Terry Reid?
thecave
Volume 1 Posts: 18
Hey Ken,
I know you get tons of request all the time, but I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on the great Terry Reid. Many of you probably will not know who he is, and those that do, will probably know him as the guy that turned down Led Zeppelin, but also referred Plant to Jimmy Page. I absolutely love Terry Reid. I think he has one of the most unique timbres. When he sings lower his sound is very airy and light. When he goes up top, it's still really light, but he has this crazy grit to his voice. He had this grit at the young age of 20! Did he have nodules, polyps,....? Only ask this because Ken mentioned that Bryan Adams was born with polyps. If not, how did he have such a smokey voice at that young of an age?
Here is a clip of him singing a Donavan song at age 21:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fok2QjDIOuk
And here he is 10 years later at age 31 singing "Walk Away Renee"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opbmEQUvtTA
Any insight on his vocal style would be really appreciated! Thank for your time.
I know you get tons of request all the time, but I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on the great Terry Reid. Many of you probably will not know who he is, and those that do, will probably know him as the guy that turned down Led Zeppelin, but also referred Plant to Jimmy Page. I absolutely love Terry Reid. I think he has one of the most unique timbres. When he sings lower his sound is very airy and light. When he goes up top, it's still really light, but he has this crazy grit to his voice. He had this grit at the young age of 20! Did he have nodules, polyps,....? Only ask this because Ken mentioned that Bryan Adams was born with polyps. If not, how did he have such a smokey voice at that young of an age?
Here is a clip of him singing a Donavan song at age 21:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fok2QjDIOukAnd here he is 10 years later at age 31 singing "Walk Away Renee"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opbmEQUvtTAAny insight on his vocal style would be really appreciated! Thank for your time.
Comments
It's a huge shame that he never really made a lasting breakthrough. Do you have any knowledge of what went wrong, so to speak?
Btw this is another great video of him:
He is still unbelievably busy. That's just the way it is.
I myself was very impressed when I watched these videos, but don't have personal knowledge about the history here.
Thanks for posting this, and I'm pretty sure Ken will eventually get to comment.
All the Best.
Bob
First off, if my previous comment sounded rude, I apologize! I know that Ken is crazy busy, so no explanation needed there.
@ragnar - Thanks for sharing the video! I have seen this one, and it's great, too. If you wikipedia Terry Reid, you can learn a great deal of info. There is also a great personal blog from the man himself on his official website. From what I gather, Reid got locked into an exclusive contract with a manager and a record label in his early 20's. This is one of the reasons he could not take on the role as lead singer for Led Zeppelin. I have also read that even if he could, he wasn't interested in what Jimmy Page was looking to do musically. So, instead, he told Page that he knew of a guy on the other side of town that was singing some killer R&B. Well that guy just so happened to be Mr. Robert Plant. As Reid carried on with his solo career, he ended up with all kinds of problems with his label and management. Lots of law suits, records not being properly promoted,..... One of his best albums is "Seed of Memory" It was produced by Graham Nash of CSN. In Reids circle of fans, he is very loved, but he never broke through to the mainstream like he should have. What's interesting about his blog on his website is despite all the setbacks and legal issues, the guy is not bitter at all. A very genuine humble guy. Now in his 60s, he still performs to this day. However, he doesn't have that voice he once had, but he still has that crazy interesting timbre and the passion.
@highmtn - Bob, thanks so much for the reply comment. Again, I know that Ken is very busy. I just wanted to run this singer by him. The big thing I wanted to ask Ken was about hit gritty tone. Is that tone polyps or nodes? Glottal Compression? He had that grit in his very early 20s. And, today, he doesn't have the voice he once had. Is that because he was singing incorrectly all along? Regardless of what he was doing, I am a big big fan