By R&B (138.238.41.118) on Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 11:46 am:

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW SOME SINGERS CAN CARRY A CERTAIN PART OF A SONG WITHOUT RUNNING OUT OF BREATH,I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT HOLDING A NOTE{WE'VE BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT}I'M TALKING ABOUT ONE LONG VERSE WHERE THE ARTIST CANNOT TAKE A BREATH,THE BEST EXAMPLE IS{FADING AWAY,THE TEMPS..THE FEELING WE USED TO GET WHENEVER OUR LIPS MEET LIKE SMOKE FROM A CIGARETTE IT'S FADING AWAY}GREAT BREATH CONTROL AND IF YOU THINK IT'S EASY JUST TRY IT SOMETIME!ANY MORE EXAMPLES?

By stephanie (64.63.221.42) on Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 11:57 am:

I swear to God I have wondered how Jean Terrell and Marilyn McCoo and Florence LaRue hold their notes. If you listen to anything by the Fifth Dimension or Jean Terell its awesome. I can hear Jean breathe on some of her recordings but Marilyn and Florence I cant and those two sound like something out of a choral ensemble even without the guys behind them. I think that when it comes to breath control (and I took voice lessons in high school) its one of the most difficult things to do. When I hear singers like Linda Jones and Patti Labelle and Minnie Riperton I marvel at what they can do. Some people like Levi Stubbs are truly gifted and it just comes out.
Levi has a good throat voice I dont know if he sings from his diaphragm or not. If you have ever heard Mary Wilson do Im Changing you would marvel at what she can do this woman is a much better singer than what she is given credit for.
Same with Donna Summer remember Love to Love you Baby and then we hear the notes she can hit on MacArthur Park and when she sings live!!! Chaka Khan is a prime example of someone who has great breath control on songs like Papillion (Butterly)
Ill give some examples I can think of.
Jean Terrell on the end of You Gotta Have Love in Your Heart
Diana Ross the high notes on the Boss
Mariah Carey - Vision of Love
Bobby Hatfield - Youve Lost that Loving Feeling when his Baby Baby and Pleeeese gets higher and higher
Literally any opera singer in the land!!
Stephanie

By TonyRussi (68.18.230.25) on Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 11:58 am:

Wanda Rogers did a grat job on that song "Fading Away" on "Return of Marvelettes"LP.Yes, I know what you mean about breath control.

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 02:00 pm:

Marvin Junior of the Dells on "Stay In My Corner" (1968 Cadet Records version) and "Love Is Blue/I Can Sing A Rainbow">

Wish I could hold notes for that long....

Kevin Goins - KevGo

By Lynn Bruce (65.60.202.214) on Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 02:29 pm:

From what the"experts"say,Frank Sinatra was the master of sliding into phrase after phrase without breath time-outs.
He attributed it to working with Tommy Dorsey and learning phraseing and breath control like a slide trombone player from Tommy.

By dvdmike (12.84.41.203) on Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 06:11 pm:

Ted Mills on "Chasing Rainbows"

By JoeR (170.148.92.53) on Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 06:30 pm:

R&B -

I've always marvelled at how Eddie can sing all those words in one breath on 'Fading Away'. I found it difficult to sing on occasion; if I didn't breathe correctly, I was sure to run out of breath.

I would say KAREN CARPENTER. In my opinion, she had the purist voice there was. You can hear every diction, pronunciation, syllable and word; what ever she sang, it was crystal clear. MARILYN McCOO fits in that same category.

JoeR - http://mypages.netopia.com/channels

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 06:36 pm:

Joe R & Stephanie:
Agreed on Marilyn McCoo & Florence LaRue's vocals. I would like to add the name of Nancy Wilson to the list.
Nancy not only could hold notes and sing clearly, her diction & enunciation of words was perfect. You understood every word she sang.
Her Capitol recordings are priceless and her years with the label (late 1950s to late 1970s!) show how her voice matured over time (her Columbia albums from the 1980s & 1990s are quite good, too!).
Kevin Goins - KevGo

By Mark Speck (65.57.17.14) on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 12:44 am:

Jackie Wilson's version of "Danny Boy"...amazing what that man could do!

Best,

Mark