Baritone Voices

December 22, 2007 4:43 AM

Help me find more singers with deep/baritone voices.

I like singers with deep/baritone voices. People like David Sylvian, Matt Berninger from The National, Nick Cave, etc. Can you point me in the direction of more? I'm not particularly concerned with genre.

posted by zennoshinjou to media & arts (36 comments total)

My Boyfriend says:

Type O Negative
Fields of the Nephilim
Bauhaus
Sister's of Mercy
Joy Division
Swans

(actually he told me just to write GOTH as the answer ;) )
posted by missmagenta at 5:11 AM on December 22, 2007

I've just been told off for my stray apostrophe ;) That should be Sisters of Mercy.
posted by missmagenta at 5:12 AM on December 22, 2007

If Nick Cave counts (and you like him), there's also Preacher Boy for a similar, Tom Waitsian vibe.

Also, of course, Tay Zonday.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:26 AM on December 22, 2007

Michael Gira's post-Swans project Angels of Light

The Handsome Family

Eisheilig

What ever happened to "Crash Test Dummies"? Didn't their singer have some crazy deep voice?
posted by cmonkey at 5:40 AM on December 22, 2007

Bryn Terfel
posted by pearlybob at 5:41 AM on December 22, 2007

cmonkey, I was going to suggest Crash Test Dummies. It's offbeat, but the lead singer did have a really deep voice.
posted by christinetheslp at 5:43 AM on December 22, 2007

Scott Walker
Rammstein
posted by fire&wings at 6:53 AM on December 22, 2007

Baritone: Tommy Makem (two MP3 sample links).
posted by Flunkie at 7:01 AM on December 22, 2007

Whoops - second link should have been this.
posted by Flunkie at 7:03 AM on December 22, 2007

Paul Robeson
Arthur Prysock
Johnny Hartman
posted by grabbingsand at 8:13 AM on December 22, 2007

Calvin Johnson (Beat Happening, The Halo Benders, etc.)
Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age, etc.)
posted by disaster77 at 8:32 AM on December 22, 2007

Morphine/Mark Sandman.
posted by autojack at 8:33 AM on December 22, 2007

Patrick Wolf?

The guy from the Strokes?
posted by Weebot at 8:43 AM on December 22, 2007

Junior Brown! Try "Highway Patrol." He's known primarily for his guitar work, but WOW that voice... also check out "My Wife Thinks You're Dead."
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:46 AM on December 22, 2007

I hope you'll enjoy Irish singer Jack Lukeman:

Video for "Ode to Ed Wood"
Covering Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy"
posted by tyrantkitty at 8:57 AM on December 22, 2007

In opera, the lowest voice type is a "basso profundo" ("deep bass"). You can search for basses who have that phrase and mp3s on their sites, such as this guy.

The "Deep River" audio on his mp3 page is especially deep.

There aren't too many famous / easy to find bass arias, but one great example is "O Isis und Osiris" from Mozart's The Magic Flute. That should be included on any CD of Magic Flute excerpts.
posted by allterrainbrain at 9:08 AM on December 22, 2007

Barry White
Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields, The 6th's, etc. His projects use a lot of different singers, but look for the songs "I Don't Believe in the Sun," "The Book of Love" and "(Crazy For You But) Not That Crazy"
Fred Neil
Johnny Cash
Eric Burdon/The Animals
Arnaldo Antunes -- best known in the US for his work in The Tribalistas
Lee Hazelwood
Interpol
Samuel Ramey, who is always great as Satan.
posted by hydrophonic at 9:12 AM on December 22, 2007

Liam McKahey of Cousteau.

Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy.

Serge Gainsbourg.

and someone has mentioned him already, but Scott Walker is another of my personal favorites.
posted by dropkick queen at 9:17 AM on December 22, 2007

John Cash and the Statler Brothers
Leonard Cohen
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:19 AM on December 22, 2007

Also the dude from Crash Test Dummies.
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:21 AM on December 22, 2007

Barry White!
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:24 AM on December 22, 2007

Thanks for all the tips. I will investigate!
posted by zennoshinjou at 9:25 AM on December 22, 2007

I always loved Greg Brown. Mostly because his songs are awesome, and he's one of a few that I can sing along to (low voice here).

(His website looks about 20 years old and terrible; but it will at least give you an idea.)
posted by General Malaise at 11:20 AM on December 22, 2007

The Fairfield Four (gospel)
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:38 AM on December 22, 2007

I was gonna say Calvin Johnson and Stephin Merritt, so consider them seconded.
posted by willpie at 11:51 AM on December 22, 2007

Josh Turner. He is a country singer with a great bass voice.
posted by bove at 12:01 PM on December 22, 2007

dude from Crash Test Dummies.

Dude is Brad Roberts. Great clip of Superman's Song here.
posted by Neiltupper at 12:06 PM on December 22, 2007

david bazan/pedro the lion
posted by ncc1701d at 12:37 PM on December 22, 2007

Lambchop & Leonard Cohen.
posted by mdn at 1:31 PM on December 22, 2007

The Tay Zonday thing is a hoax. He is lip-synching someone else's voice.
posted by wfc123 at 2:59 PM on December 22, 2007

Stan Rogers.
posted by penguinliz at 3:19 PM on December 22, 2007

2nding Josh Turner. That is what I call a sexy voice!
posted by CwgrlUp at 4:41 PM on December 22, 2007

Seconding Kurt Warner from Lambchop, Leonard Cohen and thirding Stephan Merritt.

Also, Bill Callahan from Smog (if you're into the more Gothic thing, check out anything on "Rain on Lens," otherwise "Knock Knock" should be your go-to), and Dave Berman from the Silver Jews.

I'm sure I'll think of more right after I hit post, but I don't have time to mine the iTunes directory right now.
posted by thecaddy at 7:15 PM on December 22, 2007

feodor chaliapin is considered by many to be the greatest operatic bass of the 20th century. surprised to see only one previous mention of the great paul robeson so far in these comments! n'thing barry white.
posted by bruce at 9:32 PM on December 22, 2007

obligatory paul robeson joke (delete away, mods!):

a senior british diplomat was mentoring his junior prior to the junior's posting to the united states. the senior advised him that there were three taboos he had to mind when he was in america: 1) homosexuality, 2) communism, 3) the black/white color line.

the junior replied with a question "so i shouldn't ask paul robeson out on a date?"
posted by bruce at 9:41 PM on December 22, 2007

Thurl Ravenscroft - the "You're A Mean One, Mr Grinch" singer - awesome voice

Billy Eckstine
posted by davidmsc at 1:53 AM on December 23, 2007