Hey, Guys. Ken Tamplin here, from Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy.
I’d like to talk to you about a subject that keeps coming up, over and over again,
and the subject is: “Can ANYONE sing?” Can anyone be a singer, or can anyone be a
music artist? I’m actually here to tell you that singers
are only singers because they have the GUTS to be one. You heard me right. Singers are
only singers because they have the guts to be one.
Well, what about natural talent? I was told that, you know, “born a singer, always a
singer, if you weren’t born with it, you don’t have the natural ability.” It’s
just not true. Not only is it not true, I want to share some things with you.
I started out as a guitar player. I was never a singer. In fact, the only reason I sang
was to have something to get me in-between my guitar solos. I actually didn’t even
take my voice seriously until I was nineteen years old. And my highest note was an F#,
right? I was known to sing an occasional A, but you know, “OOOOOOOOH!” An A “AAAAAAAAAAH!”
was like the highest note I could sing. Well, today, because I’ve learned so much about
the voice and I’ve studied from some of the greatest vocal teachers this world has
to offer: “LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” (sings a 2-octave F# siren )
“YEAAAAAAAH, YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”(B5 down to F#5) Right?
My range, I was told I was a baritone and I should never try to sing beyond an F# or
a G below middle C. If I had believed that I wouldn’t be here, where I am today. I
wouldn’t be here with the range that I have today, if I had believed what people told
me about my voice. True Story. So, was I born with a natural talent? “Sure
Ken, it’s easy for you. You were just born with a natural gift.”
I was born with some gift. Like you. You’re born with some gift. Some people say “I
couldn’t sing to save my life.” Well, there are those people out there, and they
can sing too, if they really want to put their minds to it. But let me say this: We talked
about great singers and Can Anyone Be a Singer? I didn’t say “Anyone can be Mariah Carey”
or “anyone can be Whitney Houston” or “Anyone can be Aretha Franklin” or Christine
Aguilera or Etta James, or whomever. I AM saying that YES, and by the way, how many
Aretha Franklins and Christine Aguileras and Etta James’s are there in the world?
Right? They’re in the Top Ten, right? But Below That, anything below that, do you have
the ability to apply yourself with a passion and discipline of what it takes to be a SINGER?
Or a Music Artist? And the answer would be YES! If you really want to set your mind to
it, You Can Do It. I would like to talk about a couple of some
of the greatest artists of all time. In fact, I’d like to start out talking a little bit,
and by the way there’s lots of styles of singing. There’s OOOOOHHH (demonstrates
R n’B licks). You know, you could do like an R n’ B kind of thing, or an Usher, or
Neo, or Chris Cornell, or Myles Kennedy, or Daughtry, or Brent Smith, or… there’s
lots of different styles of singing and lots of different ways of presenting your artistry.
But I want to talk about a guy named Bob Dylan, and Bob Dylan probably has affected more lives,
more artists than any artist alive. I kid you not. If you Google his name and say “Who
has covered songs by Bob Dylan” it’s going to blow your mind. Now Bob Dylan (imitating
Bob Dylan’s Voice) “You’re gonna have to Serve Somebody. It may be the devil, or
it may be The Lord, but you’re gonna have to Serve Somebody” and he’s got this real
froggy, little voice, right? Do you have any idea the kind of impact that Bob Dylan, as
an artist, has made on artists around the world?
People that have covered his songs, like I mentioned Adele, she covered “Make You Feel
My Love”, Guns n’ Roses covered Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. You’ve
got the Chemical Brothers, Ozzy Osbourne, Kelly Clarkson, Green Day, Jimi Hendrix, Jack
Johnson, Norah Jones, Johnny Cash… I could go on, and on, and on, and on… But from
every walk of life, not even just one R n’ B, or Rock. Every walk of life has done a
Bob Dylan song, right? It didn’t stop, and let’s take another guy: Louis Armstrong.
Louis Armstrong’s Dad told him, you know, Louis… Give it up. You’ve got the froggiest
voice in the world. You’re a great trumpet player. Go back to playing trumpet. Stay on
the trumpet. Don’t Sing. You’re just embarrassing yourself, right? And so what does he do? He
goes on to write “What a Wonderful World”. Right? You know it. That song is, I think,
in the Top Ten most requested Movie Soundtrack songs of ALL TIME. And look who’s covered his
music: Coldplay. Sara Brightman. Michael Buble’. Minsitry, a METAL Band! You know? Rod Stewart!
Right? And look who he’s influenced. Guys like Andre Crouch, who ALSO has a very froggy
voice, right? Who’s arguably maybe one of the greatest, if not THE greatest gospel artists
of all time. Right? He got to help do the backgrounds to the LION KING and things like,
I mean… Let’s talk about Randy Newman: “You Got a Friend in Me! You Got a Friend
in Me!” Right? Toy Story One, Two, and Three? He also did Monsters, INC; Bug’s Life; Sea
Biscuit, Leather Heads… I could go on and on and on about the Grammys and all the things
he’s won, you know? Short People Got No Reason to Live…
I say that guys, because the idea that it’s given over to an “Elite Group of People”
and only these guys are allowed to do it, these “Singer Guys” over there, they’re
the only ones allowed to do it. I’m here to tell you it’s just not true.
You, if you want to apply yourself, you can be and do anything you want to be. In fact,
like I said, most of the guitar players that I teach right now are fronting all their own
bands, and were always subject to the singer. It was always “Oh, we gotta let the singer
do it” because they never saw themselves as the singer… and NOW, they’re fronting
their own groups, and they're kickin’ Major Butt.
So, I would just encourage you, man, you know, if you want to learn how to sing, and you
want to do it, here at Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy, if you like the way I sing, I’ll show you
how I do it. The PROOF is in the SINGING.
A singer is only a singer because he’s got the GUTS to be one.
Thank you for listening.