26. "RE: I can think of many before her who didn't" In response to In response to 24
>>Joni, Whitney, Lauryn. > >Joni was never viewed purely as a "vocalist"...She was a >lauded as a singer-songwriter and later on as a pure >stylist... Sure she was.
Before she had written any major songs she got on as a young soprano in the folk tradition, even yodeling and imitating instrument runs vocally.
So it didn't really matter when her voice became a >bit deeper... > All her biggest records came during the ten years she could still do a reasonable appropriation of her original vocal range between high end soprano and alto.
By the time I saw Joni perform in the 90s she was a raspy alto only, onstage chainsmoking in a beret while sounding like Kathleen Turner singing "Summertime" by Gershwin.
>Lauryn worked between the margins of hip-hop and soul, so even >if her voice got a little rougher, it worked within the >context of her sound... > By the time her voice got rougher, she'd lost her shit and ceased making new music.
>But Whitney's voice was a shadow of its former self by the >time she hit those drug abuse years...At times she sounded >even shakier than Mariah .... > Definitely.