Singing Voice & Race - Why Do Black Women Sound Different From White Women, who Sing Well

[Mariposa Electrique]

I've always loved singing, I am a lyric sopranno, but I have not sang regularly in years. What always struck me was that women of different races sound completely different. I am sure there are amazing singers from different races, but the disparity in sound seems to be the most dramatic between blacks (Africans, African-Americans, African-European) and white women. The black voice is a lot heavier and despite when women try to sing like black women, they still sound like white women.

Kelly Clarkson sounds just like you'd expect her to sound, like a white woman trying to impersonate a black woman

Mariah Carey sounds mixed race

Nina Simone sounds just like you'd expect a black woman to sound.....

 

[Fromtheblackdepths]

Oh my god, I thought I was the only one who felt this way.

 

[Michael Jacks0n]

 

[The Last Stand]

What have you got against Black singers?

 

[SIGSEGV]

What have you got against Black singers?

They're niggers.

 

[alreadyhome]

Likewise, when non-whites try to sing like white singers it also sounds contrived, as they can't imitate the airy, deep, singular, melodic, and beautiful singing voice of white people.

 

[Michael Jacks0n]

Get a load of the vocal range of Roger Taylor from Queen:

 

[Papa Adolfo's Take'n'Bake]

I mean, hot take that will never be repeated out loud in our lifetimes without some serious backlash: given that Black people and White people have vastly different nasal and facial structures (which developed in vastly different environments over thousands of generations), how much of a surprise is this?

 

[Pixy]

It's less to do with race and moreso accent, then? For example, an American or Briton singing a chanson will sound different to a Frenchman singing it.

 

[Francesco Dellamorte]

I don't have anything to add to the discussion, but I'll use this thread as an excuse to post my favourite scene from Blazing Saddles:

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

I remember something about this song:

For years i thought was a man singing (since i always listened in GTA: Vice City) but is a woman. Surprises me like 2 consecutive weeks.

 

[Bibendum]

You're not alone, pretty much everyone can tell race from voice, both speaking and singing. I actually really like black singing voices, but I'm sure it's just a matter of taste. In speech, we can all easily tell a speaker of standard English from a speaker of black English. However in song, I'm not sure if that fully explains this phenomenon -- perhaps there are some physiological differences that account for the perceived differences.

 

[oldTireWater]

Joan Armatrading has one of the best voices of all time in my opinion. She is an exception to this rule.

 

[biozeminadae1]

I remember something about this song:

For years i thought was a man singing (since i always listened in GTA: Vice City) but is a woman. Surprises me like 2 consecutive weeks.

Didn't know chain smokers could become singers.

 

[soryu]

Honestly, it depends on the vocal range of the woman and how they got popular. I am certain there's black female singers who "sound" white and white women that "sound" black, but they haven't been brought to light because... society isn't expecting that from them? I'm talking out of my ass here lol.
Actually a brief moment where I can see a possibility of that expectation being thrown away was during the 90s house boom, there's a couple eurodance hits towards the end of the 90s where the women had a strong voice and it was unclear the singer was black, mixed, or not.

 

[Mrs Paul]

The Pointer Sisters are fucking awesome, watch it.

I think what you're asking about is melisma. It's not exclusive to black singers -- think of Gregorian monk chants. A lot of singers nowadays tend to overdue it, because they're not properly trained. Early soul singers used it, but not to the extent people do nowadays. It was seen as something you used to enhance your voice, not to totally takeover.

 

[Lemmingwise]

. I am certain there's black female singers who "sound" white and white women that "sound" black, but they haven't been brought to light because... society isn't expecting that from them? I'm talking out of my ass here lol.

It's refreshing when people who subscribe to the idea that everything is culture and nothing is biological, then admit that it's a completely unfounded presumption.

 

[Panty Shroom]

I have sometimes assumed that I was listening to a male singer only to discover later that the artist was a black female afterwards.

 

[Daughter of Cernunnos]

Charlie Pride sounds like a white man. So does Darius Rucker.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Is the reason no Eartha Kitt has been posted here is because she's the endgame whose singing aged like the finest wine?