Heather Morris (4,532 views)

[Tara]

Heather Elizabeth Morris (b. 1 February, 1987) is an American dancer, actress, and part-time singer and model, best known for her role as Brittany S. Pierce on the television series Glee. As a child, she began training and competing in contemporary dance, and, in 2007, she was hired as a backup dancer for Beyoncé. In 2009, Morris was hired to teach the Glee cast the choreography to Beyoncé's "Single Ladies", and was given a background role on the show. She made her singing debut on the Season Two episode "Britney/Brittany" covering Britney Spears' "I'm A Slave 4 U", "Me Against the Music" and "Toxic". She often sings the lowest female line in group performances, and her harmonies blend so well that they can be difficult to individuate - this is the case in "Run Joey Run". Of note are her harmonies in "Landslide", and "Paradise by the Dashboard Light".
Vocal Range: F3 - E♭5
Associated Acts: So You Think You Can Dance Season Two (2006), Glee Cast (2009 - 2015), Dancing with the Stars Season 24 (2017)

Significant High Notes
E♭5 ("Dancing On My Own", "Problem")
D5 ("Dinosaur", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas","Pompeii", "Toxic")
C♯5 ("Dancing On My Own", "Hand In My Pocket/I Feel the Earth Move", "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "More Than Words", "Problem", "We Got the Beat", "You Should Be Dancing")
C5 ("Christmas Wrapping", "Do They Know It's Christmas?", "Marry You", "Run the World (Girls)", "Seasons of Love", "Survivor/I Will Survive", "We Are Young", "You're the One That I Want")
B4 ("Call Me Maybe", "Come See About Me", "Dinosaur", "Dog Days are Over" Glee: the 3D Concert Movie, "Gimme More", "Hand In My Pocket/I Feel the Earth Move", "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "Jessie's Girl" backstage at Glee: the 3D Concert Movie show, "Rumour Has It/Someone Like You", "Start Me Up/Livin' On a Prayer", "Tell Him", "Wannabe", "You Should Be Dancing")
B♭4 ("Christmas Wrapping", "Dancing On My Own", "Disco Inferno", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "Hold It Against Me", "I Love It", "I'm So Excited", "Light Up the World", "Love Shack", "Marry You", "More Than Words", "Run the World (Girls)", "Say", "Seasons of Love", "Shout", "Toucha, Toucha, Touch Me", "Toxic" (Glee 5x12), "We Got the Beat")
A4 ("Call Me Maybe", "Celebrity Skin", "Come See About Me", "Gimme More", "Me Against the Music", "Rumour Has It/Someone Like You", "So Luv-a-licious", "Somethin' Stupid", "Survivor/I Will Survive","Tell Him", "Tik Tok", "Time Warp", "Valerie", "Wishin' and Hoping")

Significant Low Notes
B3 ("Candyman", "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "This is the New Year")
B♭3 ("Disco Inferno", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "Love Shack", "More Than Words", "Our Day Will Come", "Say", "Toxic" (Glee 5x12), "You Learn/You've Got a Friend")
A3 ("Celebrity Skin", "Landslide", "My Cup", "Paradise by the Dashboard Light", "The Scientist", "Somethin' Stupid","Spotlight", "Take On Me", "Tell Him", "Wishin' and Hoping")
G♯3 ("Diva", "More Than Words", "Run the World (Girls)")
G3 ("Hold It Against Me", "Home", "I'm A Slave 4 U", "My Cup", "Our Day Will Come", "Run the World (Girls)", "Shout", "Somethin' Stupid", "Toxic" (Glee 2x02))
F♯3 ("Celebrity Skin", "Diva", "Gimme More", "Hand In My Pocket/I Feel the Earth Move", "I Love New York/New York New York", "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "Landslide", "Me Against the Music")
F3 ("I'm A Slave 4 U", "Tik Tok")
..................................................................
*Blue marks soft falsetto notes.
*Italics mark spoken or exclaimed notes.
*Underlines mark notes that are obscured in the song mix/harmonies.
*Boldface marks particularly impressive notes/passages.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Questionable Notes}
B5 ("Gimme More" [3], "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" [3])
F♯5 ("Disco Inferno" [2])
D5 ("I Say a Little Prayer" [2a])
C5 ("Run Joey Run" [2b - Naya Rivera?])
E5 ("Time Warp" [3])
.....................
B3 ("Run Joey Run" [2b - Lea Michele?])
G3 ("Dinosaur" [3])
E3 ("Cell Block Tango" [3], "Dinosaur" [3])
.......................................................
[1] marks yelps and short trills in high range that may not have been intentional.
[2] marks notes of questionable identity that are not confirmed to be the singer in question.
[2a] marks notes specifically from Glee backing vocalists.
[2b] marks obscured notes potentially sung by other Glee cast members.
[3] marks non-melodic notes that do not have significant enough pitch to warrant inclusion. Note: spoken notes are only included where the singer has also sung at that pitch. Therefore, the spoken F3 in "Tik Tok" is included because "I'm a Slave 4 U" proves that the singer can sing F3.
[4] marks notes that may have been pitch-shifted.
[5] marks notes that do not fit any of the above criteria, but are otherwise of insufficient quality to count towards this vocalist's range.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Career Ranges}
Glee Season 2 (2010 - 2011): F3 - C5
Glee Season 3 (2011 - 2012): G3 - D5
Glee Season 4 (2012 - 2013): F♯3 - E♭5
Glee Season 5 (2013 - 2014): G3 - E♭5
Glee Season 6 (2015): F♯3 - E♭5

[mjuk2013]

I thought she bottomed quite low on Landslide. And Wannabe had some FIRE low harmonies in the chorus that might have been her. Or Jenna, dunno, just thought it's worth a mention 🤗

[Tara]

Oh dip, great catch on Landslide! Down to F♯3, as far as I can tell. Thank you!
I didn't even realise there was a low harmony in the chorus of Wannabe til you said so, and it's messing with my head (in a fun way though). We know it's not Alex because he is doing his own thing at the same time, otherwise I might guess him. It goes down to E♭3, which is low for all of the girls, and it's so dark that it doesn't even really sound like a female voice to me, but I agree that if it were a girl, I would think of Heather first. Listen to this passage in the acapella:

I feel like I can hear Heather singing lead in the fourth octave in "make it last forever" and "taking is too easy"? The low harmony doesn't particularly sound like any of them, really, and I don't even hear it in the episode or studio versions (???!) so I think It could be edited/mechanical, like this bit from Born This Way, just to make it sound fuller. Really interesting discussion point, thanks for telling me about it!

[mjuk2013]

Right? Them lows sound almost too masculine, except for the fact that it's clearly sung by a female voice!
The next, most probable case would probably be Jenna, whose lower register has often stricken me as more defined-than-average, she had some decent lower 3rd octave notes in "Mary's Boy Child", "Don't Dream It's Over", "(Don't You) Forget About Me" and those acoustic tunes she sang with them dudes 😂
Honestly, whilst I have never been a fan of that show's writing they had a bunch of immensely diverse and interesting voices to play with! Most of the unconventional ones went unnoticed, sadly.

[leobraga]

Hi, I'm new here and I don't know how threads in "Work in Progress" work. Can I help you? I'm working on Glee threads and it was almost 100% finished on Heather (However I saw that you included notes here that I didn't realize existed and I will check again as D5 on "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and C#5 on "You Should Be Dancing". Anyway, I would like to inform you that Heather and Naya didn't record the backing vocals in "I Say A Little Prayer". They are from someone unknown.

[Tara]

Here you go
1. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" - D5 on "from now on our troubles": link
2. "You Should Be Dancing" - C♯5 high harmony on "yeah": link
3. Thank you. I am aware of that. That is why I did not include "I Say a Little Prayer" in the main body of the thread. I put it in the questionable notes spoiler box here, with a tag indicating that it was sung by a backing vocalist.

[leobraga]

Okay, here's what I was creating (some you already included and some you didn't). The B2 in "Me Against the Music" happens when she says "Ooh" after Naya says "Uh-huh, are you?"

Here on Twitter

[Tara]

It will take some time for me to go through all of these notes. This is to make a start so I don't keep you waiting too long for a response.
B5s: The B5-B♭5 "woo!" in I Wanna Dance is good. I'm uncomfortable with a gap of seven semitones, though. The Gimme More B5 moan is in questionable notes. So, she only has up to E♭5, then this huge gap, then "woo" and "ow". I will put both in questionable notes and wait until there are notes to fill that gap before including them.
B♭5: As a guideline we try not to count two notes from the same song that are only a semitone apart. The B5 is hit strongly enough that there is no need to separately list the slide down to B♭5.
E5: I don't know what E5 you are referring to in Toxic S5. Is it in the bridge? I find the harmonies in this song especially difficult and I hope someone makes an acapella of it.
E♭5: I am wary of counting the E♭5 in Disco Inferno because this acappella suggests she is actually singing the whole thing an octave down and the E♭5s are by a backing vocalist who just sounds like her. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG1RyDC4EeY
D5s: Dancing on My Own - She sings E♭5-C♯5 in the chorus. Toxic S5 - After listening again, I will agree that the D5 in "with a taste" is most likely her and I will add it. We Got the Beat - this is C♯5. She might go a bit sharp during one of the shouts, but I believe C♯5 is intended all the way through.
C♯5: Dinosaur - D5-B4. There is no C♯. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is D5. Me Against the Music - could you send me a link, please? Problem - yes, I will add that.

10/04/21: C5: I'm a Slave 4 U - the only C5s I hear are from the backing vocalists. We Got the Beat - it's C♯5. You're the One That I Want - yes okay, nice catch.
B4: More Than Words - I have it as a B♭4. Problem - there are two higher notes so it's not that significant to me. Shout - a harmonised B♭4, but I didn't have it, so thanks. Touch-a - B♭4.
B♭4: Come See About Me - B4. Dinosaur - not needed as there is a B4. Hand in my Pocket - not needed as there is a B4. Run the World - yes okay. Seasons of Love - yes. Wannabe - B4. We Got the Beat - yes okay. I should have included this and not just the C♯5.
A4: I had the B4 for these ones but you are right that I should add the A4s as well. Call Me Maybe - yes. Come See about Me - yes. Gimme More - yes. Have Yourself a Merry Christmas - is B♭4. I'm so Excited - is B♭4. Landslide - I'm sceptical. Can you send a timestamped link? Light Up the World - is B♭4.

F♯3: I'm a Slave 4 U has an F3 so this is not needed.
E3: Hand in my Pocket - Can you show me where you hear this, please? Toucha - This, to me, is speaking without a significant pitch, but it's around F♯3 and G♯3.
D3: Landslide - Please show me where you hear this, also.
B2: Me Against the Music - It's fry-speaking that seems to hover between C♯3 and E♭3 but doesn't have a convincing pitch.

Thanks for the notes that I missed. Please don't send me screenshots of full threads like this again, because it took me about two hours to look up every song and find each note, many of which were actually mispitched. In the future, please just send the notes you had that were different, with a link, or at least some indication of which line you are referring to.