Where Have All The Singers Gone? Long Time Passing!

[Chienmortbb]

Those of us weekend warriors that play clubs and pubs will be aware of the glut of “Solo” singers, the professional karaoke singers. I have seen some very good ones over the years and some of the clubs especially seem to pack their calendars with more and more of them. 
 

When we are not not gigging on a Saturday, I go to the local clubs and have also noticed how many trios are now in the circuit. Either bass, guitar, drums or even singer guitar drums with the bass being a backing track. 
 

From the financial standpoint you can see why this is happening. A solo singer , £125-£150 per night is cheap. A trio can go out cheaper than a five piece and still take home a decent wedge. However the standard of singing seems to have gone down in many of the bands with no frontman.

 

Are the days of a 5 piece covers band with a good singer numbered? 

 

[la bam]

There's nothing but singers up here. Singers and duos. Very little in the way of bands. 

[Rosie C]

I'm on a Facebook group for my area for people hiring bands. Nearly all the adverts are for "singer with backing tracks". They don't even want a singer/guitarist. I play in a duo sometimes - male & female vocal with guitar and mandolin, but even that seems too big a band for most venues. Depressing really.

 

[ubit]

Round our way it seems to go in cycles. Full bands are the rage, then pubs want smaller outfits.

 

We played for years as a two piece. My mate on guitar and myself on bass and vocals. We had an Alesis drum machine.

 

I remember one night a guy said turn off your machine and let us hear what you can really play.

 

I'm like, it's a drum machine mate. We ARE playing. Some people.

[Chienmortbb]

In a way I a sad it’s not just me but it really is depressing. You can understand why the singers do it. No hassle from vs d politics, full control. More money and with the new breed of Sub on a stick PA systems, even the weediest bloke can carry in a workable PA without help. No delays from guitarists tuning up after every song, 

 

Not sure whether to take my tablets now or just listen to Leonard Cohen…

[Lozz196]

Reflects the current music I suppose,  doesn’t seem to be that many bands in the charts, mostly solo artists.

[Woodinblack]

We have a lot of singer songwriter types, guy/girl with acoustic guitar singing something soulful or righteous for a while, seems to have been the trend for a decade now. But we don't really have a shortage of bands either, most of the pubs that are still open have a live band one at the weekend, just not as many pubs that there used to be. 

[TimR]

First, it's difficult to get musicians together on the same night to rehearse, musicians with common music choices, musicians who stick around long enough to get gig ready, and musicians who are interested in doing the same number of gigs as each other. A solo artist makes all of that redundant. 

 

@Lozz196 point regards modern music; it's difficult to find creative musicians who want to take a modern tune and rearrange it to suit the band's instrumentation. I've lost count of the number of times I've been told "We dont have a keyboard player", "We only have one guitarist", or "That's a male song.". A solo artist can pretty much perform with a different band for each song. 

[Chienmortbb]

6 minutes ago, TimR said:

@Lozz196 point regards modern music; it's difficult to find creative musicians who want to take a modern tune and rearrange it to suit the band's instrumentation. I've lost count of the number of times I've been told "We dont have a keyboard player", "We only have one guitarist", or "That's a male song.". A solo artist can pretty much perform with a different band for each song. 

This is nonsense, we do songs with keyboards but have no keyboards, songs for females, we have a male singer. My last band had a girl singer and we did at least as many male sung songs as female. A good song can be rearranged to fit the band.

[Skybone]

The local scene here is awash with singer/songwriters. There's a few bands, but most of them are basically singer/songwriters who've roped their mates in.

 

Even cover bands seem to be few and far between, tons of Trad Scottish / Ceilidh bands though.

[diskwave]

It's nothing new. It was the same 40 odd yrs ago. Ive always been just a tad envious of musicians who can play guitar and sing well. Knew several guys years back, one a very good bassist, who played in bands but could also do the acoustic/vox thing well and they earned a lot of money just sat in the corners of bars/cafe's churning it out. A nice way to be for a musician. 

Edited December 9, 2024 by diskwave

[naxos10]

We met a solo female artist using backing tracks at a charity concert, she said she had never sung with a band so we invited her along to one of our rehearsals. She is now our lead singer, but still does some solo gigs. In fact our only gig for next year so far was gained via her agent.

We have been doing open mike nights in local social clubs to get used to playing together live and have gone down very well but looking at the acts being booked at these places they are tribute bands or tribute solo singers (typically Elvis or Rod Stewart).

[police squad]

my 80s duo is backing tracks but without guitar and keys, as we both play them

There was a full band for a while that went out for 300 quid a gig. 75 quid each.

It was mostly live, we did use the occasional BT but then the drummer left so we put the drums on the BTs and carried on. now we get 100 quid each.

bands are charging much more now and pubs, largely, can't afford it, so have gone down the solo/duo thing

Frankly, I dont want to watch people sing to backing tracks, if they're playing guitar/bass/keys and using BT I think that's ok

 

I am very lucky to be an ok singer. I am confident that what I do is good. I know when I'm beaten too

Edited December 8, 2024 by police squad

[NancyJohnson]

Just on the OPs quote about solo karaoke singers, a couple of weeks back, I went to a wedding reception where said bride and groom decided they were just going to have a DJ until 10.30pm, then karaoke.  The guests were probably about 50/50 parents and their 25+ year old children and their friends; stupidly, it did cross my mind that if there were any decent singers it might be worth hitting them up and asking whether they'd be interested in fronting a band.

 

I suppose after decades of X-Factor (etc.) it's honestly no wonder that people think they can sing.  Man alive, we stuck around until 11.30pm and not one of the people that picked up the microphone could hold a tune.  It was all nails on a blackboard stuff.  We suffered an hour of cats screaming.

 

 

[ubit]

3 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Just on the OPs quote about solo karaoke singers, a couple of weeks back, I went to a wedding reception where said bride and groom decided they were just going to have a DJ until 10.30pm, then karaoke.  The guests were probably about 50/50 parents and their 25+ year old children and their friends; stupidly, it did cross my mind that if there were any decent singers it might be worth hitting them up and asking whether they'd be interested in fronting a band.

 

I suppose after decades of X-Factor (etc.) it's honestly no wonder that people think they can sing.  Man alive, we stuck around until 11.30pm and not one of the people that picked up the microphone could hold a tune.  It was all nails on a blackboard stuff.  We suffered an hour of cats screaming.

 

 

 

 

I am just amazed that anyone thought karaoke was a good idea for a wedding reception. It is never good.

[ubit]

On 08/12/2024 at 10:19, naxos10 said:

but looking at the acts being booked at these places they are tribute bands or tribute solo singers (typically Elvis or Rod Stewart).

 

 

🤢

[TimR]

56 minutes ago, ubit said:

 

 

I am just amazed that anyone thought karaoke was a good idea for a wedding reception. It is never good.

 

It's not supposed to be good. In fact the worse the singers are, the more people will get up, the more people lsugh and the more drink is consumed. As soon as someone good goes up, everyone else will be put off getting up. 

[BigRedX]

In Japan, where Karaoke originated, you're not even supposed to do it in public in front of random strangers. And it's certainly not for their entertainment.

Edited December 9, 2024 by BigRedX

[zbd1960]

6 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Just on the OPs quote about solo karaoke singers, a couple of weeks back, I went to a wedding reception where said bride and groom decided they were just going to have a DJ until 10.30pm, then karaoke.  The guests were probably about 50/50 parents and their 25+ year old children and their friends; stupidly, it did cross my mind that if there were any decent singers it might be worth hitting them up and asking whether they'd be interested in fronting a band.

 

I suppose after decades of X-Factor (etc.) it's honestly no wonder that people think they can sing.  Man alive, we stuck around until 11.30pm and not one of the people that picked up the microphone could hold a tune.  It was all nails on a blackboard stuff.  We suffered an hour of cats screaming.

 

 

I am I suppose what you would call a classically trained singer. I'd never sing until my 30s and started to have singing lessons. I'm a baritone, although I probably should sing tenor). I don't do solo, but I have sung a huge range of the classical repertoire in hundreds of concerts over the last 30+ years.

 

So what happens when I hear your archetypal Karaoke singer? A great deal of wincing. A lot of the classic American songbook stuff (Gershwin, Cole Porter etc) and the 'crooner' repertoire (Bing, Sinatra etc) was written for competent singers with at least a two octave range. Most (not all) untrained singers cannot cover that range. Which is why it often either varies wildly in pitch or it sounds as if the local feline population is being systematically strangled....

 

People 'think' that singing is easy. For most people, to sing musically, in tune, in rhythm, and conveying the words and sentiment is hard work.  

[Chienmortbb]

28 minutes ago, zbd1960 said:

I am I suppose what you would call a classically trained singer. I'd never sing until my 30s and started to have singing lessons. I'm a baritone, although I probably should sing tenor). I don't do solo, but I have sung a huge range of the classical repertoire in hundreds of concerts over the last 30+ years.

 

So what happens when I hear your archetypal Karaoke singer? A great deal of wincing. A lot of the classic American songbook stuff (Gershwin, Cole Porter etc) and the 'crooner' repertoire (Bing, Sinatra etc) was written for competent singers with at least a two octave range. Most (not all) untrained singers cannot cover that range. Which is why it often either varies wildly in pitch or it sounds as if the local feline population is being systematically strangled....

 

People 'think' that singing is easy. For most people, to sing musically, in tune, in rhythm, and conveying the words and sentiment is hard work.  

And we try to do it while playing bass?

[NancyJohnson]

3 hours ago, zbd1960 said:

I am I suppose what you would call a classically trained singer. I'd never sing until my 30s and started to have singing lessons. I'm a baritone, although I probably should sing tenor). I don't do solo, but I have sung a huge range of the classical repertoire in hundreds of concerts over the last 30+ years.

 

So what happens when I hear your archetypal Karaoke singer? A great deal of wincing. A lot of the classic American songbook stuff (Gershwin, Cole Porter etc) and the 'crooner' repertoire (Bing, Sinatra etc) was written for competent singers with at least a two octave range. Most (not all) untrained singers cannot cover that range. Which is why it often either varies wildly in pitch or it sounds as if the local feline population is being systematically strangled....

 

People 'think' that singing is easy. For most people, to sing musically, in tune, in rhythm, and conveying the words and sentiment is hard work.  

 

I feel that any band I've played in has benefited from decent backing vocals; I'll admit I that while I don't have a frontman's lungs, despite my stature, my vocals are somewhat thin and whiny (some compared me to Liam Gallagher) rather than coarse and full, but to my credit I'm pretty much always in tune and I have a decent range.

 

The only thing I really struggle with is harmonising.  I can't come up with harmonies and even when I do have a harmony part to sing, I still struggle.

[Mickeyboro]

My voice lacks individual character but I like to think my harmonies add something to the whole. Choir training ‘endured’ 50 years ago wasn’t wasted … 

[Lozz196]

I’m def in the backing vocals only camp. I’ve done lead vox but my voice doesn’t have enough to it for that role, whereas I can tailor my backing vox to suit most lead singers, and harmonies are something that for some reason I get quite easily.

[Chienmortbb]

On 09/12/2024 at 21:08, Lozz196 said:

’m def in the backing vocals only camp. I’ve done lead vox but my voice doesn’t have enough to it for that role, whereas I can tailor my backing vox to suit most lead singers, and harmonies are something that for some reason I get quite easily.

Snap, I can sing but do not think I would carry a whole night.

[zbd1960]

There is technique to singing well with good tone and without strain. For most people, some or all of that has to be taught. Most untrained singers used 'tuned shouting' which tires the voice and can cause problems long term.