Sunday 15 March 2009

Alexandra Burke - Vocal Profile/ Range

alexander burke vocal profile

Vocal Type:  Contralto
Vocal Range: 2.3 and a semitone octaves. E3- Bb5 (approx)
Longest Note:10 seconds - 'The Silence'
Vocal Pluses: Rich, deep, silky texture that permeates the low to midrange. Her chest voice impressively retains a weight even up into the fifth octave and has a raspy quality that adds an interesting texture to the voice. She is able to hold notes easily, with or without applying her quick vibrato.
Vocal Negatives: Her head voice is relatively weak and poorly connected to the rest of the voice.



Listen to her range here at youtube

43 comments:

  1. Seen her live, this needs changing. She's an alto/mezzo not contralto...that toni braxton,she has incredible high notes!! Check out you broke my heart from overcome in the bridge, that A is there listen!! It fades after 5 seconds though! The silence belt is one of her longest too. Also she put high notes onto it too on the live version just after her ace belt. And there's a long one @ the end on the studio track too.

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  2. Seen her live, this needs changing. She's an alto/mezzo not contralto...that toni braxton,she has incredible high notes!! Check out you broke my heart from overcome in the bridge, that A is there listen!! It fades after 5 seconds though! The silence belt is one of her longest too. Also she put high notes onto it too on the live version just after her ace belt. And there's a long one @ the end on the studio track too.

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  3. She can go realllly low and realllly high. Surely more than 2.4 octaves??

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  4. She IS a mezzo, coz she has never been close to Adeles voice and although she prefers her deeper register, I think she can sing in the high/mid range at her best.

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  5. Just because she is not as deep as Adele does NOT make her any less of a contralto. Contraltos maybe rare in opera but we are talking about pop singers here. Therefore, its another ballgame altogether, with Alexandra I believe she is a contralto. Her voice will only get stronger and deeper with age. If you have a look at the how she speaks. She is clearly comfortable low. Moreover, good technique and training can make anyone's voice develop and be able hit notes outside of the norm for their voice type.

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  6. This is a load of shit.  Alexandra is a mezzo soprano.  Want to hear an actual contralto?  Then listen to Toni Braxton, Cher and Anita Baker.  Toni would be a dramatic contralto.  Alexandra is nowhere near as deep vocally as a contralto.

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  7. Alexandra is exactly a mezzo NOT a contralto.

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  8. On her new album she hit a c#6, making her overall range E3-C#6. She's improved a lot vocally.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnPHnh82-VY

    Also her name is Alexander in the list, not Alexandra.

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  9. erm, no its not : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Burke. but thanks for the video.

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  10. Yuval Michaelis9 June 2012 at 17:31

    She's definitely NOT a mezzo !
    She's a Contralto . Just listen to her tessitura,to her timbre, and her comfortable range !

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  11. Yuval Michaelis9 June 2012 at 17:33

    Excuse me , but I think alexandras voice is MUCH deeper than adeles voice !

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  12. Contralto's sound manly/more androgynous throughout their voices, Alexandra doesn't. She's a pretty heavy mezzo.

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  13. Not necessarily. That really refers to the actual weight of the voice rather than its Type. Cher is a dramatic contralto who sort of popularized the Dark and heavy female sound but Mya is a contralto with one of the lightest voices I have ever heard.

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  14. Alexandra is a coloratura Lyric Contralto, the solidness is comparable to lady's Gaga's. she is one of the rare type of contraltos that has flexible and agile low voices with good placement in higher and lower passages. in other terms to make it sound less confusing, she is just a Light high contralto with agility and flexibility in her voice.

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  15. She isn't a Coloratura Contralto (for Coloratura Contralto see Annie Lennox) , She's just purely a lyric contralto/Heavy mezzo Soprano.
    Alex's voice isn't agile enough to be in the Coloratura category.

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  16. They said, Is she a light contralto to a dark mezzo?

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  17. You think this C#6 is legit??


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnPHnh82-VY



    I am away to my kip as all this profile hounding is knackered me LOL

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  18. Could reasonably be either a lighter contralto or a deeper mezzo-soprano voice. I think her training and further material will help us get a better idea. Her performances on X Factor suggest one of those two. She sounds best in the lower midrange but the thickness of Toni Braxton's contralto voice was not exactly mimicked in her cover of "Unbreak My Heart." Her voice was deep but she had a noticeably lighter vocal weight. Even though her head voice is not accessed consistently, her E5 belts on her cover of "Candyman" were significant and didn't seem too labored.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrK21SoxZpc
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrdu4Q1rlTg

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  19. She is a deep mezzo soprano, I think the huskiness of her tone could make one think she is a contralto, Adelle's voice is darker and sits in in a lower place.

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  20. My verdict is that it is legit. It checks out on the piano. She easily reached A5 and C6 in those studio recordings and the C#6 sounds like her. I see she's been working on her head voice since her X Factor win. This brings her sung vocal range to E3 to C#6, just a bit under three octaves.

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  21. I agree, she's a mezzo. Her sung range is now E3 to C#6 and when combined with her vocal characteristics, I find her to fit the mezzo-soprano label best. The voice is not as dark or weighty as a contralto even though it does have depth and huskiness to it.

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  22. Same. She reminds me of Toni Braxton, although with a less pleasant voice. Lol

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  23. Well she can't be both a lyric contralto (i.e. like Cher) and a heavy mezzo soprano :/

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  24. I thought Cher was a lyric contralto?

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  25. Yes, but Adele isn't a contralto either.

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  26. She is. This was a while ago, mind you...We've all grown musically...the mezzo-soprano type is very wide...you have have the lowest of the low (Jazmine Sullivan), the thickest of the thick (Jazmine Sullivan), the weightiest of the weighty (Jenifer Hudson) and some very soprano like mezzos (beyonce is a prime example). And it get stranger. Jazmine Sullivan is a lighter lyric mezzo, but has a very low, adrygynous and thick lower register, retaining the thickness up through her higher modal register. Her volume output is small (possible artistic decision) . She will develop into a contralto though as she ages.

    A lot of people think that the contralto fach is wide. It is not so much.. In pop, a contralto will sound like a man, in the modal register...their belts will have a slight tenor like ring to them but not be bright like a mezzo-soprano. They all have dark voices, manly voices with the tessitura of a higher tenor. Though, I'm not sure if a contralto is capable of belting in a way that they can feminize their tone and sing brighter. That is why I'm on the fense about Anita Baker...I say she is a low mezzo with a velvety warm voice, but IDK...

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  27. I also think some overlap especially the "sub-categories".

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  28. First off I made a typo, secondly my comment doesn't claim her to be both, it states she is either one or the other, obviously.
    I meant to say "She's just purely a lyric mezzo" I honestly don't know why I included lyric contralto, I probably typed something along the lines of her not being one and forget to edit out that last portion. I've never seen her as a contralto.

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  29. Tina Turner is a dramatic contralto, Cher is lyric...

    True contraltos need an androgynous voice to be classified one and has to have a natural tessitura to fit without using chest to hit the low notes.

    Contraltos listed like Adele, Alexandra Burke, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry are Mezzo Sopranos that have not been trained to reach the full range of that classification..

    Contraltos are very rare, out of 15 female singer only one would be a true contralto... So they are not easily classified just because a girl can hit low notes.



    Maya is not Contralto. She is a mezzo with limited range...

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  30. Well Tina Turner is a dramatic mezzo. Katy Perry is a light lyric soprano. Also, Brian posted this when he was just getting into vocal pedagogy so that explains his errors.

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  31. No Tina is a dramatic Contralto... Whitney is dramatic mezzo, katy perry is a lyric mezzo...


    Tinas voice has the natural androgynous quality with the natural ability to stay in lower notes longer (private dancer)...

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  32. That is not true, many contraltos possess the ability to go to soprano ranges...


    And many natural mezzos don't have the range within their voice classification.


    Range has nothing to do with ones voice classification or what notes they hit...


    A soprano like mariah is capable of going lower than contraltos and many contraltos i heard have gone higher than most mezzos and sopranos...


    VOICE CLASSIFICATION is technically a role in opera, a pop singer's technique or range does not classify them in any voice classification unless one can asses their natural tessitura..

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  33. I was not talking about range. I was talking about how the mezzo-soprano fach is the widest fach, not based on range, but based on tessitura, timbre, and color. I know range is not everything. I can vouch for that myself. And I know contraltos can sing in the soprano "tessitura" albeit not as long as a soprano can sustain it. In fact, I don't understand how the hell you thought I was talking about range. Again, I was talking about tessitura, timbre, and color. I mean, I know about "VOICE CLASSIFICATION". I know that a pop tessitura will tend to be lower than a classical tessitura simply because of the fact that pop music doesn't require projection. My idol, Jazmine Sullivan can sing down to F2 in a frayed but supported fry but can't really project down past F3. Again, that is a distinction between pop and classical music. From range alone, Jazmine Sullivan is not only a mezzo-soprano but a contralto, and a soprano, based on the assertion you made on my jdugement. -_-... I know the distinction.


    And just so you know, if a woman gets bright while belting in the fourth octave, they are not a contralto (Tina Turner).... :)

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  34. Lol, just because tina tuner has a bright belting 4th octave does not classify her mezzo, and even if a person can hit a whistle register does not make them soprano, all this is a false... There are many factors to each individual category, one is not categorized firmly.


    her voice showcase from her range, to her voice tessitura, weight, her androgynous voice indicates she's more likely to be a contralto....


    I would classify her dramatic- coloratura contralto...


    Her lower register and natural tessitura is of a contralto...

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  35. I agree...


    Adele is a mezzo...

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  36. OK and you keep restating my points but using them against me... And no, contraltos don't start off belting brightly. Their lowest belt isn't even bright. Hell and you should know by far that a pop tessitura is much lower than an operatic one. Cher a true lyric contralto has a much darker and even a lower set voice than Tina Turner. I mean if Tina was a true contralto she would have a masculine timbre. She sounds womanly. Utterly womanly.... Dramatic mezzo.... Now be a dear and don't reply to me. We obviously both can't agree and ain't no body got time for this!

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  37. Child you are the only one bent out of shape, because you are wrong....


    Tina Turner actually has an androgynous voice, they even made fun of her for sounding like a man when she first started do you not read her bio? She even said it herself...

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  38. Oh I'm not bent out of shape in any type of way. I just wish you could respect my swish and left it at that. I also recommend you take another look at what it means to be a mezzo soprano.

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  39. Alexandra cannot sing as low as toni, nor has her dramatic voice changes from the lows to the midrange to reaching soprano notes.


    Toni is a wide ranged trained singer, Alexander is a mezzo with less range. Than Toni.

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  40. Beautiful voice - rich and husky. love alex!

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  41. Agree. Alexandra's voice is so dry, she doesn't mix it up enough though I guess she's been using falsetto/head voice more recently and improved but I'm still not impressed. Prefer her to Leona though.

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  42. What do people think of Alexandra taking on Whitney songs for The Bodyguard and taking over Beverley Knight? Personally, I don't hold up high expectations because firstly I've never been impressed by her voice (I'm not saying she's bad though) and also her voice is a lot thicker and heavier. Whitney's songs require so much more range, power and agility than I've ever heard Alexandra sing before and while I think she's improved since X Factor I'm just not sure how she'll cope with such huge songs… Beverley Knight was fantastic though, practically flawless and proved herself to a definite vocal beast (well, not to me as I knew she was before) so think Alex has got some big shoes and pipes to fill.

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