‘The Singers’ Book Features Discussions With Top Vocalists About Their Voices
by Best Classic Bands Staff
The list of vocalists featured in The Singers book
A new book, The Singers Talk – The Greatest Singers of Our Time Discuss the One Thing They’re Never Asked About: Their Voices, a groundbreaking collection of conversations with such legendary and diverse vocalists as Stevie Nicks, Tony Bennett, Roger Daltrey, Chrissie Hynde, Smokey Robinson, Willie Nelson, Brian Johnson, and dozens of others, has been published. The title, from Permuted Press, arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 5, 2023, and will be issued in the U.K. on Nov. 9 by author/musician Jason Thomas Gordon.
From the publisher’s announcement: The author, the lead singer and drummer for the Los Angeles-based rock band Kingsize, was searching for answers to his own struggles as a frontman and decided to ask his favorite singers how they approach their job behind the microphone. This effort produced more than 70 instantly classic conversations with legendary artists that also include Bruce Springsteen, Mavis Staples, Brittany Howard, Thom Yorke, Nick Cave, Lionel Richie, Geddy Lee, Michael Stipe, Karen O, Perry Farrell, Brian Johnson, John Lydon, Patty Griffin, and Robert Smith, among many others. The book also features exclusive interviews about celebrated voices no longer with us, such as Steven Van Zandt on Little Richard, Butch Vig on Kurt Cobain, Clive Davis on Whitney Houston, Nile Rodgers on David Bowie, and Jimmy Iovine on Tom Petty.
From a portion of the interview with Nicks: “I’d be singing in the back seat of the car in Texas and my parents would turn around and go, ‘Seriously, who are you?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, I’m going to be a singer.’ My father was like, ‘Ohh, this is not good.’ They believed me. My grandfather… went on the road… and played in all the bars across the country. He didn’t make it. When the Buckingham Nicks record was released, and I handed it to him, I could see just a flash of bitterness go across his face. He was in his early eighties when he died, and it was like, She’s gonna do it. These two are gonna make it, and I didn’t.”
Frequently funny and deeply engrossing, these revelatory interviews offer fans and aspiring singers a backstage pass to the challenges every vocalist faces onstage and in the studio. Packed with never-before-heard stories, The Singers Talk reveals a truly intimate side to these iconic personalities while offering a masterclass on how the best in their field keep their vocal cords in shape and protect themselves on the road, along with countless other tricks, techniques, strategies, and philosophies to help vocalists at every level perfect the craft of singing.
Says Radiohead’s Yorke mid-interview, “This is the most geeked out I’ve ever talked about my voice!”
All royalties from will benefit the kids and families at Memphis, Tenn.’s St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital through its Music Gives to St. Jude Kids campaign, which was created by the author. St. Jude was founded in 1962 by Gordon’s famed grandfather, entertainer Danny Thomas.
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1 Comment so far
Jump into a conversationInteresting concept but missing quite a few that I would like to have seen. Paul Rodgers, Steven Tyler, Amy Lee, Lzzy Hale, Annie Haslam, Chester Bennington. What about Paul McCartney? I’d even suggest Celine Dion, great voice but i really don’t like her. Not sure that I like the idea of former band members, producers, etc.. speaking for deceased singers.