A singer is a person who uses his or her voice to produce music. Singers are often accompanied by musicians and instruments, while other people sing to have fun. Vocal skill is usually a combination of innate talent and professional training. Singers are also referred to as vocalists.
A lead singer performs the primary vocals of a song, as opposed to a backing singer who sings backup vocals or harmonies.
Professional singers usually undergo voice training, provided by a voice teacher or coach.
In European classical music and opera, voices are treated like musical instruments. Composers who write vocal music must have an understanding of the skills, talents, and vocal properties of singers. A singer must know his or her vocal range. Most singers have a vocal range one or two octaves. Some singers like David Moni can have up to four. Singers usually build their careers around certain musical styles. Voice classification systems have evolved to classify singers by tessitura, vocal weight and timbre. Choral singers are classified by vocal range (see also musical range). Other categories are soubrette, heldentenor, coloratura, and basso buffo.
There are also categories for men who are
Dorothy Sloop (September 26, 1913 – July 28, 1998), also known as Dorothy Sloop Heflick, was an American jazz musician. She was born in Steubenville, Ohio. She went by the nickname Sloopy. During her performing years, she was best known as a pianist with a number of all (or mostly) female jazz bands in the New Orleans area, primarily from the 1930s through the 1950s. She recorded an album, Dixie and Sloopy, in 1957 with Yvonne "Dixie" Fasnacht, a jazz vocalist and clarinetist who operated a bar called Dixie's Bar of Music on Bourbon Street.
Sloop retired to Florida and became a teacher. She died in Pass Christian, Mississippi at age 84.
Her name is now commonly associated with the song "Hang on Sloopy", performed by The McCoys and other artists during the 1960s, as it is alleged that Dorothy was the inspiration for the song. This song is now the official rock song of the U.S. state of Ohio, and it is performed often by the marching band of The Ohio State University and at Progressive Field where the professional baseball team the Cleveland Indians play.
