Elton John

[GreenLunchBox]

I love the Dua Lupa song and there is a Blue song I love. But please can people tell me why Elton John is so legendary. He doesn't have the best singing voice, does he?

I'd agree with Sallsall's list, especially Sinatra, and I'd add Neil Diamond, Billie Holliday and Louis Armstrong. You don't have to be the world's best singer but you do have to be able to get a song and the emotion behind it across. Most of today's packaged pop doesn't do that, and they also have a lot of electronic help with sounding perfect.

Elton John's back catalogue shows what an immense talent he has - listen to Rocket Man, Sorry Seem to be the Hardest Word, Benny and the Jets.

Are you actually serious ?! Listen to ‘Can you Feel the Love Tonight’ and his duet with George Michael ‘Don’t Let the Sun go Down on Me.’ You can watch his performance of ‘Goodbye England’s Rose’ at Princess Diana’s funeral on YouTube.

He had a blues/soul voice not one of these whiny generic voices that are inexplicably so popular now.

I've never thought of myself as an Elton fan, but goodness me he's had some cracking tunes.

Lovely face too when he was younger.

Never been my type of music but I very much respect and appreciate his talent.

I think that anyone who can play an instrument and sing at the same time is amazing!

Although I think to charge c.£200 (?) a ticket for his finale tour is a bit steep :-(

I don't know why Madonna keeps popping up.
She can sing.
She's not Whitney or Mariah.
But she can hold a tune
She puts on a kickarse show and unlike some is still actually evolving.

And I can't stand him.
He really hates Madonna and he's been a right cunt about her on plenty of occasions.

Elton John - A Single Man was the first album I received. Still a wonderful collection.

Here are some other songs. This one was well before it’s time.

always makes me cry

His legend is his sheer brilliance at writing music to accompany Bernie’s words.

If neither of these songs thrill you, I could go on!

@Haveyoubrushedyourteethtoday best Elton song. It’s beyond brilliant

@GreenLunchBox @MrsRobbieHart

No, it’s you really do come across as aggressive, love. Brusque. And uninformed.

OP music is a subjective thing - you sound like no matter how many examples people on here give, you're going to be meh about Elton John.

You could tell me that Ed Sherman is the world's most amazing singer, I still think he's shit and his lyrics are naff.

See, it doesn't matter, Elton has got millions of fans globally and if you don't like him, he will be OK with that.

Btw I saw Sir Elton when he did a summer concert in Hyde Park. It was meant to be a duo with Billy Joel, who pulled out due to a throat infection, so Elton took the stage for 2.5 hours and didn't even scratch the surface of his catalogue. He gave his audience a night to remember and his voice and piano were outstanding. Rocket Man, Candle in the Wind, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, I'm Still Standing, Niquita, I could go on...

Indian Sunset
As mentioned above, I see.
This song justifies all the rest. I am not an Elton John fan but he has some good songs.

I am not a fan, but he seems popular. I have heard a lot of his work I was born in the 60s- just never liked his stuff.

I do think singers- men and women start to lose their voice a bit when they get older, but many successful singers don't always have the best techical singing voice.
Ellie Goulding or Sia for instance- voices I love to listen to, but technically not amazing. Sometimes it is the "flaws" in voices that make them so interesting to listen to.

Nobody has missed that he's popular...we're just asking for reasons why.

And yet I explained it in my post. His songwriting and performance skills are legendary.

I'm guessing comprehension is not one of your strong points. Nor musical knowledge.

His voice is completely gone with age. Odd that he's still touring.

Back in the day I liked the personality in his voice, you felt like he was talking to you. His best songs are like conversations or stories. He's also, not surprisingly, really good at accompanying himself, the piano alongside his voice. My top favourite is probably Harmony.
open.spotify.com/track/3U05P1UcqaOFHlaZ0Wk8d7?si=DNjQfuf9S6yqBTpgLs6qrA&utm_source=copy-link&dl_branch=1

If Dua Lipa and Blue collabs are the only things you like I would wonder how much of his back catalogue you have actually heard

This.

It depends how into the musicality you actually are. Check out his Australian orchestral tour for example. There's a lot more to EJ than Dua Lipa and Blue

Who are these modern singers who have perfect voices, and how do they sound without the benefit of autotune?

To add to the list of all-time greats who aren't great singers, Neil Young. Marvellous songwriting and instrumental ability, very distinctive voice and delivery, but it's not pretty!

Here you go, OP

Everyone on this thread has given me what I wanted apart from you

I do hope you stamped your foot when you wrote that.

I personally do like his voice. I find it rich and emotive.

Ha. Spotify is giving me song radio and is now playing Neil Young singing Harvest Moon. Now there's an individual voice...

There was a lot of premium to a recognisable voice and personality in the 70s because it was about radio play, plus they did have to be able to sing in tune. Voice quality per se was not such an issue. Things changed a lot in the 80s with song production making up for a lot and the visual side taking over. Imo.

Cross Post Gaspode

For a singer?!

@GreenLunchBox I'm not a fan but you know he was always far more famous for his songwriting and his OTT clothes and performance than his singing, right?

You're not the person who kept insisting Minnie Driver wasn't really famous are you?

I love Elton. I watched a documentary about his songwriting process and the amount of talent he has is insane. To be able to be given some lyrics, sit down at a piano and within minutes in some cases come up with the music is just incredible.

We saw him in concert a good few years ago and he was brilliant. He was on stage for longer than a lot of acts I've seen and is a great showman.

the Elton John / Bernie Taupin combination of his early 1970s stuff was excellent. OP I have never heard of the songs you mention so it must be his latest offerings. Listen to his legendary songs as others have mentioned and it is a 1000 times better than most lyrics/music churned out today.
He is a talented musician and sadly his latest stuff does not reflect that.

The same could be said of many of the big singers who had their heyday in the 1970s/80s - such as David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger

Loads of famous singers have terrible voices. Britney, Rihanna, gene kelly could certainly hold a tune but the tone wasn't amazing.
I am actually a really excellent singer. Technically brilliant but I lack confidence to pursue it (bloody difficult career to pursue!) I'm also fat and fairly average looking and my back story is as interesting as getting a ladder in my tights once (actually far worse has happened to me, I just don't want the world to know.)