Bella Figura - Do Singers Have to Be Fat?

[jbrown91287]

there is nothing wrong in being bigger, but obese is just disgusting. A singer is an athlete and should take care of themselves as such. I say this as an opera singer myself.

Opera is embarking on a new age and that age includes how its artists look. Whats the difference between an actor whose in shape and a singer whose in shape? NOTHING. They are both perfectly capable of doing their art to a remarkable level, if not even more so b/c they are healthy.

[bishopdr]

BTW, Sharon Sweet is NO LONGER obesse!...Good for her!

[NoteValue667]

nathan gunn is sooos sexy!!

[diddims]

I have to agree that opera is becoming less about sounding the part and more about looking the part... but singers come in all forms and there are thin singers who manage somehow. And a full figure like Deborah's current figure can still be attractive.

Still, audiences should try using their imagination and imagine these forty- or fifty-something singers weighing 200 to 400 pounds as the young heroes that they play.

[assindiastignani]

we must differentiate between obesity,which is never necessary in any repertory,and having a bigger frame,bone- and face structure. Dramatic voices rarely if ever come in the bodies of fashion models. Many lighter voices do.We live in an era in which the visual has become more important than the aural,so we now have an opera scene where soubrettes sing Elsa and Salome, buffo-tenors sing Tristan and Lohengrin, and lyric baritones (many of them really lyric tenors) sing Amfortas and Macbeth.

[allycrombie33]

And on a totally shallow note, Nathan Gunn is HOT!

[mtenor]

yeah but he has no voice

[allycrombie33]

As a singer who lost a significant amount of weight a few years ago, I can tell you that the main reason that my voice changed after that was simply because I didn't have the same body structure, and I lost some breath control and vocal support. It's taken me a while but I think I've gotten some of it back. It does change the way your voice sounds, if you've lost a bunch of weight, but with really good training, you can always get it back. :)

[02kissme]

Just goes to show....sex sells...fat is NOT where it's at!!!

[ScottAuc]

i think that is a little extreme

[jlee800]

Ummm what exactly is the common thread between the three interviews? Image in the opera business?

[12251928]

Unbeknown to most opera lovers, the technique some singers use stimulates their para thyroid gland at the low end of the front side of the neck, stimulates a fat hormone.

When they are forced to lose or desire to lose weight they do lose some of their voice - mostly the top register ie: Callas. She had no squeeling wobble when she had some weight on her. There are many others who have suffered the same fate when losing weight. Leave the fat singers alone.

[bwerth]

you have got to be kidding me. whatever stimulation singing may or may not have on the para thyroid is definitely negligible or we wouldn't have so many thin singings. That just adds to the stereotype and gives people another excuse to be overweight.

[bwerth]

Ultimately opera is not just on recording. It is on a stage. The voice is certainly the most important aspect of a performer, but it is a theatrical art. Looking the part is a good thing in any visual art form.

[bwerth]

The real reason some opera singers tend to be larger, especially in the larger rep, is because big voices need larger resonant spaces. This doesn't mean bigger bodies as the body doesn't really provide any significant amplification. BUT, larger heads which usually contain larger vocal tracts and better internal amplification tend to be attached to larger people.

Not always.

[12251928]

No Not kidding. You are obviously not a fat singer Many teachers instruct the student to keep the chin tucked in, while other teach throwing the head back. This is all to help train the muscles around the vocal cords to stay open above the stave. The neck tuckers develop weight.

[bwerth]

Those poor singers have more to worry about than weight if their technique is to either tuck or throw back. I've never met a teacher worth a thing that advocates either on a permanent basis. A slight lift of the chin can occasional be useful for men just below the passaggio on open vowels.

[gangstatd]

I'm not sure if there is a fat hormone although I'd be interested if there is any data available on that. What I can say is as a Wagnerian singer, who has weight problems, there is a link somewhere between dramatic sopranos and weight. Everyone I've ever met that TRULY has the instrument also has something else wrong whether it be thyroid or hormonal. When you have managers/teachers saying "get that weight off" it can make you crazy--it is not always willpower.

[Matthewcoakley08]

That's complete bull! Birgit Nilsson Norman, Callas, Sills, Vikers, all of them sang Wagnerian roles and they weren't heavy at all. Nilsson was a broad woman sure but she was also very tiny. There's no connection between weight and how you sing. Some of the greatest lyrics are overweight.

[liamandsarah]

Terfel, Callas, Sharon Sweet, Alessandra Marc, Voight, Pavarotti, even Nilsson and Sills at some point during their careers were larger women/Men. there is perhaps no fat gland that makes them sing better, but there is something about being larger that makes the huge voice a little easier to handel. The "thinner' Wagner singers petered out early - ie: Hildegard Behrens. At some point, the voice & the music has to become the most important aspect again rather than looks. It's just that simple.

[bradleyjenks]

Um...that is complete crap. Sorry, whoever you are. I don't know if some weirdo 'technique' stimulates some fat gland. But it is not, and never is, the reason some singers are fat. They're just fat. People who lose the weight have troubles for other reasons, mostly to do with strength and breath. It is a major change for the body and bodies need time to re-adjust.

[63Attila]

Singers shoul not be judged on girth. If so, no Schumman-Heink, Pavarotti or Caballe etc.

Let the prducer work around the singers.

[FABRIZIO82]

Opera is a metaphoric art. You MUST accept the physical appearance of singers, because by definition they are cast by voice and not by physique.Stupid nowodays naturalism...

[hamsexy1]

I love Debbie Voigt!!!

[dimugly2k5]

Yes, Nathan Gun is very attractive. he sang at Drake a month or two ago and I just about shat myself.

[urgrad03]

Nathan Gunn is one SEXY, sexy, sexy man:)... I just had to get that off my chest.

[Luindriel]

Interesting, especially the bit about going home to an empty house after being told all evening how wonderful you are.

At first I couldn't figure out what I was seeing! Didn't expect to see surgery!

* You could add Nathan Gunn to the tags...

[CzarDodon]

I saw the Ariadne in London with the skinny soprano, and guess what? the voice was skinny too. If Colin Davis wasn't such a gentleman, if she had had one of those conductors who leave singers to fend for themselves, nobody would have heard her. And I really saw nothing in the producers idea where a fat lady would not have worked.

[hillevifan]

Who did they get to replace her?

[CzarDodon]

Totally forgotten her name :-)

[klarynn]

kudos to Deborah for coming out with this and not being ashamed.  We live in a society of excess... some of us are born with better genes. That is a fact, now we can also help ourselves by changing our behaviors. I am proud of her for having the courage to change what she wanted to change. not for anyone else but for herself! She is incredibly gifted and a roll model for all of us.

[mattyslipp]

This is awesome, but is anyone else a little freaked out to be listening to Deb sing while looking at a video of GBS???

[bosancherosi]

I still can't believe that she put the most glorious dramatic voice of our time in such jeopardy. Makes me want to cry. Thank god that she recovered.

[juju1305]

I heard her sing in Germany about a month ago. She is back to being the greatest dramatic soprano... but she is inferior to her former self...

[DivaDeb1234]

bosancherosi,

Fatness has nothing to do with singing. I have a big voice and am an opera singer and I'm very thin.

DIVADEB

I also saw Deborah Voigt at in recital Los Angeles at the beginning of this year and she sounded fantastic. and she looked incredible.