Female Singer/Songwriter Thread

[daveT]

Imogen Heap

A talented multi-instrumentalist. She is classically trained in piano, clarinet, guitar, drums and other instruments, many of which she is self-taught. She has had a very long career, including solo stints and as a member of the band frou frou. Much of her music has been used in the background of popular tv shows and movies, especially "Hide and Seek." Also impressive, is that she writes and produces all of her own songs, spanning the full spectrum of vocal style music. She has also wrote, backed, mixed, or produced artists ranging from Britney Spears to Blue October.

I would suggest starting with her most recent album, called Speak for Yourself. It has some slow and fast-tempo music. If you don't pay attention, it sounds like she is singing a capella.

home page

myspace : 4 songs here.

u-tube: Hide and Seek video.

utube : just for now, a capella.

[hanimal]

Yeah, it's probably different for you being classically trained and all. I can understand how you can pinpoint the little imperfections.

I've studied music theory and play guitar and when my friend who is learning plays with me sometimes he will play something for me and to his ears it sounds correct but I know it's wrong. I guess it's kinda like that.

I dunno, these little pitch things don't bother me that much. It's not supposed to be perfect classical singing. But I get your point.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss I guess.

[katyseagull]

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Do you have a link to another great song sung by the same girl? I'd like to give her another shot.

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I like her version of Creep. Granted she didn't write it. but i like her voice a lot. check it out


Creep

Creep - sung by Chrissie Hynde



Here's a link with Chrissie Hynde performing 'Angel of the Morning' AND 'Smelly Cat' on the show Friends [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] - she starts singing after a few minutes, have patience!

(very cute shot of Jennifer Aniston too)

Friends guest appearance

[hanimal]

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I'd kinda like to hear someone with just a hair more polish sing those songs, though.

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Oh and I don't, because they're Fiona's songs, that's what makes those songs special. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Rick Nebiolo]

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Susie Suh

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Because you posted the other links I assumed there was nothing to sample on YouTube. Turns out she has quite a few song/videos; just search for "Susie Suh". Worth a look.

~ Rick

[daveT]

I think even without any training, the over the top can be redundant. When combined with out of pitch, it is down-right irritating. I do play guitar and piano, but I hardly consider myself trained.

[bigmonkey]

I agree completely with the sentiment of this thread. I think that of all the songs and bands I listen to, about half are sung/led by females and half by males. But as there are way more males who sing I can infer (and already know) that I much prefer the female voice. There's at least 20 women I would consider writing a piece on for this thread. I'll start with one and maybe come back for others at a later point.

<u>Sandy Denny</u>




Sandy had the best voice I have ever heard. To be honest I think her voice is the most aesthetically pleasing thing I have ever heard. She was around in the sixties singing other people's material in London folk clubs. Very quickly she got snapped up by Fairport Convention who then recorded the album Liege and Lief, which is now regarded as the most influential folk album of all time. She then split up from the band because she was scared of flying abroad to play gigs. She married Trevor Lucas (who you can see with thick red hair playing guitar in one of the following clips and on her right in the above photo) and they formed the band Fotheringay for one album. Then she went solo and died tragically in 1978. She had always been self-conscious about her appearance (although was by no means ugly), and was heavily addicted to alcohol. She began drinking heavily because she thought it would give her the confidence to sing like Janis Joplin, but it just made her voice worse towards the end of her life. She was also an irresponsible mother and used to leave her young daughter in the back of her car while she went to drink all day at the local pub. Eventually her husband took their daughter home to Australia without telling her they were leaving. A few weeks later she fell down the stairs and died of a brain haemorrhage.

She doesn't have much material on YouTube. The first is her playing with Fotheringay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JlJMI8T57g
This next one is just an audio recording of some of her early demos, when her voice was at its strongest. This is a really good example of the most heavenly singing she was capable of. The second song on there (of two) is regarded by many as her strongest song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8ZH3lV49aU
Here is a video of some of her solo stuff from later in her career when the drink got to her voice. The songs are still good, but it's not representative of what she was once capable of. I'm only including it because it's the best video of her available.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rd_gMrmf6g

Many now regard her as Britain's best female singer-songwriter, although she still doesn't have much recognition in popular music. She only performed on Top of the Pops once, because her music was quite underground then and still is (moreso even).

EDIT Also: I have an mp3 uploaded of a brilliantly simple song of hers, called Winter Winds. This is one of my favourite songs of all time and quite hard to find too.
http://indigogogogo.googlepages.com/04WinterWinds.mp3

[MrWookie]

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I like her version of Creep. Granted she didn't write it. but i like her voice a lot. check it out

Creep

Creep - sung by Chrissie Hynde

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LOL, Katy, you're really good at picking songs that have already been ruined for me. The first version of Creep I heard was a quasi-parody/remake by Richard Cheese. Still, I can appreciate her singing on that one.

I wasn't as impressed with Angel of the Morning. It felt like she was rushing the tempo, and she wimped out on the high notes on the line "Just touch my cheek before you leave me," opting to stay on the same pitch as "Just call me angel of the morning," rather than jumping up a fifth.

Man, everyone in this thread is going to think I'm the biggest music nit ever to walk the earth.

[daveT]

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Susie Suh

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Because you posted the other links I assumed there was nothing to sample on YouTube. Turns out she has quite a few song/videos; just search for "Susie Suh". Worth a look.

~ Rick

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light on my shoulder

won't you come again LIVE!

all I want : wonderful song

[Dominic]

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Dom,

I've been blowing 100% of my music budget on jazz and blues lately. I have hardly bought music made after about 1995 unless it's by people emulating a style developed before 1945. So, what's another song on that album that I simply MUST hear? Another good link and I could be convinced.

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I don't know why Katy's trying to turn you off of Chrissy Hynde with her links to ridiculous songs [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] but here's a song from the Pretenders first album, early 80s era rock:



Tattooed Love Boys

Here's them doing an Unplugged session - that first album has a lot of songs like this - interesting chord changes and non 4/4 beats. Remember, this is ROCK...and for them to pull it off live, acoustic, like this is pretty amazing:

The Phone Call

Mystery Achievement