Question about Jon's voice/range

[PianoMan1986]

First off, please put your weapons on safety, I'm not here to cause problems, ok?

I like Jon's voice throughout all the years that he's been singing, but there's something that I wanted to have fans clear up for me.

1) When did Jon's range start coming down, changing timbre, and possibly key?
2) I thought I heard that after the Slippery When Wet tour, Jon was advised to alter his singing style or he would damage his vocal chords?

Thanks to anyone who can help answer these questions for me.

Nick

[Rodimus]

he did damage his vocal chords in '87. and you can tell that after that time he sang differently on the albums and live. I have a live 1990 brazil dvd and the songs are sung live half a step down then and he sounds nasly....which you do not really hear before 87 (in my opinion). there is a live in tokyo (i think somewhere in japan) where in 96 he does everything live perfectly even the scream in "ill be there for you" sounds great. However after this time his voice seems to begin to decline but you cannot really tell until after 2000. 2002-03 live he sounded awful in my opinion, but has since seemed to learned ways to get around his aging voice.

I believe he could sing the songs in key if he wanted to even up till somewhere between 98-2000....but not with the same strength. But who knows cause he never sang them live in regular key after 87 so... Listen to these days and listen to "something to believe in". he gets really high up there for extended periods of time.

Thats not all very specific information. I hope I helped with what I know.

[PianoMan1986]

he did damage his vocal chords in '87. and you can tell that after that time he sang differently on the albums and live. I have a live 1990 brazil dvd and the songs are sung live half a step down then and he sounds nasly....which you do not really hear before 87 (in my opinion). there is a live in tokyo (i think somewhere in japan) where in 96 he does everything live perfectly even the scream in "ill be there for you" sounds great. However after this time his voice seems to begin to decline but you cannot really tell until after 2000. 2002-03 live he sounded awful in my opinion, but has since seemed to learned ways to get around his aging voice.

I believe he could sing the songs in key if he wanted to even up till somewhere between 98-2000....but not with the same strength. But who knows cause he never sang them live in regular key after 87 so... Listen to these days and listen to "something to believe in". he gets really high up there for extended periods of time.

Thats not all very specific information. I hope I helped with what I know.

Thank you very much, you helped a great deal and covered a lot of history in a short amount of time (chuckles). Thanks again,

Nick

[texafana]

Actually, he had some major vocal teachings as well. You can tell when he started opening up his mouth verrryy wide to sing certain notes. This allowed him to get louder/higher notes without strainging his vocal chords as much. But yah..let's face it...now days his range isn't even close to what it was 10 years ago. But...they make songs that still sound good for his vox. And the high notes? Just point the mic to the audience Jon! (whooah...livin on a prayer!)

[Bobby Van Halen]

Well when you have 20000 people singing your songs constantly every night for the last 20 years,id point the mic to the crowd as well.

[Don]

Wasn't the Slippery when wet tour over 200 shows? I believe them getting back on the road a few months after that tour ended to push the New jersey album is what fried his vocals early on. I think in the nineties though, it was just age catching up with him.