Singing Guide: Roxy Music
Vocal technique, exercises, tips and relevant resources
Roxy Music was one of the most exciting and unpredictable groups of the early ’70s, grabbing influence from rock, glam, soul, and experimental music to create a sound that was both forward-looking and delightfully weird. Their music had unique features like wide ranging keyboard sounds, excellent saxophone solos, and the inspired and extravagant singing of lead vocalist Bryan Ferry that was greatly inspiring and fascinating. Here's how you can learn to sing like Bryan Ferry:
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Focus on developing your breath control:
Bryan Ferry is known for his breathy and lounge-inspired vocals, which require solid breath support to sound smooth and effortless. Singing exercises that focus on breath control can be very helpful in developing a similar style of singing. The Farinelli breathing exercise is a great starter. -
Work on your phrasing:
Ferry is known for his unique phrasing, which involves stretching out words or syllables for dramatic effect and placing emphasis on certain consonants and vowels. To practice this, try singing along to his songs and paying close attention to how he phrases each line. -
Embrace your vibrato:
Ferry's voice is notable for its subtle, controlled vibrato, which adds depth and character to his tone. Vocal warm-ups that incorporate vibrato exercises can help you to develop a similar sound. -
Learn Roxy Music's songs and some of Ferry's solo work:
Listening to and learning the songs of Roxy Music's discography and some of Ferry's solo work is key to understanding his style and technique as a singer. Try to replicate his singing style, phrasing, and tone by singing along with his recordings.
Resources from Singing Carrots that can be useful for aspiring singers looking to learn the techniques to sing like Bryan Ferry include the breathing basics and breath support articles, the voice registers and vocal break article and video, the tips for performing on stage, and singing with intuition, skills, emotion, and thinking article. Additionally, the Vocal range test tool can be used to determine your vocal range and compare it with Ferry's, while the Pitch accuracy test and Vocal Pitch Monitor can help you to develop your pitch accuracy and train your voice to hit the right notes. For enhancing the practice sessions Pitch Training and Song search can be particularly useful.