>>>>>Which goes to show the kind of people he hangs out with. From the first note when he started singing the judges were cringing. He was sooooo awful. Almost comically bad.
>>>>>
>>>>>Bud I think he did bare a striking resemblence to Terry.
>>>>
>>>>Or may be to all of us?
>>>>
>>>>But it's really weird, all these people trying. Can they hear themselves?
>>>
>>>Decade and change ago we had a show where contestants would, among other things, sing to the music they heard on a walkman. The point was that they couldn't really hear themselves so well, they heard the earphones better. The audience, OTOH, didn't hear the tape at all, just the dry voice.
>>>
>>>I think even {your favorite singer} would sound bad under such setup... at least these guys were really funny, and the MC didn't push them too far, maybe just 10-20 seconds.
>>
>>I think really good singers do just fine a capella. Listen to Bobby McFerren, or the old Boswell Sisters, the Mills Brothers, Anne Hampton Callaway, Ella Fitzgerald, Cleo Laine. All have done a capella singing, and proved it's no problem for good singers. Most of the singers we are forced to listen to are really moon howlers and not actual singers, and no, they do not do well without being able to hear themselves and the music together. For what it's worth, I don't think they do all that well anyway. The real key, afaic, is whether or not they have music in their voices. Most singers really don't, so when you hear them a capella, they sound, well... musicless.
>
>I know what you mean - the ability to hit the correct notes vs actually having a pleasant voice. One example that springs to mind is the singer in REM; his voice really grates on me. OTOH, OTTOMH, Marc Almond, of Soft Cell, often hit(s) bum notes but has a pleasant voice.
>
>I love a capello. Our choir does that - and 3 gigs a year.

Of course, a decent choir singing a capella, doesn't sound a capella. The voices take the place of the various instruments.

My mother and father used to sing in a choir that was, at least in North America, quite well recognized. It was the TJFC (Toronto Jewish Folk Choir). My dad had a beautiful Russian bass voice and my mother had a lovely Alto. Paul Robeson sang with them a couple of times as did Jan Peerce, and their leader (Emil Gartner) turned down Lena Horne when she wanted to sing with them. Anyway, the choir often performed a capella or with a single piano, but never sounded so. Sometimes they also sang with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Emil always had them breathing at different times, so the music never seemed to stop. It was wonderful. Unfortunately, my brother and I inherited negative genes in this regard, and if you heard either one of us sing, you'd find yourself automatically reaching for a gun.