Big disconnect between the singer and the voice

[Ron Obvious]

Do you visualise the singer when you hear a song for the first time? I do, and I'm often spectacularly off the mark when I later actually see what they really look like.

The prime example of this category is, of course, Amy Winehouse, a twenty-something Welsh girl who sang with the voice of a 50-year old black woman from the Mississippi delta.

Here's another example:

I like this song, but I pictured the singer as a big, bearded, biker-type who rolls his own cigarettes. Imagine my surprise to hear that voice coming out of a 22 year-old beardless boy:

[jmowreader]

1. Rick Astley is the biggest disconnect there is

I really don't want to rickroll this thread, but Mr. Astley sounds like he's about 100 pounds heavier and a foot taller than he really is.

[Orrex]

2. Paul Shaffer on Late Night with David Letterman once described Astley...

as a "little weenie boy with a big voice."


Truth.

[Ron Obvious]

5. I may be the last person on the net to never have been rickrolled

I've even been able to spot the attempts here on DU.

Any reply to this message containing a URL will be ignored...

[jmowreader]

10. We'll have to change that

[Aristus]

11. Rick Astly, the little white guy with the big black voice.

[SCantiGOP]

14. I heard the first time someone heard Steve Winwood sing

when he was about 17 they were convinced he was an older black man. They couldn't believe the sound could be coming from a skinny little white kid.


On edit:
Just to make sure I hadn't imagined this, I looked at his Wikipedia page to see when he started singing. Turns out he joined the Spencer Davis Group when he was 14, and here is a footnote to that time in his life:

"100 Greatest Singers of All Time". Rolling Stone. (Winwood exploded onto the London music scene as a teenager with his powerful, soulful tenor). "I thought he had the greatest voice," said Billy Joel, "this skinny little English kid singing like Ray Charles."

[Ron Obvious]

13. I thought about it hard...

... but I decided against clicking on that. Sometimes it's better not to know.

[clarice]

3. Aaron Neville...

[Ron Obvious]

6. Yeah, I'd say that qualifies.... n/t

[lunatica]

4. Roy Orbison

[Ron Obvious]

7. Great song!

But I've always known what Roy Orbison looks like, so I can't divorce the image from the voice in his case.

[lunatica]

8. Then you missed one of the all time shocks in life!

I didn't know for years what he looked like so it was a huge jolt when I first saw him. LOL!

He certainly capitalized on his one sexy attribute though!

[Brother Buzz]

9. "Chocolate Rain" and your diseased earworm for the day

[baldguy]

12. Puddles the Clown

[Chan790]

15. A picture of Mike Geier (Puddles the Clown) w/o the makeup...

because it's just as surprising that voice comes out of him. He looks like my brother's HS golf coach.



The one part of the whole thing that didn't surprise me was to learn how tall he is...that kind of lung-capacity and diaphragm-strength kind of belied his height. He's something like 6'7". He also does a mean Elvis vocal impersonation.

[Chan790]

16. Michael McDonald of The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan.

Looks like this:



Sounds like this:

[Dr. Strange]

17. When I first heard "Sweater Weather" by The Neighbourhood...

I would have sworn the singer was female. Which made the lyrics a little weird.

[Tobin S.]

18. That's an awesome tune. Thanks for posting it.

[oasis]

19. Mose Allison. nt