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Old 08-18-2017, 12:31 AM
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Default Stevie's Vocal Range

I was browsing YouTube earlier and came across a really interesting recent video. It's a compilation of Stevie's vocal range throughout the years. What I really appreciated about this video is that whoever made it also included a lot of lesser known songs such as album tracks, b-sides, demos, and even live performances. I figured anyone on here who is interested in the technical aspects of music might enjoy it.
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Old 08-18-2017, 05:05 AM
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Interesting find. The songs are not the best examples of her range but its still a noteworthy effort. Her voice has went through several changes during her career. I think 1981-1983 was her peak and my favorite era. Although some parts of the Wild Heart tour had her voice fried from coke. But her recordings during this year were really good.
The RAL era was horrific IMHO. I could not believe some of the raspy and nasal singing on some songs and demos from the RAL era. Things even got worse during the tour.
TOSOTM was a HUGE bounce back. I love her voice on the album. I love Street Angel too. I think after Street Angel is when she lost her range. The Dance was her first tour where she could not hit the high notes.
I just saw her live a few months ago and she sounded really good especially for her age. In some weird way I would say her voice is better for live singing than recording these days. I was not crazy about the sound of her voice on 24K Gold.
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Old 08-18-2017, 06:07 AM
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Oh yes this is from The rangeplace forum and web page, their analysis are always very interesting (even if from what I've been told sometimes there are minor imprecisions), if you want to see the whole research and profile here they are:


Stevie Nicks: G♯2 – F6

Background and Vocal Summary:
Stephanie “Stevie” Nicks is an American rock singer-songwriter, best known for being a vocalist and prominent songwriter in Fleetwood Mac. First joining the group in 1975, she contributed singles like “Dreams”, “Rhiannon” and “Sara” to the group’s discography before breaking off on her own successful solo career to write songs like “Edge of Seventeen” and “Rooms on Fire”. Since her beginnings, she has become known for writing some of Fleetwood Mac’s most popular songs, with her rough yet powerful voice nicely counteracting the much softer voice of fellow vocalist Christine McVie.
Stevie is an example of a singer whose voice has changed significantly over her career. Starting off as a (fairly low) mezzo-soprano, due to drug abuse and age, Stevie’s voice has more recently lowered to become that of a contralto, with notes in the lower third octave sounding like mid range to her. In her prime, she was known for being a very dynamic vocalist – she would often belt in the upper fourth octave in the 1970s, though songs like “Landslide” also displayed a more mature, emotional side to her voice. Stevie was also known somewhat for her angelic head voice on songs like “Dreams” and “Gold Dust Woman”, which she would use to reach into the fifth octave occasionally. While in this time her voice was low-set and naturally very husky, it would become more so as time progressed. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, Stevie’s voice lowered gradually and became much more comfortable in its lower register, with Stevie’s upper register starting to sound strained even in the fourth octave. By 2003’s Say You Will, it was clear that Stevie had become a contralto – though she had noticeably lost a lot of her upper register, she found a new strength in her lower register, being able to comfortably reach down to B2.
Though her voice nowadays perhaps isn’t quite the crystal gem it once was, Stevie’s legacy as one of rock music’s most prominent female vocalists is well founded, inspiring many singers to follow with her distinct husky voice and signature powerful belts.

Research:
As part of The Range Place forum, we have kept track of Stevie’s singing from A3 below and A4 above. Here’s a brief overview of the results with a link to the complete thread.


This is a representation of Stevie’s range on a piano, her highest note, F6, and lowest note, G♯2, have been labelled red. C4 (or Middle C) is labelled grey.


Click here to view the full research on Stevie Nicks’ Vocal Range (However apparently Stevie's performance of Two Ghosts with Harry Styles from three months ago may have shown her reaching some unexpected notes)


Vocal Timeline (1973-2017):
1973-1978: Vocally, Stevie is in her prime here. Stevie has a husky voice with a comfortable lower register and powerful fourth and fifth octave belts. Her head voice was seldom used, though when it was, Stevie demonstrated she had comfort reaching into the fifth octave using it – in live performances, Stevie even demonstrated she could reach up into the sixth octave with ghostly “wails” in live performances of “Gold Dust Woman”. At this point, Stevie was a low(ish) mezzo-soprano with comfort and ease in both her upper and lower registers.

1979-1983: Stevie’s voice remains largely the same, though it seems to have developed something of a rougher edge to it, lowering slightly. Though Stevie’s voice shows little deterioration, in tracks on Bella Donna she neglects using her head voice almost entirely, while her diction comes across as somewhat slurred on certain tracks. However, she still demonstrates her signature powerful belts on songs like “Edge of Seventeen” and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”.

1985-1989: Again, Stevie’s voice seems to have lowered somewhat. Stevie still uses her upper register, though it begins to sound much more uncomfortable comparative to how it did in Rumours, and begins to sound more comfortable singing lower. Stevie’s voice seems noticeably rougher overall, especially when she belts in the fifth octave.

1990-1998: With a much more solid lower register and a somewhat unused higher register, we begin to see Stevie’s voice shift from being a lower mezzo-soprano to more of a contralto. Stevie finds comfort in the third octave while the upper fourth begins to sound particularly strained. At some points on Street Angel, Stevie’s voice sounds noticeably much weaker than it has been previously. While she still seems to be able to belt powerfully at times, her voice sounds inconsistent, with her voice in songs like “Love’s a Hard Game to Play” sounding noticeably weak.

2001-2009: Stevie’s voice finally seems to settle as a contralto as opposed to a lower set mezzo-soprano here – she seldom reaches above A4, with notes in the fifth octave being particularly rare and uncomfortable for her. However, her lower register begins to sound really strong – she reaches into the second octave occasionally, with notes in the lower third beginning to sound like mid range to her.

2011-2017: Stevie is still a contralto, though her voice begins to sound particularly aged here, with notes in the mid fourth octave sounding really raspy. Her lower register is still really strong, however, and as a result, Stevie would avoid singing higher parts or would lower the key of her old songs so she could sing them live (in one instance, by five whole semitones). While her voice seems to have similarly lost a lot of its power, Stevie’s tone from her prime still remains relatively unchanged, albeit lowered significantly.

Top Ten Vocal Performances:
This list was decided upon by members of The Range Place forum, and thus, is subjective.
1. Edge of Seventeen (1981)
2. Gypsy (1982)
3. Beauty and the Beast (1983)
4. Gold Dust Woman (1977)
5. Wild Heart (1983)
6. Talk to Me (1985)
7. Seven Wonders (1987)
8. Sara (1979)
9. Gate and Garden (1983)
10. Dreams (1977)

About the researcher:
Joining the site in 2016, Alex61 is the responsible for a large proportion of the site’s female singers. He appreciates the work of female singer-songwriters like Björk, Kate Bush and Regina Spektor, and generally prefers more unique voices over those more technically proficient. If you wish to contact him regarding any of his works, feel free to send him a private message after registering at http://therangeplace.boards.net.

Photo taken live in New York.



https://therangeplaceweb.com/2017/05...%E2%99%AF2-f6/

Last edited by SisterNightroad; 08-18-2017 at 07:28 AM..
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Old 08-18-2017, 07:22 AM
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Thanks for sharing
I agree mostly with the list but could never include Talk To Me and Seven Wonders as some of her better vocal performances.
I would add Bella Donna, Sleeping Angel, and Nothing Ever Changes
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Old 08-18-2017, 07:59 AM
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Here is the analysis in the thread for conservation purposes:



P.S. I believe they chose Talk to Me over Bella Donna or any other tracks simply because it shows both many of her "Significant Low Notes" and "Significant High Notes".
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Old 08-18-2017, 12:18 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Macfan4life View Post
Interesting find. The songs are not the best examples of her range but its still a noteworthy effort. Her voice has went through several changes during her career. I think 1981-1983 was her peak and my favorite era. Although some parts of the Wild Heart tour had her voice fried from coke. But her recordings during this year were really good.
The RAL era was horrific IMHO. I could not believe some of the raspy and nasal singing on some songs and demos from the RAL era. Things even got worse during the tour.
TOSOTM was a HUGE bounce back. I love her voice on the album. I love Street Angel too. I think after Street Angel is when she lost her range. The Dance was her first tour where she could not hit the high notes.
I just saw her live a few months ago and she sounded really good especially for her age. In some weird way I would say her voice is better for live singing than recording these days. I was not crazy about the sound of her voice on 24K Gold.
Not true.

While in the studio she could still muster beautiful high notes, onstage she stopped hitting high notes even on the Rumours tour. If you listen to recordings of both Rhiannon and Dreams, she either whistles or hums the highest notes in those songs (and in later years just stopped trying to sing them altogether)

On Dreams lines with high notes like "it's only RIGHT" and "players only LOVE you" she would whistle or "ooo oooo" those words because she could not reach them. Yes her voice got more beat up on the road and she could mostly recover those notes after some time off.... but she developed nodules on her vocal cords and those come from overusing and mis-using your cords. Over time you lose the ability to recover. On recordings you can hear her try to go for those notes on other songs and not really reach them....and she began going with louder volume in places where in the past she would have gone with a higher note.

Listen to Bella Donna.. while the raspiness of future years isn't yet there, notice she doesn't hit any of the type of high notes she did on the first Mac albums
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Old 08-18-2017, 01:20 PM
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I find it very interesting the vocal changes she has had during her long career.
IMO, the worst period was in the early 90's, during the "Timespace( named "Whole lotta trouble") tour.
Her voice seemed flat throughout the tour and her famous fast vibrato wasn't even there at times.
There is such a HUGE difference from the "Timespace" tour and the "Street Angel" tour.
Her voice sounded fabulous during the SA tour and she even went for a few high notes, including some amazing versions of "Rhiannon."
Though I dislike the actual SA album for the most part(a few gems are in there), I thought the tour was great.

I love her present voice, and her vocals on the "24K" album.
I love the raw feel to the album, and she sounds terrific.
It has become one of my fave solo albums, right up there with "The Wild heart."
The title track is one of my very fave songs of all time.
I LOVE how it starts with just the bass line, followed by drums and then it all kicks in.
I really love the entire album, and I don't care what the sales were.

Last edited by TheWildHeart67; 08-18-2017 at 01:23 PM..
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Old 08-18-2017, 05:31 PM
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Originally Posted by bombaysaffires View Post
Not true.

While in the studio she could still muster beautiful high notes, onstage she stopped hitting high notes even on the Rumours tour. If you listen to recordings of both Rhiannon and Dreams, she either whistles or hums the highest notes in those songs (and in later years just stopped trying to sing them altogether)

On Dreams lines with high notes like "it's only RIGHT" and "players only LOVE you" she would whistle or "ooo oooo" those words because she could not reach them. Yes her voice got more beat up on the road and she could mostly recover those notes after some time off.... but she developed nodules on her vocal cords and those come from overusing and mis-using your cords. Over time you lose the ability to recover. On recordings you can hear her try to go for those notes on other songs and not really reach them....and she began going with louder volume in places where in the past she would have gone with a higher note.

Listen to Bella Donna.. while the raspiness of future years isn't yet there, notice she doesn't hit any of the type of high notes she did on the first Mac albums
Not true? LOL We are talking opinions so maybe you don't agree with me. I completely disagree with you that Stevie has not hit high notes since the Rumours tour. In fact I don't think many would agree with you. I am not sure how high of a note you are talking about. Even this study states she hit high notes on songs recorded in 1985 and 1986. Her high notes may have sounded bad on the RAL tour but she still went for them and her voice had range.
Maybe there is middle ground. Her highest notes were pre 1980 but she still had plenty of range and high notes later on for sure.
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Old 08-18-2017, 05:37 PM
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Not true? LOL We are talking opinions so maybe you don't agree with me. I completely disagree with you that Stevie has not hit high notes since the Rumours tour. In fact I don't think many would agree with you. I am not sure how high of a note you are talking about. Even this study states she hit high notes on songs recorded in 1985 and 1986. Her high notes may have sounded bad on the RAL tour but she still went for them and her voice had range.
Maybe there is middle ground. Her highest notes were pre 1980 but she still had plenty of range and high notes later on for sure.
I didn't say she never has, I said you are wrong to say The Dance tour was the first tour where she wasn't able to hit the high notes in her songs.

Again, the tapes speak for themselves. Watch videos or listen to audio recordings from the Rumours tour and hear her have to whistle the high notes in Dreams and Rhiannon. That's not my opinion.
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Old 08-18-2017, 06:11 PM
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Rhiannon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz5h3g-_N9w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-dIelXoYQ0


Dreams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cugd7HvM5XU

or she just doesn't sing them on the chorus at all https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oViD923JJRM

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

here she doesn't sing and does the ooo ooo both: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSUajifUC-E
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Old 08-19-2017, 05:09 AM
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I know that technical singing is a science so it's not subjective; the article states that from Tusk onwards Stevie’s voice is "lowering slightly", "shows little deterioration" and "on Bella Donna she neglects using her head voice [AKA the highest notes] almost entirely", meaning that she started to not reach some the highest notes she could hit in the past, but only after 2001 "Stevie’s voice finally seems to settle as a contralto" [AKA the lowest of the female voices] and "she seldom reaches above A4" so that's the main shift.
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Old 08-19-2017, 11:24 AM
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I know that technical singing is a science so it's not subjective; the article states that from Tusk onwards Stevie’s voice is "lowering slightly", "shows little deterioration" and "on Bella Donna she neglects using her head voice [AKA the highest notes] almost entirely", meaning that she started to not reach some the highest notes she could hit in the past, but only after 2001 "Stevie’s voice finally seems to settle as a contralto" [AKA the lowest of the female voices] and "she seldom reaches above A4" so that's the main shift.
Yes of course ALL of that can be true. What I am talking about is her voice change in the late 90's where of course she did not hit the highest notes in her career from the 1970's but was mostly flat with all of her singing i.e. meaning not only are the high notes gone but her range is also gone. Her voice has went through many changes over the decades. In the late 90's not only was her range gone but lost some of her trademark rasp.

This thread reminds me of a dog chasing it's own tail
I believe I am being clear but for some reason being seen in only black and white. Can we agree she lost her highest range and notes around 1980 and then lost even more about 15 years later? Does that make sense? The first change is hardly noticed except for these types of scientific studies. I think 1997 was much more profound than 1980. The Palm Beach Post had a harsh review of the sold out Dance tour that year in West Palm Beach. It said Stevie was fat and flat. While the body shaming was way out of bounds it was fair to say that about her voice. I would also say that during the Dance and after the Dance Stevie took her voice seriously and did much more vocal coaching. Her voice got better for Say You Will. Although some of her songs on TISRL are pretty flat IMHO.
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Old 08-19-2017, 12:34 PM
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When I originally posted this video I never intended it to start a debate. I just thought it was an interesting video on Stevie's voice. I agree with a lot of you that Stevie's range has lowered over the years. However, I think it's clear that in terms of tone and overall quality of her voice, it really depends on the listener. For example, I am not a huge fan of her TOSOTM vocals but I LOVE late 90s stuff like The Dance and Enchanted. I think her voice sounded fantastic then. All in all, I think we can agree that while Stevie's voice has changed over the years, that's what makes her so unique and interesting.
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Old 08-19-2017, 01:19 PM
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when did she get her voice coach? wasn't that in the 90s??
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Old 08-19-2017, 01:55 PM
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when did she get her voice coach? wasn't that in the 90s??
During the Dance Stevie said in multiple interviews that she and Christine were working with a vocal coach. I think because of the break in their careers they wanted to be prepared. This is also the time when Stevie and Christine made the pact to quit smoking which they both did. Stevie continued with her vocal coach over the next several years. I have no idea if she still uses one.
Dreams is a good example of her losing her highest range. But I think that was only the tip of the iceberg. IMHO Edge of 17 is the real test. Stevie sang the oooo baby oooo's throughout the 80's. They may not have sounded so great (1986) but she went there. In 1989 she only did them once or twice or a few times during the song. In 1991 she never attempted them and let her background singers take that role exclusively (for most of the time). However she still did the oooooooooooooooaaaahhhhhh near the end. Today she does not attempt it at all.
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