Did Bono Ever Have Singing Lessons?

[Gonna Run 2 U]

I believe he could have had a singing coach during some point in his career. I mean just compare the strength of his voice from demo periods to achtung baby. A lot of it may have came just from sheer repetition of singing for years, maturation and finally mastering his craft. Im just curious if he is all natural talent or if they ever had him coached.

 

[diamond]

Yes, on several occassions.

Chrissie Hynde from the Pretenders helped him during the Joshua Tree Tour if I remember correctly, which was in the late 80s, but it's a bit of a blur to me now.

The Pretenders were the opening act that tour.



I saw The Pretenders first in 1978, and U2 first in the 1983.


http://www.wickedlocal.com/content/...8fe5960979c6274db45def1a6895c3016921f2133.jpg


dbs

 

[diamond]

I believe he could have had a singing coach during some point in his career. I mean just compare the strength of his voice from demo periods to achtung baby. A lot of it may have came just from sheer repetition of singing for years, maturation and finally mastering his craft. Im just curious if he is all natural talent or if they ever had him coached.

His voice was injured quite a bit after Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum era.

If you notice this is why songs like The Fly, Zoo Station and others are manipulated and remixed a bit on Achtung Baby.

I'm certain he had retraining during this era, from who -not sure.

Doctor Who would probably know a long time Interference member on these issues.

<>

 

[Gonna Run 2 U]

Re: Re: Did Bono Ever Have Singing Lessons?

His voice was injured quite a bit after Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum era.

If you notice this is why songs like The Fly, Zoo Station and others are manipulated and remixed a bit on Achtung Baby.

I'm certain he had retraining during this era, from who -not sure.

Doctor Who would probably know a long time Interference member on these issues.

<>

I think the Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum era was the strongest era of his voice. He really put everything he had into his singing (seeing the Paris concert and Rattle and Hum flick). Not too much of a surprise that it was injured after singing for a few years like that....I was just wondering if he was coached on the way to get his voice so strong for those tours..not to revive it for achtung..Never knew the Pretenders were the opening act or that she coached him..cheers.

 

[diamond]

I think that's why we'll never hear Red Hill Mining Town live.

 

[65980]

Red Hill Mining Town is a damn hard song to sing. Try crooning along with it on Joshua Tree! No shame that he didn't want to attempt that live. Maybe early in the show he could have pulled it off, but they probably figured it wasn't a strong enough song to play 3rd or 4th from the top.

Bono may have been 'coached' by some friends and colleagues -- I'm certain he has been -- but has he ever had a professional, standard sort of voice teacher?

 

[BVS]

Re: Re: Re: Did Bono Ever Have Singing Lessons?

I think the Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum era was the strongest era of his voice. He really put everything he had into his singing (seeing the Paris concert and Rattle and Hum flick). Not too much of a surprise that it was injured after singing for a few years like that....I was just wondering if he was coached on the way to get his voice so strong for those tours..not to revive it for achtung..Never knew the Pretenders were the opening act or that she coached him..cheers.

Unfortunately most of his singing up to this point was poor technique, it was good "singing", just improper technique that eventually lead to some overall wear. He has taken lessons over the years and has improved his technique tremendously. But tone is always going to be subjective, as you will find on here, some think his "kermit" voice was the greatest thing we'll ever hear, and some think his voice now is the greatest it's ever been.

 

[diamond]

I think his voice was the strongest, best and rawest on War.

Drowning Man, NYD, maybe on October with Scarlet and Tomorrow too.

Those songs seem to almost want to knock walls down .

That's when his voice was the freshest, purest and not manipulated one iota.

I did hear that thru later years he did injure his vocal cords, has had minor surgery-post Rattle and Hum and had retraining on his singing per what BVS has stated.

dbs

 

[U2387]

I knew about Hynde and the Pretenders for JT tour, she helped him out quite a bit on Pride as well if my memory serves me correctly. Anyways, I'm sure he was retrained so to speak between Lovetown and Zoo TV-just listen to the difference between especially Streets and Pride on each tour. Streets was no longer performed in the deep voice of the 80s and more attention was paid to building the song up steadily rather than going deep into high, back to deep, grunting, etc like u see on JT tour. Pride was completely reworked, slowed slightly and more focused on actually getting the notes down as opposed to just belting it out at the top of his lungs. Bono also had voice lessons before the Elevation tour, as he had serious vocal cord/throat trouble(maybe even an injury, but its 3AM and I dont feel like googling it now) and was worried it would end his career. His voice had trouble during that whole late popmart era into 2000 and he had to take lessons as well as adapt his voice for Elevation. Elevation was not his strongest voice period, but his technique and control was unbelievable. I think the Vertigo tour really saw some of his best vocal work since Zoo TV. Some stand outs were, for me, An cat dubh/into the heart, electric co, mysterious ways, miracle drug, COBL and RTSS on Chicago DVD as well as Glendale April 15 2005. However, his voice was far and away the best it has been since Zoo TV on the last leg of the Vertigo tour in Australia/NZ/Japan and Pacific! Pride, Streets, NYD, SBS, Bad, One Tree Hill, all sounded amazing. I do not think he took lessons for this leg, he just had a good amount of rest, and also, he lost some weight and got back into working out for it. Bono has also been rumored to have either cut back or stopped smoking entirely. Anyone know for sure?? Also, look at Union Chapel gig, especially Stay and Wave of Sorrow in 2007 for the best Bono vocals since rattle and hum. Which is better, his 'kermit voice' of JT? R&H or his technical voice now? As others have already said better than me, it is completely subjective and I do not have an answer myself. Sometimes I like one or the other, depending what I feel like listening. For example, I do not think rattle and hum dvd streets is better or worse than zoo tv sydney streets, just different. Sometimes I prefer one or the other, sometimes I prefer to listen to his new voice showcased on Vertigo, etc, etc.

 

[ultraviolet92]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Did Bono Ever Have Singing Lessons?

Unfortunately most of his singing up to this point was poor technique, it was good "singing", just improper technique that eventually lead to some overall wear. He has taken lessons over the years and has improved his technique tremendously. But tone is always going to be subjective, as you will find on here, some think his "kermit" voice was the greatest thing we'll ever hear, and some think his voice now is the greatest it's ever been.

lol the kermit voice i love his voice in the 26th of december 1989 concert in god part 2 especially "DONT BELIEVE THE 60's, THE GOLDEN AGE OF POP YOU GLORIFY THE PAST FUTURE DRIES UUUP"

i think his voice was at his worse either early on or the popmart/elevation tour

his voice has become much better recently

 

[misterboo]

Re: Re: Did Bono Ever Have Singing Lessons?

His voice was injured quite a bit after Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum era.

If you notice this is why songs like The Fly, Zoo Station and others are manipulated and remixed a bit on Achtung Baby.

<>

I think this was actually a deliberate decision by Bono to manipulate his voice on this album, rather than due to the effects of touring and poor technique.

I remember seeing an interview with him where he said he wanted his voice to be less vowel-ey, and the only way they could find to accentuate the consonants was to put the kind of effects over the top of his voice that you hear on The Fly and Zoo Station.

 

[last unicorn]

Well, there has been quite some discussion about which era his voice was "best". It's all subjective. Just wait for Peter to come into this thread.

In the 80s, he had a strong voice and a lot of volume, but all he did was shout, he had no real singing technique, so he was basically straining his voice (you can see how much he's straining when you watch videos from this era) and wearing it out. That, along with an infection and allergies led to his voice being damaged.

I believe (and have heard/read about it) that he had a professional vocal choach in recent years, when he discovered that, after the low point that was Pop-Elevation, he was starting to get some of his voice back. His current voice may not have the volume and rawness it had back in the 80s, but he has sure gained a lot of technique to make up for that. He said several times that he was training his voice with a coach and was becoming more confident of himself as a singer.

 

[U2girl]

I think so, but recently (I think he changed his singing on his own between Lovetown and Zoo TV), ie last two tours.

I remember reading an article where his singing coach thought Bono reached bel canto.

 

[DevilsShoes]

I remember reading an interview from the start of the Lovetown tour where Bono spoke of his admiration for BB Kings voice and how BB had been teaching him how to really belt out the high notes without ruining his voice, although I'm not sure exactly how effective this teaching was or how successfully Bono applied it.

Other than that, I don't think he's had all that much training, and from Boy to Joshua Tree I'm not sure he had any sininging lessons whatsoever, he pretty much confirms this in an interview just after Live Aid. As others have said he certainly took some lessons around 1999/2000, but I think this was more to do with realising his voice was a little ragged after years of touring and he needed to preserve what he had left.

 

[Rob33]

Listen to Union Chapel.

 

[Liesje]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Did Bono Ever Have Singing Lessons?

Unfortunately most of his singing up to this point was poor technique, it was good "singing", just improper technique that eventually lead to some overall wear. He has taken lessons over the years and has improved his technique tremendously. But tone is always going to be subjective, as you will find on here, some think his "kermit" voice was the greatest thing we'll ever hear, and some think his voice now is the greatest it's ever been.

I am among the latter . I do miss the smooth tone and texture of his earlier voice, but I agree, as far as correct technique, he has really improved. For some reason, AB/ZooTV is my least favorite Bono voice, along with the "kermit", but there were some highlights during the kermit era!!

 

[Rob33]

I think so, but recently (I think he changed his singing on his own between Lovetown and Zoo TV), ie last two tours.

I remember reading an article where his singing coach thought Bono reached bel canto.

a recent article?

 

[ultraviolet92]

peter????

 

[ultraviolet92]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Did Bono Ever Have Singing Lessons?

I am among the latter . I do miss the smooth tone and texture of his earlier voice, but I agree, as far as correct technique, he has really improved. For some reason, AB/ZooTV is my least favorite Bono voice, along with the "kermit", but there were some highlights during the kermit era!!

lovetown zoo tv was his best most powerful and tuneful and toneful

 

[U2girl]

a recent article?

No, circa 2000.

 

[ultraviolet92]

in my opinion
but i dont really know
i know peter knows a lot about his voice

 

[diamond]

Re: Re: Re: Did Bono Ever Have Singing Lessons?

I think this was actually a deliberate decision by Bono to manipulate his voice on this album, rather than due to the effects of touring and poor technique.

I remember seeing an interview with him where he said he wanted his voice to be less vowel-ey, and the only way they could find to accentuate the consonants was to put the kind of effects over the top of his voice that you hear on The Fly and Zoo Station.

I think that was a "cover story".

He actually blew his vocal chords out, had to manipulate his voice because they were damaged and needed them to be operated on and also needed retraining.

I could be all wet here too.



dbs

 

[corianderstem]

Re: Re: Re: Did Bono Ever Have Singing Lessons?

I remember seeing an interview with him where he said he wanted his voice to be less vowel-ey, and the only way they could find to accentuate the consonants was to put the kind of effects over the top of his voice that you hear on The Fly and Zoo Station.

Huh, weird. I can't imagine using effects as being the best way to achieve that. To me, it seems pretty easy to emphasize consonants - you just spit them out and well, emphasize them.

Maybe Bono didn't know what he was talking about and was just being a blowhard.

As for Diamond's theory, I don't know that he did that much damage to his vocal cords. It seems improbable to me that they would be so damaged that they'd cover the vocals with effects on the album.

If they were that badly damaged, I don't know how he could go on tour and sing at all, much less on a tour that lasted well over a year.

Yeah, he did hurt his voice with all the screaming/"bad" singing, and the node surgery and any training would be a gimme there. But I don't think it could have been that bad.

 

[greety]

I'm not exactly sure in which booklet (HTDAAB maybe) Bono thanks Tine Verbeke, but she IS/was his coach and she is Belgian

Tine Verbeke
soprano
A native of Belgium, Tine began her career in singing as a member of the RTE Singers in Dublin during the 1980's.

She has performed throughout Ireland and European centres and teaches at Alexandra College in Dublin.

She is also in demand as vocal coach for a number of Ireland's rock stars, including Bono and Christy Moore.

http://homepage.tinet.ie/~concorde/artists.html

Scroll halfway down..

 

[Gonna Run 2 U]

I think the version of bad on rattle and hum has some great examples of him beating the crap out of his voice so LET IT GOOOO!!! (SCREAM).

 

[Liesje]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Did Bono Ever Have Singing Lessons?

lovetown zoo tv was his best most powerful and tuneful and toneful

Lovetown...or ZooTV? I love Lovetown, just not the Kermit thing.

 

[diamond]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Did Bono Ever Have Singing Lessons?

As for Diamond's theory, I don't know that he did that much damage to his vocal cords. It seems improbable to me that they would be so damaged that they'd cover the vocals with effects on the album.


Yeah, he did hurt his voice with all the screaming/"bad" singing, and the node surgery and any training would be a gimme there. But I don't think it could have been that bad.

Umm, I meant if you listen to JT Bono vocals to AB vocals there is a vast difference.

I think with the end of 1989 and Bono making statements like "they were going to dream it all up again"..it could of also meant to include a new style of singing as shown on AB since his vocal chords were bad off and at this time this is where he *could have* had surgery and possible voice retraining afterwards.

I miss the raw screaming Bono vocals of the 1980s.

NYD nowadays live has Edge carrying him in places and only because it's Bono his fans seem to accept the transformation of the vocal texture.

I mean Bono is mortal after all despite what some of us may read.

dbs

 

[last unicorn]

I prefer the voice Bono has today, because it almost hurts me physically to hear him singing like he did in the 80s. He was raping his voice back then on a regular basis.

 

[ultraviolet92]

i love the kermit!!!! bring it back

 

[Peterrrrr]

I believe he could have had a singing coach during some point in his career. I mean just compare the strength of his voice from demo periods to achtung baby. A lot of it may have came just from sheer repetition of singing for years, maturation and finally mastering his craft. Im just curious if he is all natural talent or if they ever had him coached.

When they recorded UF, Bono had a vocal coach. His change from the demo days to the middle of the 80's has also alot to do with the natural learning if you start to sing and neve has done it before.

His voice was injured quite a bit after Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum era.
<>

He strained his voica alot on JT tour, but Jt tour is nothing in straining and pushing the voice compare what he did on LT tour, yes all the straining and screaming was bad, but still impressive. The 1989-12-26 - Dublin show is the best example, his voice is very strong on the whole show, but there is a bit whsiper hoarse sound in the backgorund of his voice on that tour, wich was caused by all the screaming/straining. At the end of that show when he starts to sing Love Rescue Me yuo can realy hear how tired his basic voice is after a the whole show wich contains alot of screams and straining. But on LT he started to devolope a more deep sound in his voice. I realy love the sound he has in the studio version of Night And Day when he sings in the beginning of the song "only YOU" he sings the word you calm but still there is an amazing power. Something he never had durning JT tour.

But all those energy screams/strainings from LT tour did made damage, he had to change his vocal style totaly.
The story behind those soundboards on the Dublin show on LT tour was that Bono recorded them for a doctor to analize his vocal style. The doctor told him that if he contunie to sing lika that he would destroy his voice.
Well he did start to sing more carefully on AB/ZooTV, but still there where alot of strainings/scream on that tour and even more alcohol and smoking...

After ZooTV on the performences in 95 his voice was still strong but you could realy hear that his voice was shaky.
On Popmart his voice was much weaker, the falsetto had lost a bit power also. But he had still power in his voice, a example of that is the "say its true..." part on NYD, and the "up with the sun" part on Gone on the Sarajevo version.
In 98 he did a throat surgey, and that changed his voice even more, just listen to Slide Away with Michael H. His voice is so weak on that song, that must been just after the surgy. And it wasnt better on the pre tour of ATYCLB, on Elevation tour his voice was still weak but you could hear an improvement wich contunie in 2002 when they released Electrical Storm.
On the 2003 performences Bono's voice was much stronger but a bit shaky. It was like he just got a never stronger voice but hadnt figure out how to hanlde it.

From 2004-08 his voice has contunie to prove, there must be some way of voice coaching, but stilll his voice is healing from the throat surgey. It takes a long long time to heal that and get back on the top agian. And I think he is on the top now, but he will still contunie to devolpe his voice. His voice is much deeper, and richer in years. And his technique is better then ever, something that is amazing is that he mixing is emotional singing with technical singing. Something that many singers dosnt succed in doing, to much technical stuff can be booring. But in Bonos case

And yes his voice now is his best ever if you see in hitting high notes, clean notes with out scream/straining, holding them for long and in a technical view.

Some example are:

- Wide Awake on Bad is hit so clean and the HIGH C is also hit these days. Something that he never did on JT/LT and ZooTV tour. He had to strain and scream to hit the note, nut still he never came up to the HIGH C. These days it sound so easy for him to sing the note, he even sang the part three times in the song on Vertigo tour.

- On the LT tour when he sang "All I Want Is Youuuuuuuuu" he had to do it with a screaming voice, on Vertigo tour his voice was clean when he sang it, and it was high and even long(7 seconds on Buenos Aires).

- In the studio version of WOS he hit the "Wave" note with an amazing strong sound, that fully sound would have been impossible for Bono in trhe 80's/90's to get.

- His kermit oprah sound was taken one step further on Vertigo tour, listen to the snippet in the end of 2006-12-04 - Tokyo version of SYCMIOYO.

I think the Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum era was the strongest era of his voice.

In screaming yes, not in singing. But listen to Desire from the Union Chapel show last year, "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH Sister Can't Leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet you go", that is the strongest version ever on that line.

I remember reading an interview from the start of the Lovetown tour where Bono spoke of his admiration for BB Kings voice and how BB had been teaching him how to really belt out the high notes without ruining his voice, although I'm not sure exactly how effective this teaching was or how successfully Bono applied it.

Haha that was funny, I can agree with you that it wasnt to effective.