Has Bono been taking singing lessons?

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U2girl

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This debate appears from time to time. So for the singers here: does Bono in the last 15 years or so, compared to the first ten years of their career, sound like he's been taking singing lessons?
 
well, he should have taken them, its necessary...
at least he should have a vocal asistant sometime....it sure does help
 
I don't think he could be hitting the notes if he wasn't. As he gets older, he's got to learn how to use his voice better.

Clayton took bass lessons in the 90s. And Larry's talked about how he was technically terrible when they started, which makes me think that they've all gone in for some kind of lessons at some point.
 
I think Bono actually took some lessons in '84 around the Unforgettable Fire era. I recall hearing there was a note in the UF booklet thanking a well known vocal coach.

There was also the whole Lovetown incident which of course resulted in the release (much to my appreciation) of the Point-Depot soundboard shows being released to the bootleg community. For those of you that don't know... *and please correct me if I'm wrong* Bono was having major voice problems during Lovetown, most notably the Dec 18, '89 concert where he completely lost his voice and had to end the show early. He then went to a voice expert and they brought along recordings of their recordings of Dec 26-31 for him to analyze. Apparently the voice doctor then leaked the shows to a friend who shared them with more people and so on...

There is definitely a noticeable change in Bono's singing style, even during the ZooTV period. Notice no more pushing with his throat like JT days (some have referred to this as his "Kermit" voice).

As for recent lessons....who knows? In my opinion he just sounds like he's stopped trying to scream the notes and actually sing them.
 
Bono's voice is currenty prime. No matter whether he has had vocal coaching. His voice is very important to this band and as an incurance policy the most important thing is for Bono to take care ofhis voice. Cutting out tabacco, caffein, and not eating certain foods or plain not eating for severl hours prior to a show is important as is lots of water before, during and after to protect the vocal chords. Warming up his voice before a show is also important as is not talking afterwards. It's basically common sense.
 
I was blown away how good bonos voice sounded on "Miss Sarajevo" when I saw the band on 10/17 in Philly. Ya I heard some recordings of "Pride" where bono is like "In The Name!" and hes pushing his voice so hard that it sounds like hes shredding up his vocal chords there, lol
 
He revealed recently in Rolling Stone that he had a major heath scare a few years back - throat cancer was suspected but eventually dismissed. He admits his singing suffered for quite a while especially thru the Pop period. Likely he's had voice lessons in order to revam[p his voice and to learn to sing in a tenor voice for the opera stuff.
Anyone heard him doing Ava Maria? very cool.

BTW, Adam actually took singing lessons during his stay in NY in the '90's. As well as bass lessons.
 
joe8pizza said:
I was blown away how good bonos voice sounded on "Miss Sarajevo" when I saw the band on 10/17 in Philly. Ya I heard some recordings of "Pride" where bono is like "In The Name!" and hes pushing his voice so hard that it sounds like hes shredding up his vocal chords there, lol

Yeah, Milan was an awesome version of "Miss Sarajevo" too. It really moved me, I'm sure it was even better in person.:drool:
 
Carek1230 said:
Bono's voice is currenty prime. No matter whether he has had vocal coaching. His voice is very important to this band and as an incurance policy the most important thing is for Bono to take care ofhis voice. Cutting out tabacco, caffein, and not eating certain foods or plain not eating for severl hours prior to a show is important as is lots of water before, during and after to protect the vocal chords. Warming up his voice before a show is also important as is not talking afterwards. It's basically common sense.

Hate to contradict, but while what you are saying makes common sense for alot of singers (actually, minus the not eating at all several hours before, this is actually not a good practice), Bono violates pretty much every one of those suggestions up to thins day.

In answer to the original question though, yes he has been taking vocal coaching and it has certainly paid off, he's better now than he has been in many years.
 
I don't really know for sure, but I think so. Just listen to two concerts, one from earlier tours, like Joshua tree, or even zoo tv, and listen to him now, even during popmart. But this is just an opinion. He sings better now, but I think he lost some power in certain moments (good for miss sarajevo, but not for songs like sunday bloody sunday, where he needs extra feel).
 
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