the unique little trademarks he put into the way he sings etc. And on top of that he had one of the most soothing voices ever.

IKR, he could jump into any genre and own it.
His full title isn't the King of Pop Rock and Soul for nothing.:)
 
I noticed that whenever fans deal with something themselves or read about something they love to come here and then project that all onto MJ and diagnose him with that. I think people should be a bit more careful with this armchair diagnosing MJ with all kind of conditions.

I don't think MJ's change of voice over the years is anything spectacular in terms of that you have to diagnose him with some sort of condition rather than it being the perfectly natural process of ageing. While his voice deepened it is not like he became Barry White. That he was able to hit higher notes in his early 20s than in his 40s is a perfectly natural process. Facial hair becoming more and stronger over the years is too. But again it is not like MJ ever became this very hairy dude. So to me there is no reason to armchair diagnose him with sort of hormonal disorder.

I know this is off topic, but do you know if it's true that Michael had pleurisy (or some other lung condition).
Lung conditions obviously negatively affect vocals, but Michael's vocals always sounded great to me, so I'm on the fence about it and regard it as a rumor.
I've done some googling about it but never come up with any concrete answer, so I figured that maybe another fan who may have done more research then myself might know.:lol:
 
I know this is off topic, but do you know if it's true that Michael had pleurisy (or some other lung condition).
Lung conditions obviously negatively affect vocals, but Michael's vocals always sounded great to me, so I'm on the fence about it and regard it as a rumor.
I've done some googling about it but never come up with any concrete answer, so I figured that maybe another fan who may have done more research then myself might know.:lol:
Yes he did. Actually mentions it in Moonwalk.
Speaking of projecting things, I do that. But I've had many things he did-psychologically as well as physically. I had pleurisy and the pain is incredible. And your lungs are never the same. And things like autoimmune skin problems so it's easy to relate sometimes.
But only real things. I never gave him any issues that he hadn't mentioned himself.

I think growing up in the same generation, and having some similar emotional, physical issues just made me understand and agree with and accept without hesitation personal things he might talk about. Things that people to this day find strange. I do get defensive though, when people try to give him things or point things out that just aren't based in any fact.

(I edited this a bit, because I was getting pretty personal and that's probably just TMI).
 
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Yes he did. Actually mentions it in Moonwalk.
Speaking of projecting things, I do that. But I've had many things he did-psychologically like bring a very late bloomer with intense shyness and insecurity and loneliness once I hit my teenage years. Absolutely love children and only ever wanted to be a mother but not to be. Physically like pleurisy and autoimmune skin probs. so it's easy to relate sometimes.
But only real things.
I never gave him any issues that he hadn't mentioned himself.
Wow, I had no idea.:(
Thanks for telling me.
 
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