Fergie Frederiksen considered as lead singer in 1982?

[Idiosyncrasy]

I was looking at some information about Fergie, after noticing he's credited as singing backing vocals on Eye of the Tiger (American Heartbeat, specifically - I think - don't have the album in front of me).

On Wikipedia (not reliable, I know!) it says the band were already thinking about losing Dave in 1982; Fergie auditioned as a possible replacement which is how he ended up singing backing vocals. I never knew this! I didn't think Dave started having vocal problems until 1983/1984, so I wonder why they were already considering a lineup change?

Anyone else shed any light on this?

[MarcelJordan]

I brought this up last year. Nothing factual as far as any official news is concerned. But in 1984 before JJ was chosen Chalfant almost got the job.

MJ

[Joe Vana]

I was looking at some information about Fergie, after noticing he's credited as singing backing vocals on Eye of the Tiger (American Heartbeat, specifically - I think - don't have the album in front of me).

On Wikipedia (not reliable, I know!) it says the band were already thinking about losing Dave in 1982; Fergie auditioned as a possible replacement which is how he ended up singing backing vocals. I never knew this! I didn't think Dave started having vocal problems until 1983/1984, so I wonder why they were already considering a lineup change?

Anyone else shed any light on this?

I do not think this was the case

[kgdjpubs]

If there was any consideration at all, it would be Dave's stage presence....or lack thereof. Great singer, but not much of a frontman. If there was pressure though, it appears to have been record company induced, not from the band. If you look at one of JP's interviews with Andrew, he said that the main reason they made the change was not wanting to wait the year or so for Dave's voice to recover and were afraid they would lose the momentum. With the underwhelming performance of Caught in the Game, that's understandable. Either way, I would imagine frontman considerations entered into the final decision of replacing Dave or waiting for his voice to recover at some point.

That said, my opinion on the whole thing is that the vocal problems were caused primarily by the Tiger tour more than anything else. If you listen to Premonition and Eye of the Tiger back to back, Dave is singing considerably higher on Tiger. In other words, the songs were higher-pitched. Being able to sing it in a studio environment wasn't the problem. Going out on an extended tour, with sleep issues, stress, differing climates and humidity and the ever present issue of allergies and sickness, you are going to be pushing your voice harder and there are going to be times when that upper limit of your range is going to be diminished regardless of what you do. With Premonition and the debut album, Dave had a bit more of a fallback, but the Tiger album was pretty close to the top of his range. Wouldn't surprise me at all if that's where the vocal problems started. I'm not sure where it all fell apart with the node on the vocal cords, but there is a distinct change in his voice from Tiger to Caught in the Game. I think his phrasing and singing had improved, but technically, his voice was in diminished condition on the CITG album.

[Journey/Survivor]

From everything that I've ever heard in the past, Dave started suffering his vocal problems during the EOTT tour.

I've always thought that Dave sounded his best on Survivor's first album, and parts of Premonition.

[Idiosyncrasy]

I'm not sure it's true either! The video it links to as a reference point has Fergie talk about doing backing vocals, but he doesn't mention being considered as the lead vocalist.

The thing that struck me was Dave's role being questionned BEFORE the EOTT album was recorded (hence Fergie appearing on backing vocals on the album itself). You can really hear the difference between Dave's performance on that and CITG, but I wasn't aware there were issues even earlier than that.

Maybe Fergie was considered for the post along with Chalfant and Jamo during the Vital Signs auditions? That would make more sense.

[Joe Vana]

If there was any consideration at all, it would be Dave's stage presence....or lack thereof. Great singer, but not much of a frontman. If there was pressure though, it appears to have been record company induced, not from the band. If you look at one of JP's interviews with Andrew, he said that the main reason they made the change was not wanting to wait the year or so for Dave's voice to recover and were afraid they would lose the momentum. With the underwhelming performance of Caught in the Game, that's understandable. Either way, I would imagine frontman considerations entered into the final decision of replacing Dave or waiting for his voice to recover at some point.

That said, my opinion on the whole thing is that the vocal problems were caused primarily by the Tiger tour more than anything else. If you listen to Premonition and Eye of the Tiger back to back, Dave is singing considerably higher on Tiger. In other words, the songs were higher-pitched. Being able to sing it in a studio environment wasn't the problem. Going out on an extended tour, with sleep issues, stress, differing climates and humidity and the ever present issue of allergies and sickness, you are going to be pushing your voice harder and there are going to be times when that upper limit of your range is going to be diminished regardless of what you do. With Premonition and the debut album, Dave had a bit more of a fallback, but the Tiger album was pretty close to the top of his range. Wouldn't surprise me at all if that's where the vocal problems started. I'm not sure where it all fell apart with the node on the vocal cords, but there is a distinct change in his voice from Tiger to Caught in the Game. I think his phrasing and singing had improved, but technically, his voice was in diminished condition on the CITG album.

Good post....

EOTT is at the top of Dave's sustainable range....meaning that the tessitura of the songs are very high throughout....not just high here and there....c6 and up....Dave was a beast...an amazing singer....

Back then tunes were written based on higher is better...with no regard to the singer....I remember all those many demo sessions I sang for JP....I would think to myself who the fuck is going to sing the finals on this!! I sing high, real high...I Was blessed with huge range....but to do it every night would kill me....I know LOTS of guys did steroids in the past, it even smoked some guys after a few years of use....I did them once, for World Stage II...I was really sick, went to the best throat guy and he gave me a script...they were like miracle pills....then a few weeks later I was told they were steroids....never took
them again...I do wonder how many guys have axes that are worthless now because they over used that shit...

JV

[Journey/Survivor]

If there was any consideration at all, it would be Dave's stage presence....or lack thereof. Great singer, but not much of a frontman. If there was pressure though, it appears to have been record company induced, not from the band. If you look at one of JP's interviews with Andrew, he said that the main reason they made the change was not wanting to wait the year or so for Dave's voice to recover and were afraid they would lose the momentum. With the underwhelming performance of Caught in the Game, that's understandable. Either way, I would imagine frontman considerations entered into the final decision of replacing Dave or waiting for his voice to recover at some point.

That said, my opinion on the whole thing is that the vocal problems were caused primarily by the Tiger tour more than anything else. If you listen to Premonition and Eye of the Tiger back to back, Dave is singing considerably higher on Tiger. In other words, the songs were higher-pitched. Being able to sing it in a studio environment wasn't the problem. Going out on an extended tour, with sleep issues, stress, differing climates and humidity and the ever present issue of allergies and sickness, you are going to be pushing your voice harder and there are going to be times when that upper limit of your range is going to be diminished regardless of what you do. With Premonition and the debut album, Dave had a bit more of a fallback, but the Tiger album was pretty close to the top of his range. Wouldn't surprise me at all if that's where the vocal problems started. I'm not sure where it all fell apart with the node on the vocal cords, but there is a distinct change in his voice from Tiger to Caught in the Game. I think his phrasing and singing had improved, but technically, his voice was in diminished condition on the CITG album.

Good post....

EOTT is at the top of Dave's sustainable range....meaning that the tessitura of the songs are very high throughout....not just high here and there....c6 and up....Dave was a beast...an amazing singer....

Back then tunes were written based on higher is better...with no regard to the singer....I remember all those many demo sessions I sang for JP....I would think to myself who the fuck is going to sing the finals on this!! I sing high, real high...I Was blessed with huge range....but to do it every night would kill me....I know LOTS of guys did steroids in the past, it even smoked some guys after a few years of use....I did them once, for World Stage II...I was really sick, went to the best throat guy and he gave me a script...they were like miracle pills....then a few weeks later I was told they were steroids....never took
them again...I do wonder how many guys have axes that are worthless now because they over used that shit...

JV

Joe. I very much hope for both your sake, and for us fans, that you never have any serious vocal problems!!! But I thought I'd mention this to you just in case. I've heard about a doctor at the Cleveland Clinic here in Cleveland, Ohio, that has greatly improved the voices of many people. There was a woman that was not able to do more than just whisper for several years, no matter what, she just couldn't get her voice above a whisper. She went to that doctor, and within a few minutes of having her practice a certain vocal exercise that he came up with, she regained her normal speaking voice.

[MarcelJordan]

If there was any consideration at all, it would be Dave's stage presence....or lack thereof. Great singer, but not much of a frontman. If there was pressure though, it appears to have been record company induced, not from the band. If you look at one of JP's interviews with Andrew, he said that the main reason they made the change was not wanting to wait the year or so for Dave's voice to recover and were afraid they would lose the momentum. With the underwhelming performance of Caught in the Game, that's understandable. Either way, I would imagine frontman considerations entered into the final decision of replacing Dave or waiting for his voice to recover at some point.

That said, my opinion on the whole thing is that the vocal problems were caused primarily by the Tiger tour more than anything else. If you listen to Premonition and Eye of the Tiger back to back, Dave is singing considerably higher on Tiger. In other words, the songs were higher-pitched. Being able to sing it in a studio environment wasn't the problem. Going out on an extended tour, with sleep issues, stress, differing climates and humidity and the ever present issue of allergies and sickness, you are going to be pushing your voice harder and there are going to be times when that upper limit of your range is going to be diminished regardless of what you do. With Premonition and the debut album, Dave had a bit more of a fallback, but the Tiger album was pretty close to the top of his range. Wouldn't surprise me at all if that's where the vocal problems started. I'm not sure where it all fell apart with the node on the vocal cords, but there is a distinct change in his voice from Tiger to Caught in the Game. I think his phrasing and singing had improved, but technically, his voice was in diminished condition on the CITG album.

Good post....

EOTT is at the top of Dave's sustainable range....meaning that the tessitura of the songs are very high throughout....not just high here and there....c6 and up....Dave was a beast...an amazing singer....

Back then tunes were written based on higher is better...with no regard to the singer....I remember all those many demo sessions I sang for JP....I would think to myself who the fuck is going to sing the finals on this!! I sing high, real high...I Was blessed with huge range....but to do it every night would kill me....I know LOTS of guys did steroids in the past, it even smoked some guys after a few years of use....I did them once, for World Stage II...I was really sick, went to the best throat guy and he gave me a script...they were like miracle pills....then a few weeks later I was told they were steroids....never took
them again...I do wonder how many guys have axes that are worthless now because they over used that shit...

JV

Absolutely agreed with your first point. Higher was better or so it seemed. More like if you're going a make a hit, a higher pitch attracts the listening public more. Possibly imo due to record companies' requirements.

However, Id like to add that Survivor was not just Dave on vocal lead during their early days. After JP was "removed" from the other lead vocal duties (JP did say he was asked to back down from lead to let DB handle it exclusively) and I believe it was the record executives who said so.

DB should not have been made to overstretch like this. But what you gonna do, it was either make a HIT or perish!

Case in point (in some ways anyway) Journey's change of vocalists. Journey were given an ultimatum, find someone who can do change the game with higher pitch. Perry anyone?

MJ