The Vocal Range of Christopher Lee
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- Опубликовано: 13 июл 2024
- Sir Christopher Lee is a legendary actor whose filmography spans 8 decades and nearly 300 films. He is also a very skilled vocalist, with years of classical training, including tutelage from Jussi Bjorling. While never a career musician, Lee has still managed to become world-renowned for his incredible basso profundo, putting it to use in narration, spoken word, and several one-off musical recordings, mostly of standards and opera arias.
In more recent years, an elderly Lee has collaborated numerous times with the Tolkien Ensemble and Italian power metal group Rhapsody of Fire, and started a solo project based on the life of Charlemagne.
Oh, he's also a decorated war hero who is likely a direct inspiration for James Bond and possibly Inglorious Basterds.
0:00 - Singing down to E♭2 in "The Tinker of Rye"
0:19 - Melody full of piss-easy E♭2 and D2s in "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer" (better known in English as "Mack the Knife")
0:56 - Powerful E♭2 from "The Iron Crown of Lombardy"
1:06 - He drops down to some ridiculous E♭2s before sustaining a C♯2 in "Name Your Poison" (with some sung G♯4s too!) from The Return of Captain Invincible
1:21 - The entire melody sung around C2 in his rendition of "Ghost Riders in the Sky"!
2:13 - Dipping down to B1 in the Tolkien Ensemble's dramatization of "The Long List of the Ents"
2:33 - Some very immense dramatic speaking reaching B1 from "Danza di Fuoco e Ghiacco" by Rhapsody
3:21 - Even immenser speaking in "The Angel's Dark Revelation", also by Rhapsody
3:51 - Several spoken C2s, with a couple pants-shitting B1s and a B♭1 from "Verse of the Rings"
4:37 - A pair of short B♭1s bookended in "Starlight"
4:46 - Lee drops very strangely to a strong B♭1 in "Treebeard's Song" by the Ensemble (the song really is unexplainably beautiful)
4:58 - Last, a recitation of Poe's "Haunted Palace" where he speaks down to F♯1 in fry
And now to the highs! (Yes, he has them)
5:03 - A lovely D4 from "The Magic of the Wizard's Dream"
5:20 - Belted D4s amidst some intense singing in "Epiphany" (from Sweeney Todd)
5:43 - Sir Lee has to stretch to sing a soft D4, followed by a mezza voce C♯4 in "Silent Night"
5:52 - Powerful E♭4s in "Le Veau d'Or" from Goeth's Faust
6:04 - Powerful singing topping at E♭4 from "Credo in un Dio Crudel" from Verdi's Otello
6:26 - And more from "The Song of the Flea" by Modest Mussorgsky
6:40 - A strange sounding E4 shouted in "Name Your Poison"
6:47 - Belting a couple E4s in Bizet's "Toreador March" (yunno, Carmen) as performed by Inner Terrestrials
7:12 - Some verismo singing up to D4, then angrily shouting F and F♯4s in "Epiphany"
7:37 - A great belted F♯4 from "Credo in un Dio Crudel"
7:45 - Recited laughter topping at F♯4 in "Song of the Flea"
7:55 - Very loud laughed G4s in "A More Humane Mikado" by Gilbert & Sullivan
8:04 - Here's a random surprise, Sir Christopher shouts a clean G♯4 during his great scene in The Two Towers
8:13 - Powerful singing up to E♭4, then a strained laugh falling from B♭4, and ending on F2; from "Serenade" by Goeth
8:35 - And finally, an amazing belted(!) sustained(!!) B♭4 from the climax of "Magic of the Wizard's Dream" (this is probably actually Rhapsody singer Fabio Lione, but still a great way to end it)
Thanks to Thetarantinomaniac, Goblonaut, Stageholder, and Hinterofproductions
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. This is for entertainment purposes, and to hopefully encourage viewers to look up the material of Christopher Lee on their own, as I did. 
Видеоклипы
3:51 There's nothing like listening to the one ring poem delivered like this.
I have heard him since its a dark rich voice, if you buy his CDs you will hear a great genius.
Such an inspiration, his voice no one will forget! And his vocals on Rhapsody - Magic of a Wizard's dream are perfection! R.I.P Sir Christopher Lee
Another reason to love the count, his stately speaking voice remains in tact even in song. He probably would be revered in musical theater, what a phantom of the opera or sweeney todd, judge Turpin, Count von Krolock, Dracula, he would have been. He would have probably evolved into a great like Jerome Hines, Boris Christoff or Sam Ramey had he pursued opera. But really, he should have been the Judge in Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd. Alan Rickman, despite having a breathtaking tone of voice can't really sing more than a phrase of talk singing or two.
Leopold Leopold He also should have been the one to play Javert from the 2012 movie of Les Miserables. But then again, he's too old for anymore long parts.
Thank you so much! I had no idea what a talent Sir Chris was until he passed. You have helped to insure his immortality. God bless you!!!
thank you so much for making this video. R.I.P Sir Christopher Lee
This man is an inspiration
What a amazing man
A man of many talents, a actor of his time as singing was definitely an advantage to acting as they needed to sing/deliver lines to fill up any sized rooms.
Saruman singing in the tower of Isengarg.
Gosh thanks so much for the vid! I was just recently looking through "vocal range" videos for rock singers, secretly wishing to find the same with Sir Christopher! And now I find it! Thank you!
...And what a unique voice indeed!
Christopher Lee is my personal hero :), hope time won't take him away from us any time soon
Sadly Sir Christopher passed away, may he rest in peace.
I know. It broke my heart when he passed. Been in love with him for over half a century.
R.I.P
In the single version he only sings the chorus, so it's his voice, obviously. They were both recorded at the same time, the single and the ep version. The ep version was recorded in english, italian, french and german
Are you referring to the final clip with the Bb4?
Heaven possibly has for itself one heck of a singer now.
holy shit i've been looking for his recording of epiphany for months! it's only in snippets here but still, how awesome!!
Here we hear Master Dooku singing to his fellow Jedi.
That bit from Sweeny Todd made me happy. I need it.
I forgot, can you give us more, PLEASE!!!
"full of piss-easy E♭2 and D2s"
'kay bub
The Bb note is also on the original album song where Christopher Lee did not sing.
your videos are great, you've thought about doing one on Rob Halford.
this man has the most baritone voice i have ever heard
This is bass man
@@MultiKamil97 second bass, at that.
@@MultiKamil97 Operatically no , chorally yes. He was more like a operatic bass baritone, his higher register shows his baritonal quality. Even his lows arent resonant enough for a true bass.
I wish i could find him singing Epiphany on the internet anywhere else.
RIP CHRISTOPHER LEE!
Sir Christopher Lee passed away 5 years ago on the 7th of June 2015, how was this comment posted 7 years ago? It hasn't been edited?
@@JackFlicks I was wondering that myself...quite a strange comment...2 years too soon. 🤔
Marianne Contrino Yeah. I still haven’t figured it out bro. Unless it was a mistake by op or it’s some reference I missed out on. Don’t expect a reply from op considering how old the comment is. We may never know haha.
@KuraiX I hear Eb2 as the lowest he sings in Mackie Messer, though he may be getting D there and I was off. Not sure how you hear the C2s.
He is amazing. I am crying. I love his singing. Especially at 5:04
He is.
For anyone wondering, the last one is a duet with Lee and Neil Johnson. You just have to focus on Lee. Now stfu about it lol it is him
Jeremiah It's Fabio Lione, not Neil Johnson.
Where can I find a full length version of Christopher Lee singing Epiphany?
Where did you get the clip of him singing 5:20 - 5:43 I can’t find that song on youtube..
These were all on RUclips at one point. They were on releases like "Christopher Lee Sings Broadway" and whatnot; pretty hard to find and I'm certain I haven't heard everything.
It's difficult to prove without film, but you can hear the note begin whilst Christopher is still singing a different note.
It's funny because that sentence accurately describes how a lot of these so-called "vocal range" videos turned out.
The Bb4 belted note is sung by the lead singer of Rhapsody, Fabio Lione, not Lee...
I think they both go high in this one. If you look closely on Fabio's line, he's holding the previous G4 when the 8:44 operatic high notes appear. Also they are sung completely different than previous belts in this song. They are a lot darker and remind more of Christopher's Lee's singing.
@CuriosityRoads Well that's basically what Tom Araya's range video was anyway...
Don GioVAAAAAAAAAAni
When did he star in Sweeney Todd? If not, where can I find that version of epiphany? His Lucys sound gorgeous, a very haunted quality compared to George Hearn.
He didn't, to my knowledge he never did any stage work. All those recordings were for some novelty albums in the 80s.
Rodney Razorshorts oh I just realized I already asked this question.
Christopher also rejoins before the note has finished.
Well, even if that is the case, it seems more likely to assume that they got the tenor to sing that note rather than the bass.
I've thought about it and been asked to, but I don't really want to. I'm not saying I won't do it ever, but I haven't had much interest it at the time.
What is the title of the song at 6:32???????
You do know that not all music is performed live in one take right?
Not a typical baritone voice, at least in his fifties, sixties ecc. it seems a very low voice, maybe a bass. The final Bb4 is clearly not from him, his voice never climbs easily over E-F4
sivlia francesco Sèlavy That's because he's not a baritone but a legit basso profundo.
Yes, we could debate a lot about vocal classifications; I wrote this because someone here said something like "the most baritone voice I've never heard"
I would call him a bass as he could go so deep, but he seams really comfortable in his lighter register so there is an argument there.
@CuriosityRoads I think this is the video of the singer you're actually talking about /watch?v=cAOmMySfCQo
If you can give me some proof that would be cool, because it's been the object of debate
Type O Negative 🤘
@Spydrfish Comparing Christopher Lee to Tom Araya? Low blow, dude...
😄
@CuriosityRoads Not bad for an actor.
You realise that the last Bb isn't Christopher Lee, right?
That f1 wasn’t fry he’s done lower in full voice he just bottoms out at that point it happens to everyone.he had an E1 at the time before he entered mixed voice. At the end of his life the lowest I heard of him hitting was Db1. No doubt in my mind he had at least a C1.His power and volume put me to shame and I have a C0.
Make a video of you doing a C0 in chest.
neil johnson I have one actually but I’m trying to isolate the note because it was at my moms funeral years ago my voice was a bit shaky in places.
Theres no way you can go way lower than JD Sumner lmao
neil johnson Sumner hit the note multiple times live as has Dan Britain its not impossible.Also I’ve never claimed to be lower than J.D. while I’m annoyed at your calling me a liar I’m impressed you know about him most young people give me weird look when I mention him or London Parris.
Sumner can't hit a C0...
Love Sir Christopher Lee's singing, but he shouldn't have used an American accent for the country songs. :P
to be honest, legendary voice though he had, i feel like it wasnt utilised as well as it could have been for the heavy metal albums. always felt a bit gimmicky to me
His filmography doesn't quite span eight decades. Over six, but not quite eight. He died in his 90s. He would have had to have started acting in his teens, which he didn't.
His first movie was in 1948, his last in 2015 which is eight decades. Not the same as acting for 80 years of course.
@@zorland876 A full decade is ten years. You'd count the first decade from 1948, not 1940. That's like saying I've lived through five decades as I was born in the 80s and it's now the 2020s. However, that would put me in my 50s and I'm only 34.
I get what you were trying to go for but it's impressive enough to just say 67 years or over six decades. That's still a hell of a long time.
@@j800r_aswell It's semantic, but performing in 8 decades = performing for 8 decades in a lot of people's reckoning. I was going for a lot of hyperbole in this description anyway lol
Wow, there's a bit of Mussorgsky's song "The Flea" here. Here's the whole thing, sung by someone else, whose range is a little like Christopher's:
ruclips.net/video/u2wh4LSzewY/видео.html
So this is what doku make when his wasn't with the separatist for make plan🤔