# Singers who developed vocal-cord problems



## Metaguitarist (Nov 21, 2012)

I thought I'd bring this up as I'm revisiting a band I used to be obsessed with, D'espairsray. Their singer was infected with an illness causing singing to be painful that has seen no signs of recovering over the last 2 years. I'd like to share a song of theirs that I still think is perfect, despite that my taste has evolved significantly over the past few years (thanks SS.org!)

Please enjoy, and post songs and such of singers you know who've experienced similar problems.


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## skisgaar (Nov 21, 2012)

Olly Sykes? Dude wrecked his pipes.
Also Matt Tuck didn't do his lungs too good either.


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## CrushingAnvil (Nov 21, 2012)

skisgaar said:


> Olly Sykes? Dude wrecked his pipes.
> Also Matt Tuck didn't do his lungs too good either.



I'm sure they will be sorely missed


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## Mprinsje (Nov 21, 2012)

Kyo from dir en grey more than once


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## Bloody_Inferno (Nov 21, 2012)

Klaus Meine from Scorpions lost his voice during the Blackout sessions, but then he recovered and they released their most successful album. 



Yasu (Janne Da Arc / Acid Black Cherry)



Janne Da Arc worked non stop up until their hiatus. He started his solo band and did the same thing until he was hospitalised for vocal fatigue issues. Then he recovered and kept going. What a machine...



Also there's a recurring J-Rock trend going on here...


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## BucketheadRules (Nov 21, 2012)

skisgaar said:


> Olly Sykes? Dude wrecked his pipes.



He's always sounded like his throat was ruined though, to be fair 

Horrible vocalist. I'm not saying this because it's BMTH and it's cool to jump on the hatewagon, he's just really, really awful.


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## sol niger 333 (Nov 21, 2012)

Jens blew his throat out doing Chaosphere and I know Chino has had problems too. Try singing along to New Millenium Cyanide Christ and Sane...you'll develop vocal problems too


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## Bloody_Inferno (Nov 21, 2012)

Cinderella's Tom Keifer blew his voice after their third album.


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## skisgaar (Nov 21, 2012)

BucketheadRules said:


> He's always sounded like his throat was ruined though, to be fair
> 
> Horrible vocalist. I'm not saying this because it's BMTH and it's cool to jump on the hatewagon, he's just really, really awful.



Yeah, I find that the rest of the band are halfway decent (especially Jona), but he wrecks it.


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## skisgaar (Nov 21, 2012)

sol niger 333 said:


> Jens blew his throat out doing Chaosphere. Try singing along to New Millenium Cyanide Christ and Sane...you'll develop vocal problems too



I never knew that being a dog impressionist could lead to vocal problems


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## abandonist (Nov 21, 2012)

Davey Havok from AFI fucked up his throat.

Tom Waits has the voice he does because his cords are damaged.


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## DLG (Nov 21, 2012)

laBrie fucked his shit up during the Awake touring cycle I think. 

Despite all of the vocal coaches his voice has never recovered its earlier power. 

Dio lost his voice to cancer, otherwise he would have been able to sing amazingly until the age of 145.


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## Metal_Webb (Nov 21, 2012)

M. Shadows from A7X totally fucked his voice, resulting in that woeful husky whisper he does now.

IIRC didn't Hetfield get treatment for vocal chord nodules before Metallica recorded the black album?


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## Fiction (Nov 21, 2012)

Metal_Webb said:


> M. Shadows from A7X totally fucked his voice, resulting in that woeful husky whisper he does now.



As far as I know, this is false. In their DVD they explained they just wanted to lean away from screaming ever since the first album, hence the tapering off and the vocal problems were all just rumours.


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## avenger (Nov 21, 2012)

The screamer from 3 inches of blood raped his vocals and had to quit.


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## as_i_am (Nov 21, 2012)

Sonny from From First to Last and the guy who was in Eyes Set To Kill.

Not that anyone cares about either of those two mind....


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## skisgaar (Nov 21, 2012)

abandonist said:


> Davey Havok from AFI fucked up his throat.
> 
> Tom Waits has the voice he does because his cords are damaged.



I imagine he did! have you listened to Decemberunderground? Man can't scream for shit. Wonderful album though.


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## rawrkunjrawr (Nov 21, 2012)

as_i_am said:


> Sonny from From First to Last and the guy who was in Eyes Set To Kill.
> 
> Not that anyone cares about either of those two mind....



I think you mean Skrillex  

On topic, James Hetfield


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## LetsMosey (Nov 21, 2012)

Mikael from OPETH / Bloodbath. Jonas from Katatonia. Dan Swano from Bloodbath, Nightingale, Edge of Sanity. They all messed up their vocal chords.


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## Gram negative (Nov 21, 2012)

Chino from the Deftones had surgery to remove polyps.


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## MrPepperoniNipples (Nov 21, 2012)

On a different note

Adele,
just give it a few years


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## Xaios (Nov 21, 2012)

DLG said:


> laBrie fucked his shit up during the Awake touring cycle I think.
> 
> Despite all of the vocal coaches his voice has never recovered its earlier power.



Actually, what happened was he was in Cuba on vacation. He got food poisoning and became violently ill, and in the course of vomiting, ruptured his vocal cords.

I think it *was* technically during the Awake touring cycle, but the incident itself had nothing to do with touring or singing.


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## Mprinsje (Nov 21, 2012)

Oh btw: Frans bauer. But he's Dutch. And terrible.


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## linchpin (Nov 21, 2012)

That singer from Decapitated... Is it_* Sauron?*_


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## ROAR (Nov 21, 2012)

Adele already had vocal chord problems, real shame.
Hope it doesn't get worse.

As for Oli Sykes, that guy is fucked.
His studio performances are great, but live and everywhere
else is another story. You've gotta take care of your voice man.


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## Jonathan20022 (Nov 21, 2012)

Phil Labonte, right after The Fall of Ideals.

Fall of Ideals Phil and Two Weeks, which sounds great on record IMO.



Same song live



It's a damn shame, you can tell his voice is tired out and really worn over the years. And he destroyed on everything before Overcome. But this new record that just came out is lame.


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## skisgaar (Nov 21, 2012)

CrushingAnvil said:


> I'm sure they will be sorely missed



B-but...Matt Tuck is good


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## Randy (Nov 21, 2012)

Dude, Axl Rose.

The guy sounds like Minnie Mouse now.


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## skisgaar (Nov 21, 2012)

Kenji20022 said:


> Phil Labonte, right after The Fall of Ideals.
> 
> Fall of Ideals Phil
> 
> ...




Jesus Christ, he's a terrible live vocalist. Not to mention one of the number 1 pricks in all of metalcore.


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## ROAR (Nov 21, 2012)

whoa........Phil.... 

EDIT: stupid comment


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## Bloodbath Salt (Nov 21, 2012)

avenger said:


> The screamer from 3 inches of blood raped his vocals and had to quit.


 
I was wonder why I didn't hear him in their newer stuff.

Metallica tunes to E flat live to compensate for vocal cords.

If Lemmy damaged his vocal cords it'd be impossible to tell.


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## skisgaar (Nov 21, 2012)

ROAR said:


> whoa........Phil....
> 
> thanks for quoting a huge comment just a few spots up



But I removed one of the videos....


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## Jonathan20022 (Nov 21, 2012)

ROAR said:


> whoa........Phil....
> 
> thanks for quoting a huge comment just a few spots up



Huge is quite the overstatement when most NGDs on here exceed even the length of a full page of posts at time lol.

But considering that I made it a tad smaller.

But yes, Phil's views on just about anything suck. So that doesn't help anyone really like him as a person outside of his music.

If you really want to get into that, go take a look at his Facebook. Since this isn't the thread for that, I won't mention anymore haha.


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## linchpin (Nov 21, 2012)

skisgaar said:


> Not to mention one of the number 1 pricks in all of metalcore.


Probably the result of joining the Navy... his gung-ho attitude is somewhat off putting despite the excellent _Fall of ideals._


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## abandonist (Nov 21, 2012)

Interestingly I had a message in my facebook feed today from Bjork explaining her vocal cord problems.


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## ROAR (Nov 21, 2012)

I LOVE BJORK. /ot


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## benduncan (Nov 21, 2012)

as a singer this thread scares me.

im sure if youre touring none stop its unavoidable, but is their anyway to try to avoid permanently altering the sound of your voice? i have a voice coach and i know how to sing from my diaphragm correctly, but they all probably had better coaches than i do so..


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## Andromalia (Nov 21, 2012)

i don't know if it's a matter of coaches. The fashion of "growling" is still pretty new, I mean, we don't have a single exemple of a 70 year old that can growl after a 40 years career.
It's entirely possible that this kind of singing is just damaging and that those who can carry it longer suffer less damage, but damage still.

Also, remember that rock singers do expose themselves more: when Pavarotti had a cold, he canceled his representations. Last time I saw Ozzy he was sick to death but played his show anyway (was awful...)
Makes sense Ozzy's voice is shot at 70.


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## troyguitar (Nov 21, 2012)

benduncan said:


> as a singer this thread scares me.
> 
> im sure if youre touring none stop its unavoidable, but is their anyway to try to avoid permanently altering the sound of your voice? i have a voice coach and i know how to sing from my diaphragm correctly, but they all probably had better coaches than i do so..



A lot of guys actually didn't get any training until after they hurt themselves. Klaus Meine, for example, didn't start learning how to sing properly until after needing surgery. Then he went from being good to being one of the best rock singers ever.


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## downburst82 (Nov 21, 2012)

Schylar from he is legend is the one that always stands out for me. He destroyed his voice after the "I am hollwood" album. They still carried on and he does ok now but if you listen to before and after his range has been at least cut his half. He cant do soaring cleans anymore..just the gritty throaty singing..which is ok..but he used to have my fav voice in the world so its a little sad :/



before

He is Legend - ...Best in Mexico - YouTube
after

He Is Legend - Attack Of The Dungeon Witch - YouTube


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## benduncan (Nov 21, 2012)

Andromalia said:


> i don't know if it's a matter of coaches. The fashion of "growling" is still pretty new, I mean, we don't have a single exemple of a 70 year old that can growl after a 40 years career.
> It's entirely possible that this kind of singing is just damaging and that those who can carry it longer suffer less damage, but damage still.
> 
> Also, remember that rock singers do expose themselves more: when Pavarotti had a cold, he canceled his representations. Last time I saw Ozzy he was sick to death but played his show anyway (was awful...)
> Makes sense Ozzy's voice is shot at 70.



ah, my vocals are all clean so i feel better


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## CrushingAnvil (Nov 21, 2012)

as_i_am said:


> Sonny from From First to Last and the guy who was in Eyes Set To Kill.
> 
> Not that anyone cares about either of those two mind....



That assertion is correct 

Just teasing, someone does.


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## fps (Nov 21, 2012)

benduncan said:


> as a singer this thread scares me.
> 
> im sure if youre touring none stop its unavoidable, but is their anyway to try to avoid permanently altering the sound of your voice? i have a voice coach and i know how to sing from my diaphragm correctly, but they all probably had better coaches than i do so..



Any kind of harsh vocal pretty much involves pushing lots of air while compacting your airway, putting massive strain on your vocal chords. If you scream or sing with grit it is just a matter of time.


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## Metal_Webb (Nov 22, 2012)

Andromalia said:


> i don't know if it's a matter of coaches. The fashion of "growling" is still pretty new, I mean, we don't have a single exemple of a 70 year old that can growl after a 40 years career.



Well even though he's backed off a bit on the old harshness scale it'll be interesting to hear where Mikael Stanne's voice (from Dark Tranquillity) will be in 10 years. He's pretty much done the same mid range growl for his whole 20 year career and still maintains it live AFAIK. He can still also pull out his clean baritone voice every now and again and have it sound good. Maybe some people are luckier than others when it comes to vocal chord endurance.


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## Metaguitarist (Nov 22, 2012)

I know he's considered immortal and omniscient, but how long do we think Devin Townsend's voice will last?


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## kris_jammage (Nov 22, 2012)

Metaguitarist said:


> I know he's considered immortal and omniscient, but how long do we think Devin Townsend's voice will last?


 

Ah he's just getting better and better. 

As for James Hetfield, as far as I know he shot his voice while recording "So What?" during the black album sessions.


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## iron blast (Nov 22, 2012)

King diamonds voice is better than ever I think alot can be said for proper technique.


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## The Beard (Nov 23, 2012)

Frankie from Emmure's gurgly throat scream sounds like his voice could give out at any moment XD


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## sol niger 333 (Nov 23, 2012)

The Beard said:


> Frankie from Emmure's gurgly throat scream sounds like his voice could give out at any moment XD




I used to scream like that as a teenager and taste blood. Cant do it forever, shit is all kinds of wrong. Slowly learned as a singer, if it hurts, find a way that doesn't.


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## GSingleton (Nov 23, 2012)

The a7x thing, he did have vocal problems but he wanted to stop screaming before hand anyway.


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## RevDrucifer (Nov 23, 2012)

I always get a kick out of people saying, "He blew his voice out on that album (or song) and it's never been the same."

You can blow your voice out and still go back to singing the way you always did, the thing is, if you're serious about taking care of your voice, you're going to learn how to approach it differently so you don't blow it out again. 

I've been singing in bands for 10 years and it's been the biggest learning curve I've ever come across. Every few months I take a different approach. 

I watch All That Remains vids just to see the trainwreck that is Phil live. I don't know if that dude just hates warming up or hates drinking water to stay hydrated, but those are the 2 first things that come to mind when I hear him live. It'd also help if he'd write a song with some vocal rests in it, "Two Weeks" would be a pain in the ass to sing even with a well-working voice, it's just nonstop vocals.

But I think a big reason some vocalist make drastic changes after their first 2 albums or so, is because they realize that what they were doing before wasn't working consistently, so they change their approach to be able to do it longer.

It takes a while to find your range. You start off singing in a style that you WANT to sound like but ultimately change things up because that may not work for you on a regular basis. 

Thing about singing, it's like being given an Axe-FX for your first amp with no prior gear/amp experience. You've got all the tools you'll ever need right off the bat, but you'll spend forever learning how to dial it in.


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## datalore (Nov 23, 2012)

Metaguitarist said:


> I know he's considered immortal and omniscient, but how long do we think Devin Townsend's voice will last?



He's definitely not pushing things as hard as he used to, and he seems pretty conscious of the fact that he needs to take care of himself. I think he's got a good 10 years left.


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## Sephael (Nov 23, 2012)

Stevie Nicks, though her gravely voice in her later works is still hot as fuck.


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## potatohead (Nov 24, 2012)

Didn't Mustaine just have surgery in the spring?


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## benduncan (Nov 24, 2012)

potatohead said:


> Didn't Mustaine just have surgery in the spring?



IF THERES A NEW WAY!


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## SD83 (Nov 24, 2012)

Burton C. Bell. I love his cleans on the records, but I have yet to hear a recent live recording where he sounds good...


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## BillNephew (Nov 24, 2012)

Why no mention of Chris Barnes? His early Cannibal Corpse had some of the best growls. It's what made CC legendary. Now, Six Feet Under's live vocals sound nothing like those 20 years ago.


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## phillisbeuford (Nov 25, 2012)

downburst82 said:


> Schylar from he is legend is the one that always stands out for me. He destroyed his voice after the "I am hollwood" album. They still carried on and he does ok now but if you listen to before and after his range has been at least cut his half. He cant do soaring cleans anymore..just the gritty throaty singing..which is ok..but he used to have my fav voice in the world so its a little sad :/
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## phillisbeuford (Nov 25, 2012)

Xaios said:


> Actually, what happened was he was in Cuba on vacation. He got food poisoning and became violently ill, and in the course of vomiting, ruptured his vocal cords.
> 
> I think it *was* technically during the Awake touring cycle, but the incident itself had nothing to do with touring or singing.


James Labrie was insane back in the day. The live at the Marquee album is by far some of the best live singing I've heard from ANY singer (although some people say it was recorded later). 

There was a big difference after James got the food poisoning, but I think he is bouncing back. I would take a 20 year singing career like he has had any day. I mean no one really maintains their vocal range late in life. Unless your Michael Sweet from Stryper, he still kinda kills their old stuff in original keys......


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## abandonist (Nov 25, 2012)

I actually have semi-destroyed my vocal cords due to a severe case of bronchitis.

There's scarring all through my throat.

Doctor says it may never be the same. Which is super unfortunate since I really had a tremendous voice.


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## sawtoothscream (Nov 25, 2012)

vocalist of see you next tuesday messed up his voice, mike from knights of the abyss also messed up his throat I believe and left eh band, then came back and made a album a yr or two later then left again( dont know why since he is a good screamer)


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## gamber (Nov 25, 2012)

wait whats the deal with matt tuck? and didnt oli sykes "change" his scream?


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## Metal_Webb (Nov 26, 2012)

Katla former vocalist of Finntroll had to stop singing after he got an inoperable viral tumor on his vocal chords. Rough end of the stick that is :/


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