I did two previous posts on vocalists, one focused on opera singers and the second on popular-music singers (for me, that includes rock, pop, soul, jazz and just about everything else not requiring formal classical training). I separated them deliberately, because, with only one exception I can think of, comparing even the greatest untrained pop singers to classically trained vocalists is, to put it plainly, not fair. Here is the exception:
Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballe
Freddie Mercury is the only pop vocalist I can think of without formal training who could belt out rock or pop with the best of them and in the next moment go toe-to-toe with an opera singer. When Barcelona was picked to host the 1992 Olympics, the organizers asked Mercury (then on hiatus from Queen) to compose a theme song for the Games. They also wanted to feature their own legendary opera star Montserrat Caballe, so he wrote a song for them to perform together. She had never heard of him, but she liked the project so much that they ended up doing an entire album together. They performed together several times in 1987 and 1988. Here is one of the songs from their album. Mercury died a year before the Games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksNoe8W2jTc
Now, what if someone with classical training makes a career in popular music? Who is to say she shouldn’t? In Europe, Japan, and parts of Latin America, classical musical training is still mainstream, and it has had a big impact on popular music in those regions. The availability of classically trained vocalists has led many rock composers to write material specifically for them, and it has led to some truly amazing and beautiful results.
Tarja Turunen: Sleeping Sun Live
Turunen is a Finnish soprano who trained at the Sibelius Academy. She became intrigued with soul and rock, and was invited to join a new pop-rock ensemble by a former classmate. They soon realized that her voice had become too big for the format, so they remade themselves as something new, an operatic rock band, which they named Nightwish. They were thus among the inventors of symphonic rock, and began a huge run which continued even after Tarja left the group. This is from her final performance with Nightwish:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_RRMRXJWxI
Tarja Turunen: Into the Sun
Since leaving Nightwish, Tarja has had a successful solo career, with several major rock and metal composers writing material for her. This is one of my favorites, from her performance in Buenos Aires in 2012.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeUjfxTkgfY
Floor Jansen: Shallow
This is the opposite of opera, but I’m including it because of what it says about a truly gifted vocalist. In the summer of 2019, an obscure Dutch musical reality show suddenly blew up on the internet. The format was not a competition, but a round-robin in which a group of successful recording artists took turns singing for each other. The main reason for the burst of attention was the performances of one Floor Jansen, the current lead singer for Nightwish. (I’ve previously posted a piece by them, in my Symphonic Rock entry.) Week after week, she stepped out of her lane to sing ballads, salsa, opera, pop, country…pretty much everything. Here she is, covering Lady Gaga’s hit Shallow. Known for her huge sound, she goes small with this one, giving it a new interpretation which I think is better than the original.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M68pe4a_9zk
Floor Jansen: Stargazers
Jansen trained in multiple styles—opera, classical, Broadway-style stage singing, and finally, rock (there is actually a Rock and Roll Academy in the Netherlands). She was lead singer for the hard rock band After Forever, and then founded her own metal band, ReVamp. She was recruited into Nightwish in 2012 to replace Annette Olzon, who had in turn replaced Tarja Turunen. (Jansen was actually inspired to pursue operatic rock in part by Turunen’s early work.) Her combination of vocal quality, versatility and range are, in my view, unmatched by any pop singer in history, with the possible exception of Freddie Mercury. Here, she performs a song originally written for Turunen, and nails it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhEuAPYm_Ug
Simone Simons and Floor Jansen: Sancta Terra
Simone Simons is another Dutch symphonic rock singer. At 17, her boyfriend asked her to join his band Epica after their previous singer didn’t work out. (I included an early piece by Epica in my “Rock Collides with Classical” post.) She did not have a formal music education, but as her career developed, she trained regularly with top vocal coaches, including Floor Jansen. If you play songs from different eras of Epica, you can hear Simone’s voice developing into what it is today. Here, she invites her old friend and mentor Ms. Jansen to perform a duet. I love the way they effortlessly transition back and forth between rock belting and operatic voice, weaving around each other both literally and musically. I imagine this is what the Sirens sounded like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx22Yuj2nzg
A Capella Magic
Alissa White-Gluz has insane versatility and range. Today, she is the face, voice and lead writer for the Swedish heavy-metal band Arch Enemy (she herself is Canadian). Here is something completely different she did earlier in her career. All of the voices are hers, including the instrument sounds. I’ll post more things by her, but I’m posting this first because, well, you will see. It’s mesmerizing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqvUIyoDgXU
Charlotte Wessels and Alissa White-Gluz: Tragedy of the Commons
This is a pointed, political anthem about humans’ inability to restrain the behavior which is destroying our planet. I don’t know whether to take it as a warning or as a prescient funeral dirge. Either way, I find it stirring.
Wessels is another Dutch diva, who trained in classical and jazz singing. She doesn’t emphasize the classical “head” voice, but uses more of a Broadway musical-style belt. Alissa’s day job is with the Swedish band Arch Enemy, where she specializes in metal vocals. Here, the two of them take turns, alternating the clean soprano and metal vocals with arresting affect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTkyVHanau8
Some of the lyrics:
To another disruption
To another explosion
I raise my glass
To another investment
Into the future of wasteland
Well here’s to pulling the waistband
But I know at least I thought, at least I fight
At least I know at least I tried
I know I thought, I know I’ll fight
Tonight I kiss the world goodbye
We are one, as one we fall
Our self-destruction of all
Close your eyes, to darkened skies
Our ignorance in demise
Dimash Kudaibergen—boy wonder
Dimash has been training in music since early childhood, plays several instruments, and has a vocal range of five octaves. He pretty much vacuumed up all the singing awards in his native Kazakhstan and the surrounding former Soviet republics by the time he was 20. His big break came at a major talent competition in China, when he was 22; At 26, he is now a star in China and the former Soviet Union, and has performed all over the world. He has offers to join opera companies but prefers pop, folk, ethnic and show music. Most of what he performs now is written specifically for him. It will be interesting to see if he takes a shot at straight up rock or metal—there’s little doubt he could do it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9FlDMCo8LU
