The Vocal Range of Helen Reddy (F3-E5)

[@nubndigger]

That is her highest belt note from her hits period. While she rarely goes into "head voice" she hits what I believe may be higher than E5 towards the end of 1973's "Don't Mess With a Woman" when she sings "I'm a bigger FOOL than you..." at 2:20 - kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZ62g6KvabmXhM0. You can pretty much hear her whole range in "With Every Breath I Take" from 1998's "Center Stage" - I believe the high note is a D but the low notes are probably below F3 - kzbin.info/www/bejne/i4vVpKGhjc6gfLs.

[@TheVeryBlondeOne]

+nubndigger . Thanks for the info! That is a *D5* in "FOOL" and a *F5* , glissando to D5 again "It's gonna bringin' nothing but _(couldn't discern the word)_ " in Don't You Mess With A Woman. As for With Every Breath I Take, I was going to include that originally but I went a bit too quick with this project. I can hear some *E3* in the song, though.

[@nubndigger]

And BTW, thanks for doing this!!!

[@TheVeryBlondeOne]

Regarding "Don't You Mess with a Woman", the F5 is definitely a vibrato kind of note she hit. I analyzed one of Helen's songs from Love Song for Jeffrey; "That Old American Dream". She also hits a solid, sustained F5 but is obscured by the backing vocals at around 1:16 in the duration of the secondly aforementioned song as well. I was able to extract channels and conclude that it is definitely Helen doing the higher note while the backing vocals harmonize. There is also a possibility that the note she hit may be rather higher than what one may have thought. Until then this video stands and I won't spam-upload with "updated version" or something. 👀👀

[@keenahansel9104]

@@TheVeryBlondeOne the lyrics are "it's gonna bring you nothing but PAIN"

[@portretts]

Thank heavens for someone who knows more about singing voices than these analyses. (Thank you, @nubndigger). The recorded notes are "within" a singer's range, but they do not represent the full range. Case in point: Aretha Franklin is described as having a 4 octave range, but she never recorded its low or high ends. And I agree that Helen rarely used her upper register, because she had the rare talent of a head voice that reached into the 5th octave.

[@anthonycamomilli8554]

She's such a great talent. What a beautiful voice, it calms me down! Listen to "peaceful" written by the late great Kenny Rankin. My ultimate favorite. George Fame sang it well too! Helen-xxxxx

[@robertp.wainman4094]

I so completely agree with you, well written - thankfully her voice will live on for ever. Peaceful - for me, brings thoughts of early September mornings: Misty, calm, dew on the grass, trees just beginning to turn colour - yet with the promise of warm, golden autumnal sun breaking through - oh, so 'peaceful!' Written on the day Helen's passing was announced. 30th September 2020.

[@roki6467]

Admittedly, Helen sometimes could tend to sound shrill if she was using her upper register, she possessed a beautiful mid range. Songs like, And I love You so, Delta Dawn, Peaceful, I didn't mean to love you, Don't let it mess your mind and you know me, just to name a few, really showcased the richness in her mid and lower register. I've heard somewhere that she wanted to sing songs in a higher key to separate herself from her label mate, Anne Murray. Either way, Helen had great phrasing and when enthused with the material, could really sell a song. I was just listening to the I Am Woman album today. It really was a great piece of work, and although I have her entire catalogue, I think that album is probably Helen at her very best.

[@annamaedevlin1713]

She was my guide!

[@annamaedevlin1713]

A TRUE WOMAN!

[@pbamse]

Great job

[@pbamse]

HELEN REDDY (1941 - 2020)

[@lisag18]

Shes not know as a belter (head voice) but on You are My World, she really belted out really high notes. Search it on KZbin. I believe it's a live Grammy performance

[@rogerrigby9113]

rip legend

[@edornaquelonio]

QEPD Una gran cantante que no tuvo el reconocimiento que mereció.

[@bennyoldenburg]

She hit G#5 in "If it's magic"

[@TheVeryBlondeOne]

Do you have a timestamp of which Helen hits a G#5 in that song? I can't seem to pin down the particular high note in the song.

[@anthonycamomilli8554]

uno it!

[@anthonycamomilli8554]

What about the song "get off me baby? " she hits some sustainable notes big time!

[@anthonycamomilli8554]

there's other songs she's made impressive notes. "Tell me it's not true" might be one of them...

[@TheVeryBlondeOne]

Just checked; actually, G#4 in "If It's Magic", in a different enunciation than the given note assigned to a specific song (This Masquerade) No belting in the vocals, though I'd love to hear more of her belting. Highest note I can approximate for Helen in "Tell Me It's Not True" (studio version): C5

[@aduhaduh4426]

Mezzo-Soprano

[@NewWorldAhead]

The best female pop singer of all time! If you watch this clip of Helen singing live, she hits amazing notes in Born Free, Love Story and other songs! kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4CWnoeehdRlpdU

[@KajiVocals]

This is a soprano.