DS Forums

 
 

Does Cocaine Actually Cause Vocal Damage? - Re: Whitney Houston


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 01-09-2009, 01:28
prasanth
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 1,594

I believe that the reason why Whitney's voice has changed so much is due to years of smoking and vocal nodules.

Obviously, there are allegations of her living of coke for years, but would this actually cause vocal damage? Is this a side effect of doing coke?

I'm genuinely interested if coke can single handedly cause vocal damage to the degree of Whitney Houston's voice?

p.s. - I assume this is the right section of the forums to post this in?
prasanth is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 01-09-2009, 09:35
musicdude
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 8,860
I think Whitney's voice is fine. It sounds fantastic on her new album

It has probs damaged Amy winehouse which is why she was only reduced to doing backing vocals in her pointless appearance at the v festival.
musicdude is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2009, 09:49
gertrude
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,208
I should think that the taking of coke could cause damage of some sorts to all parts of the body - including the brain and people who take coke must be short of brain matter to start indulging in this filthy, destructable habit in the beginning
gertrude is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2009, 10:04
prasanth
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 1,594
I think Whitney's voice is fine. It sounds fantastic on her new album
But is it as fantastic as it used to be?
prasanth is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2009, 10:24
musicdude
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 8,860
Hmm, i guess one day i might compare her voice from her new album to the ultimate collection album. Then we can see.
musicdude is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2009, 11:44
mathertron
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Above the clouds
Posts: 22,453
I'm sure insufflating any substance nasally will cause some changes to your singing voice. Whitney was a crack monster though and I'd think smoking that would damage your throat in much the same way as a hideous smoking habit would, but more rapidly.

But then there's always been great singers who have treated their voices like shit.
mathertron is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2009, 12:45
Anika Hanson
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 14,219
I have to admit, Whitney's voice has deteriorated a lot. I was listening to her older songs the other day and then listned to her new album, the contrast was so great it was kinda upsetting to me. Of course she does a good job on her new album with the voice she has left now. I dont know if it's only the drugs that damaged Whitney's voice, I mean I know Mariah's voice has not been damaged by drugs but by nodules. Anyhow I think voices change and mature over time, we cant expect Mariah and Whitney to sound like they did 20 years ago drugs or no drugs, nodules or no nodules.
Anika Hanson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-09-2009, 17:42
prasanth
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 1,594
I have to admit, Whitney's voice has deteriorated a lot. I was listening to her older songs the other day and then listned to her new album, the contrast was so great it was kinda upsetting to me. Of course she does a good job on her new album with the voice she has left now. I dont know if it's only the drugs that damaged Whitney's voice, I mean I know Mariah's voice has not been damaged by drugs but by nodules. Anyhow I think voices change and mature over time, we cant expect Mariah and Whitney to sound like they did 20 years ago drugs or no drugs, nodules or no nodules.
True, especially those two, Whitney in particular who had pregnancy, a miscarriage and hundreds of tour dates and performances to go through.

But, people like Stevie Wonder, Patti Labelle and Chaka Khan, who are also belters, have managed to keep their voices close to what it was - I guess some people are just lucky
prasanth is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17-10-2009, 22:13
smartgirl
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 850
I think Whitney's voice is fine. It sounds fantastic on her new album

It has probs damaged Amy winehouse which is why she was only reduced to doing backing vocals in her pointless appearance at the v festival.
of course her voice has changed. She used to sound quite similar to - if not better than Mariah Carey when she was younger- try listening to 'How will I know' or 'so emotional' 'I wanna dance with somebody' and her voice is barely unrecognisable from how she sounds today. Although i did hear once that she changed her voice puposely to sound more 'black' as she was critisided for sounding too 'white'.
smartgirl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17-10-2009, 22:30
.Mimi.
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Rochester, England
Posts: 5,383
I should think that the taking of coke could cause damage of some sorts to all parts of the body - including the brain and people who take coke must be short of brain matter to start indulging in this filthy, destructable habit in the beginning
^ ^ ^ this.
.Mimi. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17-10-2009, 23:41
LynxSoldier
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,534
It's mostly the way she sang, and the way she took the drugs. She said she smoked everyday, also she would lace her weed with the coke (that's how she would take it, she didn't snort it or inject anything). Smoking alone is bad for the vocal chords, so this type of abuse would of course create such damage. Plus she is a belter, when you sing like that you really have to take care of your voice. Look at Mariah, her voice has weakened, but she can still hit every note and can still belt, just not as good as she once did, and that's just from her singing style and her nodules, if she smoked like Whitney did she would probably sound as bad. Whitney is still a good singer don't get me wrong, but nothing compared to what she once was.
LynxSoldier is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-10-2009, 09:11
mpmc17
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Nr. Nuneaton, Warwickshire
Posts: 2,371
of course her voice has changed. She used to sound quite similar to - if not better than Mariah Carey when she was younger- try listening to 'How will I know' or 'so emotional' 'I wanna dance with somebody' and her voice is barely unrecognisable from how she sounds today. Although i did hear once that she changed her voice puposely to sound more 'black' as she was critisided for sounding too 'white'.
I've listened to 'So Emotional' & 'Million Dollar Bill'. Yes you can notice the difference in her voice. It's not a huge difference, to me she just sounds older - granted the song has has been enhanced in one way or another.

Whether she still can sing live will be a different story. We shall see tonight on the X-Factor even that depends on if it is live in the first place!
mpmc17 is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 18-10-2009, 10:22
getty
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 3,445
Well with over use it can eat away your nose etc, so I'm sure it will also have the same affect on your throat and lungs , lymph glands, windpipe and vocal cords.
getty is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-10-2009, 10:42
TommyGavin76
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 16,886
People forget that she was smoking crack, not snorting. Smoking anything will damage your vocal chords, let alone crack.
TommyGavin76 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-10-2009, 11:27
RandomPeter94
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 4,877
Has Whitney Houston beaten the drug additions now? Sorry I do not know much lol.
RandomPeter94 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-10-2009, 12:08
umbongo
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 5,312
Whitney was a crack monster
No, she wasn't! Didn't you know? "Crack is whack!".

Poor Whitney. On the uptempo numbers her voice doesn't actually sound too bad ("Million Dollar Bill" actually sound quite good) but on the ballads is where you really notice how dreadful her voice is today. Very, very sad.
umbongo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-10-2009, 16:23
TommyGavin76
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 16,886
No, she wasn't! Didn't you know? "Crack is whack!".

Poor Whitney. On the uptempo numbers her voice doesn't actually sound too bad ("Million Dollar Bill" actually sound quite good) but on the ballads is where you really notice how dreadful her voice is today. Very, very sad.
She did say the 'crack is whack' line, but then it was discovered that was a lie and she had been on crack all the time.
TommyGavin76 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-10-2009, 17:29
Turquoise
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 6,833
Perhaps she did think crack was 'whack', but accepted being an idiot and didn't care.
Turquoise is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-10-2009, 17:51
lala
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 20,184
I believe cocaine doesn't directly affect ones vocal cords... But it can affect ones diction? Can it not?

Slurring of the words etc.
lala is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-10-2009, 18:49
frasera
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 8,063
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck...egments/140846
podcast on this.
aging sometimes affects the voice. they show some examples. course genetics or poor health can also do a number. who knows. but she did really belt out those ballads if you listen to her old stuff, so she worked at the limit of her voice so any degradation would be quite noticable.
frasera is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 15:54.