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Original poster

Spin off: who are the least talented famous singers?

302 replies

WishinAndHopin · 15/12/2024 12:00

Mick Jagger: just shouts tunelessly. He can’t sing at all.

Generally a lot of men in bands, like the Gallagher brothers, Alex Turner, and the singers in the Kinks.

Chris Martin - he’s just an insipid whiner. There was an advert with a woman with a good voice singing while driving a big lorry. I thought “that’s a nice song” and realised that it was actually Yellow by Coldplay. I never even realised it was a decent song because he just sounds so horrendous.

Generally women are held to a much higher vocal standard, and are only ever considered respectable artists if they are also good singers. Men who can’t sing get away with it. But ti balance it here are two women:

Geri Halliwell: Posh gets shit on for her bad singing but at least she had a pleasant enough tone. Geri is far worse - flat as a pancake.

Taylor Swift: such a weak voice. Sounds like mediocre karaoke.

OP posts:
Okbyethen · 15/12/2024 20:15

I detest Florence and the Machine!!! She just shouts and sounds fucking AWFUL 🤮🤮🤮
I always change the station when she comes on the radio.

suburburban · 15/12/2024 20:14

@Nanny0gg

Yes totally agree, but prefer his voice to John and I love his melodic Beatles tracks and his more rocky ones as well

WrongSortOfPoster · 15/12/2024 20:11

Me too @Nanny0gg .

Paul or John? Definitely Paul.

Onabench · 15/12/2024 20:11

Finding Taylor swift and Chris Martin talentless is baffling to me. They are industry leaders who break record after record due to working the system, knowing the business and being GOOD at what they do. Are they 10/10 vocalists? No. Are they brilliant? Absolutely. It makes you look so dim

Nanny0gg · 15/12/2024 20:08

suburburban · 15/12/2024 19:23

I think he sings well in the Beatles

Show quote history

He used to. Always preferred everything he did to John Lennon

But he needs to stop now

Nanny0gg · 15/12/2024 20:07

namechangeGOT · 15/12/2024 12:28

Coming in at number....

3: Beyonce - wailing, moaning, groaning white bag whose either singing about shagging her minging husband or concerned someone's about to run off with him. Doesn't have a single good song in her back catalogue.

2: Chris Martin. Make it stop. Make all the songs stop. Except the US Comic Relief Game of thrones shindig that he did. I liked that.

1: PINK. Good fucking Lord. I don't care if you reckon you can sing upside down, I don't care that you have to make up for your shite songs and warbling tones whilst attempting to sing on a trapeze. You can't. It's agonising.

I love Pink's voice!

Nanny0gg · 15/12/2024 20:05

Couldn't bear Olivia Newton-John. Or the Spice Girls. Or Bananarama

And Dylan hurts my ears.

arcticpandas · 15/12/2024 20:02

Mili Vanilli

LlynTegid · 15/12/2024 20:02

WrongSortOfPoster · 15/12/2024 19:59

Geri Halliwell had no business being near a microphone. Hear,hear.
The only Spice Girl who could sing was Sporty and she wasn't great.

I agree. Though her singing is not the worst thing Geri Halliwell has done, the defender of her alleged sex pest husband.

LlynTegid · 15/12/2024 20:00

Usually I think those the OP is thinking of form into two categories- bad material, or bad karaoke groups.

Sadly also some people lose their singing voice, and then they disappoint because they are no longer the singer they were.

WrongSortOfPoster · 15/12/2024 19:59

Geri Halliwell had no business being near a microphone. Hear,hear.
The only Spice Girl who could sing was Sporty and she wasn't great.

Arran2024 · 15/12/2024 19:57

SabreIsMyFave · 15/12/2024 17:42

I still don't believe she would have made it if she had not had a famous mother.

Like when they were auditioning for a teenage girl to play Hannah Montana opposite Billy Ray Cyrus. Billy claims that his daughter Miley (who eventually got the role) had to go through lots of arduous auditions, and screen tests, and worked her ass off to get the role.

Yeah suuuuuure she did mate! 😂

Show quote history

I think her mother did well off the back of her!

Anyway, she is married to a member of The Feeling, which might have helped.

KitchenDancefloor · 15/12/2024 19:56

I was getting ready to defend Chris Martin as at least his voice is distinctive, but bloody hell, I've just seen him on the Jingle Bell Ball and he managed to murder his own songs. How can you get the melody, tempo and breathing wrong in something that you wrote for your own voice?!

Kylie cannot sing.

Elton John cannot sing anymore.

Paul McCartney should not sing anymore.

Geri Halliwell had no business being near a microphone.

(And Beverly Knight and Guy Garvey should be a national treasures for their pipes)

TheTecknician · 15/12/2024 19:36

I don't know what Paul McCartney sounds like these days but he used to have a great rock n roll voice (not quite Noddy Holder) but was more suited to ballads like Yesterday and Here, There and Everywhere.

If you hear a British person putting on an American accent whilst singing then that suggests a lack of ability (to me). Unfortunately I can't think of any examples just now but I remember it in school choir practice decades ago.

suburburban · 15/12/2024 19:23

Floralnomad · 15/12/2024 13:08

If we are going just on voice not songwriting skills Paul McCartney , I’m sure he’s written some great songs but he cannot sing .

I think he sings well in the Beatles

BigPorker · 15/12/2024 19:23

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

suburburban · 15/12/2024 19:20

flapjackfairy · 15/12/2024 12:12

Surprise Surprise...Cilla Black !

I think she has a good voice

Original poster
WishinAndHopin · 15/12/2024 19:19

PoppyRoseBucky · 15/12/2024 19:04

I think some people are mistaking "not liking a singer's style of singing/music" for being "least talented."

You're off your rocker if you're listing Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Adele, Beyonce as "least talented." It's fine to dislike their style of singing-or music-but they're objectively good/amazing singers.

Also, the topic is "least talented singer" not that they're not talented in other ways. Taylor Swift is not a vocalist. She's a singer-songwriter, and we can go easy on the singer part. There's nothing wrong that-and I like her music-but she's not a great singer. If she wasn't such a good songwriter-I doubt she'd be as popular.

I really don't like "cursive" singing. There's a time in a place for that indie girl sound but some really do overdo it and it makes me wonder if their voices are good enough/distinctive enough to stand out. I suspect they're not and that's why they overuse that style of singing to force their voice to be distinctive when it's just bang average.

I think the issue nowadays there's so much studio (and live) trickery that you can't really tell who can find a note and who can't. I think gone are the days of genuinely talent vocalists like Mariah, Whitney, Celine because there's no need to hone your craft and voice when technology can correct your pitch and you can hide behind the trickery (even when performing live).

Agree with all of this. I also think a lot of indie girls are not just average but bad and have to sing in that way to cover it up and make the imperfections sound like a style choice.

Apparently the industry favours less good singers now to make the stars more relatable and improve the sing a long quality.

OP posts:
WrongSortOfPoster · 15/12/2024 19:17

Cheryl Cole

WhatUSeeIsWhatUGet · 15/12/2024 19:15

Taylor Swift (I genuinely believe it's all a psy-op, the fuss about her, I can't understand it otherwise)
Shakira (horrendous voice)
All the other girl singers that all look and sound the same (Ariana Grande, etc)

As for the males: rappers, in general (although they don't sing per se)
"Romantic" boy band types

PoppyRoseBucky · 15/12/2024 19:04

I think some people are mistaking "not liking a singer's style of singing/music" for being "least talented."

You're off your rocker if you're listing Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Adele, Beyonce as "least talented." It's fine to dislike their style of singing-or music-but they're objectively good/amazing singers.

Also, the topic is "least talented singer" not that they're not talented in other ways. Taylor Swift is not a vocalist. She's a singer-songwriter, and we can go easy on the singer part. There's nothing wrong that-and I like her music-but she's not a great singer. If she wasn't such a good songwriter-I doubt she'd be as popular.

I really don't like "cursive" singing. There's a time in a place for that indie girl sound but some really do overdo it and it makes me wonder if their voices are good enough/distinctive enough to stand out. I suspect they're not and that's why they overuse that style of singing to force their voice to be distinctive when it's just bang average.

I think the issue nowadays there's so much studio (and live) trickery that you can't really tell who can find a note and who can't. I think gone are the days of genuinely talent vocalists like Mariah, Whitney, Celine because there's no need to hone your craft and voice when technology can correct your pitch and you can hide behind the trickery (even when performing live).

Uricon2 · 15/12/2024 18:51

I think outside the classical realm it is more a question of personality and performance than an objectively beautiful voice and technique.

Some of the people I've loved for decades (Joe Strummer and Bryan Ferry come to mind, many more) do not have wonderful voices but lots of other factors in play.

TooManyCupsAndMugs · 15/12/2024 18:46

Radamanth · 15/12/2024 13:05

Janice had soul!

She couldn't hold a tune, but that woman could sing from where it matters.

Show quote history

She actually could sing really beautifully but she never used that voice, or rarely. She used the screaming one more!

buttonousmaximous · 15/12/2024 18:45

Taylor Swift has a good voice it just doesn't equal the level of success she has achieved ditto Ed Sheeran.

Harry styles and Louis Tomlinson don't have great voices but I would say the same of a lot of boy/girl band members- Cheryl Cole , posh spice etc

Agree re Wil I am terrible voice!

I personally think Lily Allen has a lovely voice.

tilypu · 15/12/2024 18:36

I'm surprised nobody has said Dido. Great songs, but she has a really weak voice. Went to Live 8 with a friend, and she was surprised to hear my opinion on her - until she sang live. I'm guessing nobody is saying her because she isn't in the public eye any more.