British singers with no accent

[Bonegavel]

This occurred to me years ago, but the idea came up again while listening to Led Zeppelin on the ride home. Robert Plant doesn't have a British accent when he sings.

In Bron Y Aur Stomp, in the beginining you can hear him say, "no, leave it" when asked about the airplane noise and so you know he has the accent (besides having heard him in plenty of interviews).

Robert Plant isn't alone in this as many other British singers seem to lose the accent when singing.

Anyone know why? Is it for the North American audience? I don't have a accent (british or otherwise) so I can't tell if this is just a natural occurence that happens when singing kind of like Mel Tillis's stutter going away while singing. I highly doubt the last one since there are songs where you can hear an accent sneaking through.

[tanglewood]

This occurred to me years ago, but the idea came up again while listening to Led Zeppelin on the ride home. Robert Plant doesn't have a British accent when he sings.

In Bron Y Aur Stomp, in the beginining you can hear him say, "no, leave it" when asked about the airplane noise and so you know he has the accent (besides having heard him in plenty of interviews).

Robert Plant isn't alone in this as many other British singers seem to lose the accent when singing.

Anyone know why? Is it for the North American audience? I don't have a accent (british or otherwise) so I can't tell if this is just a natural occurence that happens when singing kind of like Mel Tillis's stutter going away while singing. I highly doubt the last one since there are songs where you can hear an accent sneaking through.

British Rock & Roll singers tend to sing with an American accent the same way that a lot of American Indie or Punk bands sing with a British accent. It's just part of the style of the genre.

[path12]

Sometimes I think I hear a british accent when an american sings.

[Raiders Army]

Axel Rose never sang with a white trash accent, so maybe it's the singing.

[Buzzbee]

I bet if Mike Tyson sang he'd sound like Barry White.

[Qwikshot]

I bet if Mike Tyson sang he'd sound like James Earl Jones.

You mean Barry White...

[digamma]

Not a singer, but a guy named Karl Brown played basketball for Georgia Tech in the early 90s. He was a Brit, and spoke with a fancy British accent on all of his television interviews.

A buddy of mine and i ran into him one time during the season and started talking to him. No accent. Lots of American slang. Lots of colorful language.

The accent was a bit of a show.

[Buzzbee]

Not a singer, but a guy named Karl Brown played basketball for Georgia Tech in the early 90s. He was a Brit, and spoke with a fancy British accent on all of his television interviews.

A buddy of mine and i ran into him one time during the season and started talking to him. No accent. Lots of American slang. Lots of colorful language.

The accent was a bit of a show.He drove a tricked out Ford Probe. I always laughed when I saw him. It was kinda like some alumnus somewhere was laughing hysterically that he accepted it to come to Tech, or that all he was worth was a lousy Ford Probe.

[Draft Dodger]

my argument has always been that singers aren't singing with American accents at all - just a universal "singing accent".

[cthomer5000]

my argument has always been that singers aren't singing with American accents at all - just a universal "singing accent".I dunno, Scottish or Irish singers tend to really retain their accent.

[CamEdwards]

I dunno, Scottish or Irish singers tend to really retain their accent.

I always thought Simple Minds were an American band growing up, at least based on their singles I heard on the radio.

Jesus and Mary Chain never sounded Scottish to me.

The Proclaimers, on the other hand...

[Bonegavel]

The Proclaimers, on the other hand...is that the brothers that sing that "1,000 miles" song and the one from Shreck? If so, those are the guys I was thinking that actually kept thier accents when they sang.

I just don't see what Robert Plant gained by not keeping the accent (or Mick Jagger, or any others).

[Draft Dodger]

I dunno, Scottish or Irish singers tend to really retain their accent.

I didn't say that I often win that argument...

It depends sort of on the singing style - the farther away from speaking a singer's style might be, the less I hear an accent, regardless of nationality.

(btw, my argument goes back to the days of Loudness, a Japanese metal band).

[Bonegavel]

How 'bout our resident Brits here? Do you keep your accent when you sing (if you sing)?

[cthomer5000]

I should say on the whole I agree. Tons of British acts tend to lose their accents whene singing (although this seems much less prevelant among females). A few counter-examples just popped into my head when i thought about it.

[Draft Dodger]

I dunno, Scottish or Irish singers tend to really retain their accent.

I'm trying to think of some Scottish and Irish singers (bands).
the only one I can think of who retains her accent is Deloris O'Riordan of the Cranberries (isn't she Scottish?).

Van Morrison? Don't Hear it.
Bono? Hear it when he slows towards speaking, but not when singing.
Shirley Manson (Garbage)? Would never have known she had an accent if I hadn't seen her in an interview.
Franz Ferdinand guy? I don't listen to them a lot, but I don't hear a specific accent.
Sheena Easton? Again, didn't know for years she was Scottish until I saw her interviewed.

Who else?

Van Morrison (Ireland). No accent on the songs I've heard
Bono (Ireland). Accent when he slows down towards speaking, none when belting
Shirley Manson (Scottish):

[Huckleberry]

I independently came to the same conclusion as Draft Dodger.

You never hear someone sing with a straight American accent. If, for example, the word "lover" is in a song, the singer never pronounces the "-er" syllable as hard as they would if spoken here in America.

[st.cronin]

Probably this all has something to do with the roots of rock being American, at least when talking about the Stones and the Zeps. Imagine Chuck Berry with a British accent?

[Draft Dodger]

Jesus and Mary Chain never sounded Scottish to me.


good example. I had no clue until just now they were Scottish.

[ISiddiqui]

When asking my British cousins about this years back they laughed and said "No one sings with a British accent", insinuating that the default singing voice seems to be Americanized (though of course I was too young at the time to think of counter examples who did sing with a British accent).

[tanglewood]

How 'bout our resident Brits here? Do you keep your accent when you sing (if you sing)?

When I perform, it depends on what I'm singing. If it's a rock & roll or a blues song, probably in a conciously 'American' accent, but if it's something I wrote or more a more contemporary cover then I'll sing in my own natural accent.

On British bands singing with/without accent, British punk bands tend(ed) to sing in British accent. Think of Wire, The Fall, Gang of Four, The Sex Pistols, The Jam, The Stranglers, The Clash etc. And from that punk movement you get into the British Alterative scene in the mid-80s which has Robert Smith (The Cure), Morrissey (The Smiths), Bernard Sumner (New Order) who all sing in British accents. Britpop also had Brit accented frontmen in Jarvis Cocker (Pulp), Liam Gallacher (Oasis) and Damon Albarn (Blur). Of current bands, I'd say that Alex Kapranos (Franz Ferdinand) certainly does sing in a Scottish accent, Kele Okereke (Bloc Party) certainly sings in a London drawl, Ricky Wilson (Kaiser Chiefs) sings in a Yorkshire accent. Those are just off the top of my head, but since the punk revolution i'd say more and more British guitar bands have kept their own accent when singing.

[cthomer5000]

The female brits I thought of earlier are the groups Elastica and Lush. Both sound distinctly UK. I'd probably have to to a long look through my collection to see where groups were from and what their singing voices sound like.

[CamEdwards]

I'm going to see Billy Bragg in a couple of weeks. There's your prime example of singing in a British accent.

[Bonegavel]

So you think that the old singers like Plant purposefuly dropped the accent when singing? Just sounds weird to me. I mean, EVERY zep song has no accent.

*edit*
removed my second "seems too weird" as it seemed too weird to have it twice.

[dawgfan]

Keep in mind that for a lot of the older acts you're talking about (Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, etc.) these guys started off playing covers of American R&B and blues, and there's a natural tendency when singing someone else's song to retain whatever accent they used when singing. A guy like Robert Plant started off singing so many American covers that it's not hard to imagine that some of those inflections became rather ingrained.

I also think it's important to compare the speaking voice and singing voice - Plant's accent isn't particularly hard IMO, and if you listen carefully to how he sings, while isn't really projecting a clear British accent, neither is he usually projecting clear American accent as well. For example, you rarely hear Plant emphasize an "_er", "_ar" or "_ir". Of course, outside of country artists, you rarely hear American singers emphasize that as well.

[AlexB]

When asking my British cousins about this years back they laughed and said "No one sings with a British accent", insinuating that the default singing voice seems to be Americanized (though of course I was too young at the time to think of counter examples who did sing with a British accent).

No, not insinuating Americanised, just no definable accent. It stands out when there is a British accent (e.g. Proclaimers, Maximo Park) or put on a US drawl (Alabama 3) but generally it is hard to define where bands are from (including a lot of European bands) - as someone said earlier it is kind of like a universal singing accent...

[AlexB]

The female brits I thought of earlier are the groups Elastica and Lush. Both sound distinctly UK. I'd probably have to to a long look through my collection to see where groups were from and what their singing voices sound like.

This and Tanglewood's post help define it: when the singing is less 'pure', the regional accent comes through more. When people 'sing' in the more traditional sense there is no identifiable accent.

Rap artists nationalities are clearly definable, I defy anyone to listen to opera and tell me where the singer is from (apart from maybe Leslie Garratt) - IMHO it depends on where on the singing style in the spoken-singing range as to how much the accent is noticable

[varacel]

The female brits I thought of earlier are the groups Elastica and Lush. Both sound distinctly UK. I'd probably have to to a long look through my collection to see where groups were from and what their singing voices sound like.Ladykillers - great song

[Super Ugly]

I'm going to see Billy Bragg in a couple of weeks. There's your prime example of singing in a British accent.

You know, I reckon that's always been the reason British people don't sing in their own accent. They'll sound like Billy Bragg, or, if they're a woman, Kirsty McColl. Earnest. Lumpen. Provincial. :)

What I can't stand, though, is British people rapping in American accents. That makes me cringe.

[AlexB]

...What I can't stand, though, is British people rapping in American accents. That makes me cringe.

Agree 100%

[Mac Howard]

Most British singers, excepting the punk rockers who sing with a very exaggerated working class London accent to emphasise their working class roots, will sing in a fake American accent partly because many originals of the songs they sing are American.

But an English accent is also often too clipped to fit in neatly with the music which is best suited by the American drawl. Many years ago I would take my guitar to a college party and in the early hours of the morning (when everyone was drunk) I would play and sing. For a joke I would sing something in my native Lancashire accent. You've never heard "House of the Rising Sun" if you've never heard it in a Lancashire accent (similar to Daphne in Frasier) :

Thers 'ouse in Noo Orleens
They call 't Risin' Sun
it's bin 't rooin of many pooor sod
An' me, Oar God, a'm wun

;)

[Rockstar]

Axel Rose never sang with a white trash accent, so maybe it's the singing.
Is he related to Axl Rose? :D

[Bonegavel]

But an English accent is also often too clipped to fit in neatly with the music which is best suited by the American drawl. Many years ago I would take my guitar to a college party and in the early hours of the morning (when everyone was drunk) I would play and sing. For a joke I would sing something in my native Lancashire accent. You've never heard "House of the Rising Sun" if you've never heard it in a Lancashire accent (similar to Daphne in Frasier) :

Thers 'ouse in Noo Orleens
They call 't Risin' Sun
it's bin 't rooin of many pooor sod
An' me, Oar God, a'm wun

;)

Interesting. As an American with a newscaster's accent (for lack of a better term), most singers sound "just right" to me (exceptions being country, rap, or the above mentioned accent-prone folks from accross the pond or some punk bands here).

To those whose accents are not the same as most songs: does it sound funny to listen or sing along with them? For me, I know I feel silly singing that song from Shreck "I'm on my way" (which sounds like "Um on ma wee") by the Proclaimers (they remind me of a cross between Alton Brown and John Carmack).

It is interesting that the accent that I think of as "normal" is the most common form used in songs.

One accent I've never heard in a song is New Englander... imagine Gary Numan's Car sung by Chuckie Sullivan (Ben Affleck's character from GWH):

Here in my caa
I feel wicked-safest of awl
I can laak all my daws
It's the only way to leeve
In caas