Speaking of voices..

[ironglow]

Very few reach the volume, power and clarity of this man (IMO).  No wimpy voices will be considered, at least not from male singers.

  I not only wish I could sing...I wish I could sing like Charles Billingsley!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PAaBMIrTM8

   

 

 

[ironglow]

  Some ladies can manage the same song, but of course, they are few and far between.  Here some 14 years ago, a young man posted his mother singing the same song..  As I see it, there are too many singers these days that spend their songs ...just whining !  ENJOY !

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MquvH2v4ih4

[ironglow]

Hmmm..Guess there are not many men either, who can also make the grade..

[oldandslow]

Sorry. Neither are for me, even played at very low volume and especially the woman.

[ironglow]

Sorry. Neither are for me, even played at very low volume and especially the woman.

  Neither the outstanding quality of voice..or the message.?

  I don't listen to very much pop music, but I don't know of a pop singer of today with that volume or quality of voice (IMO)..

[nw_hunter]

He has a good tenor voice. Not a Lanza or Pavariotti, but good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUKgN-nC93c

[nw_hunter]

Michael Bolton and a few other Pop singers can sing with Classical Tenors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npzEWf2LrAk

[ironglow]

He has a good tenor voice. Not a Lanza or Pavariotti, but good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUKgN-nC93c

   And just how many tenors are a Lanza or Pavarotti?  Perhaps we could go back a century, and  enlist the great Caruso! 

  It seems the Irish are gifted with tenors.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbEi5_w8Vzs

  Of course, Caruso was strictly opera, and I doubt many would necessarily utilize opera a background music while they work or drive..
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOpQLow1V9w
   
   

[nw_hunter]

There are many Irish tenors with good high voices, but I like the Italian style tenors like this guy you presented. One reason being, they sing from the chest. A more powerful voice, unlike the Irish style tenors who sing from the larynx. The quality of the recording on your link was not  good, and he still sounded  very good.
I'm sure you have watched Bill Gaither. Check out a singer that performs with him. David Phelps. His range is even higher than Pavarotti. He does IMO lack the depth though. His chest is about half the size of Pavarotti, but what a set of pipes!

[ironglow]

  I have to defer to you for the technicalities of singing rendition, since I have not studied same. 

  Being a novice in the field, I was thoroughly engrossed in what I described as the power of Billington's voice. 
  As always and for me at least, the words count more than 50%..   

[Bob Riebe]

For me music is 98.6 percent tune and 1.4 words, for entertainment.
There is one rock song whose tune is among the best for the past ten years (which means not a high level to vault) but when I checked the word, and more importantly who recorded it, quit listening and have changed radio station on occastion to not do so.

There are reactions on Youtume by people who have never heard songs before, most are at oldest in mid-thirties, and they say rock music now is pathetic compared to what it was 30 to 50 years back, but, one is a opera singer who listens to hear the talent of the singers.
She is amazed , often using techincal musical terms, at what some are capable of doing

[ironglow]

I guess I am different than many, in that I always figured that music is the vehicle for carrying the message.

  I suppose te fact that rock often has a negative message, may be why i have been turned off on rock music.

  Yes; I have often heard people say, "I don't even hear the words"...

 That gives me even more concern, in that for some minds, the negatives may be sneaking into their psyche
   in a subliminal way.

  Is this what has happened to many who have thrown over our values system during the last few decades?

....But perhaps I just think too much !

[phalanx]

Pat Benatar was very good at this, and known for it. She was fully Opera trained, and chose rock anyway. At one of her concerts she broke a wine glass from across the stage to demonstrate it. And change an octave in less than one second. 

[nw_hunter]

I guess I am different than many, in that I always figured that music is the vehicle for carrying the message.

  I suppose te fact that rock often has a negative message, may be why i have been turned off on rock music.

  Yes; I have often heard people say, "I don't even hear the words"...

 That gives me even more concern, in that for some minds, the negatives may be sneaking into their psyche
   in a subliminal way.

  Is this what has happened to many who have thrown over our values system during the last few decades?

....But perhaps I just think too much !

I am one of those who pays more attention to melody than Lyrics. I should say, in my youth I did. About equal now, I think. I can't count the times I now here an old song I like and discover the words. I paid more attention to the melody and lost a great part of the song. Great song writers are both poets and musicians. Often they are written as a poem, and later a melody is added.

Katharine Lee Bates wrote the words of America The Beautiful and its music was composed by a church organist
‎Samuel A. Ward. Today when I think of America the Beautiful, Ray Charles comes to mind. IMO, it became his song to sing. Not that others can't. He just brings out the beauty of the tune like no other. Again jmo.

[ironglow]

Some years ago, I watched  TV special, highlighting , "the most loved song around the world"..

   Anybody care to guess what that is?  OK, I won't hold it any longer..

  That song is "Amazing Grace'..  When one understands the composer's background, the lyrics have a profound meaning.

  John Newton lived his early years like the typical eighteenth century sailor.  He rose through the ranks and became a captain..captain of a slave ship.

  Fortunes changed and he ended up spending some years as a slave.  It was apparently at this period of his life, when he met his Lord.
 
  Once freed, and upon arriving back in England, he studied and took to to the Lord's work.  He was instrumental in convincing William Wilberforce to pursue emancipation.

  Amazing Grace is a bio of his years after salvation..

  Amazing Grace w/lyrics.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G72NucLEGM

[ironglow]

  The church Newton pastored in Olney, still stands..and here is his bio.

   https://www.englishchurchhistorytour.com/blog/john-newton-minister-of-grace

  Now, do we see why so often, the lyrics do count?

[nw_hunter]

Once in a while we hear a song that the lyrics and melody are equally great. Amazing Grace is one of those. Many songs that are spiritually motivated are.  Amazing Grace is so fantastic, it even sounds good on a Bagpipe.

[orerancher]

Anything Sounds Good on 'The Pipes'!

[Dee]

"Faded Love" by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys WOULD NOT sound good with bagpipes. 

Anything Sounds Good on 'The Pipes'!

[orerancher]

"Faded Love" by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys WOULD NOT sound good with bagpipes. 

Okay....Anything Worth Listening to, Sounds Good on the Pipes!

[ironglow]

Amazing Grace sounds best on the bagpipes, IMO..  I had them played at my brothers funeral 4 years ago..
  I conducted thatservice and will doone for my next younger brother, on Aug 13, no pipes requested at this time.

 

[Dee]

"Faded Love" by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys WOULD NOT sound good with bagpipes. 

Okay....Anything Worth Listening to, Sounds Good on the Pipes!

[Lloyd Smale]

for the full range ill take freddy mercury. Not a big queen fan but that guy had a set of pipes.

[orerancher]

for the full range ill take freddy mercury. Not a big queen fan but that guy had a set of pipes.

Fat Bottom Girls!   

[nw_hunter]

Anything Sounds Good on 'The Pipes'!

I think most pipes are set up in B Flat. They sound that way. Flat.....But loud. Lets face it. They were War instruments. Used to strike fear in the enemy. They sounded like a hoard of Demons on the march. Kind of like that Fiddle in the Devil Went Down To Georgia.

[ironglow]

The pipes were once declared to be "an instrument of war"..and nearly banned from the field..

   https://medium.com/exploring-history/are-bagpipes-weapons-of-war-b2d50d4d1f5