How the hell does LuPone sing this well in her 60s?

[HorseTears]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 7:38am

Is anyone else struck by the strength of LuPone's voice at this stage in her career and life? I can't think of another vocalist who can not only sing the material she sang 30+ yrs ago as well as she did back then, but even better. I understand it's not that remarkable for a vocalist to still have a strong and dynamic voice in her 60s. What I'm struck by is the way in which her voice has not maintained its quality, but improved -- in strength, stamina, color, range, power.

Is there any other actor-singer or vocalist you can think of who has done the same thing? The only one who comes to mind is the remarkable Shirley Bassey. She can still, even in her SEVENTIES belt out those Bond themes as though it was 1966 again. And the slight addition of huskiness has actually enriched the sound because she can still hit those money notes with such power.

I mean, Aretha can still sing [somewhat] beautifully but there is no way she could sing R-E-S-P-E-C-T as well as she did in the 60s. Hell, there's no way she can sing Freedom as well as she did in the 80s.

Is LuPone remarkable in this way or am I overlooking other vocalists who can, not only sing as well as they did several decades later, but who actually have stronger even more assured voices in their later careers.

[random person 112]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 7:51am

^I think a lot if it is that she took time to rest her voice after doing sunset boulevard. She still works with a voice coach regularly and is still working to improve. To me that's why she's still so good, she's still learning and improving.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 7:55am

I disagree that her voice is better than it was in her 30s. It's thinned out a lot (coming from someone who has seen her live, both then and now). It was more open-throated then, and it's more constricted now.

But what she is able to do these days is definitely defying the odds. I agree her voice is in remarkable shape for her age. She's still "got it."

Updated On: 6/10/12 at 07:55 AM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 8:17am

Locked in her attic is a perfect recording of "Meadowlark" she cut in her youth. Every few years, with great trepidation, she climbs the stairs alone, opens the vault where she keeps it, and listens to it. Ten years after she made it, it sounded like her on an off night. Ten years after that, it sounded like her with adenoids. Rumor has it that last week, Patti bravely listened to it again. She couldn't believe her ears. She had braced herself to confront her own voice, aged, gasping, lifeless. Instead, the voice she heard was that of Glenn Close. Terrorized, Patti picked up a knife and plunged it into the eight track.

[binau]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 8:35am

I've only seen Patti once, in "Patti and Mandy" or whatever that mess was ( :P) when she came to Australia, and it's hard to gauge how strong her voice is from that performance because 1. The theatre was carnivorous and Mandy's mic was so much louder, making her sound quite weak in comparison and 2. I think she was sick because she often would not hit the correct pitch of the note which would be corrected when she employed vibrato (if that makes sense) and 3. I think someone told me she was sick lol.

BUT, based on recordings her voice does seem very very strong, I don't think there is a substantial difference from "EVITA" to "GYPSY", at least in comparison to other singers such as Betty Buckley or Bernadette Peters whose voices have noticeably declined from their younger days. I feel that it must be more than just vocal rest or technique etc.., she must be lucky too, because I feel that it would be hard to overcome the effects of ageing..

In fact, I only just realised how close Bernadette Peters (64) and Patti LuPone (63) are in age...I actually thought LuPone was quite a bit younger.

Updated On: 6/10/12 at 08:35 AM

[random person 112]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 9:37am

qolbinau i think it also has something to do with the fact Peters has worked herself very hard for a very long time. Even now she has concerts lined up everywhere in rapid successsion. She's pushing herself very hard, and due to so many years of pushing her voice to do things that it can't and shouldn't do. Example: Gypsy. She has worn it down much faster than LuPone who spaces out concerts and other ventures so that she can have rest and after Evita has taken roles that don't wear down on her voice too much, and if she has she has taken the longer breaks. Or went through speels of not working. That's why.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 9:40am

But even in its prime, Bernadette Peters' voice was never anywhere close to Patti's.

[random person 112]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 9:40am

As for Buckleys, you also have to factor in years of Coke use, and as we all know that can really ruin your voice.



Updated On: 6/10/12 at 09:40 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 9:59am

Yes, it can can.

EDIT: And qolbinau---I'm still laughing over a "carnivorous" theatre in your post. I'm sure Patti and Mandy survived, however.

Updated On: 6/10/12 at 09:59 AM

[binau]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 10:05am

I preferred random person 112's previous typo..they initially said "years of cock" instead of coke lol. Wanted to make the easy joke that it would ruin her knees too .

Re: "carnivorous theatre"...lol...I can't even think of the proper term now!! When people describe a really large theatre.

[random person 112]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 10:09am

sorry i don't usually proffread my posts till it is too late. And as my computer does not have spell check i often end up making silly typos.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 10:10am

Patti paces herself, even more now than she used to. The last time I saw her in concert, she did several number that were almost "marked" (meaning she wasn't singing full voice with full energy) up until the last eight bars or so when she would rip the roof off.

The audience is left with those last huge moments of "wow," even though half the song was delivered cautiously. It's a great way not to overextend, yet show the audience she can still wail and hit the high notes. If she had delivered an entire song at 100-percent that way, she would have lasted three numbers before she lost her voice.

EDIT: Not to mention, if you start out really big, you have nowhere to go.

Updated On: 6/10/12 at 10:10 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 10:10am

qolbinau----I'm pretty sure you meant "cavernous," but don't change it! I love the typo.



And 112---you fixed your "can can."

Updated On: 6/10/12 at 10:10 AM

[binau]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 10:14am

Even though she is a bit younger Marin Mazzie's voice is also very strong I think. Does anyone have comments about her voice or the vocal health of other aging actresses?

Oh, Alice Ripley is an obvious example of the opposite trend. Does she have any hope?

[random person 112]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 10:25am

Ripley has far less formal vocal training than Mazzie. Ripley early in her career was planning on going into rock music, instead of theater. Circumstances changed and she ended up on broadway. Alice as a result her sound is very different than someone who trained classically with a more opetaic influence (Mazzie) as she learned to use her voice diffrently early on. Because of the strain normal placed on her voice, only if she seriously changes her technique and goes on a lot of rest.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 2:37pm

How did no one comment on Henrik's perfectly constructed joke?

That being said, I also think it's worth mentioning that Patti also started taking on opera and classical roles in her 50s. I think it's incredible that she's still stretching and challenging herself at this point in her career.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 2:43pm

There's a simple reason for Patti's singing so well in this point in her life: she's the sun, the moon and the stars!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 2:54pm

Ask Barbara Cook.

I can't think of any other singer whose voice has aged as well. as Cook's.

Tony Bennett is still singing well but you hear the age.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 3:27pm

Loved Henrik's Oscar Wilde parody!

Bette Midler still sounds pretty good, but she obviously (to my ear) retrained her voice sometime around the time she did GYPSY on TV. She doesn't sing with the same abandon she did 40 years ago, but she also doesn't pass out during concerts.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 3:29pm

Marin has not aged in the last 20 years.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 3:31pm

It's partly genetics and looking after yourself, isn't it? I mean for every example in the pop world like Aretha, or Dionne Warwick (who goes on about how her heavy smoking has not affected her voice, which makes me wonder if she's heard herself in the past 25 years), who do not have the voice they once had, you have someone like Donna Summer who passed away at 63, but I saw live two years back and aside from an ever so slightly deeper sounding voice, still had the voice she did on recordings thirty years back, which is pretty remarkable.

[BroomstickBoy]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 4:09pm

Dolly Parton. Cyndi Lauper.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 4:27pm

I think a lot is genetics and training and proper care of the voice. Bernadette still sounds amazing when she is well rested and singing songs that suit her voice (not the songs in Follies). Marin will sound impeccable forever-incredibly well trained.

To me Cook sounds very phlegmy-like shes got something in her throat. I've seen Patti twice recently and she wasn't belting at all, save for a few here and there. She definitely paces herself, which is probably why the shows I saw her in sucked balls.

i think Cyndi and Dolly sounds the same now as they did in the 80s. Actually, I think Cyndi's voice has gotten better with age.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 4:32pm

I saw Bernadette when she opened the 2012 season of the Boston Pops and I hate to say it but a year of playing Mama Rose has certainly affected her voice. She was hoarse at times and its luster is fading. I thought she has ill but asked Keith Lockhart backstage and he told me she wasn't.

[lovebwy]

Posted: 6/10/12 at 6:10pm

The fact is that Patti is a MAJOR MAJOR talent and works very hard. Is her voice the same as it was in 1979? No. She couldn't do "He supports you 'cause he loves you" from Evita anymore, and I doubt she could sing Rainbow High the way she did it then. But her voice has gotten richer and understanding of the songs has deepened.

I find Patti's voice to be way better than Babs Streisand's at this point.

BTW as far a coke use goes- I've heard some things from members of the Vivian Beaumont's Anything Goes orchestra. Nuff said!!