Bobby Kimball - how was his technique in the eighties?

Garbox80

Edit: don't know if this was the right category for this?

I asked Ken about this on his latest isolated vocals "episode" and he asked me to bring the discussion here.

Now, I was born in 1980, so I don't really remember the stuff that happened before their (TOTO and Kimball) first break up, but I've read and seen some interviews (not from back then, but from the last decade or so). And I've read Luke's side of the story from his book. So I've understood that Bobby had some struggles with his voice (and other aspects, but this is a singing community) and that was one reason for the break up (although not the main reason, I think). Was there something in his technique that caused those struggles or was it because of the... other stuff that was going on? His high notes are quite high, but they also sound quite tight to me (and when Ken demonstrated it, it seemed like he was squeezing too). Or I'm I far off with this? I mean, almost everything he sang was high stuff, so with a wrong technique, I could see it wearing out one's voice.

NeilKenSinger

The way I see it, there's a lot of big name singers who we idolise but yet they've never done any vocal training, so eventually their poor technique ends up damaging and wearing out their voice. Not only that, but many rock musicians in that era weren't exactly renowned for healthy living - they did too many drugs, drank too much alcohol, smoked too many cigarettes, partied hard and weren't getting enough rest between each show. You can only do that for so long before it catches up on you - if your body isn't healthy, your voice won't be.

This is why I believe we see a lot of aging rock singers who can't sing their own hits in the same key as in their younger days, can't hit the high notes anymore, don't have the vocal stamina (due to poor health) and sound like sh*t. Vince Neil and Don Dokken are 2 examples - I loved these guys in their heyday, but it's painful to watch them live now.

sjonrokz4u

This is interesting to me cuz it sounds like all the big name high singing guys from the 80s are squeezed