Justin Hawkins (16,858 views)

[Alex61]

Justin David Hawkins
Vocal Range: E2 – E6

Significant High Notes:
E6 ("Stuck in a Rut")
D6 ("Knockers", "Shake (Like a Lettuce Leaf)")
C♯6 ("Cannonball", "Hazel Eyes", "Motorheart")
C6 ("Cannonball", "Girlfriend", "Grief Hammer", "How Can I Lose Your Love?", "Shit Ghost", "Wanker")
B5 ("Bald", "Blind Man", "Chickens", "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)", "Do It in the Dark", "English Country Garden", "Givin' Up", "Happiness", "Knockers", "Love on the Rocks with No Ice", "Mighty Wings", "Nothin's Gonna Stop Us", "One Way Ticket", "Roaring Waters", "Shake (Like a Lettuce Leaf)", "She Just a Girl, Eddie", "Uniball", "Wanker")
B♭5 ("Hazel Eyes", "Is It Just Me?")
A5 ("All the Pretty Girls", "Always Had the Blues", "Ashamed", "Blind Man", "Buccaneers of Hispaniola", "Cannonball", "Concrete", "Curse of the Tollund Man", "Do It in the Dark", "Eastbound", "Every Inch of You", "Everybody Have a Good Time", "Forbidden Love", "Gay in the '80s", "Get Your Hands off My Woman", "Girlfriend", "Grief Hammer", "Heart Explodes", "Heroes", "I Am Santa", "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", "I've Met Jesus", "Japanese Prisoner of Love", "Keep Me Hangin' On", "Lord Intended", "Love is Not Real", "Love Is Only a Feeling", "Mudslide", "Physical Sex", "Planning Permission", "Rock and Roll Deserves to Die", "Rock in Space", "Seagulls (Losing My Virginity)", "Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time", "Shit Ghost, "Southern Trains", "Speed of Nite Time", "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", "Stuck in a Rut", "Take Take Take", "They Don’t Make 'Em Like They Used To", "Trojan Guitar", "With a Woman", "You Can't Hurt Me Anymore", "You Don't Have to Be Crazy About Me...But It Helps")
G♯5 ("Barbarian", "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)", "Dinner Lady Arms", "English Country Garden", "Friday Night", "Gallows Hill", "How Can I Lose Your Love?", "How Dare You Call This Love!", "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", "Keep Me Hangin' On", "Kissing in the Wind", "Knockers", "Last of Our Kind", "Makin' Out", "One Way Ticket", "Shake (Like a Lettuce Leaf)", "Sticky Situations", "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us", "Uniball", "Why Don't the Beautiful Cry?", "You Give Love a Bad Name" live California 2008)
G5 ("All the Pretty Girls", "Automatic", "Bald", "Choke on It", "Confirmation Bias", "Cupboard Love", "Easter Is Cancelled", "Every Inch of You", "Forbidden Love", "Get Your Hands off My Woman", "Girlfriend", "Grief Hammer", "Happiness", "Hell Raiser", "How Dare You Call This Love!", "I Wish I Was in Heaven", "It's Love, Jim", "Japanese Prisoner of Love", "Laylow", "Love Is Not the Answer", "Love on the Rocks with No Ice", "Messenger", "Motorheart", "Pat Pong Ladies", "Physical Sex", "The Power and Glory of Love", "Prima Donna", "Rack of Glam", "Roaring Waters", "Rock in Space", "Seagulls (Losing My Virginity)", "Solid Gold", "Southern Trains", "Stuck in a Rut", "They Don’t Make 'Em Like They Used To", "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us", "We Are the Guitar Men", "Wheels of the Machine", "Whichever Way You Wanna Give It", "You Don't Have to Be Crazy About Me...But It Helps")
F♯5 ("All I Gotta Do", "Always Had the Blues", "The Best of Me", "Buccaneers of Hispaniola", "Cannonball", "Chickens", "Cocktails", "Concrete", "Conquerors", "Givin' Up", "Growing on Me", "Hazel Eyes", "Heroes", "Holding My Own", "I Am Santa", "I Wish I Was in Heaven", "In Another Life", "It's a Love Thang (You Wouldn't Understand)", "Kissing in the Wind", "Lay Down with Me, Barbara", "Living Each Day Blind", "Makin' Out", "Messenger", "Mighty Wings", "Mudslide", "One Way Ticket", "Rack of Glam", "Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time", "Thunder of the Wind", "Welcome Tae Glasgow", "Whichever Way You Wanna Give It", "With a Woman", "You Can't Hurt Me Anymore")
F5 ("Confirmation Bias", "Curse of the Tollund Man", "Easter Is Cancelled", "Fire", "Gay in the '80s", "Get Your Hands off My Woman", "Hammer & Tongs", "I Can't Believe It's Not Love", "Is It Just Me?", "It's Love, Jim", "Live 'Til I Die", "Love is Not Real", "Million Dollar Strong", "Open Fire", "Planning Permission", "Roaring Waters", "You Give Love a Bad Name" live California 2008)
E5 ("All the Pretty Girls", "Automatic", "Bald", "Barbarian", "Black Shuck", "Blind Man", "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)", "Choke on It", "Cocktails", "Cupboard Love", "Curse of the Tollund Man", "Different Eyes", "Dinner Lady Arms", "Do It in the Dark", "Eastbound", "Easter Is Cancelled", "England", "Friday Night", "Heroes", "Holding My Own", "How Can I Lose Your Love?", "How Dare You Call This Love!", "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", "I Love You 5 Times", "I've Met Jesus", "In Another Life", "It's a Love Thang (You Wouldn't Understand)", "Japanese Prisoner of Love", "Kissing in the Wind", "Last of Our Kind", "Lord Intended", "Love Is Not the Answer", "Love Is Only a Feeling", "Love on the Rocks with No Ice", "Mighty Wings", "Motorheart", "Nobody Can See Me Cry", "Nothin's Gonna Stop Us", "Out of My Hands", "Party All Day (Fuck All Night)", "Rack of Glam", "Red Light Spells Danger" live Comic Relief 2007, "Sarah O'Sarah", "Seagulls (Losing My Virginity)", "She Just a Girl, Eddie", "Shit Ghost", "Solid Gold", "Southern Trains", "Sticky Situations", "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", "Stuck in a Rut", "Take Take Take", "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us", "Trojan Guitar", "We Are the Guitar Men", "Wheels of the Machine", "You Don't Have to Be Crazy About Me...But It Helps")
E♭5 ("English Country Garden", "Gallows Hill", "Givin' Up", "Hammer & Tongs", "The Horn", "How Dare You Call This Love!", "It's a Love Thang (You Wouldn't Understand)", "It's Love, Jim", "Keep Me Hangin' On", "Laylow", "Living Each Day Blind", "Makin' Out", "Messenger", "Shake (Like a Lettuce Leaf)", "Wanker", "Why Don't the Beautiful Cry?")
D5 ("All the Pretty Girls", "Always Had the Blues", "Automatic", "Barbarian", "The Best of Me", "Chickens", "Concrete", "Confirmation Bias", "Different Eyes", "Gay in the '80s", "Grief Hammer", "Growing on Me", "Heroes", "Holding My Own", "I Am Santa", "Is It Just Me?", "Jussy's Girl", "Kissing in the Wind", "Love is Not Real", "Love Is Only a Feeling", "Mighty Wings", "Million Dollar Strong", "Motorheart", "Mudslide", "Nobody Can See Me Cry", "Pat Pong Ladies", "Stampede of Love", "Sticky Situations", "Sutton Hoo", "They Don’t Make 'Em Like They Used To", "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us", "Uniball", "Welcome Tae Glasgow", "Wheels of the Machine", "Whichever Way You Wanna Give It", "With a Woman", "You Can't Hurt Me Anymore")
C♯5 ("Black Shuck", "Buccaneers of Hispaniola", "Concrete", "Eastbound", "England", "Every Inch of You", "Feel It Still" live The Masked Singer, "Fire", "Friday Night", "Heart Explodes", "Heavy Metal Lover", "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", "I Can't Believe It's Not Love", "I've Met Jesus", "Japanese Prisoner of Love", "Last of Our Kind", "Lord Intended", "Physical Sex", "Queen Medley" live London 2008, "Prima Donna", "Sarah O'Sarah", "Thunder of the Wind", "Trojan Guitar")
C5 ("Blind Man", "Cupboard Love", "Curse of the Tollund Man", "Forbidden Love", "Girlfriend", "Jussy's Girl", "Keep Me Hangin' On", "Love Is Not the Answer", "Live 'Til I Die", "Million Dollar Strong", "Queen Medley" live London 2008, "Rock and Roll Deserves to Die", "Seagulls (Losing My Virginity)", "Shit Ghost", "Stampede of Love", "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", "Sutton Hoo", "True Colors" live The Masked Singer, "Welcome Tae Glasgow", "With a Woman")
B4 ("Always Had the Blues", "Automatic", "Bald", "The Best of Me", "Chickens", "Choke on It", "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)", "Cocktails", "Creep" live The Masked Singer, "Different Eyes", "Do It in the Dark", "English Country Garden", "Everybody Have a Good Time", "Givin' Up", "How Can I Lose Your Love?", "I Am Santa", "I Love You 5 Times", "I Wish I Was in Heaven", "I've Met Jesus", "Jussy's Girl", "Knockers", "Living Each Day Blind", "Lord Intended", "Love Is Only a Feeling", "Makin' Out", "Messenger", "Nothin's Gonna Stop Us", "One Way Ticket", "Planning Permission", "Rack of Glam", "Red Light Spells Danger" live Comic Relief 2007, "Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time", "Shake (Like a Lettuce Leaf)", "She Just a Girl, Eddie", "Sticky Situations", "Uniball", "Wheels of the Machine", "Whichever Way You Wanna Give It", "You Can't Hurt Me Anymore")
B♭4 ("Hammer & Tongs", "Hazel Eyes", "The Horn", "In Another Life", "Party All Day (Fuck All Night)", "Why Don't the Beautiful Cry?", "You Give Love a Bad Name" live California 2008)
A4 ("Ashamed", "The Best of Me", "Blind Man", "Cannonball", "Creep" live The Masked Singer, "Cupboard Love", "Deck Chair", "Dinner Lady Arms", "Eastbound", "Easter Is Cancelled", "England", "Every Inch of You", "Forbidden Love", "Friday Night", "Gay in the '80s", "Growing on Me", "Happiness", "I Love You 5 Times", "Is It Just Me?", "Justin Hawkins Rides Again", "Keep Me Hangin' On", "Lay Down with Me, Barbara", "Million Dollar Strong", "Mudslide", "Nobody Can See Me Cry", "Open Fire", "Out of My Hands", "Physical Sex", "The Power and Glory of Love", "Red Light Spells Danger" live Comic Relief 2007, "Roaring Waters", "Rock in Space", "Sarah O'Sarah", "Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time", "Solid Gold", "Southern Trains", "Speed of Nite Time", "Stampede of Love", "Sticky Situations", "Stuck in a Rut", "Trojan Guitar", "True Colors" live The Masked Singer, "Wanker", "With a Woman")

Significant Low Notes:
G3 ("Barbarian", "Cupboard Love", "Do They Know It's Christmas?", "Every Inch of You", "Forbidden Love", "Gay in the '80s", "The Horn", "How Dare You Call This Love!", "I Am Santa", "Keep Me Hangin' On", "Laylow", "Los Angeloser", "Love Is Not the Answer", "Pat Pong Ladies", "Roaring Waters", "Seagulls (Losing My Virginity)", "She Just a Girl, Eddie", "Stampede of Love", "Sticky Situations", "True Colors" live The Masked Singer, "We Are the Guitar Men", "Wheels of the Machine", "Whichever Way You Wanna Give It", "You Can't Hurt Me Anymore")
F♯3 ("All I Gotta Do", "All the Pretty Girls", "Buccaneers of Hispaniola", "Cannonball", "Creep" live The Masked Singer, "Dinner Lady Arms", "England", "Friday Night", "The Horn", "I Wish I Was in Heaven", "In Another Life", "Living Each Day Blind", "Nothin's Gonna Stop Us", "Queen Medley" live London 2008, "Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time", "They Don’t Make 'Em Like They Used To", "Uniball", "Why Don't the Beautiful Cry?")
F3 ("Fire", "Heavy Metal Lover", "I Can't Believe It's Not Love", "Jussy's Girl", "Live 'Til I Die", "Welcome Tae Glasgow")
E3 ("Bald", "Barbarian", "Choke on It", "Forbidden Love", "Heart Explodes", "Heavy Metal Lover", "How Can I Lose Your Love?", "How Dare You Call This Love!", "I Am Santa", "In Another Life", "Justin Hawkins Rides Again", "Last of Our Kind", "Lay Down with Me, Barbara", "Laylow", "Love on the Rocks with No Ice", "Out of My Hands", "Physical Sex", "The Power and Glory of Love", "Rack of Glam", "Sarah O'Sarah", "Seagulls (Losing My Virginity)", "Shit Ghost", "So Long", "Solid Gold", "Stampede of Love", "Sutton Hoo", "Trojan Guitar", "Whichever Way You Wanna Give It")
E♭3 ("It's Love, Jim")
D3 ("Deck Chair", "Holding My Own", "Jussy's Girl", "Love on the Rocks with No Ice", "Mighty Wings", "Motorheart", "Planning Permission", "Rack of Glam", "Speed of Nite Time", "We Are the Guitar Men")
C♯3 ("Curse of the Tollund Man", "Deck Chair", "Lay Down with Me, Barbara", "The Power and Glory of Love", "Why Don't the Beautiful Cry?")
C3 ("Confirmation Bias", "Curse of the Tollund Man", "It's Love, Jim")
B2 ("Creep" live The Masked Singer, "It's a Love Thang (You Wouldn't Understand)", "Motorheart")
A2 ("Black Shuck", "Confirmation Bias", "Deck Chair", "Grief Hammer", "I Love You 5 Times", "You Don't Have to Be Crazy About Me...But It Helps")
G2 ("Confirmation Bias")
E2 ("Justin Hawkins Rides Again" YouTube video 08/07/2022)
..................................................................
• Blue marks high falsetto or whistle register notes.
• Bold marks notes or passages that are particularly outstanding (relative to the singer).
• Italics mark non-melodic notes.
• Underlines mark notes that are obscured in the song mix.
• Dates are listed in a DD/MM/YYYY format.

Justin Hawkins is the lead singer and guitarist of British glam rock band The Darkness, who grew popular in the early '00s for their not-too-serious, pseudo-'80s hard rock sound.

Justin's voice drove the band to success; undoubtedly a reasonably high-placed voice with a freakishly extensive upper register (and self-described as "an Englishman with a very high voice"), Justin frequently makes use of his distinctive, potent mixed voice, comfortably belting up to at least G5 in basically every song. Despite this, Justin's voice perhaps isn't as highly placed as you'd initially assume, as his natural chest voice sounds a fair bit weightier than most of his higher notes would indicate. An incredibly good, versatile singer on the whole - if only he used his low notes a bit more!

SPOILER: Click to show

A performance that showcases Justin's stratospheric highs and some of his lower notes.


Quite possibly the only Christmas songs that hasn't yet become overplayed - and also probably one of the only ones to have a B5!


Even more highs...

SPOILER: Click to show

E♭6 ("Holding My Own"^[1])
D6 ("How Dare You Call This Love!"^[1])
B2 ("Bald"^[2])
...................................................................
1. Brief squeaky exclamation.
2. Breathy low dip.
...................................................................
Questionable notes are any notes of questionable significance. In short, this spoiler acknowledges notes that I am aware exist, but do not want to contribute to the singer's range. These involve (but are not limited to) notes of questionable identity, notes of questionable legitimacy and notes of significantly poor quality.

SPOILER: Click to show

Alex61
The Darkness:
Permission to Land (2003): A2 – B5 – E6
One Way Ticket to Hell… and Back (2005): A2 – B5 – D6
Hot Cakes (2012): E3 – B5
Last of Our Kind (2015): D3 – B5
Pinewood Smile (2017): C♯3 – A5
Easter Is Cancelled (2019): A2 – A5 – C6

Hot Leg:
Red Light Fever (2009): E3 – B5

Henny Macc
The Darkness:
Motorheart (2021): A2 – A5 – C♯6

Notewatching of other performances not listed above done by Alex61 . Credits to aphelion for finding the current lowest note!

[clem]

Whilst the terminology for his technique is a debate in itself, are his G5s really describable as belting? All his singing in that territory that I've heard sounds very heady to me.

Excellent thread however

[falsetokaiba]

Here's his Masked Singer performance- www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT46aCiP4R8 including a pretty nice B2, a B4 and some potentially boldable A4s.

[Henny Macc]

Just notewatched Easter Is Cancelled a month or so back myself - glad to see this thread already updated to list everything from that! Was pleasantly surprised by the fact that it actually had second octave singing by Justin, especially those G2s in "Confirmation Bias"!

[Henny Macc]

Stumbled across this random guest appearance while doing some notewatching for Gary Cherone:

Nothing too out of the ordinary for Justin, but some of his usual highs up to D♯5 and G♯5 in here.

[glo]

In “Confirmation Bias”, starting at around 2:35, I hear bass harmonies at F2, G2, and E2. Is that Justin?

[Alex61]

Given how his lead G2s sound in the same song, I'm gonna say most likely not :P

[Henny Macc]

Found another guest appearance worth adding:

I'm hearing an E3 at 0:40 and a sustained E5 trilling up to G♯5 at 4:29, though I'm actually having a hard time picking out his voice from the other singers in the rest of the song :scratch:

[aphelion]

Feb 16, 2021 3:27:53 GMT Henny Macc said:

Found another guest appearance worth adding:

I'm hearing an E3 at 0:40 and a sustained E5 trilling up to G♯5 at 4:29, though I'm actually having a hard time picking out his voice from the other singers in the rest of the song :scratch:

E3 is very obviously him but the E5-G#5 sounds too “weighty” to be him. Justin is quite light sounding in that area, but it would make sense for it to be him because...he does love a good G#5. Still note sure if it’s him though

[Henny Macc]

Yeah, I'm rather confused about who some of the voices are in general, because it credits Lzzy Hale, Joe Elliott, and Justin Hawkins as being the vocalists on that song, but there's a voice that doesn't sound like any of them. I hear Elliott's voice on the very first line at 0:27, then Hawkins at the timestamp I mentioned, and then Lzzy is obviously doing all the female parts. However, there's an additional voice that sounds too weighty and raspy to be any of them (like at 0:58), and I'm wondering who that could be. Whoever it is, it seems like they're actually singing the majority of the song.

[aphelion]

I’m not particularly familiar with any of the other singers listed sadly. If it doesn’t sound like any of them then it would help if they actually mentioned who it is lmao. Could it be either of the other 2 musicians listed?

Also just noticed your pfp is Frankie, nice! I started getting into The Darkness in January.

[aphelion]

Just been listening to Holding My Own. Theres a pretty decent black A5 in the backing vocals! (Sorry about the dropbox link)
www.dropbox.com/s/mh9vfnsqlblp0j1/Holding%20My%20Own%20A5.wav?dl=0

Edit: there’s also a B5 in Living Each Day Blind at 2:22 in the backing vocals

[Henny Macc]

New song by The Darkness! I'm hearing B4s, C5s, D5s, G3s, an F3, and a D3. I'm surprised there actually weren't any crazy super high notes in this one for a change!

Also, I see that "Sarah O'Sarah" is marked for a backing vocal E3, but there's actually a very clear lead vocal one at the end of the song:

[Henny Macc]

Got permission from Alex61 to notewatch Motorheart and add the notes from it to the OP, so just figured I'd share my finds here in the meantime as I do it:

• "Welcome Tae Glasgow" - F♯5s, C♯5s, C5, B4s, D5s, F3
  
• "It's Love, Jim" - E♭3s, E♭5s, G5s, F5s, a C3 here I think?
  
• "Motorheart" - B4s, C♯5s, C♯6s!, E5s, D5s, G5, B2, D3s
  
• "The Power and Glory of Love" - E3s, A4s, G5s, B2 I think?, D3,
  
• "Jussy's Girl" - B4s, C5s, D5s, G3s, F3, D3
  
• "Sticky Situations" - A4s, G3s, G♯5, B4s, D5s, E5
  
• "Nobody Can See Me Cry" - A4s, D5s, E5
  
• "Eastbound" - A4s, C♯5s, E5, possibly questionable A5
  
• "Speed of Nite Time" - D3s, A4s, A5s. GREAT song too btw.
  
• "You Don't Have to Be Crazy About Me...But It Helps" - G5s, E5, A2s I think? (may be a questionable identity note though), B4s, A5
  
• "It's a Love Thang (You Wouldn't Understand)" - D♯5s, C♯5s, E5s, B2s, F♯5s
  
• "So Long" - E3s...shockingly no highs in this one!!

Very solid album overall, definitely some bangers on this one that I'm looking forward to listening to again. Justin's highs are just as crazy as ever, but I was quite surprised to hear how much more he used his low range on this one than usual, including quite a few second octave notes for once! Suffice it to say the amount of rangewanking is gonna make it not to overinclude from certain songs in the OP, though admittedly I kinda forgot that we currently have G3s and F♯3s counted as low notes for him and didn't bother to jot those down in several songs, so I guess that'll help cut it down a bit lol. Personally I don't think we really need to be counting anything above like F3 by him anyway.

The Japanese edition of this album also includes a bonus track called "The Age of Darkness" that features Dan Hawkins on lead vocals for the first time, doing something of an epic piss-take vocal performance that spans E3-B4.

[Osmosis]

Fancy including one of the notes from his youtube channel's theme song? youtu.be/lfKe8sPWmyc

[Steingrim]

Nov 28, 2019 19:33:56 GMT clem said:

Whilst the terminology for his technique is a debate in itself, are his G5s really describable as belting? All his singing in that territory that I've heard sounds very heady to me.

Excellent thread however

I find the G5s here less heady than the screams delivered at the same pitch by a lot of heavy rock vocalists. And he sounds very comfortable at E5 (the very long note after a while).

youtu.be/EoHBZPOGU2g?t=294

[aphelion]

youtu.be/WZMmrQa30t8?t=842

E2!

[Henny Macc]

Damn, good find! Sustained and everything

[Osmosis]

It's a really great youtube channel he's got going.

[Henny Macc]

What do you think we should list that note under? "Justin Hawkins Rides Again" sung on podcast 2022?

[aphelion]

I wouldn't really call it a podcast, it's just a regular YouTube video of him reading comments so maybe just say video instead of podcast (also thanks for the tag)

[Osmosis]

And just like that, Justin is part of the 4 octave club

Edit: D3s and a D5 in his latest video entitled Sad News. Part of his cover version of Miss Kiss Kiss Bang. Starts at 1:28

[Discount Roger Taylor]

A bunch of new high notes from the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert today. I haven't finished notewatching yet, but off the top of my head:

Eb5s, F5s, F#5s, and one G#5 from a cover of Van Halen's "On Fire"

A4s and blue C5s from "Hot For Teacher"

A4s, D5s, an E5 and an A5 from "Under Pressure"

F5s from "Range Rover Bitch"

Also interesting that a lot of these high notes are more distorted than his usual highs, almost reminiscent of Ian Gillan at times. Not distorted enough for a different color, obviously, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

[Henny Macc]

Sept 4, 2022 2:57:37 GMT Discount Roger Taylor said:

Eb5s, F5s, F#5s, and one G#5 from a cover of Van Halen's "On Fire"

Was just checking this out myself - he did a great job singing both DLR AND Michael Anthony's vocal parts in it! Admittedly I went into it hoping that Wolfgang Van Halen was gonna be doing those Michael Anthony harmonies and that I'd get some new high notes to add to his thread, but it seems like he was too busy shredding it up with Eddie's guitar parts to be bothered with doing backing vocals this time.

I also heard a slide down to some kind of low note by Justin at the end of the song, but I can't quite pick out what it is:

Might not be lower than like E♭3; it's hard to tell with this kind of recording quality. Hopefully there'll be some other videos uploaded later on with better quality that will make it easier to hear.

[Discount Roger Taylor]

Honestly, I think Justin does "On Fire" way better than Roth. Not that I've ever liked DLR to begin with lol.