Added: 5 years ago
From: k8fan
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  • I'd like to hear her sing 'The Prettiest Star'

  • Would love to sing with you sometime. I have sung and loved Bowie all my life. I have original project. Write me up bro...

  • Bellissima voce e grande interpretazione!!! complimenti!

  • Welcome back my teenage 90's experience only with a much, much, phenomenally better cover. This is amazing.

  • I think this has to be the BEST ersion of this song I have ever heard!! WOW and the range on her voice! AMAZING! I want to hear more of her!

  • i love this woman.... i really do

  • This was my first exposure to Happy over a year ago. I still remember the double take moment. ;^)

  • How hard can it be to make this song better than the original? Well... she just did...

  • @mesesau Not better than the original. Let's not get the Bowie fans all upset. Happy herself is a huge Bowie can and would disagree. It's a great cover though.

  • Her deep voice turns me on. >.<

  • My favorite song ever and this is the best cover. What a great voice!

  • Only complaint is the guitar, but it's the same in the original song. It's always sounded TOTALLY out of place in this kind of song.

  • I LOVE IT!

  • wow

  • I really liked the transition after 3:24

  • My favourite part is at about 1:18 when she sings "If you dare", gives me chills!

  • Wow... this woman has serious range

  • cool stuff 

  • Lol when this first started I thought she was a guy. She has a very strong voice. 

  • this amazing

  • Isit just me, or is this song an unmitigated hymn to men?

  • At 1:06 I realized that's a woman. But great cover.

  • @styrafomsubmrin At 2:17 I realized the guy on the right wasn't missing the top half of his head

  • Absolutely fantastic. I can't say a word. I bought this record in early seventy's.

    It's a LP . I 'm gonna buy the CD again.

  • If you like this try: Happy Rhodes If Wishes Were Horses How Beggers Would Ride

  • I love her voice. But it does sound like she's saying "castle" and what adds more weight to that claim is that she doesn't bring her lips together to form the "p" sound in capsule as she's singing it. I think she made a small mistake, that's all. A mistake that weighed against the performance as a whole doesn't amount to a whole lot. Well done, Happy Rhodes. Whudda voice!

  • Holy God! This is great!

  • Holy God! This is great!

  • I love her voice! I'd kill for range like this. Seriously.

  • That was an amazing cover. I love Bowie. Happy, you have a very beautiful, unique voice. Your talent is superb. :)

  • wow she has a deep voice.

  • great vocals!

  • Remarkable.

  • Amazing cover

  • lol i thought it was a guys voice to start out. very very strong.

  • WOW!!!!!!!

  • great, I like how her voice went from very deep, and went up a little bit and became beautiful, you can tell the audience wasn't prepared for her voice to be that deep.

  • @xerxerxex Nice comment, but I was there and I have to disagree that the audience wasn't prepared for her deep voice. The "oooh yeah" was in appreciation for Bowie, not her low voice. Not that they didn't appreciate it, but 99% of the sold out audience were already well-familiar with Happy and wouldn't have been surprised by her ultra-low voice any more than they would be surprised by her ultra-high voice. One of the many reasons fans love her is her 4-octave range.

  • To expand if I may about why the audience wouldn't have been surprised, at the time of this concert Happy already had 9 albums and a worldwide cult following. She's had a fan base in Philadelphia since 1991, because her 5th album Warpaint did well there and she got airplay on WXPN, so she always sells out when she plays Philly. That's why I said the audience would have known about her various voices. They'd also know that she's a huge Bowie fan because she's covered him on record and in concert.

  • wow! your voice is spellbinding!

  • you are androgynious (recap for ziggy stardust), amazing voice well done

  • Amazing voice ... Very deep . I like very much :)

  • wow

  • simply enchanting - great cover

  • omfg great!!!! is really amazing voice!

  • This has GOT to be one of the most hauntingly beautiful renditions of that old Bowie-song that I've ever heard. It's almost better than the original!!

  • Simply beautiful

  • Wow this is probably one of the best covers I have heard.

  • this is great!

  • This is so good..never heard of her before..What a wonderful thing you tube is..even found Jerry Lee's  Old Black Joe on here

  • amazing voice

  • holy crap... didn´t knew she existed until 5 minutes ago. she is awesome!

  • holy shit for the first 50 seconds i was convinced it was a guy!!!

  • Holy shit, does this woman have range!

  • wow what a great voice... this is amazing

  • lovely voice

  • she is superb..thanks

  • nossaaa, ameiiii.... nice voice....

  • nice voice

  • you've got a great voice! Nice range, and beautiful tone. I hope that you are still playing & singing. Your voice sort of reminds me of Christine McVie from Fleetwood Mac. I hope you are still enjoying music!

  • Excellent version, love your voice... congratulations !! A big future ahead of you !!

  • Do I Laugh? Cry?

    "A big future ahead of you"

    Ah, not really. At the time of this concert, 1996, she already had 9 albums, and has released 2 since then. She's a deep underground artist and it looks like that's all she'll ever be, since she's pretty much stopped making music and performing. She lives on a farm in the boondocks and has a day job building recording equipment for other musicians.

    Maybe we'll get more music, maybe not. But her 11 albums are brilliant and worth discovering.

  • Laugh is healthier !! Excuse my ignorance...

    Thanks for the info... sure I will look forward to find more of her work... I really like her style.

  • Belle version !

  • Very nice version, she has a fantastic voice.

  • wow, this is really really good!!!

  • Great take on a classic.

    BTW, she says "...leave the castle..." -- it's capsule ;-)

  • well, what she says is debatable, but if i listen real close, it does actually sound like 'capsule', though she does say it like 'capsl'.

  • No, she says "capsule." It's very clear to me so I'm confused as to why there's a debate at all.

    Believe me, Happy is a ***HUGE*** David Bowie fan (search for Happy Rhodes Ashes to hear her take on that, and Happy Rhodes Feed The Fire tribute for her shout out to Bowie at the end of that song). He's a musical god to her. She would NOT just change the word.

  • @CarMoves It's clear she says "Capsule"... read her lips...

  • Wow~ Now that's a great voice! I think even David Bowie would be impressed!

  • one of the most beautiful voices

    i have ever heard

  • that is beautiful

  • uhuuuu!

    i love bowie, i love cat power!

  • Beautiful voice and such a range. I am very surprised I have not heard more of her. Excellent!!

  • Haunting....

  • Ohmygaaaaaah!

    That voiceeeee!

    Incredible.

  • That was very nice. Big Bowie fan and I like it alot. I want more

  • Hi zohox! The only other thing on YouTube of her covering Bowie is a short snippet of her doing the high-to-low chorus of "Fame" but if you search the web for Happy Rhodes Rarities you'll find my site (Vickie's Place), scroll down a bit to the "Happy Rhodes live covers" and you'll see Bowie's name.

    There's an mp3 of this song ("Space Oddity"), and a link to an mp3 of her studio cover of "Ashes to Ashes." If you want to listen first go to rhodesongsdotcom, select RhodeSongs then stream it.

  • @xenussister "Ashes To Ashes" is now on YouTube as an audio-only track.

  • woooooooow what a voice!

  • great cover!!

  • Y I K E S !!!!!

  • At about 58seconds her voice morphs amazingly and has so much character.

  • helllllll yeaaaaaaa i love your version.......tender and your range is amazing

  • amazing. does't beat bowie,but still amazing.

  • At another site someone posted that the backup singer (isn't she great) is Kelly Bird. The great guitarist in the rear is Kevin Bartlet. ( hope I spelled that right. Don't you wish you could have been there to see this live.

  • Sweet Jesus!!!! I am in Love!!!!

  • Gotta love a woman with that sorta range.

  • what an incredible voice.

  • At the moment this is my absolute favorite cover. I put it on and I could listen to it for hours on repeat. Just amazing.

  • i love it :)

  • Awesome, another woman unafraid to use her strong voice. Inspirational.

  • excellent!

  • This is absolutely fantastic. You should considering doing a studio version release :)

  • fanfuckingtastic.

  • Coul be Nico's voice...

  • wow, bowie should be VERRY proud of you!

    best cover of this song that ive ever heard

  • amazing voice

  • amazing!

  • this is beutiful, this puts every woman in poular radio to shame

    everything chan has done and most things feist had done

  • Yes. Happy Rhodes is a woman. She's got a male voice, and sings this really well.

  • I wouldn't call it a male voice. I would say she has an Annie Lennox thing going. Whatever you want to call it, I like what she does with this song.

  • True for Annie Lennox ... and we could add Joan Baez or aproaximatively "Cher".

    Marvelous quiet and sweet voice.

  • no, she has a woman's voice... Happy has four octaves. Maybe you aren't aware but women have naturally larger (octave) ranges then men do, especially if they train their voice to become wider at an earlier age (there is an age point where the voice cannot become any larger, octave-wise). Also see: Yma Sumac, Nina Hagen, Diamanda Galas.

  • "...but women have naturally larger (octave) ranges..."

    I agree. When the missus has a shit-fit she sure goes through a lot of notes...

  • Can you verify this thought, about the age-point of not being able to expand your range?

  • What a voice!

    beautiful

  • Dark and magnetic. That voice has serious undertow. And if I don't get more I'll go insane.

    Computer, prep debit card and initiate full iTunes assault. Target: Happy Rhodes. Disengage fiscal responsibility and set cochleas for maximum absorption. This is not a drill.

  • You can listen to all of Happy's albums via streaming audio at rhodesongs . com / music (take out spaces)

  • good vocals and a nice solo that doesn't go over the top

  • Take note, that's a voice. How on earth's name does trash like spears get airplay when diamonds like this are around...

  • When you sing "Whose shirt's you wear" it is actually "Whose shirt your wear" a reference to the team he followed in the English soccer, this plural or singlular is vitally important as it completley changes the context of the words totally, forgive me for being anal but I feel it is important that the history of the song is preserved and it is not changed subtely over the years by mistakes, Don't get me wrong you did a wonderful job.

  • Thanks for the information. I'm an American, and thought it was about marketing - what brand of shirt. But your explanation makes a lot more sense. Sports fandom is pretty widespread here, but to nowhere near the same extent as in the UK.

  • Go to Google- Type in "space oddity 2001 david bowie" and "song facts". There is a whole page of intersting facts about the song. I loved Rhoades interpretation and I don't want to take away from that, I just wanted to inform the singer of an intersting fact so she was more aware of what she was singing about, in no way was I criticising her, this sometimes helps your performance and hers was 100% anyway.

  • Excellent and very pretty too, well covered

  • The sound Quality is Great

  • Which is surprising, as it is just recorded with a camcorder's microphone, not a board feed or anything. Thanks.

  • amazing range... amazing performance

  • That woman has one hell of a voice

  • I love youtube for the amazing talented artists you randomly stumble over! I now am a Happy Rhodes fan and want to hear more!

    Who is that guitarist -- great sounding (and looking!)

  • That is Kevin Bartlett, Happy's ex. He has his own record label, Aural Gratification and records ethereal music.

  • limeginger, do a YouTube search for "Happy Rhodes" and you'll find over 50 performances. Also Google "Happy Rhodes" and you'll find my Song Samples site, plus, ALL of her albums (11 of them!) are available to be listened to be streaming audio. Thanks for listening. Glad you like her!

    Kevin has tons of his own music too, though only just a couple on CD. So far.

  • Her voice is very beautiful...and her range is absolutely amazing for a man or a woman--whatevs! A new favorite for me...she is on I-

    Tunes folks!

  • Actually her voice is very beautiful for a boy girl tranny or whatever...that is irrelevant. Her voice is beautiful. sexy even.

    And even if she had been a dood... should it really matter to those people that looked up david bowie, space oddity, or ziggy stardust?...really people?

  • that was very beautiful, I love your voice!

  • if the video quality was better, there would be no boy/girl argument. i hope she does not read these comments.

  • Actually Happy has a great sense of humor about those sorts of comment. There are two video responses on this page. One is a much better quality, color version of this video. The second is one of her own songs "All Things", and she tells a story about getting a phone call and someone asking her if she used to be a man.

  • Wow. This is amazing. It twists the deep male type vocal notes with the rhythm, softness and beauty of a light female voice. Love it =)

  • Her voice startled me at first, being that low for a woman, but I think this has just become one of my favorite covers of Space Oddity.

  • this was absolutely wonderful.

    I enjoyed it almost more than the original, and as much as the Cat Powers cover. The feelings that you communicated is what makes you a true artist, not just someone who happens to have a talent.

  • wow you guys are amazing :)

  • thats a girl? wtf its like tokyo police club's singer who we all know is a girl

  • yeah ok she sings it beautifully, but she does a terribly weak job on that critical bridge part after "earth is blue and theres nothing i can do", than the guitar break is supposed to Really answer that back with energy that this lady lacks. she still does a good job the performance just looses that dimension by fucking up the rhythm for those few critical beats, but who notices?

  • I just listened to it again, and honestly I can't see how the rhythm is broken there. It's different than Bowie's recording, but isn't that the whole point of a cover? To provide a different take on a song? This is a very quiet, acoustic version.

  • shes amazing

  • All I can say is she really nails this song!

  • Yeah, she's got a great voice.

  • she's a girl, i watched another vid of her and she had a low voice and then really high voice, her vocal range is amazing

  • Great cover, if I hadn't known I would have thought it was Bowie. Though, that just shows I suppose either my inability to tell voices apart, my unfamiliarity with Bowie... Or both!

    Still great though. Kudos.

  • beautiful definitely surreal

  • HOLY SHIT I didn't even notice it was a girl singing..

    VERY GOOD~ +++++

  • lol i spent the entire video trying to figure out if it was a man or a woman singing :p i agree though very good cover.

  • I may get thumbs down for this, but ever since I discovered this cover, I now always listen to this instead of the original. I just love her cover. It's so sultry and surreal. Makes me melt.

  • wow...I never post but I saw this and just had to say this is perfect. She has an amazing voice!

  • Happy Rhodes Fuckin Rocks!!

  • THATS A CHICK ?? REEELY AWESOME

  • it sounds very pretty

  • Well I think she did terrific.Hey tran-ee,if you get lonely,I'm free

  • wonderful voice, entrancing...

  • :-o The face is female but the voice... honest I cuddnt tell. The song is beautiful. Great cover.

  • Did someone post this video on some site asking if people thought Happy was a woman or not? I've known her for more than decade, and she is, and always has been, a woman. Click on some of the video response for videos where this is more apparent.

  • No, lol. It's just that she sounded like a guy on the song, and I really did think she was just a very pretty guy. But then I found that someone else in the comments experienced the same confusion of gender. She's NOT an ugly woman in the least. She's androgynous - like Tilda Swinton. Not a bad thing. *shrugs* Sorry if I offended. I like Happy.

  • cool voice! wish I could sing that low... anyway she looks a bit like charlotte gainsbourg

  • This is perfect, best cover I'v heard of this song. Tu shay I put it on my favorites.

  • thats a guy rite???

  • nope, her voice just sounds like it in the song, search her name on youtube, youll see

  • hmmm..that voice isnt creepy at all :)

  • For a long minute I thought this was the most bewitching transsexual I'd ever seen. I'm even sorry that the clearer videos destroyed this illusion.

  • "For a long minute I thought this was the most bewitching transsexual I'd ever seen."

    Ha, I can't link directly, but search "Happy Rhodes All Things" and I promise you'll smile at her transsexual story.

  • Added "All Things" as a video response.

  • Bit confused as to whether that's a man or a woman.

  • Female.

  • Very much so. This is perhaps the least flattering video of Happy.

  • I wiki'ed it. Its a girl, but she has a 4 octave vocal range, thats why she can go so low.

  • what great great alto voice!

  • wow. that was amazing. I've never heard this woman before. she's got an amazing voice.

  • Brava!!Very great song!! ☆☆☆☆☆

    ***** paolo

  • " How It Should Be" and this is the only two of the videos I watched all the way through. I do not like the voice flux in most of the songs. I kept wanting to shout "Somebody get this woman a decent song." To each his own. But what a waste. Glad she stuck to the lower octive these sets. Her backup singer and band were excellent. I would love to hear this group sing something bluesy and deep. Hell, I fear that it will never be as good as their version of "Space Oddity"

  • "Somebody get this woman a decent song."

    Sorry, but the fault lies with you, you're just not hearing it. Happy is a brilliant songwriter, on the level of Bowie,Bush and Gabriel, though she hasn't had the advantages those icons have enjoyed. Perhaps the live versions don't come across as well as the album versions (google Happy Rhodes Song Samples for dozens of downloads) but that's the nature of live, songs are changed around. She has 11 albums worth of amazing songs. Please keep trying.

  • Damn, I was just reliving my past and listening to Bowie and stumbled on this video. One of my favorite songs and a great singer I have never heard before. My luck night. I will be looking for your site xenussister. Great voice Happy Rhodes. Any kin to Dusty Rhodes. F*** Clear Channel

  • amen lol

  • Btw, no, she's not related to Dusty Rhodes.

  • haha Dusty Rhodes kicks ass

  • Do you know where can I download her version for my Zune =)thanks!!!

  • Since YouTube doesn't seem to allow links in Comments, if you google for "Happy Rhodes rarities" you'll find my site which has a download of the song.

  • thanks xenus!!! I appreciate it =P

  • omg she sings it way way better than bowie I loved it!!!! she kicks ass

  • Wow, she has such a rich voice... Just listening to the opening of it I could have sworn a man was singing it. It was so low.

    What amazing range and voice control!

  • is this a woman or a man ?