Stevie's Vocal Range
 

Hello!!
For a few years I've been collecting vocal range info on a lot of singers, and at the moment am trying to get a good estimate for Stevie's recorded range.

So far, I've arrived at D3, the third D on the piano, to C5, the fifth C on the piano, which is a vocal range of 1 octave and 10 semitones. To give you an idea, there are a few D3s in Landslide (the final note on the vocal run on the word "life"), and there are head voice C5s on Dreams (it's only ri-ight), and the full Sara (before the "said Sara" verse/chorus), and a full voice C5 on Rhiannon on "life"!

I was wondering if any of you could help me out by pointing out some of Stevie's most impressive vocal performances. I'm such she can go a lot lower and higher, I really love her voice!

Thanks!

Edit: We have arrived at Bb2-E5! Two-and-a-half octaves exactly! Here is the video:

Check out Whenever I Call You Friend by Kenny Loggins and Stevie Nicks. Many of us fans are amazed at the vocal he got out of her for this recording.

Thanks, that was great, I'm a big Kenny Loggins fan. Is the high part at the beginning really Stevie?! If so it goes up to G5! As for the rest of the song, it really was a great performance, a few Bb4s and a C#5! So that's at least D3-C#5! Do you know any more about the high notes at the beginning? Sounded like a man for the first 20 seconds, a bit harder to tell after that...

Could you tell us a bit about stevie's vocal range changing throughout the years? I'm not sure if you are a big fan who can go into depth, or if you are just here for our imput.

Anyway, I really don't know anything about the letters and numbers of vocal ranges. However I am curious to know how you think it's changed over the years.

The high notes in the beginning are not Stevie's, pretty sure that's Kenny Loggins.
Listen to the piano demo of Sisters Of The Moon, one of her best vocals in my opinion, and she gets pretty high:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3TJ9XJ0Z

I thought of a demo version too. I really hope this is the right version where she hits the really high note in on The Highwayman.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mznot22ikme

I am a fan! Can't go into too much depth I'm afraid. Her voice was consistently good for a long time, but quite hard to tell just how good live. On record at least, she was consistent, and for a long time too.
I'm not sure how much the cocaine affected her voice, but I don't think it was much, have never heard a bad performance from her up to 1987. I don't know much about her early-mid 90's material though. She was definitely in good form on The Dance, and wasn't bad when I saw Fleetwood Mac at the NEC Arena in Birmingham in 2003. Some of the higher notes she didn't quite hit. I'm sure she can still hit them but maybe doesn't want to tax her vocal cords too much at her age, considering the length of the tours.
What has baffled me is how she would miss a short high note on one song, and then sustain the exact same note later on!

Edit: Thanks for the links, I'll have a listen now!
Edit 2: Was that really Kenny Loggins? Pretty impressive.
The Sisters of the Moon demo was fantastic! Great singing, and lots of strong A4s! The Highwayman demo was great aswell! From F#3 to C#5 in falsetto. Thanks again!

China Doll and the demo of Leather and Lace and After the Glitter fades -- she is very high on those.

Also - how high is she (musically) on the album cut of Beautiful child (esp on the "love" in "fell in love when I was only 10).

I think she does this thing where her voice sounds way higher than it really is.

The "love" in Beautiful Child is a G4, but is in falsetto. It gives a thinner, higher sound. Compare it to the "so" in "so little time". Same note but in full voice. Lovely song, I'll listen to the others you mentioned shortly. Falsetto is used to hit notes that are outside a singer's natural range. Only the edge of the vocal cords vibrate, as opposed to the whole cord, which gives it a softer sound. One could consider it an artificial raising of the voice.
The entire vocal cord vibrates when singing full voice, hence the, um, full sound. It will sound very much like the singer's natural voice. Most people prefer the sound of full voiced notes (also refered to as chest, mixed, and head voice), but falsetto notes have an airey, softer quality, where as full voiced notes have more power. On the downside, some higher full voiced notes can be taxing for the vocal cords. For some examples, see the C5s I pointed out in my first post and the Beautiful Child G4s at the top of this post. Here's a very informative/entertaining video aswell!.

I'll also explain the notes and numbers a bit more. The number refers to the octave in which the note is sung. A5 would be A in the fifth octave, for example. Each octave begins on C and ends on B, so B4 is higher than C4. For those who don't know, the chromatic scale starting on C has these notes: C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, Bb, B.

Stevie rarely strays above her favourite high note, B4. It is the same note as the classic "niiight" in Don't Stop Believin' by Journey! She sings it in a lot of songs, Stop Dragging My Heart Around, Edge of Seventeen, The Chain, Silver Springs.

Edit: China Doll was amazing, did she really not release it on an album? Up to A4 in falsetto. I prefered the Leather and Lace demo to the final version, a few falsetto C5s! I love After The Glitter Fades! Up to A4 in full voice a few times.
Edit 2: Long post! I had another listen to the Rumours album, as she was very much in her prime here. Second Hand News' harmony goes up to C#5, could be full voice. Go Your Own Way goes up to C5 in the harmony I think. The final "I don't wanna kno-ow" in I Don't Want To Know is a C#5 in full voice! A lot stronger and sustained than the Whenever I Call You Friend C#5!

I can't cite specific performances; because my brain doesn't work like that; but some of the Rumours Tour GDW endings had some impressive high notes. Flip it and some of the Unleashed Tour GDW endings had some of the lowest notes. Go figure.

Ha, I'll have to check them out.

Also, I have found a new highest note for Stevie, in both full and falsetto! In the studio version of Sisters of the Moon she sings up to E5 in falsetto, and on the live Mirage tour version, she sings up to D5 in full voice. Which means her range now without falsetto is D3-D5, 2 octaves!

Edit: Up to C5 on a live GDW from 1977, I'm sure there are versions that go higher!

Oh yeah and Call On Me For Magic has a few high notes, too. FWIW.

That was a nice song. A few Bb4s in falsetto.

Once I've amassed a few more great performances, and/or find some lower/higher notes, I'll have to make a video for Youtube.

^^^

Thanks for that explanation!

Interestingly, I believe she is not singing the lead on the chorus of Dreams. I think she sings the fifth and the seventh, with LB and CM taking the first and third of the harmony. Do you hear that?

I'm not sure, Stevie definitely overdubbed a harmony. Have a listen to the first chorus, on "players only love you when they're playing". Stevie takes the third of the harmony there, up to C5 in falsetto. It's harder to tell on the other choruses, however! On that first one at least I can't hear Christine at all. I hear Lindsey singing the fifth, but in a lower octave.

Edit: I think I hear Christine singing the third on the second chorus! Can't hear a seventh though...

I think in the Making of Rumors doc. (circa 1997) -- LB dicusses the harmonies of the Dreams chorus. It could be, though, in the Rumors 5.1 reissue DVD. He actually plays the tracks alone. I can't find it though.

Interestingly, LB's voice was so high then that it often, to me, was hard to tell his voice from La Nicks' in some of the harmonies. The "YEAAAAAA" at the end of SYLM is a good example to me.

Finally, La Nicks' voice is sort of odd in that she sings in many different areas. Look at Circle Dance, which is higer sounding to me than Rhiannon. However, I think they are not that far apart musically.

Both Nicks and Vanessa Carlton sing up to G#4 on Circle Dance. Doesn't sound higher than Rhiannon to my ears, but I know what you're trying to say with that last sentence. I was sure Silver Springs was higher than Rhiannon, and it was very close, but nope! For the most part Circle Dance is higher, Rhiannon is a fairly low vocal, but the "all your life" and "would you stay". Are both nice C5s. She pulled them off nicely live aswell for a few years. I'm thinking she could have gone up to E5 in full voice around 1976-1982, maybe higher.

Wild Heart, from the album The Wild Heart
Somebody Stand By Me - Boys On The Side Soundtrack
Frozen Love - Buckingham Nicks
Edge of Seventeen live version - Enchanted box set
Edge of Seventeen - VH1 Storytellers
Sisters of the Moon- Mirage Tour video
Sara - Tusk tour video
Gold & Braid - Enchanted box set
Angel - Tusk
Seven Wonders - Tango In The Night
Sleeping Angel - Enchanted box set

There are so many more and I'll add them later but these are the ones that immediately come to mind.

On edit: For the lower end of her vocal range you might want to check out God's Garden (for which I will post a link) and Destiny Rules from Say You Will.

Whew! Time to make a checklist!

Wild Heart, from the album The Wild Heart
Somebody Stand By Me - Boys On The Side Soundtrack
Frozen Love - Buckingham Nicks This was amazing! Great vocals throughout and a super B4 towards the end!
Edge of Seventeen live version - Enchanted box set
Edge of Seventeen - VH1 Storytellers Also very good but I prefer the studio version. This one went up to C5 I think.
Sisters of the Moon- Mirage Tour video Mentioned this one earlier, fantastic, and has the highest full voice note I've heard from her, D5.
Sara - Tusk tour video Wasn't that much of a fan of this video. The Melbourne performance however, goosebumps alert towards the end! Great A4 which I'll include in the video.
Gold & Braid - Enchanted box set Not much in the ways of highs/lows, but a good song.
Angel - Tusk Nice song, up to A4.
Seven Wonders - Tango In The Night Had a listen yesterday, wasn't a bad song, nothing groundbreaking note-wise as far as I remember.
Sleeping Angel - Enchanted box set Nice G4
God's Garden Oh wow! A few C#3s and even a few short B2s!
Destiny Rules That was a nice song! Down to C#3! That brings us to 2 octaves and 1 semitone, C#3-D5!
Baby Come Back (Nothing Ever Changes?) Cool song

Here's the link to God's Garden: http://www.mediafire.com/file/t02j2gyejym/09 God's Garden.m4a

You might also want to check out Nothing Ever Changes from The Wild Heart.

Nothing wrong with that. I like the VH1 performance for the energy of the vocal and it's an excellent indicator of what she was capable of vocally at that time.
Seven Wonders is a sentimental favorite around here because it is the last known pre Betty Ford vocal. Sniff.

God's Garden is the lowest vocal I've heard from Stevie! As I said up there, a few C#3s and short B2s (not the man either!). I actually watched it on Youtube because iTunes was being tempermental. One of the comments mentions the song being slowed down, a few people were asking for the higher voice version. Slowing down would definitely affect the pitch. This version was 5:58, is the version you uploaded close to this length? I hope it's not slowed down, then we can credit her with B2-D5, 2 octaves and 3 semitones!

There is another version of God's Garden. It's not much higher. In fact, to me it just sounds as if the mix is different. It's anyone's guess whether the one I posted was slowed down.
Also for another stellar Stevie performance you might want to check out Smile At You - Mirage demo (angry version).

Well it doesn't sound slowed down, judging by her C#3s and D3s she should have no problem hitting B2! Maybe the Youtube user was suprised to hear her voice so low. So for now at least, I will say B2-D5 is correct, 2 octaves and 3 semitones!

I really enjoyed that Smile At You demo, lots of great C5s, even a trill up to D5 on one of them, and another short D5 later on! The D5s are better than the one in the live Sisters of the Moon aswell! Any more versions of the song? Probably the most impressive vocal I've heard from her!

So, what we're saying here is that her voice sounded better on cocaine than off cocaine?
:shrug:

I'm just curious because I wonder what the drug does to cause that effect? I know of at least one other singer who falls into this category (for all I know there are a ton...)

As far as I know, it did. Not sure cocaine had that much of an effect. For all we know it could have been even better up until 1986 if she'd never taken cocaine. Excuse my ignorance here, but wasn't she on a different drug in the 90's?

Yeah, she traded cocaine addiction for prescription med addiction - Klonopin to be exact.

You're right about her voice being better without cocaine, period. I suspect smoking had more to do with her voice issues overall though. She has a classic smoker's rasp.

Stevie smoked? News to me! Klonopin definitely would have affected her physically, aswell as the weight gain. The same happened a few years ago to Lou Gramm of Foreigner fame after complications with medication after an operation to remove a brain tumour. Lou seemed to be in a worse state than Stevie, however Stevie improved very noticeably towards the late 90's, and Lou is also improving.

A bit off topic there!

What song is this? Do you mean Nothing Ever Changes?

One of the cutest moments in Destiny Rules is when Stevie is telling Lindsey he is supposed to sing the high harmony. Then, she points upward with her finger, just to make sure he understands.

Michele

No. There was a distinct change in style post Betty Ford, that's all.

Yes. Brain blip.

I couldn't find the original Nothing Ever Changes, but found a demo version. I got all excited thinking I heard a Bb2, turns out it was Bb3! The first video should be up today after I finish my listening checklist. If we find some more great stuff after that then I can make a video response. Thanks for all the help! I'll have to include a thanks in the video description too.

Here's the first video! Big thanks to all who helped out!

Still hoping to find some material for a video response though!

Nicely done! I love the Sara from Melbourne. If memory serves that whole boot is good. You must hear the end of Wild Heart and the "if it's me that's driving you to this madness" at the end of Nothing Ever Changes. According to Stevie, a lot of The Wild Heart was recorded live and on the fly so those notes were like capturing lightning in a bottle.
And since I love this topic, I was thinking about some more stuff for you to check out. For the current decade of Stevie, there is a fantastic four part harmony at the end of If Anyone Falls from Stevie's shows at Caesar's Palace in '05. And Beauty and the Beast is not to be missed from those shows.

Thanks! I'll have to check those out if I can get a copy of Wild Heart. Four part harmony, sounds great!

I'm thinking Stevie could manage 2 and a half octaves. I'm a bit unsure about the B2, but with the B2 she'd need an F5 for a solid 2 and a half octaves. Those Destiny Rules C#5s sound comfortable, I wouldn't be suprised if she hit an A2 at some point, her natural speaking voice is quite low. Next course of action is listening to the Buckingham Nicks record for highs and the rest of Say You Will for lows.

This is a cool oldie - note her drop to the first (?) at "Where is the Reason?" at around 3:32 - then at about 3:55 she goes back to the third (?)



She does the same kinda thing here (lower at 3:19) :



They are high as kites here - talk about lightening in a bottle!!!!!!!!!!!

Hm, on that first video I'm thinking she starts on the third then moves to the first!

I agree. She starts at the third, drops to the first, and then goes back to the third.

I also think the other singer sounds great.

Harmony singing is so fun!