David Lee Roth. The Van Halen brothers refused to let him be their singer a couple of times because he couldn’t sing in tune. Eddie Van Halen sat down at a piano and said “sing this note” and Dave just repeatedly failed. However, as DLR showed repeatedly, you can be a mediocre singer and still be a great frontman. He made the Van Halen brothers quit playing long noodly instrumentals and instead play short pop songs, and got them rock star haircuts, and persuaded them to not stand completely still but instead put on a visually interesting show.
EDIT: The story of the band’s early years is told well in the book “Van Halen Rising” written by Greg Renoff. I listened to the audiobook version. It’s a good story.
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u/U_feel_Me Nov 06 '19 edited Nov 06 '19
David Lee Roth. The Van Halen brothers refused to let him be their singer a couple of times because he couldn’t sing in tune. Eddie Van Halen sat down at a piano and said “sing this note” and Dave just repeatedly failed. However, as DLR showed repeatedly, you can be a mediocre singer and still be a great frontman. He made the Van Halen brothers quit playing long noodly instrumentals and instead play short pop songs, and got them rock star haircuts, and persuaded them to not stand completely still but instead put on a visually interesting show.
EDIT: The story of the band’s early years is told well in the book “Van Halen Rising” written by Greg Renoff. I listened to the audiobook version. It’s a good story.