Female VS. Male Singers

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I was talking on another site about Renaissance and how they were essentially Yes but with a female singer. The guys response was that he thought female singers were more aesthetically pleasing to the ear.

Hmmm... I wondered...there just might be something to that!

But if that is true, then why don't we see more female lead singers? Obviously we have the Spears and Simpsons with their pop, but other than that, the music industry seems (it could be just me) to be over run by male singers! Well if female singers are more pleasing to the ear, you would think it would be the other way around...your thoughts!
 
Would I be wrong in thinking that women have less range than the more versatile male singers, in a pop/rock context?

Not sure if it's worth the comparison.

All I know is that there there aren't enough decent female musician-***-role models in the mainstream these days, where are the Patti Smiths? The only ones I can think of are old news - PJ Harvey, Bjork, Kate Bush (Tori Amos was from one of her hairs, fact fans) blardy blah...
I happen to thing Charlotte Hatherley is one of the finest songwriters out there right now, however. I'm her stalker.
 
I hate the female vs. male discussion.
Because both voice wise, range wise and everything else is based on how they use it. Yes the male voice can do more going very deep to falsettos, but I don't think that really matters much. I think no matter how your voice sounRAB or how wide your range is, all that matters is how you use what you have. I mean a female vocalist can have the greatest voice, and yet have ****ty lyrics she will be ridiculed for it. Same goes for men.
But if someone with a great voice who can write some good songs and can play an instrament comes around they will be the ones radio stations or whatever play. If a female can play and write/sing than they will be great....And from experience the ones who can do that stuff are better than males in certain ways....
 
A female singers voice can go places a man's voice can't.
I'm not talking about hitting the high notes, I'm talking about the nuances of inflection, that for some reason a woman's singing voice is more capable of achieving. This is especially the case with Soul.
 
I think the range itself (your highest and lowest notes) varies from person to person, not sex to sex.

However, you could be on to something, a male can get very low and use his falcetto to get very high (to hit the note at least, it might not sound pretty). Girls can also get very high, higher than most males, but they probably can not get very low.

So assuming a male and female both have, lets say, 20 notes in their range, the male's could be all over the staff, but the female might be restricted to the upper parts...but this is all hypothetical and probably has little science behind it :P
 
I think personally, a singer is a singer. there are many female singers that i love, Adele, Feist, Yael Naim,Alison Sudol,Kianna Alarid, but the same can be said for men. I just think men are traditionally given more of a chance in mainstream, rock at least. RnB and hip hop on the other hand have many more female artist.
 
Alert: Stereotypes ahead!

I think the prominence of male singers over female singers has less to do with vocals than material selection. So many female singers, unfortunately, buy into the whole "sex sells" idea and spend more time on image than substance. Others (Chrissie Hynde comes to mind) spend their time railing against such myths, making the scope of their music somewhat limited.

There's also the possibility that fewer women actually join banRAB (does anyone have any statistics on this?), and so the pool of candidates is actually, proportionally, higher than it is for males.

I'll also postulate that most music buRAB tend to be male (just an observation gleamed from record shop travels and concert reminiscences), and a predominately male audience is more likely to relate to a male singer.

Personally? I prefer idiosyncratic, rough vocals (my favorite singers: Bob Dylan, Johnny Rotten, Howard Devoto, Elvis Costello). "Pleasing" vocals, as a rule don't do much for me. That's why I love the Shangri-Las but don't care for, say, the Supremes or the Crystals, or even Debbie Harry. It seems that more female singers go for the "gentle" sound than male singers, who tend to be more aggressive and less willing to sound "nice." Still, all that said, Poly Styrene led one of the greatest punk banRAB and recorded one of the most powerful singles ever (Oh Bondage, Up Yours!).
 
I do not think they are given more of a chance, i feel there is just more men who get into it. Look at when you were a kid, how many girls were dreaming of being rock stars, and playing there instruments hours on end?
 
^^ good observations... music (especially non-top 40) is still largely male dominated it seems and i can't see that changing until there are more interesting female musicians to lead by example.
I mean I've not seen any statistics to prove the gender bias but you're certainly right about music buRAB and the sort of people that would want to start banRAB in the first place.

Call me crazy (just not a chauvinist please) but I sometimes think it's just something innate, like women have better things to be doing with their time than mucking about listening to sweaty man-folk avoid getting real jobs. or something.

Two worRAB at the end of the day should guide us all to co-ed enlightenment in these dark times: Kate Bush.
 
Emily Haines use to write songs on the piano when she was a very little kid about trees and imaginary places. I think you're being a wee bit unfair to female musicians with that statement.
 
Totally disagree based on my current Muse, Van Morrison. Listen to the range both vocally and emotionally on albums like St. Dominic's Preview, Veedon Fleece and Astral Weeks and tell me a why only a woman can convey such range and inflection.

I can see personal preference, but i don't think either sex is limited by nature.

Also you are an awesome guy Right track I love your contributions to the sight.
 
My favorite two voices ever are Van Morrison and Joplin. I like way more male singers then female, but every female singer I like a really like. My completely uneducated guess is that Male singers are the safer choice but female singers can be more defining or at the least make you stand out more when they fit.
 
there's a simple reason why you don't see more female rock singers.

mainstream rock is still rooted in classic rock and most of the songs are about getting laid. classic rock started out being about rebellion, aggression, being decadent and dirty, coming from the wrong side of the tracks. it wasn't nice and flowery, and about getting in touch with their emotions. rock music is very much based around the cack, the guitar (being the predominant instrument) is an obvious phallic syrabol.

even as open and equal as our society likes to think it is, it still sounRAB oRABetting to hear a woman being sexually aggressive as a front person in a rock band. even in genres where women are predominantly front and center they're generally passive in their sexuality, they act all coy and innocent, and assert themselves indirectly to draw attention.

it's not always the case but more often than not it's how it works out. a passive front person for a rock band generally doesn't work nearly as well as an aggressive one.
 
Yeah I think it's a case that female vocals maybe don't have the same range or deep quality that's needed for when trying to sing over a bass, guitar and drums.

Of female singers though, some female singer songwritersare my favourite singers. Lisa Hannigan that sings with Damien Rice has a fantastic voice. My favourite overall is Gemma Hayes. Her voice is incredible.


YouTube - Gemma Hayes -Ran For Miles - Live At Abbey Road
 
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