Can Anyone Learn to Sing Beautifully?
Or only those blessed with an amazing singing voice?
Having a great singing voice was not a prerequisite in the first band I was in, just the ability to sing at all, and be a “front-man”.
It was the 1980s and, to raise funds, the Church I attended was putting on a cabaret, which a wise group of people had decided to call “Le Giggle”. It would feature comedy acts, performance artists and, of course, a band, to keep the audience, munching gourmet food and partaking of fine wine, entertained.
My best friend played clarinet, and having an amazing musical talent, had then branched out into alto saxophone and, as his family owned a legendary Hammond organ, keyboards. He had bought himself a Yamaha DX-21 synthesiser, one of the most popular 1980s keyboards.
We put our creative minds together, and, being influenced by 1960s and 1970s Blues music (probably from seeing the Blues Brothers way too many times), we decided to form a fun Blues/Rock band for the event.
At the time the only musical instrument I played was the flute, having learnt this while I was at College (I took Classical lessons from Grade 1 to Grade 6), but I decided to try my hand (or vocal cords) at singing — after all, Jake and Elwood Blues could do it, and it was for fun.