Top 10 Best Rock and Metal Vocal Performances by Singers in Their 50s
I took into account difficulty of the material they sang, power of the voice at this age, vocal range, how good they sounded, and the age - there's a difference between a singer at 51 and 58.Singers on this list deserve the whole praise of the world, especially of the music world.
Hands down. Bruce Dickinson recorded this song (and the entire album) at 56, with tongue cancer - his neck area was affected.
Ian Gillan at 55, sings a 7 minute long song LIVE at the Rotterdam Ahoy (October 30, 2000). And the song was performed with a Philharmonic Orchestra, not only with the Deep Purple members!
He recodred the studio version at 50 so the original also counts, which is, again, a great vocal performance.
Rob Halford at 56. On the song sample you can hear his clean operatic voice with a beautiful sustain, followed by a long brutal scream.
Dio at 54. R.I.P. Dio.
Interesting fact:
4 singers in the top 10 of this list were discovered by Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple, Rainbow) - Dio, Ian Gillan, David Coverdale and Joe Lynn Turner. Ritchie Blackmore was very picky but he certainly knew what was doing, judging by the results that are visible now.
Joe Lynn Turner at 57... on a bonus track!
David Coverdale is the oldest singer on this list because he recorded this song at 59 - he was almost 60! (album was recorded in 2010 and released 2011).
Absolutely amazing. Hands down.
Chuck Billy at 54. He still sounds great to me.
James Hetfield at 52-53.
Ralf Scheepers at 50. He probably deserves to be higher but I put him lower because he was only 50 and there are older singers with good vocals, too.
