[J]

Elvis Presley was a baritone whose voice had an extraordinary compass — the so-called register — and a very wide range of vocal color. It covered two octaves and a third, from the baritone low-G to the tenor high B, with an upward extension in falsetto to at least a D flat. Presley's best octave was in the middle, D-flat to D-flat. In ballads and country songs he was able to belt out full-voiced high Gs and As, showing a remarkable ability to naturally assimilate styles, and eliciting a multiplicity of voices.

Presley's range, though impressive in its own right, did not in itself make his voice that remarkable, at least in terms of how it measured against musical notation. What made it extraordinary, was where its center of gravity lay. By that measure, and according to Gregory Sandows, Music Professor at Columbia University, Presley was at once a bass, a baritone and a tenor, most unusual among singers in either classical or popular music.
(Source: Wikipedia)

To tell you the truth, some of that text is all Greek to me, but it's an intresting reading nevertheless.

[Banes]

All I can say is he is and was.... the best damn singer around period! [img]style_emoticons/default/dance.gif[/img]

[Bama]

[img]style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif[/img] He did have a very wide range. Actually a lot of singers don't know that working on your lower registry bass/barritone can actually help your higher registry. Just look at the songs he recorded. Burning Love is very hard to sing. He did it in E I think. I tried to sing it in E Hmmm did not work lol in the least. Anyway He could belt out ballads and rock when he wanted He was truly given a wonderful voice.

[NightRider]

All I can say is he is and was.... the best damn singer around period! [img]style_emoticons/default/dance.gif[/img]

Kinda how i would put it too [img]style_emoticons/default/notworthy.gif[/img]

[Guest_Brad_*]

All I can say is he is and was.... the best damn singer around period! [img]style_emoticons/default/dance.gif[/img]

I agree 100 percent Banes, words just can't describe Elvis' voice [img]style_emoticons/default/notworthy.gif[/img] ..

[Meme]

Some other quotes on his voice, from http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley

...(in his voice), Elvis Presley possessed the most beautiful musical instrument, and the genius to play that instrument perfectly. (He) could jump from octave to countless other octaves with such agility without voice crack, simultaneously sing a duet with his own overtones, rein in an always-lurking atomic explosion to so effortlessly fondle, and release, the most delicate chimes of pathos. Yet, those who haven't been open to explore some of Presley's most brilliant work - the almost esoteric ballads and semi-classical recordings -, have cheated themselves out of one of the most beautiful gifts to fall out of the sky in a lifetime.

...I am reminded of a comment made shortly after the death of Elvis Presley by a musician he had worked with. He pointed out that despite an impressive vocal range of two and a half octaves and something approaching perfect pitch, Elvis was perfectly willing to sing off-key when he thought the song required it. Those off-key notes were art.

...Presley brought an excitement to singing, in part because rock and roll was greeted as his invention, but for other reasons not so widely reflected on: Elvis Presley had the most beautiful singing voice of any human being on earth. Presley, for some fans, was primarily a balladeer. 'Don’t Leave Me Now' is a love song given distinctiveness by Presley’s twangy enunciations, and sustained by the guitar and rhythm sections designed perfectly to complement the balladeer, filled out towards the songs’ ends, as with so much of Presley, with what one conveniently calls the heavenly choir, which wafts him home but never overwhelms the country lilt Presley gives his music.

...but it was on the gospel numbers, such as the stunning "How great thou art", (1977) that Presley showed the awesome power of his voice. The fact that he has one of the greatest voices in popular music has been obscured by the mystique that has surrounded him...

...listening to these songs today, their most remarkable feature is Presley's voice itself. He takes the Platters' Tony Williams's techniques, and any other predecessor's, to new, uncharted pinnacles. For a singer who was only just encountering widespread popularity, his singing resonates with amazing fortitude and confidence, especially on "Heartbreak Hotel," where Presley alternately shouts words with full lungs, then gulps the following back, as if under water but without missing a beat. In "Loving you", Presley's baritone on this, the ultimate slow dance number, is almost too powerful, virtually rumbling the floor..." David N. Townsend, in his essay "Changing the World: Rock 'n' Roll's Culture and Ideology".

...Elvis' "Love me tender" (1956), is a timeless classic that his fans return to, time and again, when choosing their favourite love song, but why is this early recording such a favourite? It could be the simplicity of the lyric, that wonderful vocal which quivers with an understated power and beauty, or the honest, pure sentiment of a song that has touched millions. Two minutes and 40 seconds have never been used more beautifully.

...the voice is so melodious, and - of course, by accident, this glorious voice and musical sensibility was combined with this beautiful, sexual man and this very unconscious - or unselfconscious stage movements. Presley’s registration, the breadth of his tone, listening to some of his records, you’d think you were listening to an opera singer. But…it’s an opera singer with a deep connection to the blues.

My quote - Elvis said 50 years ago "I don't sound like nobody" today we can say "Nobody sounds like Elvis"

[hexia]

The way I read it is, that Elvis could choose for a particular song to be either bass, baritone or tenor, which is highly unusual. Most people start in one place for every song and they can then go high or low.
This means that Elvis has "a different voice" for different songs.

[Gordon]

I would agree completely his voice was so versatile!

[Guest_Brad_*]

I would agree completely his voice was so versatile!

that is very true..never know from night to night Elvis voice could sound different..that was a great thing i think