The artist Elton John claims “no one can sing like”
Any great song is only as good as the person singing it. No matter how much melodic brilliance is put into the melody or counterpoint with the instruments, it takes the sounds of the right singer to turn a song from a melodic exercise into a musical masterpiece whenever they play it. Although Elton John can claim to have several different voices when singing his collection of classics, he considered one of his fellow pianists one of the greatest singers ever.
Throughout his life, though, John never declared his desire to be a singer. When working on his first handful of tracks, John was more interested in a career as a songwriter, writing various pieces of music that would then be sent off to various performers to become worldwide hits.
When he couldn’t find anyone to take his songs, though, John got the opportunity of a lifetime when he teamed up with lyricist Bernie Taupin. Becoming creative soulmates, Taupin would provide the perfect basis for John’s melodies with his lyrics, penning songs about the struggles of fame on ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ or standalone stories on ‘Levon’.
Once the song was put into John’s hands, he transformed the lyrics into something different. Having grown accustomed to playing classical pieces when he studied at university, John would put the same type of musical sophistication into his melodies, including the massive musical inventions on tracks like ‘The Greatest Discovery’.
Although John didn’t fashion himself as a singer, his voice would become one of the foundational aspects of his sound. Having the slightly nasal delivery, the amount of soul that John crammed into a few minutes on every song was enough to resonate with millions worldwide, even when he was singing more tongue-in-cheek pieces like ‘Crocodile Rock’.
In terms of his personal favourites, though, John claimed to be living in the shadow of Stevie Wonder. Having been tearing up the charts in America as one of Motown’s first great success stories, Wonder’s post-Motown career would blossom into the most creative run of albums of the 1970s, capping off with the double album Songs in the Key of Life.
While John said that he loved Wonder’s approach to music, he considered his voice his true strength, telling Rolling Stone, “Along with Ray Charles, he’s the greatest R&B singer who ever lived. Nobody can sing like he does. I know: I recorded a version of ‘Signed Sealed Delivered’ when I was young, and I really had to squeeze my balls to get those high notes”.
Combing through Wonder’s deep cuts, the true power of every one of his songs comes from the power of his voice. From slick ballads like ‘You Are The Sunshine Of My Life’ to the true grit of ‘Living For The City’, Wonder also possesses various characters in his voice, going from a peaceful croon to a nasty growl depending on what the song called for.
More than anything, John could recognise the musical sophistication of Wonder, adapting the sounds of jazz, classical, rock and R&B and putting them all under one roof. As opposed to most artists with different genres thrust upon them, there’s a good chance that Wonder could go into any genre of music and wipe the floor with anyone in his way.
