Are most big name singers trained or just naturals?

NeilKenSinger · August 2018

I was wondering - everyone has their 'musical heroes' that they look up to from whatever genre you're into. For the famous singers who have exceptionally good voices, did they receive vocal training to get that good or where they just naturals? I've always wondered whether rock singers like Ian Gillan, David Coverdale, Bruce Dickinson, Steve Perry, Bryan Adams and all the big 80s rock singers with powerful and high voices were formally trained or whether they were just lucky enough to have naturally good voices.

That brings me to my second question - is there really such a thing as a 'naturally good singer'? I don't know how some singers can be so exceptional without any form of vocal training. Surely it can't be true, but I don't know. Whatever the answer, I still believe any singer is going to be a better singer if they have proper training than one who doesn't.

I've heard that some record companies hired vocal coaches for the bands they signed, but not sure if it's true in all cases.

What are your thoughts on this subject?

Furious_Phil · August 2018

Well, I actually know someone who is world-class and had no training until way later in life. Through reading (or whatever) he somehow caught on to diaphragmatic support. He was always a die-hard Rob Halford fan, so at some point after that he discovered light distortion! Not surprisingly, he took up allot of the affectations of Halford, and later Dio, and Geoff Tate.
He developed the ability to closely imitate quite a few top-notch singers until he finally branched out to do his own thing.
*** He came in third for replacing Rob Halford back when they were doing the global hunt ***

He got even scarier when he went to Toronto for vocal lessons!
To this day he's still going strong as the current singer for AfterShok

While he can't tell you how he is doing what he is doing, I have recognized allot of what Ken teaches in his technique. But he is literally the only one I've met in my 40 years of musicianship... so he's basically a unicorn

Are most big name singers trained or just naturals?

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