0:00:02 > 0:00:03# Boy, you hear me calling your name
0:00:03 > 0:00:05# The bridge is your time Your engine rolls hot
0:00:05 > 0:00:07# If the bridges fall down
0:00:07 > 0:00:09# Don't lose your head of steam. #
0:00:11 > 0:00:15The voice, it's the one instrument we're all born with,
0:00:15 > 0:00:16we all love to sing.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19# Whoa, young man... #
0:00:19 > 0:00:22Singing is my life. It's what I do, and who I am.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24# Boy, I didn't make it too far
0:00:24 > 0:00:26# But baby you are the family star... #
0:00:26 > 0:00:30I'm going to take you on a 100-year celebration of the mystery, joy
0:00:30 > 0:00:33and pain that lies behind the soul's instrument.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36# Boy, you hear me calling your name The bridge is your time... #
0:00:36 > 0:00:41I'm Gregory Porter and these are my popular voices.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43# Young man
0:00:43 > 0:00:45# I'm counting on you
0:00:45 > 0:00:48# And whoa, young man... #
0:00:51 > 0:00:55The magnificent show-stoppers who defy vocal gravity.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58# Whoa-oh-oh-oh... #
0:00:58 > 0:01:00Voices that set the bar.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03# Somebody to... #
0:01:03 > 0:01:05You watch him live and it's just like...
0:01:05 > 0:01:06- HE SINGS:- OHHHH!
0:01:06 > 0:01:09I think that he's the greatest rock and roll vocalist of all time.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13With sublime technique...
0:01:15 > 0:01:17When she got into her booth, nobody messed with her.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20The musicians jumped behind her and pushed her to the moon.
0:01:20 > 0:01:22# Lord, walk with me... #
0:01:22 > 0:01:24..and the power to move us to tears.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30Their heart-stopping vocal gymnastics take our breath away.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32SCREAMING
0:01:32 > 0:01:35Do you know anybody who can scream like that?
0:01:35 > 0:01:37These are voices on the brink.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40# Oooh-oooh-oooh-ohhh... #
0:01:40 > 0:01:42Voices that go one note higher...
0:01:42 > 0:01:44SHE SINGS IN A HIGH OCTAVE
0:01:44 > 0:01:46..then turn it up to 11.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49# And I... #
0:01:49 > 0:01:52And make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59So what is it that elevates them from technical wizard to the level
0:01:59 > 0:02:01of undeniable genius?
0:02:04 > 0:02:07What transforms a singer into a show-stopper?
0:02:17 > 0:02:20New York at the turn of the 20th century.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24And this was popular entertainment for the masses.
0:02:24 > 0:02:25Vaudeville Theatre.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32A dozen acts for 25 cents a ticket.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36Performances all day, every day.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38Singers were just all part of the show.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43One Italian tenor changed everything.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47I guess you could call him the first international pop superstar,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50the Elvis Presley of his day.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53The greatest singer of the early 20th century.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55His name was Enrico Caruso.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58# La donna e mobile
0:02:58 > 0:03:00# Qual piuma al vento
0:03:00 > 0:03:03# Muta d'accento
0:03:03 > 0:03:06# E di pensier. #
0:03:06 > 0:03:09On this quiet street in Brooklyn,
0:03:09 > 0:03:1487-year-old Aldo Mancusi has the greatest collection of Caruso
0:03:14 > 0:03:17memorabilia in the world.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20# La donna e mobile
0:03:20 > 0:03:22# Qual piuma al vento... #
0:03:22 > 0:03:24Aldo, tell me why you love Caruso.
0:03:24 > 0:03:30His early recordings are really what made Caruso so great.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34Because prior to his recordings, there were very few people
0:03:34 > 0:03:36that would even go and have their voice recorded.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39OPERATIC ITALIAN SINGING
0:03:42 > 0:03:48Caruso had wowed audiences in Italian opera houses, but in 1902
0:03:48 > 0:03:52it was a London gramophone company that catapulted him to
0:03:52 > 0:03:53international stardom.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58They went to Milano to record an opera singer.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01They flipped over Caruso, so they asked him, "Would you record?"
0:04:01 > 0:04:04He said, "Sure. I'll record." Ten cylinders, in those days,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08in a hotel room for 500.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11The gramophone typewriter company refused and said,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14"Do not record Caruso, fee ridiculous."
0:04:14 > 0:04:19They were afraid they'd never make the 500 back.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23However, they sold thousands and thousands.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25Everybody wanted Caruso's record.
0:04:27 > 0:04:33Caruso's extrovert emotion and powerful tone cut across the crackle
0:04:33 > 0:04:35of these shellac 78s.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39CARUSO SINGS
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Tenor Stephen Costello explained why.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57He just has this rich baritone sound, but he's a tenor.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59And usually, for me, when I'm hearing a sound like that,
0:04:59 > 0:05:02you don't think they're going to be able to go up and have that top
0:05:02 > 0:05:04extension. Which he does.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07CARUSO SINGS
0:05:15 > 0:05:20The voice is gorgeous, the sound pours out, the style is great.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22The charisma of the man still comes through...
0:05:22 > 0:05:24- It's true. - ..at the recording, so...
0:05:24 > 0:05:26And it doesn't sound like it's about him
0:05:26 > 0:05:29when he's singing, it's about him interpreting the music
0:05:29 > 0:05:30and him enjoying singing.
0:05:30 > 0:05:36- Yeah.- And even on these old recordings, you get that feeling.
0:05:36 > 0:05:41The gramophone's surge in popularity brought Caruso's voice out of the
0:05:41 > 0:05:44opera house and into living rooms.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47The first singer to sell 1 million records,
0:05:47 > 0:05:52Caruso was so adored that, in 1921, he was given a royal funeral.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54CARUSO SINGS
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Caruso's barnstorming voice set the bar.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06And there's nothing like the moment
0:06:06 > 0:06:08a great tenor unleashes their full power.
0:06:08 > 0:06:13HE SINGS
0:06:18 > 0:06:20The big note, the high C.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24It's nerve-racking, because as a tenor, everyone's waiting for it.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26But it's one of those, you're nervous, you get it,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29you can feel it, you get it and when it comes out, you're holding,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32it's like, "Oh, yeah, there it is. I've got it."
0:06:32 > 0:06:35HE SINGS
0:06:44 > 0:06:47When you sing it, and you're holding it, it feels good.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49It almost feels like you're flying.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52And then, in response to that, the audience applauds.
0:06:52 > 0:06:53So you know you did something right.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56There's just something about it that just feels great, and you're like,
0:06:56 > 0:06:57"I can do that again."
0:06:57 > 0:06:59# On with the... #
0:06:59 > 0:07:01Whether it's a Broadway belter...
0:07:01 > 0:07:05# ..show... #
0:07:05 > 0:07:07..or a power ballad...
0:07:07 > 0:07:08# All by myself... #
0:07:08 > 0:07:10We all love that climactic moment.
0:07:10 > 0:07:16# Any more... #
0:07:21 > 0:07:25Hitting the high note in a performance,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28it's like a slingshot of emotion.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33A release of power and energy which you want to express to the audience.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35It's an extraordinary feeling when you do it.
0:07:35 > 0:07:41# Rest here in my garden wall... #
0:07:47 > 0:07:52A great show-stopper uses their power to share emotion.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56Putting belief at the heart of what you're singing is something I
0:07:56 > 0:07:58learned in church, here in Bakersfield, California.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03# Take me to the alley... #
0:08:05 > 0:08:09My mother was a minister and this is the place where I learned to sing.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16It's been nearly 25, 30 years, since I've been here.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19It's still emotional, because this is where she took me.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23She took me by my hand as a little boy, and took me here.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25So, you know, yeah.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32It's still straight-up gospel music, sharing the truth,
0:08:32 > 0:08:34and holding nothing back.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39# Hosanna, blessed be the rock
0:08:39 > 0:08:43# Blessed be the rock of my salvation
0:08:43 > 0:08:47# Hosanna, blessed be the rock... #
0:08:47 > 0:08:51Singing has bound black Americans together from the first.
0:08:51 > 0:08:56In a way, that was the one thing that we had control of -
0:08:56 > 0:08:59nobody could stop us from singing while we was working in the fields.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03Music, just traditionally, has been this thing to bring solace
0:09:03 > 0:09:07and comfort to whatever you're going through.
0:09:11 > 0:09:18You're a vessel for a godly message, supernatural message,
0:09:18 > 0:09:22so there's a confidence that you have, but it's not one of your own.
0:09:22 > 0:09:23It's...
0:09:25 > 0:09:27It's God confidence.
0:09:27 > 0:09:33# Why should I feel discouraged? #
0:09:37 > 0:09:40No matter what stage I'm on, I think about those things that my
0:09:40 > 0:09:42mother said to me at a very early age.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46Sing with an understanding, express yourself directly to the lyrics that
0:09:46 > 0:09:51you're singing, and so that's something that I developed and
0:09:51 > 0:09:55listened to on a weekly basis in the gospel church.
0:09:55 > 0:10:01# I sing because I'm free
0:10:01 > 0:10:05# And oh, I know
0:10:07 > 0:10:13# I know his eye is on the sparrow
0:10:16 > 0:10:23# I know he watches over me. #
0:10:26 > 0:10:29God bless you, thank you so much.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35It was one woman's transcendent voice that brought gospel out of the
0:10:35 > 0:10:37church and into the mainstream.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39The Queen, Mahalia Jackson.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42You know, as I was telling a young lady today,
0:10:42 > 0:10:44it's not about how big a voice, or how great a voice,
0:10:44 > 0:10:46it's the way you handle it.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48And that's what I want you to get this evening.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50Put yourself in it.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53# Didn't it rain, children
0:10:53 > 0:10:55# Rain on my Lord
0:10:55 > 0:10:59# Didn't it, didn't it, didn't it, oh
0:10:59 > 0:11:03# Oh, my Lord, didn't it rain
0:11:03 > 0:11:05# Didn't it... #
0:11:05 > 0:11:11She was lost in song, she touched on some energy that
0:11:11 > 0:11:15a radio or record player couldn't just hold.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18To me, she reminded me of water.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22Water heals us, water makes us feel better, water makes us grow.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25That's how I hear her voice, like, "Oh, my God!"
0:11:25 > 0:11:28# Rain, children
0:11:28 > 0:11:30# Rain on my Lord
0:11:30 > 0:11:33# Didn't it, didn't it, didn't it, oh... #
0:11:33 > 0:11:39She wasn't just a gifted, incredible virtuosic gospel talent,
0:11:39 > 0:11:40she was a superstar.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47Mahalia grew up in a shack on the banks of the Mississippi and New Orleans.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53Along with thousands of black southerners, at the age of 16,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56she migrated north to find work in Chicago.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59There she met Thomas Dorsey,
0:11:59 > 0:12:05a gospel pioneer who fused jazz and blues with the word of the Lord.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09Thomas Dorsey started writing songs like Precious Lord, Take My Hand,
0:12:09 > 0:12:11and he is not as great of a singer.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15And Mahalia Jackson is the voice of his compositions.
0:12:15 > 0:12:22# Through the night
0:12:24 > 0:12:32# Lead me on through the light... #
0:12:37 > 0:12:42In a segregated United States, Precious Lord, Take My Hand became
0:12:42 > 0:12:46an anthem for the civil rights movement.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48That song makes non-believers believers.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53It ignites a whole community to do better things and greater things.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58It starts trouble too, I love all that.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00The whole movement, it made a whole movement.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02And Mahalia was a part of that.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07At the march on Washington in 1963,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11she stood alongside Martin Luther King.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15Before he gave his address, Mahalia's voice soared above a
0:13:15 > 0:13:18quarter of a million people.
0:13:18 > 0:13:26# I'm gonna tell my Lord
0:13:29 > 0:13:33# When I get home... #
0:13:35 > 0:13:39I think she understood that she could be of assistance with her voice.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43I think she took that responsibility seriously.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47I think that she chastened us and empowered us through her song.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50Even watching it, 60 years after it happened,
0:13:50 > 0:13:54it brings about a wealth of emotion
0:13:54 > 0:13:57and a sense of the righteousness of the cause.
0:13:57 > 0:14:04SHE SINGS
0:14:09 > 0:14:13It was Mahalia that pushed Martin Luther King to deliver his
0:14:13 > 0:14:15most famous speech.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18She knows you've got to have that rousing, closing moment.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22She reminds him, you've got to take it home, tell them about the dream.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Now that you've told them all, you've got to bring the people to
0:14:25 > 0:14:29the mountaintop. And she knows that he will hear her if she says this,
0:14:29 > 0:14:30and he does.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34And he tags his sermon with this part that we all know about
0:14:34 > 0:14:35his dream.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38I have a dream...
0:14:39 > 0:14:44..that my four little children will one day live in a nation
0:14:44 > 0:14:48where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin,
0:14:48 > 0:14:51but by the content of their character.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53I have a dream today!
0:14:58 > 0:15:06# Just a closer walk with thee... #
0:15:07 > 0:15:11Louis Armstrong tried to persuade her to, you know,
0:15:11 > 0:15:13sing a little jazz.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17Many people, they offered her money, but she felt she had a calling
0:15:17 > 0:15:21and a purpose on her life to sing gospel music.
0:15:21 > 0:15:29# Every day I pray just a closer walk with thee... #
0:15:32 > 0:15:35It's one of my mother's favourite songs.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38It's a song I learned to sing.
0:15:39 > 0:15:44And she's doing what every artist of any genre wants to do.
0:15:44 > 0:15:50To be so inside of the music, that everything else disappears.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53# Let it be, Lord
0:15:53 > 0:15:54# Oh, dear, Lord
0:15:54 > 0:15:59# Oh, let it be... #
0:15:59 > 0:16:01It's real. It's just so real.
0:16:01 > 0:16:06It didn't matter that there were microphones around her,
0:16:06 > 0:16:10that there were cameras, because she was in the spirit.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12# Won't you guide me
0:16:12 > 0:16:16# Guide me gently o'er
0:16:20 > 0:16:23# O'er to Thy kingdom
0:16:23 > 0:16:28# Thy kingdom, kingdom shores... #
0:16:32 > 0:16:37Whatever the genre, show-stopping voices speak straight to our hearts.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42And those same voices can bring us all together for a higher purpose.
0:16:43 > 0:16:48For me, there's one rock front man who could whip up a congregation
0:16:48 > 0:16:50like no-one else.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52# Ey-oh
0:16:52 > 0:16:54# Ey-oh
0:16:54 > 0:16:55# Ey-oh
0:16:55 > 0:16:57# Ey-oh
0:16:57 > 0:16:59# Ey-ey-ey-ey-ey-ey-oh...#
0:16:59 > 0:17:01Call and response like he's in church.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04But a church of a different kind.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06The church of rock and roll.
0:17:06 > 0:17:11# Ey-oh... #
0:17:11 > 0:17:14All of those people out there, in a way, are worshipping him.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18That's got to make you feel like God.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20# Di-do-di-do-di-do-di-do
0:17:20 > 0:17:22# Di-do-di-do-di-do-di-do
0:17:22 > 0:17:24- # Di-do - # Di-do
0:17:24 > 0:17:25- # Di-do - # Di-do
0:17:25 > 0:17:27All right!
0:17:27 > 0:17:31Freddie Mercury's command of an audience was rooted in the
0:17:31 > 0:17:33confidence he had in his instrument.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37I'm speaking to some of his biggest fans about what set
0:17:37 > 0:17:39Freddie's voice apart.
0:17:40 > 0:17:46# Mama, just killed a man... #
0:17:46 > 0:17:49You don't even need to see a picture of the person,
0:17:49 > 0:17:52you just hear the voice you know, like, "Oh, my God!"
0:17:52 > 0:17:59# Mama, ooh... #
0:17:59 > 0:18:01It's operatic, but then it's rock and roll.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05There's times where I listen to him, and it's like,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07"He kind of sounds like Little Richard right here."
0:18:07 > 0:18:10Then you hear something else, and it's like, "Is that Pavarotti?"
0:18:10 > 0:18:14# So you think you can stop me and spit in my eye... #
0:18:16 > 0:18:18The passion with which he sings,
0:18:18 > 0:18:20he fully believes in it and he's over the top half the time,
0:18:20 > 0:18:22as a choice.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25- I love that, over the top as a choice.- Yeah.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29I think that he's the greatest rock and roll vocalist of all time.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32# Each morning I get up I die a little
0:18:32 > 0:18:35- # Can barely stand on my feet - Take a look at yourself
0:18:35 > 0:18:37# Take a look in the mirror... #
0:18:37 > 0:18:43Queen's stacked vocal harmonies were given a focus by Freddie's laser-beam voice.
0:18:45 > 0:18:51When digital technology started taking over ten, 15 years ago,
0:18:51 > 0:18:55all of the old recording tapes that people had used were deteriorating.
0:18:55 > 0:19:00So you'd dump what's on the tape into a hard drive.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05All of a sudden, there were these CDs going around of isolated vocals.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09But the isolated Queen vocals were just phenomenal.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11- # I get down - Down
0:19:11 > 0:19:12- # On my knees - Knees
0:19:12 > 0:19:13- # And I start to pray - Praise the Lord
0:19:13 > 0:19:15# Till the tears run down from my eyes
0:19:15 > 0:19:18- # Lord, somebody - Somebody
0:19:18 > 0:19:20- # Somebody - Please
0:19:20 > 0:19:28# Can anybody find me somebody to love? #
0:19:31 > 0:19:35For the first time, you really got to hear what Freddie sounded like
0:19:35 > 0:19:37just on a microphone.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39It was unbelievable, you know, it changed everything.
0:19:39 > 0:19:47# Can anybody find me somebody to love? #
0:19:53 > 0:19:58He's not shy when he would sing, he would just bite the words.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00He had them by his teeth.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03- Yeah.- There's something about his attack that I've always loved.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07# I just gotta get out of this prison cell... #
0:20:07 > 0:20:10He's an opera singer with a rock band around him.
0:20:10 > 0:20:15He had all the drama that's just required for a performer.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17# How do you think I'm gonna get along
0:20:17 > 0:20:19# Without you when you're gone... #
0:20:19 > 0:20:22You watch him live, and it's just like... "OH!"
0:20:22 > 0:20:24You just go, "Oh, my God, he rang every bell in here."
0:20:24 > 0:20:28Champagne glasses are being destroyed before the cheers.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30It's powerful. Powerful.
0:20:30 > 0:20:31# Another one bites the dust... #
0:20:31 > 0:20:34Come on, do it.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36# Another one bites the dust... #
0:20:36 > 0:20:39In Montreal, where he's running around with no shoes on,
0:20:39 > 0:20:41in a pair of white, tiny little shorts
0:20:41 > 0:20:44and he's just totally into it.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46And he's a goof, and he's playing around,
0:20:46 > 0:20:48and he's having the time of his life.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51I'll always walk around like a Persian popinjay.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54And no-one's going to stop me, honey.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05That talent, that flamboyance, the shorts, and that glorious moustache.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09Even weird things like half a mic stand, that's amazing.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13How did you make that cool? I don't understand. It's not even necessary.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17You talk about a show.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
0:21:21 > 0:21:22# All right... #
0:21:23 > 0:21:27He just cranked up the special sauce, you know?
0:21:27 > 0:21:29Just put it all over the damn thing, you know.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33And that's what made him Freddie.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36That's what made everybody remember Freddie.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45Freddie's flamboyance on stage was backed up by his vocal bravora.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48With an estimated 2 billion people watching on TV,
0:21:48 > 0:21:53in 1985 he gave a breathtaking performance that the world would
0:21:53 > 0:21:54never forget.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58I used to have this picture on my phone
0:21:58 > 0:22:01of Freddie Mercury at Live Aid.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06It was this shot from behind and this picture of him kind of going
0:22:06 > 0:22:11like this, with an entire stadium of people in the palm of his hand.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13# Radio goo goo
0:22:13 > 0:22:15# Radio ga ga
0:22:15 > 0:22:17# All we hear is
0:22:17 > 0:22:18# Radio ga ga
0:22:18 > 0:22:21# Radio goo goo... #
0:22:21 > 0:22:25His energy, his power, electricity,
0:22:25 > 0:22:32is a reflection of what those 75, 80,000 people are giving him.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36They complete the song, they complete his power,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39one doesn't exist without the other.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41Do you get intimidated by the size of that crowd?
0:22:41 > 0:22:44No, the bigger the better! In everything!
0:22:45 > 0:22:47THEY LAUGH
0:22:47 > 0:22:52It was about how to connect with that many people, in a live setting,
0:22:52 > 0:22:56all at once, and that skill that he had made its way into the recordings,
0:22:56 > 0:22:59into the way he thought about how to lay a song down.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03The microphone was this close, he still was giving you 200%.
0:23:03 > 0:23:04- Fearless.- Yeah.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08# Empty spaces
0:23:08 > 0:23:12# What are we living for... #
0:23:12 > 0:23:16Freddie gave one of his finest performances just months before he
0:23:16 > 0:23:18died from AIDS in 1991.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23The last track on his final album with Queen,
0:23:23 > 0:23:25The Show Must Go On.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27# Another hero... #
0:23:28 > 0:23:29In spite of his frailty,
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Freddie Mercury produced an extraordinary performance.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38This is the performance of my life, because this is my life.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43In one take, you see his virtuosity, in one take.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47# The show must go on
0:23:51 > 0:23:54# The show must go on
0:23:58 > 0:24:01# Inside my heart is breaking
0:24:01 > 0:24:03# My make-up may be flaking
0:24:03 > 0:24:09# But my smile still stays on... #
0:24:09 > 0:24:11It's demanding. It's high, it's intense.
0:24:11 > 0:24:12When you read into the lyrics,
0:24:12 > 0:24:15knowing that he was being faced with his own mortality.
0:24:15 > 0:24:16- A great performance.- Damn right!
0:24:16 > 0:24:18It's like...
0:24:18 > 0:24:21The power, the will, and the desire.
0:24:22 > 0:24:23All of it is intact.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25You feel it when you listen to it.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28When he says, "Inside my heart is breaking, my make-up may be flaking,
0:24:28 > 0:24:30"but my smile still stays on."
0:24:30 > 0:24:32Back up! Back up!
0:24:32 > 0:24:35# I'll face it with a grin
0:24:35 > 0:24:37# I'm never giving in
0:24:37 > 0:24:39# On with the show... #
0:24:43 > 0:24:46In the ultimate act of vocal defiance,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49Freddie faced down the world.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53He would basically do a shot of vodka, get up to the microphone,
0:24:53 > 0:24:55and say, "Just roll."
0:24:55 > 0:24:59Knowing that he did it in one take, that, to me,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02means he wanted the world to hear his heart, you know?
0:25:04 > 0:25:07If only everything was that beautiful.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09# On with the show
0:25:12 > 0:25:18# The show must go on. #
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Like all show-stoppers, Freddie was an innovator.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34And when it comes to vocal athleticism, for me, it's all about jazz.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40So I'm heading up to a place where I spent my early years as a singer.
0:25:41 > 0:25:47Harlem. By the '30s it had seen an explosion of creative energy
0:25:47 > 0:25:51and clubs Lindy Hopped to an infectious swing sound.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55JAZZ PLAYS
0:25:59 > 0:26:03The Apollo Theatre, this is the place where stars are born and
0:26:03 > 0:26:07legends are made. Every Wednesday night is amateur night.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09It's still going on after 80 years.
0:26:09 > 0:26:15And way back in 1934, a teenage Ella Fitzgerald took the stage here
0:26:15 > 0:26:16for the first time.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21# Give me a song that's robust
0:26:21 > 0:26:24# Feeling the way I am
0:26:24 > 0:26:25# Any old band'll go bust... #
0:26:25 > 0:26:29A young Ella danced on street corners for tips.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31But that night her world changed.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35When she goes to the Apollo, her first choice was to dance,
0:26:35 > 0:26:39and at the last minute, she's, like, "Well, maybe I'll sing instead."
0:26:39 > 0:26:41She wins her amateur-night appearance,
0:26:41 > 0:26:46and eventually goes on to sing with Chick Webb who holds court
0:26:46 > 0:26:49as the drummer in the hottest band in town at the Savoy ballroom.
0:26:52 > 0:26:58In 1938, Ella and Chick's band made a record together that turned her
0:26:58 > 0:26:59into a pop sensation.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02# A-tisket, a-tasket
0:27:02 > 0:27:06# A brown and yellow basket... #
0:27:06 > 0:27:12The first song I ever learned was Ella Fitzgerald, A-Tisket, A-Tasket.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17And I learned it backwards, I loved it.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19- She was my idol.- Yeah.
0:27:19 > 0:27:20The voice of youth.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25# She was trucking on down the avenue
0:27:25 > 0:27:27# Not a single thing to do
0:27:27 > 0:27:29# She went peck, peck, pecking all around
0:27:29 > 0:27:32# When she spied it on the ground... #
0:27:32 > 0:27:35The sweet little voice out of this chubby little body, you know,
0:27:35 > 0:27:39people don't know whether to put the voice with the body together.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41They're confused, you know.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44So they close their eyes and they just completely go away,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47they go off with this wonderful voice.
0:27:47 > 0:27:53How could she ever feel that she wasn't pretty enough?
0:27:53 > 0:27:55All you've got to do is listen to that voice.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57- Just listen.- Yeah.
0:27:59 > 0:28:00- Just listen.- Listen.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03# A-tisket, a-tasket
0:28:03 > 0:28:05# I lost my yellow basket
0:28:05 > 0:28:08# And if that girlie don't return it
0:28:08 > 0:28:11# Don't know what I'll do... #
0:28:11 > 0:28:16But Ella's sweet, youthful voice would be elevated to new levels of
0:28:16 > 0:28:22virtuosity by a cool, fresh post-war jazz - Bebop.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25MUSIC PLAYS
0:28:30 > 0:28:3552nd St, New York City. 1947, wish I was there!
0:28:36 > 0:28:40All of a sudden you had cascades of notes and harmonies,
0:28:40 > 0:28:42and you've really got to pay attention
0:28:42 > 0:28:46to what you're doing and what the musician next to you is doing,
0:28:46 > 0:28:49and what they're doing. And if you can get that group mind going,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52you have something that can't be written on a score.
0:28:57 > 0:29:03Ella had ears bigger than the Empire State Building.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08She was phenomenal.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12# You must take the A train
0:29:12 > 0:29:16# If you really want to go to Harlem... #
0:29:16 > 0:29:20She knew how to phrase, she knew
0:29:20 > 0:29:25where to go from the bottom of her register to the very, very top.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28She never run out of ideas.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30Never ran out of ideas.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34- That's what's extraordinary about her.- Oh!
0:29:35 > 0:29:40Ella toured with the high priest of Bop, Dizzy Gillespie, in 1947.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45And he encouraged her to develop her wordless improvisation,
0:29:45 > 0:29:49known in the business as scat.
0:29:49 > 0:29:56ELLA SINGS SCAT
0:30:03 > 0:30:05When she got into her groove, nobody messed with her.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09The musicians jumped behind her and pushed her to the moon.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11ELLA SINGS SCAT
0:30:14 > 0:30:17I believe she had an ear for a horn,
0:30:17 > 0:30:22and so her improvs seemed like trumpet lines.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24The human instrument played like brass.
0:30:26 > 0:30:30ELLA SINGS SCAT
0:30:33 > 0:30:37She scats like horn sections.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40In a way, competing and battling horn sections.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42ELLA SINGS SCAT
0:30:46 > 0:30:50She does call-and-response with herself.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53HE SINGS SCAT
0:30:57 > 0:31:01I can hear two different big bands just wailing away with these
0:31:01 > 0:31:04interesting horn lines going...
0:31:04 > 0:31:09HE SINGS SCAT
0:31:09 > 0:31:11But it's all contained within her.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17Her 1960 recording, Ella in Berlin,
0:31:17 > 0:31:21captured Ella at her show-stopping peak.
0:31:23 > 0:31:29ELLA SINGS SCAT
0:31:34 > 0:31:36SHE SINGS SCAT
0:31:44 > 0:31:47That was Ella. Because it was at the front of the mouth
0:31:47 > 0:31:48and it was all Bs and Ds,
0:31:48 > 0:31:52you get such precision and accuracy and it's really satisfying.
0:31:52 > 0:31:53You can hear every note, clear as day.
0:31:53 > 0:31:59She had shoo, she had the, she had ra, she had every sound the body
0:31:59 > 0:32:02can make as part of her vocabulary.
0:32:03 > 0:32:08ELLA SINGS SCAT
0:32:09 > 0:32:11HE JOINS IN
0:32:18 > 0:32:20She could take anything and turn it inside out.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23And the more she went outside, the more people enjoyed it, and said,
0:32:23 > 0:32:25"Where is she going now?"
0:32:25 > 0:32:28# I fell in love with you the first time I looked into them there eyes
0:32:28 > 0:32:31# You've got a cute lil' certain way of flirtin'
0:32:31 > 0:32:32# With them there eyes... #
0:32:32 > 0:32:35She was exploring and opening up avenues of melody that singers
0:32:35 > 0:32:38two generations, three generations down the line
0:32:38 > 0:32:39don't even know where it came from.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42You know, Ella was doing that.
0:32:42 > 0:32:43# There's danger lurkin'
0:32:43 > 0:32:46# You're overworkin' 'em Them there eyes... #
0:32:53 > 0:32:59Today, I've got the rare opportunity to sing alongside the first lady of jazz.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02Thanks to the wonders of modern technology,
0:33:02 > 0:33:05I'm recording a duet with Ella Fitzgerald.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09I'm very excited about it. This is a dream come true,
0:33:09 > 0:33:13that's not supposed to come true, you know what I mean?
0:33:13 > 0:33:16There are certain dreams you didn't know you could dream, you know?
0:33:18 > 0:33:22We're laying down a number called People Will Say We're In Love,
0:33:22 > 0:33:27which Ella originally recorded back in 1954.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32# Your eyes mustn't glow like mine
0:33:32 > 0:33:39# People will say we're in love... #
0:33:39 > 0:33:43Even though she would keep the line pretty straight,
0:33:43 > 0:33:45she would always do just a little...
0:33:45 > 0:33:47# Ah-ah... #
0:33:47 > 0:33:50Just to let you know this is Ella Fitzgerald.
0:33:50 > 0:33:56And I have complete control of this Cadillac of an instrument that I have.
0:33:56 > 0:34:02# Sweetheart, they're suspecting things
0:34:02 > 0:34:08# People will say we're in love... #
0:34:09 > 0:34:14Yes, you can have mastery of your instrument,
0:34:14 > 0:34:19but then there's that other thing that is inspiration, to have
0:34:19 > 0:34:21fingerprints on your music.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24Ella Fitzgerald does that.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26# They'll see
0:34:26 > 0:34:30- # It's all right with me - It's all right with me
0:34:30 > 0:34:33# People will say, they will say
0:34:34 > 0:34:39# They will say, they will say
0:34:39 > 0:34:44# They will say we're in love. #
0:34:49 > 0:34:53Ella's voice is fluent from the bottom to the top of her range.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55She's always taking my breath away.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01For us guys, mastering those high notes can be quite tricky.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03But it's definitely worthwhile.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08It's been scientifically proven that when it comes to partners of the
0:35:08 > 0:35:13opposite sex, ladies prefer a deep, sonorous speaking voice.
0:35:14 > 0:35:16But when they're getting down,
0:35:16 > 0:35:20girls and guys like their boys to sing high.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23# Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk
0:35:23 > 0:35:26# I'm a woman's man No time to talk
0:35:26 > 0:35:28# Music loud and women warm
0:35:28 > 0:35:30# I've been kicked around since I was born... #
0:35:30 > 0:35:33For a male singer going up into that range,
0:35:33 > 0:35:38it's one of the few devices you have to kind of break out.
0:35:40 > 0:35:44From the stratospheric harmonies of the Bee Gees,
0:35:44 > 0:35:45to the Fab Four...
0:35:47 > 0:35:50..to Justin Timberlake...
0:35:50 > 0:35:52# I just want to love you, baby... #
0:35:52 > 0:35:57..the male falsetto has always set pulses racing.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01It's a lighter, in a way, more sensitive sound.
0:36:02 > 0:36:09Maybe even playing with masculine vulnerability, or even femininity.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13# Just take a good look at my face
0:36:13 > 0:36:17# Oh, yeah, you see my smile... #
0:36:17 > 0:36:19Singing more in a register a woman might sing, naturally,
0:36:19 > 0:36:22you suggested a feminine vulnerability that was somehow
0:36:22 > 0:36:24sexy to women. Right?
0:36:24 > 0:36:27# Hey, baby
0:36:29 > 0:36:33# Whoohoo... #
0:36:34 > 0:36:39Falsetto has been a mainstay of the American R&B sound,
0:36:39 > 0:36:45but the maestro of gender fluidity and high-pitched sexual potency was
0:36:45 > 0:36:47his royal purpleness.
0:36:47 > 0:36:52# You don't have to be beautiful
0:36:52 > 0:36:55# To turn me on
0:36:55 > 0:36:59# I just need your body, baby
0:37:00 > 0:37:03# From dusk till dawn... #
0:37:03 > 0:37:05His falsetto is formidable.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07- Yeah.- If you take a song like Kiss.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11Had he sung that an octave lower - I've actually heard the demo, the
0:37:11 > 0:37:15original version of Kiss was sung in a lower vocal range,
0:37:15 > 0:37:17and he flipped it up to the falsetto.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20It makes the song completely come to life.
0:37:20 > 0:37:21# To rule my world
0:37:21 > 0:37:24# Ain't no particular sign
0:37:24 > 0:37:26# I'm more compatible with
0:37:26 > 0:37:31# I just want your extra time and your
0:37:31 > 0:37:33# Kiss... #
0:37:33 > 0:37:36He used it to denote intimacy and vulnerability.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39But also, I think there was an element of subversion happening
0:37:39 > 0:37:40there, as well.
0:37:40 > 0:37:46He wanted to be able to call on feminine as well as masculine energy.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49# I wanna be your lover
0:37:50 > 0:37:53# I wanna be the only one that makes you come running... #
0:37:55 > 0:38:00Prince scored his first hit with I Wanna Be Your Lover in 1979
0:38:00 > 0:38:07and purposefully embraced falsetto as part of a sexually ambiguous persona.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11I was really shocked at his speaking voice, which was really low.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15He sounded absolutely nothing like what I heard on the records.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18I'm here, I'm living, breathing, I'm happy.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22I'm among wise people.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24I have no complaints.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27I would expect him to speak and sound like how the
0:38:27 > 0:38:28Karate Kid sounded.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33Kind of like, up here, and, hey.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36But there's something about him being like, "Hey, what's going on?"
0:38:36 > 0:38:40That's like, yo, what is that?
0:38:40 > 0:38:42It's an oxymoron.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46I want that.
0:38:46 > 0:38:51# But with you I just go on... #
0:38:51 > 0:38:54For Prince, in the '70s,
0:38:54 > 0:38:56as a black man,
0:38:56 > 0:38:59with heels and eyeliner,
0:38:59 > 0:39:01and you love women?
0:39:03 > 0:39:04Hero.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07# Our clothes, our hair
0:39:07 > 0:39:08# We don't care
0:39:08 > 0:39:10# It's all about being there... #
0:39:10 > 0:39:16He's learned a lot of it through studying women and what
0:39:16 > 0:39:22that means for a man to take ownership of that kind of sensuality
0:39:22 > 0:39:24and drama and seduction.
0:39:24 > 0:39:26# White, black, Puerto Rican
0:39:26 > 0:39:28# Everybody just a-freakin'... #
0:39:28 > 0:39:32You know, there's this, sort of, like
0:39:32 > 0:39:37Tim Curry-ish Rocky Horror sexuality about Prince that comes
0:39:37 > 0:39:41directly from the gay community, or comes directly from a woman.
0:39:44 > 0:39:48At the dawn of the '80s, America reached the peak of a sexual revolution.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53Attitudes towards gender roles and casual sex were changing.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59As the US got more open, Prince took his falsetto to new levels of
0:39:59 > 0:40:03transgression on his album Dirty Minds.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06# There's something about you, baby
0:40:06 > 0:40:08# It happens all the time
0:40:10 > 0:40:14# Whenever I'm around you, baby
0:40:14 > 0:40:16# I get a dirty mind... #
0:40:17 > 0:40:21That was my first tour and album with him.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25It was the work of a restless soul.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30It took the energy of, like, a teenager,
0:40:30 > 0:40:34and the passion and anger and the want for attention
0:40:34 > 0:40:37and finding a way to do it.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41Prince's erotic lyrics and look pushed at the boundaries.
0:40:41 > 0:40:46Lisa Coleman provided the voice of a seduced bride on his song Head.
0:40:46 > 0:40:51# I'm just a virgin and I'm on my way to be wed.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58# But you're such a hunk, so full of spunk
0:40:58 > 0:41:00# I'll give you head
0:41:00 > 0:41:02# Till you're burning up
0:41:02 > 0:41:04# Head... #
0:41:04 > 0:41:08In this nightclub in New York City, the first time I almost fell
0:41:08 > 0:41:10backwards out of my seat when he did Head.
0:41:10 > 0:41:14People didn't write songs about head in 1981.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16Not anybody who's actually a black artist.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22Of course, he also was wearing black bikini underwear,
0:41:22 > 0:41:23and thigh-high boots.
0:41:24 > 0:41:29So a lot of guys were like, "Oh, he must be gay."
0:41:29 > 0:41:32Did you ever wonder if Prince was gay?
0:41:32 > 0:41:33- No!- No.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38- BOTH:- No.- I kind of just thought he was just sexual.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41I think the biggest stars
0:41:41 > 0:41:46want everyone to feel like they're going to be made love to by them.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51- I think they all do that. - Yeah, a man crush, a bromance.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54- Yeah.- It's like, it's OK, because it's Prince.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57Dearly beloved, we have gathered here today.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02To get through this thing called life.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06Prince used his high voice to help craft an enigma.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10And in 1984 he brought it to American multiplexes
0:42:10 > 0:42:14with his film Purple Rain.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20Let's just say it blew my mind. You know. It was amazing.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24Between the music and the imagery, it was just,
0:42:24 > 0:42:27you know, I think I probably was 11 or something like that.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29It was a really sexy movie.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33Yeah, I enjoyed it.
0:42:33 > 0:42:39The emotional climax of Purple Rain is built on Prince's show-stopping falsetto.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43We were back in Los Angeles,
0:42:43 > 0:42:46two of us got a phone call about three o'clock in the morning.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50He said, "Are you up?" "No. No."
0:42:51 > 0:42:55"I'm outside. Can you come out to the car?"
0:42:55 > 0:42:59So the two of us went outside, and he played The Beautiful Ones.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10He had just fallen in love with my twin sister, Suzanna.
0:43:10 > 0:43:15Part of his ache in the song, I think is just budding love.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20It starts with this mournful
0:43:20 > 0:43:23introverted, like, sort of a whisper.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27# Baby, baby, baby
0:43:29 > 0:43:33# What's it gonna be? #
0:43:33 > 0:43:38Using the falsetto at first, expressing tenderness.
0:43:38 > 0:43:46He knew how to work that tone up here with a beautiful vibrato.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49# The beautiful ones
0:43:49 > 0:43:56# You always seem to lose... #
0:43:58 > 0:44:02He knew that when he would drop his vocal,
0:44:02 > 0:44:06that's when he would really pull the listener in.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10I don't know where this man comes.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13# What's it gonna be, baby?
0:44:13 > 0:44:16# Do you want him?
0:44:16 > 0:44:18# Or do you want me?
0:44:19 > 0:44:20# Cos I want you... #
0:44:22 > 0:44:23He's so tortured by the idea...
0:44:25 > 0:44:29..that he's unrequited, that it's not his yet.
0:44:29 > 0:44:35Or that he's been screwed with, that's where that scream comes from.
0:44:35 > 0:44:37# I'm begging down on my knees
0:44:37 > 0:44:40# I want you... #
0:44:42 > 0:44:45Do you know anybody who can scream like that
0:44:45 > 0:44:48and continue a melody line screaming?
0:44:48 > 0:44:52# Baby, baby, baby, baby, I want you... #
0:44:52 > 0:44:57All of us on stage loved just watching him.
0:44:57 > 0:44:58We were the ultimate voyeurs.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00What else are you going to do?
0:45:00 > 0:45:02We watched him carefully.
0:45:02 > 0:45:07Every move he made, every sexual innuendo was our trigger
0:45:07 > 0:45:10and we watched closer and closer.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21Prince was a visionary who stretched the male falsetto to breaking point.
0:45:23 > 0:45:28Exceeding expectations of what we're physically capable of is another
0:45:28 > 0:45:30trait of a show-stopping singer.
0:45:31 > 0:45:35Today, singers are pushing their voices further than ever.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38Riffs, runs, impressive high notes have all
0:45:38 > 0:45:42become staples of our Saturday night entertainment.
0:45:42 > 0:45:48Love it or hate it, it's part of the default American pop sound.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51# Oh
0:45:51 > 0:45:53# Got me looking so crazy right now
0:45:53 > 0:45:56# Your love's got me looking so crazy right now... #
0:45:56 > 0:46:01Much of the virtuosity in modern singing is built on a vocal style
0:46:01 > 0:46:02called melisma.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05Multiple notes on a single syllable.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09# Yeah-oh-yeah... #
0:46:09 > 0:46:12# You know how I'm feeling inside... #
0:46:12 > 0:46:17# You need a bad girl to blow your mind... #
0:46:17 > 0:46:18What's that word again, melismatic?
0:46:18 > 0:46:22Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25I want to hear the word love, I don't want to hear...
0:46:25 > 0:46:29HE SINGS MELISMATICALLY
0:46:31 > 0:46:35When this style of singing is connected to real emotions and
0:46:35 > 0:46:41backed up by the words, it can be an extraordinary way to express yourself,
0:46:41 > 0:46:43just like the original style of the Gospel church.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53Those riffs and runs have their roots in gospel.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57Mahalia Jackson may have opened America's ears to that sound,
0:46:57 > 0:47:02but it was a young protege who took things a step further.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04# And he talk to me
0:47:06 > 0:47:11- # He tells me - He tells me... #
0:47:11 > 0:47:13Aretha was a phenomena of her time.
0:47:13 > 0:47:15She would've been under any circumstance,
0:47:15 > 0:47:16because she was a natural.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19She was born to sing.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22And when she opened up her mouth, it doesn't make any difference whether
0:47:22 > 0:47:25she was talking or singing, that same quality came out.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27Great dynamics and power.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30# What you want
0:47:30 > 0:47:32# Baby, I got it... #
0:47:32 > 0:47:35Unlike Mahalia, Aretha fused her Holy Ghost riffs
0:47:35 > 0:47:37with secular lyrics.
0:47:37 > 0:47:42Her string of hits in the late '60s set her apart as the Queen of Soul.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46When I hear Aretha songs, I see my mum with her eyes closed,
0:47:46 > 0:47:48or my aunt with a cigarette with her eyes closed.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51Any time Aretha comes on, you like... "Oh, my Lord."
0:47:51 > 0:47:55# All I'm asking is for a little respect... #
0:47:57 > 0:48:01She's had the words that women wanted to say at that time,
0:48:01 > 0:48:04that they couldn't say about their man, about falling in love,
0:48:04 > 0:48:07falling out of love or trying to make it work.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10# Is to give me my propers
0:48:10 > 0:48:12# When you get home... #
0:48:12 > 0:48:16It's that constant conflict and tension with R&B, soul
0:48:16 > 0:48:19and the spirit, the church hymns.
0:48:19 > 0:48:21# R-E-S-P-E-C-T
0:48:21 > 0:48:23# Find out what it means to me
0:48:23 > 0:48:25# R-E-S-P-E-C-T
0:48:25 > 0:48:28# Take care, TCB... #
0:48:29 > 0:48:32Aretha opened the door for the female gospel sound to become a
0:48:32 > 0:48:35mainstream vocal force.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39In the mid-80s, her goddaughter, Whitney Houston,
0:48:39 > 0:48:43emerged from that rich gospel lineage.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46Her mother, Sissy, used to sing with Aretha Franklin,
0:48:46 > 0:48:48took her with her everywhere she went.
0:48:48 > 0:48:49From the time she was a little girl.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52So can you imagine, the first thing
0:48:52 > 0:48:54she heard in her life was Aretha Franklin?
0:48:54 > 0:48:57That set the standard.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01# How will I know if he really loves me?
0:49:01 > 0:49:05# I say a prayer with every heartbeat
0:49:05 > 0:49:08# I fall in love whenever we meet
0:49:08 > 0:49:11# I'm asking you what you know about these things... #
0:49:12 > 0:49:15It was an extraordinary pop voice,
0:49:15 > 0:49:20that had this undercurrent and power of a gospel singer.
0:49:20 > 0:49:22# How will I know
0:49:24 > 0:49:25# How will I know? #
0:49:27 > 0:49:30Even How Will I Know, where she did the up-tempo things,
0:49:30 > 0:49:34there's a power to her voice that's not like the dance divas.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38# Yes, I'm saving all my love
0:49:38 > 0:49:44# Yes, I'm saving all my love for you... #
0:49:46 > 0:49:50The flawless delivery and direct lyrics of Whitney's power ballads
0:49:50 > 0:49:52made her a crossover star.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56In the 1980s, you would hear three black artists on top 40 radio -
0:49:56 > 0:49:58Michael Jackson, Prince and Whitney Houston.
0:49:58 > 0:50:00Maybe Janet Jackson, and that was it.
0:50:00 > 0:50:05Radio played her songs because they were songs, they weren't a style,
0:50:05 > 0:50:08you know, trying to make people jump up and down.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10Gospel, you know, it wasn't that.
0:50:10 > 0:50:14They played them on radios that other black artists didn't have a
0:50:14 > 0:50:16chance to get played on.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20# Cos tonight is the night
0:50:20 > 0:50:23# That I'm feeling all right... #
0:50:23 > 0:50:28She crossed over to white audiences because she had a style that didn't
0:50:28 > 0:50:30have a colour line.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32She looked like a model.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36Some of the people in the Midwest, who might not have been interested
0:50:36 > 0:50:39in a black woman as a sex symbol, right, they're still like,
0:50:39 > 0:50:41"Oh, she's really hot."
0:50:43 > 0:50:47Allied air strikes in 1991 marked the beginning of the first Gulf War.
0:50:49 > 0:50:5211 days later, Whitney took the mic at the Super Bowl.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57A black female singer became an all-American hero.
0:50:57 > 0:51:05# O'er the land of the free
0:51:05 > 0:51:11# And the home of the brave? #
0:51:22 > 0:51:26People were calling into radio stations asking to hear her sing
0:51:26 > 0:51:29The Star Spangled Banner after that Super Bowl.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34People who didn't care about the song wanted to hear her sing it
0:51:34 > 0:51:36because her rendition of it was just transcendent.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40# So I'll go... #
0:51:40 > 0:51:44The following year, Whitney's cover of a Dolly Parton country ballad set
0:51:44 > 0:51:49the blueprint for pop vocals for the next 25 years.
0:51:49 > 0:51:55# The way
0:51:55 > 0:52:02# And I
0:52:02 > 0:52:07# Will always love you
0:52:07 > 0:52:09# I
0:52:09 > 0:52:14# Will always love you... #
0:52:14 > 0:52:17She could sing clear lyrics, two or three octaves up.
0:52:17 > 0:52:22Clear, without turning it into a gimmick.
0:52:22 > 0:52:24She sang.
0:52:24 > 0:52:31# And I
0:52:31 > 0:52:35# Will always love you
0:52:35 > 0:52:42# I will always love you... #
0:52:43 > 0:52:47It's both a walk in the park and a rocket taking off for space.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51Her power and her vibrato, her clarity...
0:52:53 > 0:52:54..and then her falsetto.
0:52:56 > 0:52:58# You
0:52:58 > 0:53:03# I will always love you... #
0:53:03 > 0:53:08This love doesn't die. It won't die, it can't die.
0:53:08 > 0:53:09It does it for me.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12It did it for millions of other people too.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16# Treated me kind
0:53:16 > 0:53:19# Sweet destiny... #
0:53:19 > 0:53:23Whitney inspired millions of American pop hopefuls.
0:53:23 > 0:53:28At the beginning of the '90s, one in particular was hot on her heels.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34She's almost like a pop soprano singer with all of these
0:53:34 > 0:53:37extraordinary frills and melisma.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41When she came out, what she was doing was fresh and new and interesting.
0:53:41 > 0:53:46# I had a vision of love... #
0:53:46 > 0:53:51The ad libs on Mariah Carey's debut single, Vision Of Love,
0:53:51 > 0:53:55redefined vocal agility.
0:53:55 > 0:53:57# Right through the night... #
0:53:58 > 0:54:02In this little short amount of time, the amount of notes she can squeeze
0:54:02 > 0:54:06in, in that one little bar, two bars, was fascinating to me.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08And that's kind of when I started trying it,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11and it's something that I love to do in my music,
0:54:11 > 0:54:14but she completely inspired me.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20I like Visions Of Love. It's got some good chords in it, actually.
0:54:20 > 0:54:25And then she does the thing... And that thing became the thing.
0:54:25 > 0:54:31# All
0:54:31 > 0:54:38# That you turned out to be... #
0:54:38 > 0:54:43Those five melismatic seconds influenced not just Beyonce,
0:54:43 > 0:54:45but every wannabe show-stopper since.
0:54:47 > 0:54:49I think she sings in eight octaves, something like that,
0:54:49 > 0:54:51if I'm not mistaken.
0:54:51 > 0:54:54She has one of the most amazing voices that we had heard at that
0:54:54 > 0:54:57particular point in time.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00# You've got me feeling emotions
0:55:00 > 0:55:04# Deeper than I've ever dreamed of... #
0:55:05 > 0:55:10Mariah released the single Emotions in 1991 and took
0:55:10 > 0:55:12the female pop vocal to new heights.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16There's a choir in the back.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19All of it suggests a gospel celebration.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24It's a party.
0:55:25 > 0:55:30You know, she came out and was doing that in her songs, people were like,
0:55:30 > 0:55:35"That's stratospheric. Nobody sings there. Nobody has that."
0:55:38 > 0:55:42Mariah's glass-shattering whistle register wasn't studio trickery.
0:55:42 > 0:55:46On MTV in 1992 she performed Emotions live.
0:55:47 > 0:55:52SHE SINGS HIGH NOTE
0:55:59 > 0:56:04You're hearing her do it on beat, that makes it sound even crazier,
0:56:04 > 0:56:07to do it when the tempo is like...
0:56:07 > 0:56:09HE SINGS
0:56:12 > 0:56:15When she's doing it, I'm out of key, by the way, so don't...
0:56:15 > 0:56:18But when she's doing it that way, that's what makes it amazing.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21SHE SINGS
0:56:26 > 0:56:28You're not sure if that's a whistle or a voice.
0:56:34 > 0:56:36HE LAUGHS
0:56:38 > 0:56:42# There can be miracles
0:56:42 > 0:56:44# When you believe... #
0:56:44 > 0:56:49Spectacular range and flawless riffs have become trademarks of today's
0:56:49 > 0:56:51pop show-stoppers.
0:56:51 > 0:56:55Every kid on American Idol basically grew up with Whitney and Mariah.
0:56:55 > 0:57:01They are the definers of the last 30 years of American pop singing.
0:57:01 > 0:57:02If you believe you can sing,
0:57:02 > 0:57:05sing a Mariah Carey song and prove it to me.
0:57:05 > 0:57:11# There can be miracles when you believe... #
0:57:13 > 0:57:19As long as the artist is using their instrument to put forth the
0:57:19 > 0:57:24message of the song as well as showing their incredible virtuosity,
0:57:24 > 0:57:28it's great. Mariah Carey does it.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30Definitely Whitney Huston has done it.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33There's something in their musicality, their approach,
0:57:33 > 0:57:36that doesn't make it feel like it's too much.
0:57:36 > 0:57:40MUSIC: I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston
0:57:45 > 0:57:49All of these show-stopping voices that I love
0:57:49 > 0:57:52do things mere mortals can't.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56Caruso's power, Mahalia's belief,
0:57:56 > 0:58:01Ella's virtuosity, Freddie's bravora, Prince's falsetto
0:58:01 > 0:58:05and Mariah and Whitney's riffs and range.
0:58:05 > 0:58:06They're more than technicians.
0:58:08 > 0:58:13They have complete mastery of their instrument and that allows them the
0:58:13 > 0:58:18freedom to express emotions straight into the heart of the listener.
0:58:20 > 0:58:25For me, it's this that makes them not just great singers,
0:58:25 > 0:58:28but show-stoppers.
0:58:28 > 0:58:31# Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
0:58:31 > 0:58:35# I wanna feel the heat with somebody
0:58:35 > 0:58:40# Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
0:58:40 > 0:58:43# With somebody who loves me
0:58:43 > 0:58:47# Oh, I wanna dance with somebody
0:58:48 > 0:58:51# I wanna feel the heat with somebody
0:58:51 > 0:58:56# Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody
0:58:56 > 0:59:00# With somebody who loves me. #