Question for the Brits

[Jake D]

Why don't British singers have an accent when they sing?

[Roadstergal]

Maybe they do, and we lose our ability to detect it in a musical context.

[chbix]

I dont think really any one has an accent when they sing, well it depends on what type of singing they are doing,

[Roadstergal]

I dont think really any one has an accent when they sing

Country music?

Harry Belafonte?

I think Americans and Brits meet halfway when we sing, so it sounds the same.

[indestructibleman]

have you ever listened to The Beatles?  definite accent there, i'd say.

it is softened, though.  i think that when singing we tend to be more deliberate about enunciation.

[starwalt]

Why don't British singers have an accent when they sing?

Maybe it is just the record company's effort to find an "accent neutral" artist to market?

[The Buddha]

OK brits do lose it ... why ... yea Try singing with that accent ...  :lol:
Now what I dont understand is how Jamaicans can understand each other ... I dont even think its even possible to talk in the language they sing in ...  :lol:  ... Love it though ... Since all I hear is "shake that thing" and the rest is un intelligible ... It can be anyhting I want it to be ...  :lol:
Cool.
Srinath.

[Stephen072774]

Why doesn't Jim Nabors sing like Gomer Pyle?

[chbix]

I dont think really any one has an accent when they sing

Country music?

Harry Belafonte?

I think Americans and Brits meet halfway when we sing, so it sounds the same.

thats why i said well it depends on what they sing.  country music the accents are purposely exaggerated.

[juno]

Why do some American singers suddenly develop a British accent when they sing? :dunno:

[Cal Price]

In the late 50s-early 60s (yeah I can actually remember) they used to call it the "mid Atlantic" accent, marketable both sides and you can switch to suit the rhyme.

[Gofer]

The accents are retained, to an extent. The rest is common to both sides of the pond, hence the Atlantic accent that Cal mentioned. Listen closely to some Beatles, Elton John, or Rod Stewart (to name a few), and you'll find that to be true.

American singers with at least a little classical training will sound a bit British because stereotypical British vowel sounds tend to be softer and more open than American vowels. A key to classical singing is getting your mouth open (otherwise the voice will have a distinctively nasal sound), and British vowels tend to help with that. It also keeps a singer from "slapping" a syllable or vowel.

Hope that explained it a little.

[cobalt135]

.....i think that when singing we tend to be more deliberate about enunciation.

Couldn't say that about Bob Dylan...at least when he was on smack  Don't know what made me think of that...

[97gs500e]

perhaps their incredible hygiene changes the sound of their voice...

[Cal Price]

I'll agree about Bob Dylan, took me an age to figure "the pump dont work cos the vandals took the handle"

Gofer and Indy both allude to vowels annunciation, whilst mr Zimmerman might have been the exception plus a million rappers, listen to say, Nat King Cole and some of his words come out like upper-class Brit BBC English.

[Roadstergal]

I'll agree about Bob Dylan, took me an age to figure "the pump dont work cos the vandals took the handle"

I thought, when I was a little girl, that the Stones had a song - "Don't wanna be your pizza burnin'..."