Someone asked me this week which rock singers from the 70s/80s are still doing well vocally. Great question, and also a great talking point!
There’s plenty of singers who sounded incredible back in their youth, who have no useable voice left now due to damage and abuse. I’m sure we can all think of some singers whose voices are totally shot.
There are singers now who weren’t perfect back in their youth but who are still somehow still able to keep going despite them vocally breaking all the rules. These singers generally have what we refer to as “vocal folds of steel”, where there is no reason they should still be singing when they are being so damaging and aggressive to their voices, and yet… they’re still going.
And then there’s singers who are intense and powerful, and they are still pretty on-the-money technically.
I’m going to cover three of my favourite singers in the latter two categories:
Sammy Hagar
Sammy Hagar was one of the lead singer’s of Van Halen. He has one of the most insane rock voices I’ve ever heard… and he’s still going even now at 75 years old (same age as Stallone).
Here is one of Van Halen’s tracks from the 80s, ‘Why Can’t This Be Love?’, both from the album, then recorded in the studio on the Howard Stern show a few years ago.
Notice that the second track is slightly lower (by a whole tone) but he is still rocking it. It’s not like he’s singing it down the octave. He is still delivering the goods despite nearly 4 decades having elapsed. His technique is not perfect, but he is still doing enough right to keep going the way he is.
Sting
Sting was the lead singer of The Police, and a prolific songwriter in his own right since then. Listen to how his voice has deepened and matured since his early outings, but how he’s still nailing those top notes. He’s only slowed down relatively recently, at the age of 71.
Steven Tyler
The lead singer of Aerosmith and father of actress Liv Tyler, Tyler (74) has been going for a long time like the earlier singers. Have a listen to him more in his prime, versus the last few years.
Tyler is (in my opinion) far more towards the side of “vocal folds of steel”, as is Sammy Hagar, but you can hear how he’s still going with similar range and quality despite all the years that have elapsed between their prime and where they are now.
Conclusion
Some people’s instruments are more prone to injury, and others are at the other end of the bell-curve. Such singers can get away with a lot more than the average vocalist, and these singers – however much they are doing right/wrong – are definitely very fortunate that their more aggressive vocal stylings aren’t destroying their voice the way that it would most “mere mortals”.