When the singer can't sing any more.

[ThinCrappyTone2]

I got involved with a singer who is rebuilding a band he had until 2017 or so. He recorded three CDs between 2012 and 2016 and his voice sounds good on the recordings. But, during recent rehearsals, his vocal intonation is all over the place. So is his slide guitar playing. When I comment about the latter, he sheepishly says "I know - I'll focus better." He's 73 years old, wears hearing aids and uses a Shure headphone/mic combo.

He has 3 gigs booked beginning in early June. As an audience member, I would walk out of a performance if someone sang this badly. As I've gotten older, that sort of thing has only become more irritating, so I can't envision being a member of a band and having to put up with it.

How do you tell someone they need to do something drastic, like:
1) Work on the technology you own and see if it helps. Do it by next week.
2) Give up singing and end the band.

I'm open to other solutions. I could just walk away, but rehearsals are in the middle of nowhere, so it's practically impossible for him to attract players.

Just call it a Bob Dylan tribute, and proceed as is?

 

[ArtechnikA]

If it's that bad, and he can't hear it, that is his level of expectation. Are you willing to be associated with that?

I'm a sideman. In the big-band setting, one of 11 other anonymous musicians. My name is not associated with the project.
I show up and try to play the best I can. I can't rescue the singer's voice or his sometimes-sloppy guitar, but I can try to hold it together and provide a solid foundation for the rest of the band, including the two F BG singers.

I see a lot of people urging "walk away." Which I get... But have you never kept a job you mostly didn't like because the money was good?
This is my job. I'm working -with- other projects (just had an audition Friday) and when they start paying in aggregate more than this one, I can bow out.
Meanwhile, this project keeps the lights on...

 

[HardNHeavy]

I got involved with a singer who is rebuilding a band he had until 2017 or so. He recorded three CDs between 2012 and 2016 and his voice sounds good on the recordings. But, during recent rehearsals, his vocal intonation is all over the place. So is his slide guitar playing. When I comment about the latter, he sheepishly says "I know - I'll focus better." He's 73 years old, wears hearing aids and uses a Shure headphone/mic combo.

He has 3 gigs booked beginning in early June. As an audience member, I would walk out of a performance if someone sang this badly. As I've gotten older, that sort of thing has only become more irritating, so I can't envision being a member of a band and having to put up with it.

How do you tell someone they need to do something drastic, like:
1) Work on the technology you own and see if it helps. Do it by next week.
2) Give up singing and end the band.

I'm open to other solutions. I could just walk away, but rehearsals are in the middle of nowhere, so it's practically impossible for him to attract players.

I would hope that your singer would be continuing some sort of vocal exercises when he took his hiatus to keep his pitch in check. Might be harder as one ages, but my wife who was in a Acapella group in her 40's was always practicing at home to strengthen her vox chords, back then IEM's were way over priced tho..You say hearing aid?- he might be losing his altogether. ...goodluck, hope it goes well in time for those gigs.

 

[Axtman]

At least the guy knows and admits his vocals aren't great and he is also admitting that he needs to work on it. How about recommending a local vocal coach?

Also would it be possible to get a slide guitar player to take over his parts? As everyone knows it is hard enough to sing and play and instrument but even harder to sing and play an instrument with no frets. Sting even gave up playing fretless because it was hard to sing over.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

The singer is the number 1 thing the average audience member hears above all else. Bottom line is… if the singer isn’t happening, the band will fail miserably. Either replace him or find a new band. You don’t want to perform with questionable vocals.

 

[Altitude]

Are you guys humble bragging about playing with Bob Dylan???

I was going to go with Bobby Kimball.

 

[Jeff Hughes]

As long as it pays, just go with it. I think sometimes we overestimate what the public wants or needs from a band and live music.

 

[coy garcia]

If your being paid I'd just roll with it. Most likely another band member will have this awkward conversation for you.

 

[micguy]

I have the opportunity to play with some singers with incredible voices. No matter how good I am, nothing I do can change the fact that there is a primal connection between an audience and a good voice. There is a flip side….

If your band is fronted by a singer who can’t sing, there’s really no way the band is going anywhere.

 

[KenD]

I heard a story about Neil Young, probably apocryphal. Some one said to him that he was singing flat. He paused for a second and responded "That's my style, man."

 

[smeet]

he is the greatest american songwriter. keep his name out of your mouth

Will Smith, is that you?

Bob is of course a great songwriter in terms of lyrics. His singing is really not very good though.

 

[Wasnex]

I can certainly empathize, as bad vocals and poor musicianship drive me nuts. However, here is something to consider. In my experience, audiences can be amazingly tolerant of musical deficiencies that drive me nuts. I have witnessed situations where the audience gave a warm reception to an awful band and then totally ignored a band that was killing it. I am not sure it's really any of our responsibility to give the singer the news that he sucks, especially since it's his band. Different story if it's your band.

If you can't stand the quality level, you can certainly leave. You can even say why, but consider framing your comments in way that allows you to maintain the relationship, if possible. This could easily fall under creative differences, as in "You want to be in a band that is going in a different direction."

 

[Wasnex]

I'm a sideman. In the big-band setting, one of 11 other anonymous musicians. My name is not associated with the project.
I show up and try to play the best I can. I can't rescue the singer's voice or his sometimes-sloppy guitar, but I can try to hold it together and provide a solid foundation for the rest of the band, including the two F BG singers.

I see a lot of people urging "walk away." Which I get... But have you never kept a job you mostly didn't like because the money was good?
This is my job. I'm working -with- other projects (just had an audition Friday) and when they start paying in aggregate more than this one, I can bow out.
Meanwhile, this project keeps the lights on...

If the money is good, I would weigh it against how demotivating it is to stay. The latter is somewhat dependent on your personality and self-control. No need to fixate on the bad aspects of the gig. Try to make it as good as you can for everyone.

 

[devnulljp]

B.B.King continued to tour long after his skill was gone, and people kept buying tickets. My guy's no BB King, tho...

Sure BB lost some of it later on, but was still a going concern at least a year or 2 before his death when I saw him. He still had a voice, and I would have considered the ticket well worth it for just one of those BB notes on the guitar with the vibrato that make the hair on your neck stand on end. Sure I would have loved to have seen him in the 70s, but I'm still glad I did in the 2000s.

But yeah I played with an older sax player who couldn't keep time or pitch and a singer that did the same. Eventually bailed.

I'd post Sick Boy's Unifying Theory of Life from trainspotting, but it has Anglo Saxon words in that tend to offend delicate ears around here ...

 

[Spidey2112]

My favorite was when our singer, after a performance, would always say he felt he gave 75%... 80%. That's funny. The rest of us feel like we gave 100%.

... he was 100% gone, when we started auditioning new singers.

 

[Blazer]

Mike Rutherford once said that writing good songs means nothing if you don't have a good singer to sing them, in his case he had Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins and Paul Carrack to sing them.

When I was the guitarist for a metal band named Slavantas, at every single gig we played people would come up to me and say "You guys are good but get rid of that singer!"


Around the time that band started to fall apart, I met the singer from a band called System Overthrow, and I said "I'd hire you for Slavantas in a heartbeat."


Ten years later, Slavantas got going again, and they kicked out the singer, registered the name and basically slammed the door in his face (Which if you knew the guy personally, was just deserved.) And the System Overthrow singer and I were in Rote sau together which at the time was also falling apart. So I told him "Dude, go audition for Slavantas, I won't hold it against you, even stronger, I WANT you to front that band and sing the songs I wrote."

I got word from the band that he indeed auditioned and got the job.

 

[Pings Bass]

Glad I'm not the first to instantly think of Dylan.

Vocals and drummers are non-negotiable. Sounds like ya boy has lost it, and it's time to move on. Good on you for being considerate. But an off-key vocalist makes the whole act sound amateur. I don't care how good the rest of the band is; if the singer can't hit the notes consistently I'm out.

Edit: I see you say the gig pays the bills; keep it if you need it, of course. I can afford to be picky, but I respect that not everybody can.

 

[SteveC]

Have you heard some clips of Bon Jovi lately? He does not have it any more. Some people - amateurs and pros - don't know when it's time to quit.

 

[51PRI]

Can you record a song in rehearsal? If he can't/won't hear it when listening, run.

It sounds to me like he knows there is a problem, but so far hasn't found a solution to it.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I got involved with a singer who is rebuilding a band he had until 2017 or so. He recorded three CDs between 2012 and 2016 and his voice sounds good on the recordings. But, during recent rehearsals, his vocal intonation is all over the place. So is his slide guitar playing. When I comment about the latter, he sheepishly says "I know - I'll focus better." He's 73 years old, wears hearing aids and uses a Shure headphone/mic combo.

He has 3 gigs booked beginning in early June. As an audience member, I would walk out of a performance if someone sang this badly. As I've gotten older, that sort of thing has only become more irritating, so I can't envision being a member of a band and having to put up with it.

How do you tell someone they need to do something drastic, like:
1) Work on the technology you own and see if it helps. Do it by next week.
2) Give up singing and end the band.

I'm open to other solutions. I could just walk away, but rehearsals are in the middle of nowhere, so it's practically impossible for him to attract players.

I work with 5 70+years old singers in my band, so I get this. There is no doubt the’ve lost more than a few mph off their fastball. We’ve adjusted a few song keys and dropped more than a few songs for the that very reason. We also record live gigs. Pretty much they are worth a thousand words. Actually we have more trouble getting them to remember their harmony parts, but that’s another rant…

That said, we’ve been around long enough people come out just to see these singers perform songs they just can’t doo anymore, and as you know, the custome is always right, no matter how painful it is..LOL!!