Ladies and gentlemen I give you one of the most influencial and thrilling voices in all of prog rock. There are those out there who believe that Hammill possesses a bad voice, well these people who ever they are simply do not have ears, nor the understanding to comprehend what he is doing.
First off lets tackle whether or not he has a quote on quote, "good" voice. Obviously he does. If you are a naysayer who thinks he doesn't, I want you to do me a favor. If you have the Album Still Life, put it on and go to track 4, it should be My Room (Waiting for Wonderland). If you can listening to that track, and hear that man sing, and walk away saying he's a bad singer than you should just chop off your ears, because they are obviously of no use to you.
Now yes, I do realize that there are times, when he.....umm, "screams"....I guess thats a good word for it. But it is important to understand why he is singing the way he is. One of the reasons why I like him so much, is because there is a sense of theatre, of theatrical interpretation. Have you guys ever heard of a "character voice"??? Peter Gabriel does it ALL the time, where he changes his voice to fit a certain character he is portraying in the song. Listen to Emerson, Lake, and Palmer....Brain Salad Surgery, the voice that Greg Lake uses on Benny The Bouncer, is a character voice....it's not his real voice.....but the voice in which he sings on that particular song, fits the style and character of that piece.
Go to NYC, go to a Broadway Show.....go see a musical.....people use character voices all the time. Both Peter Gabriel and Peter Hammill contain this theatrical side to their singing. Both are great storytellers......I always said VDGG and Genesis (early Genesis), could have written for theatre plays.
When Hammill is "screaming" or singing something in an unorthodox sort of way, it is done for dramatic effect, after all, VDGG music is very dramatic. But that is not his real voice. Hammill is not a bad singer.
He's also the most versatile singer in prog rock in my opinion. He can change his voice, so drastically that you almost believe its a different person. I'm sort of reminded of Ella Fitzgerald. There were so many colors, characters, and emotions with her voice, that you got the sense that you were never hearing the exact same singer every time. You kinda, get that with Peter Hammill.
A good example of this is on the album Pawn Hearts, the last track, A Plague of lighthouse keepers......there are four verses in the beginning and each time he sing it differently. He's "putting on" a voice..but he is not a bad singer.
I would also put Ian Anderson up there with Hammill as being one of prog rocks greatest singers. I would also say Jon Anderson, for the simple reason that he is from Mars.....I have never encountered a voice like Jon Anderson. He's not a counter-tenor, he's not singing in his falsetto, his singing voice is in the alto range.... he's a grown boy soprano....its like he never went through puberty. It is the most interesting voice. And it's a voice that grew stronger with time. Jon Anderson sounded better in his 50s than he did in his 20s....that's a amazing....most singers, as they get older, their voice weakens, but not Jon. Whats ever more amazing, is that he still sings in the SAME range as he sang in his 20s..you listen to YES now...they dont change keys, he can still hit every high note. Jon Anderson is a freak of nature.
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Peter Hammill’s Voice!!
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" IMO. 
chopper wrote:
