Is Mick Jagger A Good Singer? · Rock Singing Success

Is Mick Jagger A Good Singer?

Mick Jagger is a great singer for The Rolling Stones. For them, he's perfect. However, there is nothing about his singing abilities that is spectacular. He’s average at best in technical ability.

The Rolling Stones never needed a technically great singer. They needed a singer who could do what Mick Jagger could do and they were lucky enough to have him.

Why then, has he had such spectacular success as the lead vocalist of The Rolling Stones? What is the secret of becoming so successful when there are so many others with far greater singing skills?

This is something that I briefly discussed with one of the leading vocal coaches on the internet. The coach made a YouTube video where he made the statement: “Vocalists that get into character have a better voice no matter what.”

Whether you like Mick or you don’t, you can’t deny that he gets into character! He certainly couldn’t out sing Freddie Mercury or Robert Plant or Steve Perry! But Mick didn’t need to. Mick needed to be a character singer and he’s one of the best in the business.

I asked that same vocal coach I mentioned earlier about the statement I just recently quoted: “Do you think that’s a big part of the reason that The Rolling Stones get called The World’s Greatest Rock ’n’ Roll Band even though Mick jagger isn’t the best singer in rock”?

He replied: “Absolutely yes. He is the perfect example of a great character or musical actor but a pretty average vocalist.”

Some of you may be asking what it means to be a character singer. Fair question.

Mick Jagger is not a technically impressive singer. What he does so well is to get across the emotion and the guts of what makes the song meaningful!

Much like an actor, a “character singer” gets into character for a particular song. Now, make no mistake about it, Mick Jagger gets “into character” before he even hits the stage! Absolutely. He becomes something bigger than he is the rest of the time. He basically takes his personality and “turns it up to 10.”

That’s what makes Mick Jagger the perfect singer for The Rolling Stones. He can amplify those particular aspects of his personality that a particular song needs. For the next song he sings, he will likely amplify other aspects of his personality.

Here’s one “character” Mick gets into. Listen to the Stones' song Bitch.

Bitch requires Mick to get into full “stud” mode. He’s gonna walk and talk and strut like he is God’s gift to women when he sings this song and that attitude will come across in his voice.

You want to hear Mick Jagger play another character? He’s not an actor; he’s a rock ’n’ roll singer! Still, there’s certainly an element of the theatrical in rock ’n roll and always has been.

In the classic song Angie, Mick is required to get into a very different character. He has stopped strutting and has even gone so far as to make himself vulnerable. Being a badass and showing vulnerability too are almost counterintuitive. You might think that one would take away from the other, but they don’t!

Mick is gonna humble himself and stop the act where he pretends to be God’s gift to women. All he wants to do is let Angie know “there ain’t a woman that comes close to you.”

Angie was released in 1973, when The Rolling Stones were at the peak of their powers. It was when they were still writing some of their classic, classic, songs.

What makes Angie so great is that Mick Jagger is so convincing in every line he delivers. He doesn't hit notes that are incredibly difficult to hit. He’s not trying to show of his singing prowess. That’s not what he’s showing off at all.

He’s showing his humanity. He’s showing the hurt, the frustration and the sadness of the story the song tells.

The main thing that makes Angie great is that this legendary “bad boy” of rock ’n’ roll is stripping away all the pretense of being “the stud” or “the sex symbol” or whatever you wanna call it and showing that he is capable of hurting, just like any other guy can. When “bad boys”, especially rock stars who are known as “bad boys” show that vulnerability, women melt.

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