Michael Jackson's Speaking Voice . . . like a child ?

I noticed that he had a high-pitched voice. However, it wasn't so much about HOW he spoke but what he talked about. He seemed very like a pollyanna or whatever the male version is. Not quite earthly. He seemd quite out of touch, to put it mildly.

Agreed.
The whole package was all pointing in the same direction,
which was childlikeness. That was my impression of it, anyway.

He was unique in my experience in that respect.
I don 't remember seeing anyone like that before.

I wonder whether being terrified of his father
had anything to do with it. On a talk show,
he said that he was so afraid of the beatings
that he got from his father, during the early
years of his career, that before each musical
performance he went in private and vomited.

Possibly,
that might not have been good for his mind.





David

Here's an analogy to another performer of the past, David. I think you're old enough to remember Tiny Tim. In comparison, he was childlike and had a high-pitched speaking voice and whose psyche seemed not rooted into reality. Any interview with him there was a crapshoot whether or not you'd get an answer you would understand. My impression was that he seemed asexual. There was no crime associated in that...he jsut was not a mainstream "Swimmer". His publicity stunt marriage to Miss Vicky was doomed and ended in divorce.

Yes; I remember him on Johnny Carson.
I thought his singing with his mandolin (?) was making fun of himself.
I seem to recall his proclaiming his love for Miss Vicky, in his first interview
(probably an effort to avoid attributions of homosexuality)
who he eventually married on the show.
I think that was the only wedding on the Tonight Show.

He was indeed off the beaten path.
I wonder whether he ever met Michael Jackson.
Of course back then he was a child.

Mr. P. told me a story about a kid of about 12-13 with whom he went to school. He said that the kid had this falsetto type of voice. One day the teacher told the kid to speak in his real voice, and out comes this basso profundo.

He obviously was very sensitive about his extremely manly voice, while most of the other boys in his class still had their pre-pubescent voices.

I had heard he took estrogen at one point to keep his voice high...could that be true? I don't know where I heard it...I was in high school when I heard that I think.

That 's interesting.
The human mind has many variations.
I remember kids that age (myself among them) striving to be manly.
My voice was deeper than the other boys then n I liked that.





David

I dunno.
I don 't have enuf information about the effects of estrogen to judge it.
I know that the flow of testosterone is affected by the testes
and the castrati were handled that way to preserve a hi singing voice.

I can only guess that their speaking voices were higher too.

FWIW, Tiny Tim actually spoke in a baritone (equivalent) voice, but sang in a falsetto. This and his ukelele playing weren't/wasn't something he did to make fun of himself. He was a novelty act and it worked for him. He mad a lot of money (approx $60k/week in Vegas in '68-'69) doing his well-honed schtick. He was a real student of music and musical styles of 1900-1940

I thought he spoke in a hi pitched voice; I might be rong.
The basis of the novelty act was implicitly making fun of himself;
unless I misunderstand.

I think you're wrong. I just listened to him in an interview from 1993...not high pitched..a baritone speaking voice. very much a student of the history of popular music 1890-1940.

Somehow he was trying to convince and sell people on his serious love -- these old songs and restore their popularity. He was sort of a channel. He knew what he was and he was lucky to have found a promoter who hooked him up at the right time.

That sounds plausible.

What about Michael 's juvenile sounding speaking voice ?
Can we learn anything from that ?
I wonder whether that is indicative of his emotional infrastructure.

more than likely. He seemed fragile and damaged in so many ways.

It's my understanding that Michael Jackson was known to wear spats;

I wonder whether that is indicative of his emotional infrastructure.

That coud be, Dys; probably is.

Do u wear spats, Dys ?

sometimes a vocalist (especially a world-class professional) is known for a high singing voice. In order to preserve that voice, they'll raise the pitch of their speaking voice. Vocal coaches will often advise singers to use their speaking pitch as the centre of their singing range, a process which can also work in reverse.

I recently watched several interviews with him, and found out that he always uses a falsetto on camera and on stage. For those who do not know what falsetto is, it is artificially high voice. In these interviews, he used his "true" voice, which turns out to be a VERY nice baritone.

He stated that he thought it was about time people heard his real voice, and that he was tired of hiding behind his falsetto, even though it was what he used to become famous. He really was trying to make a comeback. I think he would of succeeded. RIP Michael Jackson. He will be sorely missed.

In fact, it's stranger than that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsTIhT9KVPg

You'll notice that, suddenly, his voice isn't particularly low. Lisa Marie Presley confirmed that he had a much deeper voice behind closed doors than the one he employed in public. She also reported that he drank alcohol (socially), cursed and cracked funny jokes.

So what gives?

Like almost all of the greats... Michael had his game, and he played it well. All icons have flair. Think about it: Marilyn Monroe, Jack Kennedy, Ali, Lou Reed, Elvis, Hitler. (Don't laugh about that last name; he's a major icon of the 20th century.) Each of them worked his own pretty good schwerve. They projected "image."

Michael was once featured in The National Enquirer in a photo of him lying inside a hyperbaric chamber. Various sources say that HE HIMSELF gave them that picture. He was shy in his personal life. Publicly, he knew how to work his audience.

I'll miss him. It's not my place to judge him personally; I'm amazed by people who do. Was I ever in his bedroom? A court of law acquitted him; the court of public opinion tried to execute him. I won't judge him on what I never saw. I'll judge him on what I saw. He was the greatest performer in the history of pop music. He had the greatest voice, he created the performance playbook of dance moves, he had thirteen #1 hits... twenty eight top 10 hits... out of only 59 singles! His first #1 was at the age of 13. His face is the second most recognized of the 20th century... behind Elvis'. (Most polls have him roughly tied with Muhammad Ali and Kennedy for second place. Hitler, Stalin, etc. are lower on the list!)

And here's my point: Which of Michael's faces do you figure was most recognizable? I think it's clear that the face of his later years is, by far, the most distinctive. Many people found it bizarre, but it was all Michael's own creation. He sculpted it. He sculpted his image. His voice. Neverland. It was his world... alien and lonely as it might've been.

His legend will only grow. The CD/DVD that will soon be put out to show us what his tour would've been like will doubtlessly be the biggest selling album ever... blowing the doors off of "Thriller." I just sense that. Legends only grow around icons and icons... idols... are IMAGES.

Whether or not the voice was a put-on... it was memorable and, thus, very effective.

Nice post.