Male Singers / Musicians and Vocal Range Classifications

This is a page created by C.Syde65 which attempts to cover basic descriptions on the vocal ranges and classifications of male musicians and singers, both past and present.

I, C.Syde, have been reading information about the classifications given to some male musicians and singers on various pages on various sites, such as List of tenors in non-classical music and List of baritones in non-classical music from the Wikipedia, and I felt that some of the information I'd read did not accurately classify the vocal ranges of certain male musicians and singers.

This notably includes John Lennon which I have always considered to be a low range tenor, though he was previously listed on Wikipedia as a baritone. On the other hand, George Harrison is listed on Wikipedia as a tenor, but I've always considered him to be a high range baritone. The information on the Wikipedia can't be right because George's overall vocal range is lower than John's, so it doesn't make much sense that George should be listed as a tenor, if John was listed as a baritone.

I challenged the information on the Wikipedia that stated John Lennon to be a baritone, and it turned out the source was unreliable, and to my surprise and pleasure, the information was removed.

George may have adopted a tenor range vocal in the late 60's onwards, but on several songs from the earlier 60's, notably including "Do You Want to Know a Secret?", "Chains", "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" (w/ John Lennon), "Devil in Her Heart", "Don't Bother Me", and "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You", George can be found singing quite comfortably within the baritone range.

But anyway, here is a list of some of the male singers and musicians, past and present, along with the vocal classifications that I give them. Note that this page is still under construction and will be expanded and revised overtime.

Singers / Musicians with a Counter Tenor Vocal Range
Singers / Musicians that I consider to have a counter tenor vocal range. Note that some of the people I classify to be a low-range counter tenor may sometimes sing within the higher-range of a tenor.

Singers / Musicians with a Tenor Vocal Range
Singers / Musicians that I consider to have a tenor vocal range. Note that some of the people I classify to be a high-range tenor may sometimes sing within the lower-range of a counter tenor, while some of the people I classify to be a low-range tenor may sometimes sing within the higher-range of a baritone.

Singers / Musicians with a Baritone Vocal Range
Singers / Musicians that I consider to have a baritone vocal range. Note that some of the people I classify to be a high-range baritone may sometimes sing within the lower-range of a tenor, while some of the people I classify to be a low-range baritone may sometimes sing within the higher-range of a bass.

Singers / Musicians with a Bass Vocal Range
Singers / Musicians that I consider to have a bass vocal range. Note that some of the people I classify to be a high-range bass may sometimes sing within the lower-range of a baritone.