Question Re British Bands

[Jana]

Why do they sing with no British accent? Same with Irish bands, U2. Is it to cross over to the American market? I noticed Tears for Fears, their debut album when they were 20, had certain words where the British pronunciation showed up, but they cleaned it up on their next album, Songs From The Big Chair. I have never noticed any accent on the Rolling Stones. I don't own all of the Beatles catalogue, so can't say in the early days. Is there a reason, or do they just not sing with an accent naturally? Singers answer this.

[Saint John]

They probably just decide to pronounce the words properly when they sing. (Cue the Pineda jokes )

[Michigan Girl]

Why do they sing with no British accent? Same with Irish bands, U2. Is it to cross over to the American market? I noticed Tears for Fears, their debut album when they were 20, had certain words where the British pronunciation showed up, but they cleaned it up on their next album, Songs From The Big Chair. I have never noticed any accent on the Rolling Stones. I don't own all of the Beatles catalogue, so can't say in the early days. Is there a reason, or do they just not sing with an accent naturally? Singers answer this.

I think we've discussed this before in re: to AP!! I'm pretty sure it went something like ... can someone share the secret!?!

[Jana]

Why do they sing with no British accent? Same with Irish bands, U2. Is it to cross over to the American market? I noticed Tears for Fears, their debut album when they were 20, had certain words where the British pronunciation showed up, but they cleaned it up on their next album, Songs From The Big Chair. I have never noticed any accent on the Rolling Stones. I don't own all of the Beatles catalogue, so can't say in the early days. Is there a reason, or do they just not sing with an accent naturally? Singers answer this.

I think we've discussed this before in re: to AP!! I'm pretty sure it went something like ... can someone share the secret!?!

Arnel is singing for an American band. His first language is not English. The Brits speak English, so what's wrong with their accent on their music, since they started out overseas and crossed over to America later, or does it go away naturally? Just wondering.

[Michigan Girl]

Why do they sing with no British accent? Same with Irish bands, U2. Is it to cross over to the American market? I noticed Tears for Fears, their debut album when they were 20, had certain words where the British pronunciation showed up, but they cleaned it up on their next album, Songs From The Big Chair. I have never noticed any accent on the Rolling Stones. I don't own all of the Beatles catalogue, so can't say in the early days. Is there a reason, or do they just not sing with an accent naturally? Singers answer this.

I think we've discussed this before in re: to AP!! I'm pretty sure it went something like ... can someone share the secret!?!

Arnel is singing for an American band. His first language is not English. The Brits speak English, so what's wrong with their accent on their music, since they started out overseas, or does it go away naturally? Just wondering.

Arnel speaks english, what's wrong w/his accent!?!? That^^^^ makes no sense, an accent is an accent!!

I'm not a singer, I don't know how to make it go away ...

[Everett]

Why do they sing with no British accent? Same with Irish bands, U2. Is it to cross over to the American market? I noticed Tears for Fears, their debut album when they were 20, had certain words where the British pronunciation showed up, but they cleaned it up on their next album, Songs From The Big Chair. I have never noticed any accent on the Rolling Stones. I don't own all of the Beatles catalogue, so can't say in the early days. Is there a reason, or do they just not sing with an accent naturally? Singers answer this.

I think we've discussed this before in re: to AP!! I'm pretty sure it went something like ... can someone share the secret!?!

Arnel is singing for an American band. His first language is not English. The Brits speak English, so what's wrong with their accent on their music, since they started out overseas and crossed over to America later, or does it go away naturally? Just wondering.

The brits speak THEIR version of english

[Jana]

Why do they sing with no British accent? Same with Irish bands, U2. Is it to cross over to the American market? I noticed Tears for Fears, their debut album when they were 20, had certain words where the British pronunciation showed up, but they cleaned it up on their next album, Songs From The Big Chair. I have never noticed any accent on the Rolling Stones. I don't own all of the Beatles catalogue, so can't say in the early days. Is there a reason, or do they just not sing with an accent naturally? Singers answer this.

I think we've discussed this before in re: to AP!! I'm pretty sure it went something like ... can someone share the secret!?!

Arnel is singing for an American band. His first language is not English. The Brits speak English, so what's wrong with their accent on their music, since they started out overseas, or does it go away naturally? Just wondering.

Arnel speaks english, what's wrong w/his accent!! That^^^^ makes no sense, an accent is an accent!!

I'm saying Arnel came onboard with an American band. They don't want an accent. British bands gained their popularity overseas in their own homeland or U2 overseas first. They're not American bands. So why get rid of the accent or is it just not there naturally when they sing. Singers, do you know?

[Michigan Girl]

Why do they sing with no British accent? Same with Irish bands, U2. Is it to cross over to the American market? I noticed Tears for Fears, their debut album when they were 20, had certain words where the British pronunciation showed up, but they cleaned it up on their next album, Songs From The Big Chair. I have never noticed any accent on the Rolling Stones. I don't own all of the Beatles catalogue, so can't say in the early days. Is there a reason, or do they just not sing with an accent naturally? Singers answer this.

I think we've discussed this before in re: to AP!! I'm pretty sure it went something like ... can someone share the secret!?!

Arnel is singing for an American band. His first language is not English. The Brits speak English, so what's wrong with their accent on their music, since they started out overseas, or does it go away naturally? Just wondering.

Arnel speaks english, what's wrong w/his accent!! That^^^^ makes no sense, an accent is an accent!!

I'm saying Arnel came onboard with an American band. They don't want an accent. British bands gained their popularity overseas in their own homeland or U2 overseas first. They're not American bands. So why get rid of the accent or is it just not there naturally when they sing. Singers, do you know?

Jokes on them ...

[Deb]

Why do they sing with no British accent? Same with Irish bands, U2. Is it to cross over to the American market? I noticed Tears for Fears, their debut album when they were 20, had certain words where the British pronunciation showed up, but they cleaned it up on their next album, Songs From The Big Chair. I have never noticed any accent on the Rolling Stones. I don't own all of the Beatles catalogue, so can't say in the early days. Is there a reason, or do they just not sing with an accent naturally? Singers answer this.

Actors, same thing. I had no idea that John Laurie (main actor on House) had such an accent until I saw him interviewed. Not a whisper of it on House.

[Don]

ABBA aren't English but you don't hear their accent when they sing. It's just a matter of upbringing. Much of Europe uses English as common denominator language, so If you are going to sing, you better do it correctly.
That's not true in Asia (beyond Hong Kong) so performing in sub-adequate English is usually good enough for you to get by. Once you get used to doing that way, it's probably hard to actually start doing It the right way.

[Jana]

ABBA aren't English but you don't hear their accent when they sing. It's just a matter of upbringing. Much of Europe uses English as common denominator language, so If you are going to sing, you better do it correctly.
That's not true in Asia (beyond Hong Kong) so performing in sub-adequate English is usually good enough for you to get by. Once you get used to doing that way, it's probably hard to actually start doing It the right way.

But my question is different. Brits speak English but with their own accent, which is right for them. British bands start out in Europe, in their own homeland. and where they find fame at first. Eventually many break into America, some don't. Why is it the norm to not have a British accent at all when singing? To them, their British accent is correct. Is it b/c it's naturally the way it comes out versus how they say them with an accent or is it b/c the American market is always in mind? Maybe I'm not making sense. It happens.

[Melissa]

Actors, same thing. I had no idea that John Laurie (main actor on House) had such an accent until I saw him interviewed. Not a whisper of it on House.

Yeah that one is amazing to me, not a HINT at ALL of his British accent on that show! Even other actors can have it come through here and there I've noticed, in roles where they're not supposed to have their accents, like Kate Winslet's will come through just a tiny hint sometimes, like in Titanic, and Nicole Kidman is another I've noticed that with too, just a tiny hint sometimes.

[Jana]

Why do they sing with no British accent? Same with Irish bands, U2. Is it to cross over to the American market? I noticed Tears for Fears, their debut album when they were 20, had certain words where the British pronunciation showed up, but they cleaned it up on their next album, Songs From The Big Chair. I have never noticed any accent on the Rolling Stones. I don't own all of the Beatles catalogue, so can't say in the early days. Is there a reason, or do they just not sing with an accent naturally? Singers answer this.

Actors, same thing. I had no idea that John Laurie (main actor on House) had such an accent until I saw him interviewed. Not a whisper of it on House.

But he's playing an American role. My question is different.

[Michigan Girl]

Actors, same thing. I had no idea that John Laurie (main actor on House) had such an accent until I saw him interviewed. Not a whisper of it on House.

Yeah that one is amazing to me, not a HINT at ALL of his British accent on that show! Even other actors can have it come through here and there I've noticed, in roles where they're not supposed to have their accents, like Kate Winslet's will come through just a tiny hint sometimes, like in Titanic, and Nicole Kidman is another I've noticed that with too, just a tiny hint sometimes.

Actors are different, though ...I would think!! They are trained to change their
accents for different roles and practice, practice, practice!!

[Jana]

I found the answer, I think. Just what I thought, with the mind of breaking big in America. But it's a big topic on the internet, I guess. Some say it's the way you're trained to enunciate when singing. They said Herman Hermits and others still had accents.

Re British bands singing with an American accent versus their own British accent:

"Actually a lot do (sing with their British accent), but the mainstream ones are encouraged to sing with American accents. some of the lesser known bands like Scouting For Girls keep their accents, but the ones that want to get big in America (thats when they have "made it") are encouraged to sing in an American accent."

[AlteredDNA]

I believe the prevailing wisdom is that singing and speaking use different parts of the brain. Also, if I remember correctly (my Mom is a voice instructor, I'll have to ask her), when singing vowels, they are often held longer, as opposed to when speaking, where the vowels tend to glide from one to the next, which is where the majority of an accent is heard...

[Jana]

I believe the prevailing wisdom is that singing and speaking use different parts of the brain. Also, if I remember correctly (my Mom is a voice instructor, I'll have to ask her), when singing vowels, they are often held longer, as opposed to when speaking, where the vowels tend to glide from one to the next, which is where the majority of an accent is heard...

I read the brain thing, too. I just googled this, and there's a lot of discussion about why Brits don't sing with their accent since they're British bands, etc.

[Don]

ABBA aren't English but you don't hear their accent when they sing. It's just a matter of upbringing. Much of Europe uses English as common denominator language, so If you are going to sing, you better do it correctly.
That's not true in Asia (beyond Hong Kong) so performing in sub-adequate English is usually good enough for you to get by. Once you get used to doing that way, it's probably hard to actually start doing It the right way.

But my question is different. Brits speak English but with their own accent, which is right for them. British bands start out in Europe, in their own homeland. and where they find fame at first. Eventually many break into America, some don't. Why is it the norm to not have a British accent at all when singing? To them, their British accent is correct. Is it b/c it's naturally the way it comes out versus how they say them with an accent or is it b/c the American market is always in mind? Maybe I'm not making sense. It happens.

We'll it's going to be natural for them to a point. Certain letters like L and R which Asians use differently aren't going to be so different in Scottish, Irish or British because they're still part of the anglo ancestry, where the language has enough common pieces to be ingrained into each generation.where a lot of Asian languages completely grow up rolling their tongue or using their mouth muscles in a different way for a different letters. Even the French language is different enough where we had to do muscle exercises to get our mouth going the right way when we spoke to get it the pronunciation right.

They still sing with accents, we are just so closer language wise with them we don't hear it, the same way Filipinos will swear up and and down that Arnel's accent is nonexistent when he sings in English even though it's loud and clear to us.

[S2M]

Why do they sing with no British accent? Same with Irish bands, U2. Is it to cross over to the American market? I noticed Tears for Fears, their debut album when they were 20, had certain words where the British pronunciation showed up, but they cleaned it up on their next album, Songs From The Big Chair. I have never noticed any accent on the Rolling Stones. I don't own all of the Beatles catalogue, so can't say in the early days. Is there a reason, or do they just not sing with an accent naturally? Singers answer this.

Actors, same thing. I had no idea that John Laurie (main actor on House) had such an accent until I saw him interviewed. Not a whisper of it on House.

His name is HUGH Laurie.....

Anyway....that gaylord Eddy Martin doesn't sing with an accent either....weird.

[Don]

I'll bet Marty or Susie P could tell you these guys are singing with a Northern accent or Southern accent, or even a Bolton or Oldham accent.

[Jana]

ABBA aren't English but you don't hear their accent when they sing. It's just a matter of upbringing. Much of Europe uses English as common denominator language, so If you are going to sing, you better do it correctly.
That's not true in Asia (beyond Hong Kong) so performing in sub-adequate English is usually good enough for you to get by. Once you get used to doing that way, it's probably hard to actually start doing It the right way.

But my question is different. Brits speak English but with their own accent, which is right for them. British bands start out in Europe, in their own homeland. and where they find fame at first. Eventually many break into America, some don't. Why is it the norm to not have a British accent at all when singing? To them, their British accent is correct. Is it b/c it's naturally the way it comes out versus how they say them with an accent or is it b/c the American market is always in mind? Maybe I'm not making sense. It happens.

We'll it's going to be natural for them to a point. Certain letters like L and R which Asians use differently aren't going to be so different in Scottish, Irish or British because they're still part of the anglo ancestry, where the language has enough common pieces to be ingrained into each generation.where a lot of Asian languages completely grow up rolling their tongue or using their mouth muscles in a different way for a different letters. Even the French language is different enough where we had to do muscle exercises to get our mouth going the right way when we spoke to get it the pronunciation right.

They still sing with accents, we are just so closer language wise with them we don't hear it, the same way Filipinos will swear up and and down that Arnel's accent is nonexistent when he sings in English even though it's loud and clear to us.

Good points. I've always wondered since I follow a lot of British bands. But today why it came to mind I was listening to Tears for Fears Collection. Huge difference in two songs from same time period. But maybe he even sang the cover song with his British accent b/c the original singer had a heavy accent. B/c I've never heard his accent come through like that, except maybe in their early music.

Here's Roland covering a British singer's song, so he sang it in his natural British accent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYHsiWbXNBE
Then from the same time period here he's singing with an American accent, the way he normally sings on albums: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXc1MWU2UWg

[MartyMoffatt]

I don't think there is such a thing as an accent when singing, at least in the same way we expect from a speaking voice. I don't hear an American accent when listening to American bands, and the singing voice of most British bands remains the same - for the vast majority it has nothing to do with breaking into an American market.

Listen to Paul Rodgers or David Coverdale. They are quintessentially British singers and they were singing (the same way) for a British market long before they went to the States.

It is different for a lot of Asian singers as they often have difficulty pronouncing Anglo Saxon words and that may be interpreted as an accent. But for most people with an English or at least Anglo Saxon background the accent disappears when singing.

By the way, I believe when Abba started out they actually barely spoke any English at all, and had to learn their songs phonetically, yet you don't hear any accent in most of their songs.

Marty

[MartyMoffatt]

In those two Tears for Fears songs I don't detect an 'accent' in either. The difference for me is that in the first one he is virtually speaking and in the second he is genuinely singing.

[Deb]

Actors, same thing. I had no idea that John Laurie (main actor on House) had such an accent until I saw him interviewed. Not a whisper of it on House.

His name is HUGH Laurie.....

Touché, ya got me there. LOL, I know it's Hugh Laurie, but we have a street named John Laurie blvd here, I must have had that on the brain.

[S2M]

Actors, same thing. I had no idea that John Laurie (main actor on House) had such an accent until I saw him interviewed. Not a whisper of it on House.

His name is HUGH Laurie.....

Touché, ya got me there. LOL, I know it's Hugh Laurie, but we have a street named John Laurie blvd here, I must have had that on the brain.

Any news on that gaylord Eddy Martin?

[Since 78]

Maybe Americans are speaking British when they sing?

[Andrew]

Why do they sing with no British accent? Same with Irish bands, U2. Is it to cross over to the American market? I noticed Tears for Fears, their debut album when they were 20, had certain words where the British pronunciation showed up, but they cleaned it up on their next album, Songs From The Big Chair. I have never noticed any accent on the Rolling Stones. I don't own all of the Beatles catalogue, so can't say in the early days. Is there a reason, or do they just not sing with an accent naturally? Singers answer this.

Actors, same thing. I had no idea that John Laurie (main actor on House) had such an accent until I saw him interviewed. Not a whisper of it on House.

You clearly have not being watching enough Black Adder!!

[Jana]

Maybe Americans are speaking British when they sing?

Well, Madonna talks with a British accent -- or did.

[Andrew]

I don't think there is such a thing as an accent when singing, at least in the same way we expect from a speaking voice. I don't hear an American accent when listening to American bands, and the singing voice of most British bands remains the same - for the vast majority it has nothing to do with breaking into an American market.

Listen to Paul Rodgers or David Coverdale. They are quintessentially British singers and they were singing (the same way) for a British market long before they went to the States.

Absolutely. Something about the use of vocal chords when singing that circumvents a lot of the properties of a spoken word.

Swedish bands are one of the best set of musicians for singing English lyrics with no tonal interferrance, whereas German bands are possibly the worst at disguising their backgrounds. Italian bands also...

[Rockindeano]

I don't think there is such a thing as an accent when singing, at least in the same way we expect from a speaking voice. I don't hear an American accent when listening to American bands, and the singing voice of most British bands remains the same - for the vast majority it has nothing to do with breaking into an American market.

Listen to Paul Rodgers or David Coverdale. They are quintessentially British singers and they were singing (the same way) for a British market long before they went to the States.

Absolutely. Something about the use of vocal chords when singing that circumvents a lot of the properties of a spoken word.

Swedish bands are one of the best set of musicians for singing English lyrics with no tonal interferrance, whereas German bands are possibly the worst at disguising their backgrounds. Italian bands also...

Fuck, you spell like Stevie Wonder drives a car. Anyway, my guess is while singing, there is really no time for thought process, or time to get the words out in a certain accent- while one talks, the speed of the speech is slow enough to enunciate in certain accent.

Jana, look at your hero Madonna- she sings "American" yet has developed this fake as shit Brit accent....God, that pisses me off. Why would someone want to go from American to British? You have got to be high to want that.