Cross-Over Singers

[jorain123]

I think it is clear that Mario was (and remains) the best cross-over singer of all time. But I was curious as to who the forum feels would also rate highly in this category. It's a pretty small group- making Mario's legacy even more impressive.

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Joe: Hmm. That's a tricky one. I guess I'd say that among contemporary tenors, Vittorio Grigolo stands out to me as the most successful crossover singer. He's an operatic singer who sounds equally at home---perhaps even more at home---in Italian pop, and has sold plenty of albums in that genre. Going back a couple of generations, I'd also single out soprano Eileen Farrell, who not only had a distinguished career in opera, but was a popular performer of pop, blues and jazz. 

Many would choose Bocelli, I suppose, but the definition of a crossover artist, as far as I'm concerned, is an artist who sounds equally convincing in pop and opera. To my ears, Bocelli simply doesn't fit the bill. Mind you, he's more deserving of the term than the likes of Paul Potts, Susan Boyle and co! In an age where these singers are regarded by CD stores---and often the general public---as "classical artists" (while Lanza is consigned to the Nostalgia or Crooners section), I feel the term crossover has become pretty meaningless. I mean, what exactly is Mr. Potts crossing over from?  

By the way, we have this related thread that Emilio created a while back:

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mariolanza/ZjjElQ8GdEA/gd54vr0ZyNIJ  

Cheers

Derek

[Barnabas Nemeth]

Hi Joe: Frankly, I haven't considered Mario as a cross-over singer, at all. He did not sing pop songs, jazz, blues or so. He sang some songs from operettas, musicals and English and Neapolitan songs that required operatic voice . It doesn't mean for me cross-over. Sorry... Barnabas

2012/10/28 Derek McGovern <derek.m...@gmail.com>

[jorain123]

Hi Derek, Yes, I completely agree with you on Potts, Boyle and even Bocelli.However,  I would place Jan Peerce and Richard Tucker on my list as excellent cross-overs. I guess we need a definition here of the term "cross-over". IMO it means abilty to sing arias as well as popular, and Mario excelled in both. Thus, I can't agree with Barnabas in view of recordings like Because, Granada and Be My Love etc

[leeann]

The funny thing is, today the term crossover seems a vocabulary convenience, a casual catchall, really, for a singer (or musician or artist of an sort, I'd suppose) who moves across musical styles. In terms of other musical genre--in American music, for example, we also read of country-western singers who "crossover" to rock or pop music--in fact, there's the whole argument from die-hard country fans that an enormous chunks of country music today doesn't represent an historic musical evolution at all, but a massive shapeshift, a crossover, into pop

Among classical artists, though, it doesn't seem as if virtuosity across different musical genres is anything new--and among those whom we've had recorded--well, Caruso hit whatever the charts were in his day with the World War I icon, "Over There," among others. I'm guessing that the cultural connotations associated with crossover that divided classical from pop are blurry in today's musical environment. But if there's to be a definition, I kind of like Renee Fleming's in the New York Times article from the thread Derek's linked to--indefinite, but it gives something to hang onto:

for the most part crossover refers to classical artists who claim pop pieces and perform them in essentially a classical manner.

In which case, it's an awfully wide field--and all the better for us as listeners. And here's a fun one--a dual crossover? Freddy Mercury and Monserrat Caballe with "Barcelona." Best, Lee Ann

[George Laszlo]

I had mentioned earlier that I am a member of a group here in the USA called the Association for Recorded Sound Collections. Their recent journal had a long article about Yma Sumac. Without giving things away here, I'd like to have you consider whether she qualifies as a successful crossover artist. Note that she had a 4 1/2 octave range!

Here is a link to one of her recordings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhUBJZdL8BY

Here are some more:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4_-IkPg-_4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05cDNfjMbBc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvAq5yTfFP0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvAq5yTfFP0&feature=related  <- Very funny!

I would suggest that you search for and listen to several of her recordings and then weigh in on this question. Whether you come to love or hate her voice, I can guarantee that you will not regret doing this research.

[George Laszlo]

OK, I'll make this a bit easier. You also need to listen to this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP09W1R5KF8&feature=rellist&playnext=1&list=PLC43E0346EB06EA55

[Sophia]

I do not know of all these things about the crossover artists into our modern era but LOVE the Mario recordings of every song for the movie For the First Time very much as I love that film. I was born in 1991.
sincerely Sophia @ school in Amsterdam NL

[Derek McGovern]

Hi George: I'm sorry, but after ten minutes of Ms. Sumac I began to fear that I might descend into madness! As her first husband once proudly stated, "She's five singers rolled into one," and that's the problem for me :) Just when I'm feeling OK with her dusky middle register, she'll launch into that ultra-shrill bird-like extreme upper register of hers, or go the other extreme and sound like "an owl hooting," as the LA Times once memorably wrote. It's a unique sound all right, though---and she certainly defies all categorization :) 

I imagine that she inspires the same fanaticism among her followers as that of the most dedicated Wagnerians?  

Cheers

Derek

[Michael McAdam]

  .........or that of the most dedicated Coke-Show-Mario fans?

(as a small boy I vividly remember my Mum buying an Yma Sumac record (78) and my Dad breaking it against the table....really! ;-)

 

Cheers, Mike

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Mike: Well, we all hear things differently: that's for sure!  Perhaps on the right day---and with the right recording---I might be more responsive to Ms. Sumac's exotic charms. (After all, Callas was an acquired taste for me.) And I'll give Yma Sumac this: she's infinitely preferable to my ears than Kathryn Grayson, whose excruciating singing on this attached live radio performance (opposite a valiant Lanza, who does his best to pretend she's not there) recalls Domingo's description of the comic performers in zarzuelas: "They have the most incredible awful sound" :) (And if you think she's bad at the beginning, wait till you hear the ending!!) 

I would love to have asked Lanza what he thought of Grayson's performance here...  

Cheers

Derek

[Michael McAdam]

That poor lass. She was a beauty but MGM's acquisition of Lanza as a screen partner must have given her a shot of confidence to defy all reason?? ("....this guy is on the screen with me singing like this? I'll show him what I can do!") NOT!

 

Cheers, M.

 
On Monday, November 19, 2012 10:52:22 AM UTC-4, Derek McGovern wrote:

..... Kathryn Grayson, whose excruciating singing on this attached live radio performance (opposite a valiant Lanza, who does his best to pretend she's not there) recalls Domingo's description of the comic performers in zarzuelas: "They have the most incredible awful sound" :) (And if you think she's bad at the beginning, wait till you hear the ending!!) 

[George Laszlo]

Derek, I have to confess that as I was playing some excerpts of Ms. Sumacs repertoire to my wife, she begged for mercy. My reaction was the same as yours and I would guess that most people would consider her an oddity. BUT, the reason I brought her to everyone's attention here is that she was a crossover singer. Singing mambo and arias with equal commitment would qualify her as such. We can't ignore that she did have a huge following during her time. I believe that it's best to listen to her selectively. It's not always the case that she comes close to piercing your eardrums or descends into hell with ominous contralto notes. Some of the arias are actually quite well done although her technical weaknesses also come through.

[Derek McGovern]

Hi George: Huge following or not, Ms. Sumac's operatic singing doesn't do anything for me (at least not the two renditions of Puccini arias I listened to), so I'm uncomfortable describing her as a great classical crossover singer. I'd rather save that description for people who've proved they can be outstanding in both the operatic and the popular fields. Commitment alone doesn't cut it for me, I'm afraid!     

The bottom line for me? I see Sumac as a genre-defying artist with a freakish voice.        

But the more I hear the term "crossover," the more I dislike it! :) It really does strikes me as a lazy journalistic invention, or as Lee Ann put it, a vocabulary convenience and casual catch-all.    

Cheers

Derek