Spalding, Diki, Semilive music...

You're more right with your spiel than others here.

There’s more to being a star than just singing a good song. Many factors come into play. I’ve backed up many a singer over the years. In the early days, I was amazed at the many who could come up and sound like superstars. Now, that I’ve been around the block a few times, I realize that’s ALL they had was a good voice. No timing, no phrasing (a la Frank Sinatra), no ability to remember words, no connection with an audience, sometimes no personality, and sometimes only able to sing ONE song really good…and the list goes on.

That’s the first thing I noticed about the lady was too much vibrato in the voice. When I was studying singing, my teacher used to point that out in opera singers. Many had “vibrato” they couldn’t control. Pretty in the beginning but it begins to get tiresome.

Her breathing was not correct enough to really belt out a song like Shirley Bassey. She had no breath control…the most important thing in proper vocalizing.

She also couldn't hit the low notes of that song. I’m not sure how much of a singing range she has.

She had absolutely no stage presence. Something like that you either have it or you don't. An audience can tell when one is "groomed" for the stage or is a natural. Al Jolson was a great example of stage presence.

I read the article on her in the paper today. She was “purposely attired in a frumpy dress." Now why would that be? Of course, to make for ultimate impact. Make her look one way, and let her sing the opposite. Now the money machine will move in and capitalize on their latest gimmick.

Watching the Youtube video, I believe the whole thing was faked from start to finish. They knew when to display Simon's pre-planned "surprise" expressions on his face (and the other judge's). They made it into a mini-documentary to use to leverage her into temporary big time.

There’s one more thing to be said here. She’s good, but not great. Yet, listeners are falling all over her. Years ago, she wouldn’t have even made a dent on the music scene with the many heavyweight female vocalists on the market at the time Shirley Bassey, Whitney Houston, Barbra Streisand, etc). This proves how bad today’s entertainment scene is. This lady who couldn’t hold a candle to the great ones of yesterday, is presently being hailed as the next Messiah!

Still, as others have said here, I wish her the best. She appears to be a sweet lady who didn’t ask for anything more than to sing a song on stage and dedicate it to her dead mother. She’ll have her 15 minutes (and more) of fame, make some bucks and go back home as a celebrity...and probably finally get kissed! But, it appears to me, it couldn’t have happened to a more genuine and humble person.

Again, I DO wish her the best

Lucky




[This message has been edited by Lucky2Bhere (edited 04-17-2009).]