It’s been with rock since the beginning – the idea of one outstanding singer with a backing band. Think of Buddy Holly & the Crickets, Mick Jagger & the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Freddie Mercury & Queen and so many more.
But there’s second dynamic some bands follow – one that we think produces much more interesting results. That’s the concept of sharing lead vocal duties. The two bands who led this trend are also the two groups that definitely moved us from the “fifties sound” into the “Sound of the Sixties”: The Beach Boys & the Beatles.
Both group’s albums featured every member of those combos taking a stab at lead vocals. While John & Paul split the majority of Beatles lead vocal duties, George was typically allowed two songs of his own while Ringo would take a stab at least one vocal per LP. Meanwhile, the Beach Boys’ Mike Love is often thought of as a lead singer, but that’s just because he didn’t play any actual instrument on stage. The truth is that Carl Wilson, Al Jardine, Brian Wilson & Dennis Wilson all took turns singing lead on the band’s songs.
Having more than one vocalist allows a band to sound somewhat different from tune to tune. Here is a short list (by no means complete) of some of the band’s who pass the microphone around:
- ABBA
- Beach Boys
- Beatles
- Bee Gees
- Buffalo Springfield
- Byrds
- Crosby, Stills, Nash &Young
- Eagles
- Fleetwood Mac
- Mamas & Papas
- Monkees
- Moody Blues
- Mothers of Invention
- Pink Floyd
- 10cc
- Three Dog Night
Then, there are a handful of bands who aren’t quite as generous as the above-named groups, but not as stingy as the solo frontman bands. These bands typically feature two vocalists who trade leads and they include:
- Cars
- Cream
- Doobie Brothers
- Hall & Oates
- Heart
- Jefferson Airplane
And finally, we have the Who. Totally unique in this grouping. For the most part, Roger Daltrey has functioned as the band’s lead singer, but often, there are bits within a Who song where the vocals are handled by Pete Townsend (and a handful where Pete sings lead throughout the song). Typically, bassist John Entwistle contributed a song or two to each LP and sang lead on those and once in a blue moon (pun intended), Keith Moon would get a shot at singing lead. But, unquestionably, when you think of the Who, you picture Daltrey handling the vocals.
So, in the final analysis, which style do you prefer and can you think of any multi-vocalist bands we’ve missed?
