The Vocal Range of Christopher Lee: (F♯1-)B♭1 -B♭4

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♭2s 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 by 83-year-old(!!!) Lee from the climax of "Magic of the Wizard's Dream"

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.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• sir
• christopher
• lee
• rhapsody
• tolkien
• ensemble
• saruman

[KuraiX]

Uhh, I just checked a cuple of ones, but I think, at least the ones I checked, the notes you said are wrong. For example on the second extract you mention Eb2, yet I hear D,E and F, no Eb2. The lines revolving C2 are higher. Stuff like that.

You should maybe list exactly what word hits what note, since the notes I hear are different from what you say.

[zorland876]

@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.

[CuriosityRoads]

Fantastic collection of laughed, shouted, and spoken notes for this singer.

[zorland876]

@CuriosityRoads Not bad for an actor.

[TheRockLover1000]

Fucking powerful lows.

[xR45MU5x]

8:46 damn was that Lee?!?!

[StargazerMay]

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!

[HvyMtalMania]

@CuriosityRoads I think this is the video of the singer you're actually talking about /watch?v=cAOmMySfCQo

[GoodGuitarSolos]

Holy hell, his lows... I wish he had shown more of his dramatic low melody singing, that was amazing.

[Thetarantinomaniac]

@Spydrfish Comparing Christopher Lee to Tom Araya? Low blow, dude...

[Spydrfish]

@CuriosityRoads Well that's basically what Tom Araya's range video was anyway...