When the backing vocalists are better than the lead vocalist

[LithoJazzoSphere]

It's worth noting that often times people with atypical voices sound great singing backup. When your goal is to contrast/compliment somebody else you've got a decided edge. People like John Sykes are a good example of that. A better one would be Linday Buckingham. Not a great singer on his own, but wonderful singing backup. I don't know as DeGarmo or Sambora would have been very good on their own, but behind behind Tate or Bon Jovi made everybody involved better. Backing vocals just add a nice quality.

I've seen that play out with a lot of the old fart bands I've seen. The lead singer will do his thing right up to the chorus, and then he'll switch off with one of the hired guns and sing the less challenging harmony part. With three people singing it'll largely go unnoticed and people think the main guy still has it. Layered vocals cover a multitude of sins.

I think that's one of the underrated tricks of good harmony vocals, finding contrasting voices that blend well.  It can be a challenge when the main vocalist tries to do all the leads and harmonies alone in-studio.  Even if they try and alter their voice for some parts, it's still all coming from the same set of vocal chords, so it can sound smaller than a good group of varied voices.  That's why it's fascinating how some vocalists can create such huge vocal sounds all by themselves in the studio. 

I don't like that trick of having the the backup singer take the chorus melody live.  I understand why it's logistically tempting to do, and I'm sure there are times it can work, particularly if they have similar voices, but I've seen songs completely ruined because now the prominent line I'm hearing is an unusual harmony line, and the iconic chorus is coming from an unfamiliar voice. 

[HOF]

PG,

Chris DeGarmo is an amazing singer. his voice is thinner than Tate's, and in general, not as captivating as a lead vocal. HOWEVER, DeGarmo, live, hits all those high notes above Tate. Which...think about that. With Tate as the main singer, DeGarmo is doing the high harmony. It's actually one of the missing elements of the band that no one (but seemingly me) talks about.

And Eddie sometimes went higher than Chris, the end of Another Rainy Night being the prime example there. With the backing vocals on Empire especially, the standard way they did them was to have Geoff sing the low notes because he had the range, and then Chris, and then Eddie.  I can't think of an instance where Chris and/or Eddie sang a harmony vocal lower than Tate. I think Eddie did a decent job of picking up the slack after Chris left, but you're right, it wasn't the same.

Chris Squire is another who falls into this group.  He never could have been the lead singer, but his harmony vocals MADE those Yes shows in the '70s and '80s.

It may be a studio thing mostly, but Squire sounded great singing lead vocals on Fish Out of Water.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing Sevendust perform back-to-back livestream broadcasts of two of their albums—Seasons and Home. All five band members sing, but it is lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon and guitarist Clint Lowery who do the harmonies. The performance of Seasons was simply a master class in harmony singing by Lowery, particularly the song “Burned Out,” which spurred the idea for this blog.

It's always annoyed me seeing people lump Sevendust in as yet another talentless nu-metal band.  Some people at least grudgingly admit Lajon is a good vocalist, but it's less recognized that Clint is a pretty good secondary lead, Morgan adds energy with his exclamations, and their harmonies are uncommonly good for a band that heavy.  00s Mercenary is one of the few bands heavier than them with an even better vocal attack for duel leads and four-member harmonies. 

[lonestar]

Sinead O'Connor doing backing vocals in Gabriel's Come Talk to Me immediately comes to mind.

Anyone doing backing vocals for Peter Gabriel qualifies.

Get the hell out of here with that!

Secret World Live has entered the chat.

Can't remember her name, but she did a great job as well on it. That video will never not make me tear up.

[King Postwhore]

Paula Cole.

[KevShmev]

Yep. Secret World Live is easily one of my top 3 favorite concert DVDs/Blu-rays ever. 

[TAC]

I'm lost.

[KevShmev]

I'm lost.

That would be your permanent status if you knew was Facebook was and had an account.

[King Postwhore]

I'm lost.

Let me help you.

https://youtu.be/zQ4zYSUJg8c

[TAC]

I'm lost.

Let me help you.

https://youtu.be/zQ4zYSUJg8c

Yeah, well like I said..

Anyone doing backing vocals for Peter Gabriel qualifies.

[King Postwhore]

Just watch it. It's awesome. 

[TAC]

Oh, and Richie Sambora for pretty much the entirety of Jon Bon Jovi's career.

Oh I don't know about that. Richie's voice was a great compliment and contrast to JBJ's, but there's no way Richie could've carried a band as a lead vocalist. He didn't have half of the character in his voice as JBJ did.

[HOF]

I'm lost.

Let me help you.

https://youtu.be/zQ4zYSUJg8c

I know we’re talking about Paula Cole here, but Manu Katche is such a monster on this song.

[King Postwhore]

I'm lost.

Let me help you.

https://youtu.be/zQ4zYSUJg8c

I know we’re talking about Paula Cole here, but Manu Katche is such a monster on this song.

For sure.

[pg1067]

PG,

Chris DeGarmo is an amazing singer. his voice is thinner than Tate's, and in general, not as captivating as a lead vocal. HOWEVER, DeGarmo, live, hits all those high notes above Tate. Which...think about that. With Tate as the main singer, DeGarmo is doing the high harmony. It's actually one of the missing elements of the band that no one (but seemingly me) talks about.

And Eddie sometimes went higher than Chris, the end of Another Rainy Night being the prime example there. With the backing vocals on Empire especially, the standard way they did them was to have Geoff sing the low notes because he had the range, and then Chris, and then Eddie.  I can't think of an instance where Chris and/or Eddie sang a harmony vocal lower than Tate. I think Eddie did a decent job of picking up the slack after Chris left, but you're right, it wasn't the same.

Chris Squire is another who falls into this group.  He never could have been the lead singer, but his harmony vocals MADE those Yes shows in the '70s and '80s.

It may be a studio thing mostly, but Squire sounded great singing lead vocals on Fish Out of Water.

I don't disagree, but I don't think he could have been a full-time lead singer.

I'm lost.

Let me help you.

https://youtu.be/zQ4zYSUJg8c

I kept waiting for her to break into the Dawson's Creek theme song.

[King Postwhore]

I saw her life.  Her voice is powerful.  And yeah, that song is overplayed.

[romdrums]

She is god-tier on Secret World Live.  Unfortunately, her solo material was like the worst coffeehouse hippie pablum.  Talk about disappointment.

[hefdaddy42]

Oh, and Richie Sambora for pretty much the entirety of Jon Bon Jovi's career.

First one I thought of.

Warren Haynes in the Allman Brothers.

Second one I thought of.

Oh, and Richie Sambora for pretty much the entirety of Jon Bon Jovi's career.

Oh I don't know about that. Richie's voice was a great compliment and contrast to JBJ's, but there's no way Richie could've carried a band as a lead vocalist. He didn't have half of the character in his voice as JBJ did.

I don't think that's the metric we're going for, unless I'm completely misunderstanding.  I don't think projecting what someone could have done is the point, just which one is a better singer, and Sambora is now and always was a better singer than Jon Bon Jovi.

[nobloodyname]

Richie Kotzen's background vocals stuck out like a sore thumb on Poison's Native Tongue. He was clearly a better singer than Bret Michaels although I still liked Bret's vocals, regardless.

[twosuitsluke]

I wouldn't say better, because James Hetfield is a god, but damn I loved Jason Newsted's back up vocals.

At times Metallica almost sounded like a death metal band!

[wolfking]

I wouldn't say better, because James Hetfield is a god, but damn I loved Jason Newsted's back up vocals.

At times Metallica almost sounded like a death metal band!

He added such an extra dynamic with his vocals in a live setting.  Great contrast to James too.

[twosuitsluke]

I wouldn't say better, because James Hetfield is a god, but damn I loved Jason Newsted's back up vocals.

At times Metallica almost sounded like a death metal band!

He added such an extra dynamic with his vocals in a live setting.  Great contrast to James too.

Yea totally. Too late to try and get Jason in the top 25 vocalists thread? 

[Nel]

The Reasoning's first two albums had two male singers and one female one. It started out with them equally sharing vocals, but after one of the dudes left by album 3, the other guy kind of got relegated to being back-up for the girl, and he left too, so the fourth and final album was pretty much just the girl singing.

I always thought that both of those dudes had much more interesting singing voices than her. Yes, her singing is impressive at first, especially with the dynamic of the other two, but she had a very specific way of singing that got very one-note after a while. But she was the star of the show; she shared the same last name as the band's founder so I'm guessing they were either married or siblings.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Huh, this is confusing.  Jones is way too common a name to go by.  I'm not a big enough fan of Big Big Train to have really explored their affiliated bands (heard a few Magenta albums), but Google tells me that she was married to Ian Jones from Karnataka, but later married Matthew Cohen from The Reasoning, so she might not be related to Gareth Jones at all, no mention of them being siblings that I can tell. 

[Nel]

I completely forgot Gareth Jones existed. She was credited as Rachel Cohen on those albums, so I was talking about Matthew.

She must have been married to the Karnataka guy before that; I never knew that, so sorry for any confusion from my end.

[bosk1]

Are you guys talking about real bands?

[Nel]

I mean... it USED to be a real band. 

[TAC]

Are you guys talking about real bands?

 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Big Big Train is a Big Big band, here, no?

[HOF]

Big Big Train is a Big Big band, here, no?

Kind of (there are a dedicated few of us!), but I think you are talking about a different band. They don’t have any members who were in Magenta.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

No, they're a layer removed, sharing at least one member with The Reasoning.