Axl Rose has a larger vocal range than Mariah Carey
And John Lennon could reach more notes than Elton John, Barry White or Bruce Spingsteen
Mariah Carey (L) has a smaller vocal range than Axl Rose (R) Photo: REUTERS/GETTY
By Alice Vincent, Entertainment writer
12:17PM BST 22 May 2014
Mariah Carey has been known to introduce her band by singing at the pitch of their instruments. However, on record, her vocal range isn't as extensive as that of Axl Rose. The Guns N' Roses vocalist has sung notes that span nearly six octaves, from F1 (in There Was a Time), in the second-lowest octave in scientific pitch notation, to B flat 6 (Ain't it Fun), five octaves above it. Rose has a lower baritone than Barry White, and can reach higher notes than Tina Turner and Beyoncé.
Carey, meanwhile, has managed to span the marginally smaller gap between F2 and G7 in tracks Sweetheart, in which her lowest note was recorded and Emotions, which saw her highest.
Prince comes in a close third, after reaching B6 on Daddy pop and the lows of E2 on Daddy Pop, and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler just beats James Brown to fourth place.
The full ranking of 77 musicians taken from Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers of All Time list and some nominees from this year's Billboard Music Awards has been put together by Concerthotels.com and can be seen below.
The data was gathered by The Range Place, a forum for vocal ability and based on the music recorded in the studio by these artists, rather than live.
Paul McCartney, David Bowie and John Lennon rank better for range than contemporary divas such as Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus, who has a smaller range than Nina Simone and Jim Morrison. U2 vocalist Bono beats both. While Queen's vocally gymnastic former frontman Freddie Mercury had a better range than Elton John, Tina Turner and Bruce Spingsteen, Radiohead and Atoms For Peace singer Thom Yorke has a greater range than all of them.
Six of the top 10 vocalists who reached the highest notes were men (Prince in third place, Rose in fourth, Tyler in sixth, followed by James Brown, Yorke and Mercury), however this could be due to the gender bias in the 100 Greatest Singers list. Carey has sung the highest notes on record, the aforementioned G7, and Christina Aguilera's C sharp 7, recorded in The Christmas Song is in second place.
At the other end of the scale, Rose, White and Bowie take a close run in first, second and third place, reaching F1, F sharp 1 and G1 respectively. The woman with the lowest voice on record is Nina Simone, who recorded an E2 on Ne Me Quitte Pas, the same lowest note of 13 musicians on the list, including Prince, Mick Jagger, Van Morrison and Roy Orbison.
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