A massive campaign against smoking has driven much information underground and made the subject taboo. Smoking admittedly is very dangerous to your health and negative in most aspects. However it is a fact that many singers of popular music have used smoking to create a unique sound with their voice. The list of famous singers that smoke or have smoked is long and includes Robert Palmer, Pavarotti, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis jr., Kurt Cobain, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Etta Jones, Lou Rawls, Warren Zevon and Mary Wells.
I enlisted four librarians to search for some information on the subject, but nothing surfaced. I sent e-mails to music magazines, smoking magazines, radio shows, cigarette companies and again nothing but “sounds interesting” to “we cannot help you with this matter” Then I stumbled on to an article in Slate magazine entitled “If Obama stops smoking will he lose his amazing voice.” I read it out of pure interest not expecting to find anything, but it contained everything.
Slate magazine reports, “Smoking over time transforms a person's voice by thickening and drying out the vocal chords. The vocal chords vibrate as your breath passes through them, so their texture and shape helps determine what your voice sounds like. David Witsell, who directs Duke University's Voice Care Center, notes that the nodules on Johnny Cash's vocal cords that stemmed in part from his smoking habit helped create his unique sound." Many famous voices in history have pathologies that are part of their vocal signatures," Witsell says.” “The body senses the loss of air and works harder to drive the voice, creating more friction and, therefore, more swelling. In time, many of the muscles around the larynx become rigid and fatigue. The lack of flexibility reduces range. The end result is the classic smoker's voice...low and husky"
A smoky voice is a signature of the blues. Ray Lamontagne’s voice is described as “full of smoke and ether.” Jonny Lang was 15 when he released his first CD. Many people said his voice sounded like that of a 40 year old veteran bluesman. How did he do it? He started smoking at the age of twelve and worked his way up to two packs a day. (www.tollbooth.org/2006/features/jlang.html)
Louis Armstrong was a chain smoker. In ”What a Wonderful World” you can clearly hear the rumbling sound of a gravelly voice. Lisa Stansfield admits “Smoking may give my voice a certain quality.” Joe Jackson is an out spoken musician who claims smoke does not affect his voice, however fans have noticed he has trouble hitting some notes and now has a bit of a rasp in his voice.
In a review of Job for a Cowboy’s album, the reviewer says “His sounds range from a very powerful bass growl to a wail that seems to be coming from a chain-smoking banshee” Shortly before his untimely death in 1965 from throat cancer, host William B. Williams asked Nat King Cole “How can you smoke so much and still be a singer?”. Cole responded he had learned two things: “the choice of the right key for a song meant everything, and smoking helps a singer get a husky sound in his voice that the audience loves.” "So," Cole said, "if you want to sing, keep on smoking."
Juliet Eilperin writes, “Vanderbilt University Voice Center Director Robert Ossoff, who treated Johnny Cash as well as a host of other country and western singers is well aware that some performers intentionally take a drag or two on a cigarette before crooning; he's witnessed it in local nightclubs, and has asked singers about it. But in general, his performing patients worry that smoking is damaging their voice.” Longtime smoker Bob Dylan tried to kick his habit for his album Nashville Skyline, Eilperin says “his voice sounds distinctively clearer on songs like "Lay, Lady, Lay." (Not necessarily better, granted, but easier to decipher.)”
Smoking is an unfortunate yet fascinating part of popular music. Listeners have fallen in love with its haunting tone and texture and some say “the damage smoking does to your throat gives you a very sexy raspy voice.” It is like selling your soul to the devil like Robert Johnson did. It will kill you in exchange for its extraordinary powers.
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