Lalah Hathaway (4,529 views)

[kaji]

Eulaulah Donyll "Lalah" Hathaway (16 December 1968)
Voice Type: Mezzo-Soprano
Vocal Range: G2-C♯6

Significant High Notes:

C♯6 ("Somethin'" various live performances)
B♭5 ("storm", "won't let it go")
A5 ("Improvisation with B. Slade", "Summertime")
G♯5 ("Brazilian Rhyme", "Do You Suppose", "I'm Coming Back" Where It All Begins version, "Lean On Me" with Antelope Audio, "Sentimental")
G5 ("Cherish The Day", "Forever, For Always, For Love", "I'm Coming Back", "Improvisation with B. Slade", "We Were 2", "When I'm With You")
F♯5 ("If This World Were Mine", "Love Like This", "Rise", "Rock With You", "Song Association with Terrell", "Summertime", "This Is Your Life")
F5 ("Brazilian Rhyme", "This Is Your Life", "When Your Life Was Low" Lalah Hathaway Live version, "y o y")
E5 ("Endangered Species", "I'm Coming Back" Where It All Begins version, "NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert", "Obvious", "Stay Home Tonight", "Summertime", "When Your Life Was Low" Lalah Hathaway Live version, "Wrong Way")
E♭5 ("All I Ask Of You", "Angel", "Baby Don't Cry", "Cherish The Day", "don't give up", "If You Want To", "It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World" Live in 2011, "Long After U Have Gone", "Made For Love", "On Your Own", "Round Midnight", "Sentimental", "Small Of My Back", "Ultimate Relationship", "won't let it go", "Wrong Way")
D5 ("Admit It", "All I Ask Of You", "Anyone Can Be A Hero", "Breathe", "change ya life", "Coming to Life", "Do You Suppose", "Endangered Species", "Family Affair", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "Heaven Knows", "I Gotta Move On", "I'm Coming Back", "Let Me Love You", "Lie To Me", "Made For Love", "Obvious", "Ooh", "One More Chance", "On My Own", "Shine", "Smile", "Song Association with Terrell", "Somethin'", "So They Say", "Summertime", "U-Godit Gowin On")
C♯5 ("Angel", "A Telephone Call Away", "Bad By Myself", "Better And Better", "Brand New", "Brazilian Rhyme", "call on me", "Coming to Life", "Dealing", "don't give up", "Dreamland", "Flying Easy", "I Can't Wait", "If U Ever", "I'm Not Over You", "Insanity", "In The End", "It's What I Do", "Lean On Me", "Little Ghetto Boy", "Love's Holiday", "My Everything", "Nothing Like You", "On My Own", "Rise", "Rock With You", "Sentimental", "Separate Ways", "Somethin'", "Surrender", "Sweet Baby", "These Are The Things (You Do To Me)" Lalah Hathaway Live version, "We Were 2", "When", "Wrong Way", "You Were Meant For Me", "1 Mile")
C5 ("Admit It", "Always Love You", "Anyone Can Be A Hero", "Baby Don't Cry", "Back Then", "Better And Better", "Better As A Memory", "call on me", "Cherish The Day", "Come Over", "Every Promise", "Family Affair", "Forever, For Always, For Love", "Ghetto Heaven", "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "Heaven Knows", "He's Been Just That Good", "If You Want To", "I Gotta Move On", "I'm Coming Back", "I'm Not Over You", "I Surrender", "It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World", "It's Not Heaven If You're Not There", "It's What I Do", "Lean On Me", "Lie To Me", "Long After U Have Gone", "Lost Without You (Spoken Words)", "Made For Love", "Mirror", "My Only", "Night & Day", "Obvious", "One More Chance", "On Your Own", "Silent Nocturne", "Small Of My Back", "Smile", "Someday We'll All Be Free", "Song Association with Terrell", "Spark & Tingle", "Stay Home Tonight", "Street Life", "Stronger", "This Could Be Love", "This Is Your Life", "U-Godit Gowin On", "What Goes Around", "Your Favorite Song")
B4 ("All I Ask Of You", "Angel", "Anyone Can Be A Hero", "A Telephone Call Away", "Bad By Myself", "Better As A Memory", "Boston", "Brand New", "Breathe", "change ya life", "don't give up", "Do You Suppose", "Dreamland", "Flying Easy", "Ghetto Heaven", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "honestly", "How Many Times", "If This World Were Mine", "If U Ever", "Improvisation with B. Slade", "Insanity", "In The End", "Let Me Love You", "Little Ghetto Boy", "Love Like This", "Lovely Day", "Love's Holiday", "Mirror", "More", "My Everything", "My Only", "Night & Day", "Nothing Like You", "NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert", "On My Own", "Rock With You", "Round Midnight", "Separate Ways", "Shine", "Somethin'", "Stay Home Tonight", "Stronger", "Surrender", "Sweet Baby", "These Are The Things (You Do To Me)", "The Thrill Is Gone", "This Too Will Pass", "UDO", "Waiting In Vain", "Whatever", "When I'm With You", "When Your Life Was Low", "Where It All Begins", "Wrong Way", "You've Got A Friend", "1 Mile")
B♭4 ("Admit It", "Always Love You", "Angel", "A Simple Song", "A Telephone Call Away", "Baby Don't Cry", "Back Then", "Bad By Myself", "Better And Better", "Better As A Memory", "Brazilian Rhyme", "call on me", "Come Over", "Don't Forget To Remember", "Every Promise", "Family Affair", "Fever", "For Always", "Forever, For Always, For Love", "How Many Times", "I Can't Wait", "If You Want To", "I Gotta Move On", "I'm Coming Back", "I'm Not Over You", "I Surrender", "It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World", "It's Not Heaven If You're Not There", "Jesus Children", "Lean On Me", "Let Go", "Lie To Me", "Long After U Have Gone", "Michael Jackson Medley", "More", "My Everything", "My Worship", "Naked Truth", "Ooh", "One More Chance", "Rise", "Sentimental", "Small Of My Back", "Smile", "Someday We'll All Be Free", "So They Say", "Street Life", "Sun", "This Could Be Love", "This Is Your Life", "We Were 2", "What Goes Around", "When", "Where It All Begins", "won't let it go", "You Had To Know", "Your Favorite Song", "You're in Heaven", "You Were Meant For Me", "y o y")
A4 ("All I Ask Of You", "Anyone Can Be A Hero", "A Song for You", "Boston", "Breathe", "change ya life", "Dealing", "don't give up", "Endangered Species", "Family Affair", "Fever", "For Always", "Forever, For Always, For Love", "Ghetto Heaven", "Heaven Knows", "He's Been Just That Good", "honestly", "If This World Were Mine", "If U Ever", "I Gotta Move On", "I Just Wanna Stop", "I'm Coming Back", "Improvisation with B. Slade", "It's What I Do", "La Villette", "Learning To Swim", "Let Me Love You", "Little Ghetto Boy", "Little Girl" Lalah Hathaway Live version, "Lost Without You (Spoken Words)", "Love Like This", "Lovely Day", "Made For Love", "My Only", "Nothing Like You", "NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert", "Obvious", "On My Own", "Pick Up", "Shine", "Somethin'", "Stay Home Tonight", "Stronger", "Summer Breeze", "Sweet Baby", "That Was Then", "These Are The Things (You Do To Me)", "The Thrill Is Gone", "Tragic Inevitability", "UDO", "U-Godit Gowin On", "Waiting In Vain", "Whatever", "what u need", "When I'm With You", "When Your Life Was Low", "Wrong Way", "You Had To Know", "You've Got A Friend")

Significant Low Notes:

G♯3 ("Always Love You", "Angel", "Bad By Myself", "Better And Better", "Come Along with Me", "Don't Forget To Remember", "Fever", "For All We Know", "How Many Times", "If This World Were Mine", "If U Ever", "If You Want To", "In The End", "It's Not Heaven If You're Not There", "Love Like This", "Love's Holiday", "Michael Jackson Medley", "My Only", "Nothing Like You", "On Your Own", "Rise", "Sentimental", "Separate Ways", "Small Of My Back", "Someday We'll All Be Free", "Somethin'", "Street Life", "Sweet Baby", "This Is Your Life", "UDO", "Ultimate Relationship", "We Were 2", "When", "When the World Turns Blue", "Your Favorite Song", "y o y", "1 Mile")
G3 ("Admit It", "All I Ask Of You", "A Moment", "Anyone Can Be A Hero", "A Song for You", "Back Then", "Better As A Memory", "Boston", "Breathe", "change ya life", "Cherish The Day", "Earth", "Family Affair", "For Always", "Heaven", "Heaven Knows", "I Gotta Move On", "I Just Wanna Stop", "I'm Not Over You", "It's What I Do", "Jesus Children", "Lie To Me", "Little Girl", "Long After U Have Gone", "Made For Love", "Mirror", "Obvious", "One Day I'll Fly Away", "Ooh", "Pick Up", "Spark & Tingle", "Stronger", "This Could Be Love", "Thought You Should Know", "Tragic Inevitability", "U-Godit Gowin On", "Waiting In Vain", "We Are Young Gifted & Black", "What Goes Around", "You Had To Know", "You've Got A Friend")
F♯3 ("A Telephone Call Away", "Brand New", "Dreamland", "Earth", "Endangered Species", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "honestly", "If This World Were Mine", "In The End", "Let Go", "Let Me Love You", "Little Ghetto Boy", "More", "My Everything", "Night & Day", "Round Midnight", "Sentimental", "Separate Ways", "Surrender", "These Are The Things (You Do To Me)", "UDO", "We Were 2", "Whatever", "When", "When the World Turns Blue", "When Your Life Was Low", "won't let it go", "You Were Meant For Me", "y o y")
F3 ("Always Love You", "A Moment", "Baby Don't Cry" Live with Angela Winbush, "call on me", "Don't Forget To Remember", "Every Promise", "Family Affair", "For Always", "I Can't Wait", "I Gotta Move On", "I'm Coming Back", "I Surrender", "It's Not Heaven If You're Not There", "My Everything", "My Worship", "Naked Truth", "Oakland", "One Day I'll Fly Away", "One More Chance", "Shine", "Silent Nocturne", "Small Of My Back", "Smile", "Someday We'll All Be Free", "So They Say", "Spark & Tingle", "storm", "Street Life", "Strong Woman", "Summer Breeze", "This Could Be Love", "We Were 2", "won't let it go", "Your Favorite Song")
E3 ("Better As A Memory", "Boston", "change ya life", "Dealing", "Do You Suppose", "Endangered Species", "Fever", "Heaven", "If U Ever", "I Just Wanna Stop", "Let Me Love You", "Love Like This", "Lovely Day", "Michael Jackson Medley", "Mirror", "My Only", "NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert", "Ooh", "Pick Up", "Somethin'", "Stay Home Tonight", "Summertime", "Surrender", "These Are The Things (You Do To Me)", "UDO", "Wrong Way", "Your Favorite Song")
E♭3 ("A Simple Song", "Back Then", "Bad By Myself", "Cherish The Day", "Come Over", "Don't Forget To Remember", "Flying Easy", "For All We Know", "How Many Times", "If You Want To", "I'm Not Over You", "It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World", "Lean On Me" Lalah Hathaway Live version, "Let Go", "Long After U Have Gone", "Made For Love", "More", "On Your Own", "Rise", "Shine", "Silent Nocturne", "Sun", "This Is Your Life", "Ultimate Relationship", "We Are Young Gifted & Black", "What Goes Around", "When the World Turns Blue", "Where It All Begins", "You're in Heaven")
D3 ("A Song for You", "Boston", "Breathe", "Dealing", "Dreamland", "Every Promise", "For Always", "Forever, For Always, For Love", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "I Just Wanna Stop", "It's What I Do", "Jesus Children", "Learning To Swim", "Lie To Me", "Little Girl", "Mirror", "My Worship", "Night & Day", "Nothing Like You", "Outrun The Sky", "Pick Up", "Rock With You", "Round Midnight", "Stronger", "Summertime", "That Was Then", "This Could Be Love", "This Too Will Pass", "Thought You Should Know", "Waiting In Vain", "Whatever", "what u need")
C♯3 ("Angel", "Better And Better", "call on me", "Coming to Life", "Earth", "Endangered Species", "honestly", "How Many Times", "I Can't Wait", "My Only", "Someday We'll All Be Free" 2015 Black Girls Rock, "Somethin'" various live performances, "Spark & Tingle", "storm", "Sun", "When", "When the World Turns Blue", "Where It All Begins", "You Were Meant For Me", "y o y", "1 Mile")
C3 ("Admit It", "Always Love You", "change ya life", "Cherish The Day", "Come Over", "Forever, For Always, For Love" Lalah Hathaway Live version, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", "Heaven", "Lost Without You (Spoken Words)", "NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert", "Oakland", "Shine", "Strong Woman", "That Was Then", "When Your Life Was Low" Lalah Hathaway Live version)
B2 ("Brand New", "don't give up", "I'm Coming Back" Where It All Begins version, "Love's Holiday", "Song Association with Terrell", "Sweet Baby", "This Could Be Love", "This Too Will Pass", "Tragic Inevitability", "Whatever", "what u need")
B♭2 ("call on me", "Naked Truth", "Forever, For Always, For Love" Tom Joyner Show, "Jesus Children", "Somethin'" Tom Joyner Show, "won't let it go")
A2 ("Improvisation with B. Slade", "Sweet Baby")
G2 ("Small Of My Back")
........................................
Blue marks notes sung in head voice.
Underlines marks harmonies, backing vocals and obscured notes.
Boldface marks notes that are considered to be particularly notable examples of this person's vocal capabilities.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Vocal summary}
The daughter of a music legend Donny Hathaway - Lalah Hathaway, a great vocalist and musician in her own right. Her mellow jazz-influenced voice can be usually heard singing in the middle and low register which may make some people think she is a contralto but her voice is actually more of a natural mezzo. Capable of easy and healthy belting (and mixed voice) in the lower and middle fifth octave, speech-easy low notes and a clear head voice all the way up to the lower sixth octave (can be heard in songs such as 'Somethin' and 'I'm Coming Back'), Lalah's voice is one of the underrated gems of the R&B genre. And don't forget her polyphonic singing which she is rather well-known for as well. Just a great talent all around.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Questionable notes}
F3 ("U-Godit Gowin On" ^[1])
C3 ("Fever" live ^[1])
B♭2 ("Admit It" ^[1])
......................................................
[1] marks yelps and short trills in high range or anacrusis and short dips in low range.
[2] marks notes of questionable identity that cannot be confirmed to be the singer in question.
[3] marks non-melodic notes that don't have a significant enough pitch to warrant inclusion.
[4] marks notes that possess uncertain pitch or have been pitch-shifted.
[5] marks notes that do not fit the previous criteria but are not of a substantial enough quality to warrant counting towards the singer's range.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Discography}
Lalah Hathaway (1990) - E3 - E5 - G♯5
A Moment (1994) - E♭3 - E♭5 - G♯5
The Song Lives On (1999) - C♯3 - C5
Outrun the Sky (2004) - C3 - C♯5 - G5
Self Portrait (2008) - B♭2 - C♯5 - E♭5
Where It All Begins (2011) - G2 - E5 - G♯5
Lalah Hathaway Live (2015) - B2 - C♯5 - G♯5
Honestly (2017) - B♭2 - E♭5 - B♭5

[glo]

Question: Phyllis Hyman, Jazmine Sullivan, and Lalah Hathaway are both often cited as contraltos; what do you say to that?  Also, are you planning on covering Phoebe Snow?  How would you type her?

[kaji]

Mar 7, 2021 14:13:45 GMT glo said:

Question: Phyllis Hyman, Jazmine Sullivan, and Lalah Hathaway are both often cited as contraltos; what do you say to that?  Also, are you planning on covering Phoebe Snow?  How would you type her?

Phyllis and Lalah are real mezzos mezzos. Jazmine I’m not sure about but she’s closer to the soprano line than contralto.

The reason I’m not sure about her voice type because she’s VERY comfortable above D5 and sings around Eb5 in almost every song. She also modifies her tone so much from song to song that she goes from sounding legit like a light soprano to a tenor. A real vocal chameleon. But she’s not lower than a high bright mezzo. She’s either that or a lower soprano.

As for Phoebe. Yes, working on it! And we actually do not have to theorise about Phoebe’s voice type as she is classically-trained and is on record stating her exact vocal fäch in multiple interviews. Here’s one where she mentions it www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Phoebe-Snow-s-success-comes-after-great-sorrow-3189038.php

Nina Simone and Pearl Bailey are both contraltos. Pearl especially. I’d say their speaking voices give more clues for that than their singing considering they both sang pretty lightly and with a slight feminine edge (vocal habits mostly). But Pearl straight up sounded like an AMAB tenor when speaking. youtu.be/Fva2jF14KxI?t=8

[glo]

It’s interesting that Phoebe Snow considered herself a dramatic soprano, when she’s often typed as a four-octave contralto. She perhaps could have developed into a coloratura or lyric contralto, or even some sort of mezzo, if she used her folds differently. But she had a penchant for those super high notes. Not all dramatic sopranos or even sopranos can sing up to the F6-A6 area. Yet she, with a thick voice, could do so with ease.

What do you say of those who type Kate Bush as a dramatic soprano? I think she developed into one (she has belted B5s from the 2010s) but started her career as a coloratura soprano. Though I read that she actually sang alto in school choir as well, which is confounding.

[kaji]

Mar 8, 2021 10:34:32 GMT glo said:

It’s interesting that Phoebe Snow considered herself a dramatic soprano, when she’s often typed as a four-octave contralto. She perhaps could have developed into a coloratura or lyric contralto, or even some sort of mezzo, if she used her folds differently. But she had a penchant for those super high notes. Not all dramatic sopranos or even sopranos can sing up to the F6-A6 area. Yet she, with a thick voice, could do so with ease.

What do you say of those who type Kate Bush as a dramatic soprano? I think she developed into one (she has belted B5s from the 2010s) but started her career as a coloratura soprano. Though I read that she actually sang alto in school choir as well, which is confounding.

I'd actually argue that Phoebe's voice was higher rather than lower. She always adlibbed upwards (in modal voice too - youtu.be/8p5PilbGUOA?t=241 - she can actually belt up to A5 too) and utilised her low range very sporadically. She had lows because she had a well-developed voice but there are many higher and brighter sopranos with stronger low ranges. And even when she darkened it, it always had an audible femininity to the tone. And mind you, she didn't just type herself as a dramatic soprano. She was trained as one. What makes her an interesting case is that she didn't use the whistle register and all of her top range was head voice all the way up to A6. Which is very uncommon. There's very, VERY few people who I've seen who can do that. You need to have a rather short vocal tract to push your M2 mechanism up that high. The highest legit head note I've heard was a B-flat 6 from a singer named Chrylyn Bell-Myers. It's on my channel. 

As for Kate Bush, I am not very familiar with her but all clips of her I heard suggested a very, very small-sized soprano more akin to the likes of Sandi Patty and Minnie Riperton (both having very good low ranges actually better than many mezzos). 

As for singing alto, that's common. Everyone will be more comfortable singing alto than soprano, as it is lower. The soprano line in choir, regardless if it is a classical choir or a gospel choir or a contemporary choir, really pushes the voice to its limits. Similar can be said about the tenor line but it is not as extreme and generally only lies a few semitones above the bass 1 part (sometimes called the baritone line - which many tenors will sing as; some tenors sing the legit bass part in choir though - Donnie McClurkin being one of them).

[jojodarose]

Just gonna say, absolutely love this thread, how did you go about note-watching her polyphonic overtone notes?? Did you include all the different notes she harmonised with herself, or just the main one? It's interesting because she could sing 3 notes at once, easily one of my favourite and one of the most interesting vocalists I've ever seen

[kaji]

Mar 8, 2021 18:59:43 GMT jojodarose said:

Just gonna say, absolutely love this thread, how did you go about note-watching her polyphonic overtone notes?? Did you include all the different notes she harmonised with herself, or just the main one? It's interesting because she could sing 3 notes at once, easily one of my favourite and one of the most interesting vocalists I've ever seen

Actually, I haven't had a chance to add those yet considering so far I only really went through the studio stuff. I think I'll just include the fundamental pitch tbh because the notes on top are just her manipulating her overtones. 

[jojodarose]

Mar 8, 2021 22:50:37 GMT kaji said:

Mar 8, 2021 18:59:43 GMT jojodarose said:

Just gonna say, absolutely love this thread, how did you go about note-watching her polyphonic overtone notes?? Did you include all the different notes she harmonised with herself, or just the main one? It's interesting because she could sing 3 notes at once, easily one of my favourite and one of the most interesting vocalists I've ever seen

Actually, I haven't had a chance to add those yet considering so far I only really went through the studio stuff. I think I'll just include the fundamental pitch tbh because the notes on top are just her manipulating her overtones. 

Makes sense haha. Looking forward to seeing those then!! Great work on the thread so far, love it  :smiley:

[kaji]

Mar 8, 2021 23:18:23 GMT jojodarose said:

Mar 8, 2021 22:50:37 GMT kaji said:

Actually, I haven't had a chance to add those yet considering so far I only really went through the studio stuff. I think I'll just include the fundamental pitch tbh because the notes on top are just her manipulating her overtones. 

Makes sense haha. Looking forward to seeing those then!! Great work on the thread so far, love it  :smiley:

Thank you!!! There is a live D6 that I found but I'm not sure if it's countable. It's kinda a shriek lolll www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Nwkjnwxdg It's towards the end in this range vid. 

[jojodarose]

Mar 8, 2021 23:20:30 GMT kaji said:

Mar 8, 2021 23:18:23 GMT jojodarose said:

Makes sense haha. Looking forward to seeing those then!! Great work on the thread so far, love it 

Thank you!!! There is a live D6 that I found but I'm not sure if it's countable. It's kinda a shriek lolll www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Nwkjnwxdg It's towards the end in this range vid. 

Hmmm, yeh, I'm not sure. I think I would put that as questionable, she seems to kinda give up in the middle of it, and it is kinda bad. Definitely worth a spot in questionable, not entirely sure about range. Possibly could be an italicised note if you really wanted, but I personally wouldn't

[Deleted]

She did backround vocals on the new st Vincent record I think

[kaji]

Indeed.