While some reviews of his recent live shows have noted that Daryl Hall’s singing voice isn’t quite what it once was, the man himself believes that there are benefits to having some miles on the vocal clock.
The subject of Hall’s changing vocal tone was raised in an interview with Classic Pop magazine, when the star was asked what he meant when he said recently that he’s now got the singing voice he always wanted.
“Well, with age and maturity, my voice has mellowed and kind of opened up in a way,” he explained. “I had maybe more high note facility as a young guy. You know, I could sing into the stratosphere. Now, I’ve lost a little of that, but I’ve gained other things.”
Hall went on to suggest that having a little more life experience may have made his voice better suited to the kind of material that he writes and sings.
“I’m basically a soul singer, and I think my voice is more appropriate sounding to my emotions and my soulful thing than it used to be when I was a young kid,” he says. “So, it came from wisdom and experience. And a few whiskeys, too.”
Hall also spoke of feeling liberated after his separation from long-time bandmate John Oates. Their creative partnership came to an end when Hall learned that Oates was planning to sell his share of the duo’s publishing company, a move that Hall described in legal documents as “the ultimate partnership betrayal”.
While Hall didn’t make direct reference to the breakdown of his relationship with Oates in the interview, he did talk up the creative benefits of going it alone.
“When I was (performing) with John on stage, we had this rule that we couldn’t play any other work than what we did under the Hall & Oates name,” he said. “And it was very restrictive to me, because I love all those solo songs – I wrote most of them – but there was a lot that I had been doing over the years that I couldn’t play. I had no outlet. So now, I’m completely liberated and it’s much more fun.”
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