Cindy Wilson (2,351 views)

[Alex61]

Cynthia Leigh Wilson
Vocal Range: C3 – C♯7

Significant High Notes:
C♯7 ("Devil in My Car", "Don't Worry", "Hero Worship", "Rock Lobster")
C7 ("Give Me Back My Man" live Capitol Theatre 1980)
F♯6 ("Chop Suey" alternate version, "Cosmic Thing")
F6 ("Channel Z", "Deviant Ingredient")
E♭6 ("Loveland", "Party Out of Bounds", "Rock Lobster", "Take My Time")
D6 ("Chop Suey")
C♯6 ("Dance This Mess Around", "Rock Lobster")
C6 ("Blue Mood", "I Will Call You")
B5 ("Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now", "Don't Worry", "Loveland")
B♭5 ("Butterbean", "Cosmic Thing", "Deadbeat Club", "Hot Dog", "Ultraviolet", "Wig")
A5 ("Debbie", "Hallucinating Pluto", "Topaz")
G♯5 ("Dance This Mess Around", "Don't Worry", "Love in the Year 3000", "Wig")
G5 ("Devil in My Car", "Roam")
F♯5 ("Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland")
F5 ("Dance This Mess Around", "Hercules Farm", "Hero Worship", "Queen of Las Vegas" Mesopotamia outtake version, "Take My Time")
E5 ("Chop Suey", "Deviant Ingredient", "Don't Worry", "Downtown", "Hallucinating Pluto", "Hot Corner", "Lava", "Ricky", "Take My Time")
E♭5 ("Butterbean", "Channel Z", "Give Me Back My Man" live Capitol Theatre 1980, "Hallucinating Pluto", "Hold On", "I Will Call You", "Junebug", "Love Shack", "Queen of Las Vegas" Mesopotamia outtake version, "Wait", "Whammy Kiss", "Wig")
D5 ("Appalachee Shoals", "Change", "Communicate", "Frenzy", "Give Me Back My Man", "Hero Worship", "Legal Tender", "Love Shack", "New Deal", "Not Goodbye", "Party Out of Bounds", "Private Idaho", "Roam", "Rock Lobster", "There's a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)", "Topaz")
C♯5 ("Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now", "Blossom", "Butterbean", "Cake", "Change", "Cosmic Thing", "Dance This Mess Around", "Deadbeat Club", "Funplex", "Juliet of the Spirits", "Junebug", "Loveland", "Nip It In the Bud", "People Are Asking", "Queen of Las Vegas", "Ricky", "Roam", "Ultraviolet", "This World Is Something New To Me", "Too Long Running", "World Without Walls")
C5 ("52 Girls", "53 Miles West of Venus", "Ballistic", "Communicate", "Daydreamer", "Debbie", "Devil in My Car", "Downtown", "Frenzy", "Hercules Farm", "Hot Dog", "Hot Corner", "Keep This Party Going", "Love Shack", "Luis", "Mesopotamia", "Mystic", "On the Inside", "Orange You Glad It's Summer", "Runnin' Around", "Summer of Love", "Take My Time", "Wait")
B4 ("52 Girls", "Appalachee Shoals", "Big Bird", "Bushfire", "Cake", "Dancing Now", "Delirious", "Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland", "Hallucinating Pluto", "Hot Corner", "Juliet of the Spirits", "Lava", "Loveland", "Midnight", "Music City Queen", "Not Goodbye", "Overboard", "Party Out of Bounds", "Private Idaho", "Pump", "Quiche Lorraine", "Stand Back Time", "There's a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)", "Topaz", "Trism", "Twice Shy", "Wake Up", "Within", "World Without Walls")

Significant Low Notes:
B3 ("Ballistic", "Brother", "Cake", "Debbie", "Dirty Back Road", "Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland", "Lava", "Overboard", "Party Out of Bounds", "Roam", "Time", "Trism", "Twice Shy", "World Without Walls")
B♭3 ("Blossom", "The Chosen One", "Deadbeat Club", "Devil in My Car", "Funplex", "Hold On", "Legal Tender", "Love in the Year 3000", "Queen of Las Vegas", "She Brakes for Rainbows", "Sunrise", "Supernatural", "Too Much to Think About", "Ultraviolet", "Whammy Kiss")
A3 ("52 Girls", "53 Miles West of Venus", "Appalachee Shoals", "Ballistic", "Big Bird", "Blue Mood", "Communicate", "Don't Worry", "Frenzy", "Hero Worship", "I Will Call You", "Junebug", "Keep This Party Going", "Lava", "Mesopotamia", "Midnight", "Mystic", "No One Can Tell You", "Not Goodbye", "Ricky", "Song for a Future Generation", "Stand Back Time", "Take My Time", "Theme for a Nude Beach", "Things I'd Like to Say", "Topaz", "Wake Up")
G♯3 ("The Chosen One", "Dance This Mess Around", "Deadbeat Club", "Hercules Farm", "Juliet of the Spirits", "Loveland", "Nip It In the Bud", "Pump", "She Brakes for Rainbows")
G3 ("Corporeal", "Debbie", "Deviant Ingredient", "Devil in My Car", "Dirty Back Road", "Don't Worry", "Downtown", "Dry County", "Give Me Back My Man", "Hero Worship", "Hold On", "Love Shack", "Memory", "No One Can Tell You", "Stand Back Time", "Time", "Twice Shy", "Whammy Kiss")
F♯3 ("52 Girls" DB-52 Single, "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now", "Big Bird", "Cake", "Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland", "Hot Dog", "Legal Tender", "People Are Asking", "Ricky")
F3 ("Dance This Mess Around", "Deviant Ingredient", "Devil in My Car", "Hercules Farm", "Hot Dog", "On the Inside", "Runnin' Around", "Strobe Light", "Sunrise", "Theme for a Nude Beach")
E3 ("Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now", "Change", "Keep This Party Going", "Mystic", "People Are Asking", "Ricky")
E♭3 ("Love in the Year 3000", "Loveland", "Queen of Las Vegas")
D3 ("Change")
C♯3 ("Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now")
C3 ("On the Inside")
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• 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.

The youngest of The B-52's. Cindy's distinctive stage presence coupled with her exuberant voice gave a certain flair to a large number of the group's discography; Cindy, in fact, sung the lead part on the largest number of the group's songs. Vocally, Cindy's approach on The B-52's albums was somewhere in between Fred and Kate's in the group - she was capable of consistent seamless harmonies with Kate (of which she often took the higher part), though a large majority of her vocal performances were more unpolished and raw than Kate's, something notable on tracks like "Dance This Mess Around". Although she doesn't use her lower register too often, she's capable of relatively strong lower notes in the mid-third octave. While nowadays her ventures in synthpop haven't shown her voice to its best, her iconic raspy belts and screams inarguably made The B-52's the band they are.

SPOILER: Click to show

{A Few Examples of Her Voice}
High belts throughout and lots of energy.


One of her relatively more tame solo performances with some nice high head voice notes towards the end.


Part of Cindy's charm is that her voice is always a bit rough around the edges, but I think it works well here.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Questionable Notes}
D7 ("Roam"^[1])
C♯7 ("Dance This Mess Around" live Rockpop Festival Dortmund 1983^[1])
G♯6 ("Cosmic Thing"^[1])
E♭6 ("Change^[2]")
D6 ("Hot Corner"^[1][2])
C6 ("Debbie"^[1])
...................................................................
1. Questionable control/intent.
2. Questionable identity.
...................................................................
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

{Notewatching Credits & Other Info}
Alex61
Solo:
Sunrise EP (2016): F3 – C5
Supernatural EP (2017): G3 – D5
Change (2017): C3 – D5
Realms (2017): G3 – E♭5

The B-52's:
The B-52's (1979): F3 – E♭6
Wild Planet (1980): F3 – E♭6 – C♯7
Mesopotamia EP (1982): E♭3 – E♭6
Whammy! (1983): E♭3 – B5 – C♯7
Bouncing off the Satellites (1986): F3 – B♭5
Cosmic Thing (1989): G3 – F6 – F♯6
Funplex (2008): E♭3 – B♭5 – F6

Notewatching of other performances not listed above done by Alex61. Credits to IhateMana for hosting the original thread!

[rob]

Can all members of the B-52's sing in the 6th and 7th octave? It seems like a requirement lol.

[IhateMana]

just the gals, Fred just speaks in key

[rob]

Dec 29, 2021 23:36:35 GMT IhateMana said:

just the gals, Fred just speaks in key

The man's gotta do what he does best I guess.