So many of the best and/or my favorite vocalists of all time were smokers

[Bombtrack]

I'm wondering if you honestly think they would have been as good if they hadn't smoked. I'm a person who's no friend of the smokers rights/defense reactionary movement. I've never been a smoker myself. But I've always sort of had this suspicion about this one thing possibly being the only real contribution tobacco has made to society - the probability of a great rock vocal range.

Here are the ones I know of that I could think of

Gregg Allman
Robert Plant
Freddie Mercury
Ian Anderson
David Bowie
Kurt Cobain
Chrissie Hynde
John Lennon
Layne Staley
Eddie Vedder
Robin Zander

[borlis]

1. Jon Bon Jovi and John Mellencamp are smokers too.

I always thought the opposite, that eventually the cigs would do damage to the voice. :shrug:

[William Bloode]

3. Often time smoking lends a certain character to a voice.

While yes it does decrease vocal range, many do get their unique sound from smoking.

[borlis]

4. I am immediately thinking of Rod Stewart, Don Henley,

Stevie Nicks. Not sure if they smoke or not, but they are raspy.

[William Bloode]

10. Yes they are husky in voice.

Not sure if they smoked or not. For me the teller was an old fave of mine Conway Twitty. He had a very raspy growl when he smoked. That was in fact his signature really. He quit smoking later in his career, and his voice really changed. He lost much of his former raspy sound, but his vocal range increased a great deal. It's a shame that despite quitting he still had a heart attack in his 50's.

[ronnykmarshall]

21. Stevie used to smoke

and I think after getting off drugs she quit smoking too.

[Oeditpus Rex]

2. Oh, boy!

Smoking thread. :bounce:

[taterguy]

5. Too bad the dead ones on your list all died of lung cancer

Smoking kills

[borlis]

6. Just who on that list died of lung cancer?

John Lennon? No. Freddie Mercury? No. Kurt Cobain? No.

[dropkickpa]

7. Yeah, it was the cigarettes and not

the shotgun blast that killed Kurt Cobain. Silly.

[William Bloode]

8. Wow, are you miss informed!

Lennon was shot, Freddy had aids, and Cobain shot himself.

But then maybe you were being sarcastic, and forgot this. :sarcasm:

[taterguy]

13. I stand corrected

I shall never again post anything on an internet message board unless I thoroughly research my facts.

Please pardon my ignorance.

[William Bloode]

14. It hurts don't it lol!

It's happened to me more than once. :toast:

[taterguy]

23. No

[mockmonkey]

9. Sarcasm?

Or would you care to back up your claim?

[Zuiderelle]

11. LOL! I suppose all those dancers and models who smoke ...

can also thank cigarettes for their success. After all, they might not have maintained their low weight and certainly couldn't have had such illustrious careers.

Or MAYBE, they would have had longer careers if they hadn't done so much damage to their lungs and bodies.

[Bombtrack]

15. Smoking for the prevention of weightloss is endlessly provable as the worst

method for a BEHAVIORAL alteration. The PHYSICAL effect of smoking on the voice by smoking is something I've not seen any evidence of being able to replicate through any kind of alternative behavior.

Again, don't be so reflexively dismissive. NOBODY SHOULD START SMOKING FOR ANY REASON. I named a handful of legendary rock stars who there will probably never be another handful of as great, certainly not in the shit climate of the music industry that exists today.

[zonkers]

12. smoke and cocaine are the enemy destroy a singer's voice.

[johnnie]

16. Smoking is cool

And the chicks dig it.

[Rhiannon12866]

17. So is Barak Obama.

And I think he's being unfairly maligned because of it. Who cares, anyway?:shrug: IMHO, he has a wonderful voice, as well. :-)

[taterguy]

20. Barak quit

During his 60 Minutes story his wife asked the entire country to call her if they catch him smoking

[Rhiannon12866]

22. Good for him!

I guess having the entire country watching you is a powerful motivation, LOL. That's one thing that the rest of us will never have... *sigh*

[regularguy]

18. Nat King Cole

Smoked 3 packs per day. Said it helped his voice. He would chain smoke right before recording a song. Died of lung cancer before his 50th birthday. :(

[Phillycat]

19. Aretha Franklin smoked her whole life.

And she has my favorite voice of all time. But she can't sing at all now. On the other hand Donna Summer never smoked and was always in fantastic shape and she sounds exactly as good as she did in the 70's.

[Bonhomme Richard]

24. I think it's BS. I smoke and I sing and I will tell you...................

That when I go through those "I'm going to quit smoking exercises" I do every so often my vocal range is much greater and in a very short time. I do a rock raspy voice (maybe from the cigs? Who knows?) and I do clean. What I can't do anymore is falsetto and I blame the smoking for that. I know that if I quit smoking the falsetto will return, at least I hope so. Also, the amount I am singing now (around 7 times a month) probably isn't helping.
Problem is I choose to smoke, that's me and it is the poison I've chosen.

[Phillycat]

25. Yep, I've had the same experience.

When I quit smoking (like now! Woo hoo!) my range gets greater very soon after. And my tone is truer and more clear, too.