Need slow songs for male vocalist

[guy n. cognito]

My top 40 cover band is playing a wedding at the end of December. The bride has asked us to play a number of slow songs, but hasn't made any special requests. This shouldn't be a problem, but there's a catch. We have both a male and female lead singer. Our female singer is a flake and, despite being told about this gig months ago, says she can't commit to this gig because she may or may not have "conflicts." Because of this, we need to add 5 or 6 male lead songs for slow-dancing. We have two guitards, drums, singer and me. No keys. We aren't really a slow song type of band, so we aren't having much luck picking songs. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[VanillaO]

Total Eclipse of the Heart - The Dan Band version only.

[rjny36]

Angel Eyes - Jeff Healy
Every Morning - Keb Mo'
Joy of My Life - John Fogerty


All sappy, very wedding-esque, and with a male lead.

[Bassman7PM]

Marvin Gaye:
Let's Get It On

Stevie Wonder:
For Once In My Life
My Cherie Amour
You Are The Sunshine Of My Life
I Just Called To Say I Love You

[jive1]

Tell us about your vocalist.

What's his timbre and range like?

[SteveC]

Clapton - Wondeerful Tonight

[cheezewiz]

Something, by the Beatles. Be prepared to spend some time learning the bass part though!

My band plays A LOT of weddings, and they are challenging gigs. You have alot of sit around and wait time, while they do dinner, etc. It's also tough to please that wide ranging of an audience. We've found a few things that universally work. Lots of Motown type stuff pleases young and old alike. Of course, songs we refer to as "reception cheese". Old Time Rock and Roll, Mustang Sally, Brown Eyed Girl, and all those crap songs we hate to play, almost always are well received. One other thing you could possibly do, is use CDs. If a wedding party has specific songs they want, and it's a genre we dont do, (ie..modern country), we'll have the song on CD, and play it through the sound system for things like the father daugther dance, etc.

[davidk_528]

I don't know your band or your collective musical taste, so I'll assume you need some slow love songs for dancing. Do either of the guitardists play acoustic? That might make it easier to interpret slow material/ballads.

Here are some pretty, well-written love songs that are easy to learn and familiar to most guests. They lend themselves well to no keyboards and can be interpreted in a way that you and your bandmates can probably feel good about.

I Still Believe In You (Vince Gill)
I'd Like To Make It With You (Bread)
Groovy Kind of Love (Phil Collins)
You Had Me From Hello (Kenny Chesney)
Through The Years (Kenny Rogers)
In My Life (Beatles)
Can You Feel The Love Tonight (Elton John)
I Swear (John Michael Montgomery)
Wonderful Tonight (Eric Clapton)
When You Say Nothing At All (by Ronan Keating -- Allison Krause & Union Station do a nice version of this tune)

Hope this helps,

-- David

[Phat Ham]

Beach Boys - Surfer Girl (ha good luck with that one)

seriously though, Can't Help Falling In Love (Elvis, UB40)
Beatles - And I Love Her
Beatles - Blackbird
U2 - With or without you
U2 - One

[guy n. cognito]

Originally Posted by jive1

Tell us about your vocalist.

What's his timbre and range like?

I'm terrible at describing singers. He's an older guy, so his range isn't that great. We tune down a number of songs. His voice is fairly clean. Think Jimmy Buffet.

[guy n. cognito]

Originally Posted by Bassman7PM

Marvin Gaye:
Let's Get It On

Stevie Wonder:
For Once In My Life
My Cherie Amour
You Are The Sunshine Of My Life
I Just Called To Say I Love You

You're reading my mind. I think Let's Get it On would be great if the bride (and her father) have any sense of humor. I love Stevie songs, but there's just so much keys in those that it may be difficult to work around.

[guy n. cognito]

Originally Posted by cheezewiz

Something, by the Beatles. Be prepared to spend some time learning the bass part though!

My band plays A LOT of weddings, and they are challenging gigs. You have alot of sit around and wait time, while they do dinner, etc. It's also tough to please that wide ranging of an audience. We've found a few things that universally work. Lots of Motown type stuff pleases young and old alike. Of course, songs we refer to as "reception cheese". Old Time Rock and Roll, Mustang Sally, Brown Eyed Girl, and all those crap songs we hate to play, almost always are well received. One other thing you could possibly do, is use CDs. If a wedding party has specific songs they want, and it's a genre we dont do, (ie..modern country), we'll have the song on CD, and play it through the sound system for things like the father daugther dance, etc.

Hey, I resemble that remark! Most of our songlist is that reception cheese you speak of. Something is a great suggestion.

[Headroom]

Without keyboards ballad choices are a bit more limited, but here are a few options. Of course, they might not be right for the singer's range:

Have I told you lately that I love you- Van Morrison
Change the World- Eric Clapton
Ribbon In the Sky- Stevie Wonder (adapted for guitar)
Just My Imagination- Temptations
Every Time I Close My Eyes- Babyface

[cheezewiz]

Hey Guy...one more thing to keep in mind for weddings. They are FERTILE gig producing grounds. We usually book at least one or two additional weddings for each wedding we play! There are usually a lot of "friends and family" of the couple around that have their own weddings coming up. If you do a nice job, at a few weddings in a row, you can fill your calender up pretty quickly. The other thing to keep in mind, is people expect to pay for a good wedding band. We charge double our "usual" gig rate for weddings, and usually get it without a word of protest.

[jive1]

Originally Posted by guy n. cognito

I'm terrible at describing singers. He's an older guy, so his range isn't that great. We tune down a number of songs. His voice is fairly clean. Think Jimmy Buffet.

How about "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw"

Here's some things folks might like that your singer can pull off:
How Sweet it Is (to be loved by you) - The James Taylor Version
In My Life - The Beatles
Just the Way You Are - Billy Joel
Love Me Tender - Elvis
Garth Brooks - A Friend to Me
You've Got a Friend - James Taylor
Have I Told You Lately - Van Morrison version

[guy n. cognito]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

Cheeze- thank for your last tip as well. I have, after 6 months in the band, finally gotten myself involved in the booking process. Our drummer has been doing it up until now. He means well, but he's just doesn't have any follow through. At our last gig, we had 3 different people come up to different members of the band and ask about booking us (not me, unfortunately) They all referred them to the drummer, who didn't give them cards, didn't write down their names and now can't remember who he talked to. After that, I took over the business card and name collection activities.

[-Kramer-]

There is a jazz song "Don't Explain" don't know of anyone who does a version that I could suggest, but I heard another jazz combo play it at a show I did last year, and it is a great song.

[Peter Squire]

Something - George Harrison
Imagine - john lennon

[SteveC]

We had "Let's Ge tIt On" played as the last song at our reception. We thought it was humerous.

[The_D]

How about the Tenacious D one that shall remain nameless due to PG rules on TB