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OK I'm sure this topic has been argued many, many times.  I'll put a little qualifier on it.  It has to be a singer you can come close to immitating.  I mean, there is no way I can sing like Bob Seeger, etc.  But I can do Bruce Springsteen fairly well.  So he has my vote for the songs that I find hardest to learn and sing.

:-David

Why do you want to imitate another singer? That blows my mind. Ever thought of being original and do a song your own way? Take a song and make it your own, that’s much more artistic then just trying to be a copy-cat. Very few people can really imitate. Be yourself, be original.

Everyone has fun singing James Brown, but no one, including myself, have ever come CLOSE to mimicing him accurately!!  There is just too much inprovisation and nuance in his songs to get it right!!!  But again, it sure is fun stuff to try!!

Also, no one sounds like Bob Dylan!! Those who try to mimic him end up just sounding stupid, yet Bob pulled it off as true art!!

Oh, and try as they may (and they do), there is only one Elvis, baby!!

 :worship:

Why would they want to...he couldn't sing!?!

Ditto Springsteen and Toby Keith, but all three write great songs that people love

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Spreading the karaoke gospel

I agree about the penmanship.

I don't really know Toby Keith all that well, he's not popular in the UK, but I don't mind listening to Bruce singing.  He may not be a great singer, but at least he doesn't drone like Dylan!

TopherM, I actually specialize in James Brown. The first artist I sounded most like was Wilson Pickett, Then it was Steppenwolf, Then I dug into James Brown. Mostly I sang "Sex Machine", But recently I did "I Feel Good" and everyone tells me I sound like him. Unfortuneatly I can't equal his stage performance.

I'm not much for imitating other singers but have been told that I sound like Anne Murray on some of her songs that I do.  I don't see it.  

I guess that's one of the reason I like to do gender bender songs because then people don't expect you to sound like the artist.  I can just be myself and really have fun with the song.   I think when you are doing covers for the same sex songs most people expect you to sound like the original artist and don't listen to your own spin on the song.  Not everyone does this but the majority do.   I think this is also the reason why I have more trouble learning a song done by a female because the temptation to try to mimic is there.   I've tried doing some Cher and there is no way I can get her sound down but still love doing her songs sometimes.

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SAY IT WITH MUSIC!!!!

I always mimic... I can't help it!! I don't have enough flair or talent to put my own spin on something. I think one person who does this EXTREMELY well is Kass (A NEW DAY)! She can take any old song and make it her own... I just can't seem to do it! I wish I could!!!

I think it'll take an ORIGINAL song to know if I'm any good or not! As of now... I just copy.

Rita makes a great point.... gender benders are really nice to sing, cuz people aren't expecting you to sound like the artist. When I sang "Everything I do, I do It for You" that was the most fun and liberating song I've ever done, cuz I could just be myself for the most part.

anyways.... babbling again!

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Conway Twitty's It's Only Make Believe and sound like him is totally impossible for me.


And the first one that tries to bend my gender better pack a lunch..

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 @ karyoker





 :nana:  :nana:

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SAY IT WITH MUSIC!!!!

Imitation is the highest form of flattery....  That's why I imitate some singers.  I imitate others because I needed to expand my repitiore and I could sing them halfway decently.

I find that Louis Armstrong is extremely hard to do.  Most people don't sing low enough and those that do can't get the 'gravel' in the voice most of the time.  BTW, I can do a pretty mean Louis Armstrong.

There are plenty of others hard to imitate for one reason or another.  I'm not gifted enough to make a song my own with my own style, but I do somtimes play songs that I don't know and guess at the melody.  I'm usually pretty close to the song but sometimes it's pretty interesting what comes out!

I can't immitate anyone... I can only capture certain notes or a particular riff here and there.  

When I first started singing karaoke, I was under the mistaken impression that you had to sound like the original artist, or you had no business singing the song.  But then one day I realized that all the recording artists themselves sound unique from one another and do not make their living trying to sound like someone else... so why should I?  There are many songs that were made popular by one artist, and then recorded in a completely different fashion by someone else.  That's what makes music so fun!

There are times when I sing a song at karaoke, or a sub on the SS and someone will tell me I sound just like so-and-so.  And it's funny to me to hear such things because I've been told I sound like Gwen Stefani, Karen Carpenter, Sara Evans and even Jewel.  Clearly these artists sound nothing alike.  I guess I just have the ability to squeeze my vocal chords differently depending on how the song sounds to me.

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From the advice I've read at other Karaoke sites, most people do judge me as to how close I sound to the original artist.  Either consciously or sub-consciously.  They even said to beware of very popular songs where the singer has a very distinct voice.  One example they gave was Billy Joel.

As hard as I try to do a variety of songs, I always end up getting the most applause when I do Sinatra.  I think this is for a number of reasons.  It's true that since Sinatra was a smoker and a drinker, he could not hold a note very long.  A natural for a smoker like me.  But I also think that because I'm 49 years old, I just look the part :)

:-David

By the way, I rented a DVD with Kevin Spacey doing an account of the life of Bobby Darin.  I really liked how Bobby Darin acted out the words to his songs while he was singing them.  Gives me an idea..... :)

:-David

one more comment--on the gender bender thing.  I've always wanted to do "Material Girl".  But I just don't have that much courage.  LOL

avid

I agree wholeheartedly with the "they like it best if you sound like the original", even if it's only fairly close to the original.

Now, I know nothing about music. But I do know that I have a deep voice, and I know that my children have high voices (for now). Having heard all of us singing a variety of songs, I've concluded that the most important factor in sounding original is having the same range as the original singer.

So, for example, my daughter is spot on for Britney and Avril and my son (who's just getting started) does great UB40 and Paul McCartney.

Myself, I'm better off with singers who are singing near the top of their range, e.g. Smokey Robinson, Chris Martin, Sting, Rod Stewart. It was a surprise to me to learn that these don't have high voices, they're just singing songs where they have no choice but to sound high! I now go for these, because few pop songs are low enough for me to sound like me. (Exceptions including Roger Waters and later songs by Elton John and John Lennon).

Unfortunately, all those Beatles songs that we know implicitly? John Lennon: high; Paul McCartney, even higher! Elvis? Higher than me!

Also surprised me, judging from It's a Wonderful World, that Louis Armstrong hasn't got a low voice at all, he's just plumbing his depths.

With practie and training, I think you can overcome some of this, but only to a certain  degree. For example, I can do Imagine in the style of John Lennon, but it's not very easy.

I like the sound of gender bending (song wise rather than clothes or operations); watch out Patsy Cline!

Last point (phew): is their a height factor here? Chris Martin and I are tall with low oices; Louis armstrong: little and high...

Before anyone corrects me, I didn't mean to include Rod Stewart in the list above! (According to my theory, he's singing high but sounding low

I can see trying to imitate some artists that have very UNIQUE voices-
Springsteen - Louis Armstrong - Dylan - Rod Stewart etc. - But I wouldn't try to imitate just EVERY singer whose song I attempt to sing. There is something to be said about using your own voice but as far as making the song YOUR OWN ...with karaoke tracks its kind of hard - The timing and arrangements are all pre-determined .  There is not too much you can change if you still want the song to be recognizable .