Do actors make good singers? The answer may be yes

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With the theatrical release of Rock Of Ages, an adaptation of the smash, five-time Tony nominated Broadway musical which tells the story of small town girl Sherrie (Julianne Hough) and city boy Drew (Diego Boneta) who meet on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip to pursue their career dreams, the question of whether actors can make good singers has arisen yet again.

It would be easy to pan the star cast for the sake of just doing so as some critics would, and do, but a sneak preview of the movie prior to its release by Warner Bros India, gave me a start.
The lesser known stars, but paradoxically the movie’s leads, Hough and Boneta, not only sang in tune, but the sequencing for the songs ensured that their vocals gelled well with the requirement of the scenes. Then again, a little research also established that Hough is a country music singer, who had her self-titled debut album achieve No.1 on the US country chart in 2008; Boneta is a singer too.
Now that I have dealt with the “minors”, let us look at the majors of the star cast. Catherine Zeta-Jones provides a decent rendering of Hit Me With Your Best Shot which, said Zeta-Jones, “is one of my favourite Pat Benatar songs; I couldn’t wait [to sing it].” However, one thing is a certainty, she should stick to her career as an actress. Meanwhile, Tom Cruise as Stacee Jaxx, portraying a character that is an amalgamation of Axl Rose (Guns N’ Roses), Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) and Bret Michaels (Poison), is genuinely cast in a once-in-a-lifetime role. Cruise not only passes the test as a singer, but gains support for doing so from the very band whose song, among others, he sings solo (Pour Some Sugar On Me), Def Leppard. “His voice is good,” admitted bassist Rick Savage.
So too believes the music purchasing public (the soundtrack in India is released by Sony Music) as the album made its debut on the US Billboard chart at No.15 for the week ending June 23, including the No.1 position on the following three other Billboard charts: Indie, Hard Music, and Soundtrack.
Returning to the question of whether actors make good singers, the answer appears to be in the affirmative if you consider the track records of the past. Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan starred — and sang — in Mamma Mia!, a story based on three men summoned to a Greek isle by a young woman who believes that one of them is her father, with ABBA’s songs playing in the background. The DVD of the movie became the largest selling home video in the UK, whereas the soundtrack hit No.1 on the US album chart — something that even original artistes ABBA failed to do.
There are others who are a rare breed of “stars” that have proved themselves to be equally proficient in both creative fields such as Sissy Spacek who, in addition to winning a Best Actress Oscar for her role as Loretta Lynn in the 1980’s Coal Miner’s Daughter, also earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Vocal Performance. Further, not only did Gary Busey actually play guitar and sing as the star of The Buddy Holly Story (1978), the concert scenes filmed were recorded live. Jamie Foxx won an Oscar for his role as Ray Charles in 2004’s Ray, singing a few snippets, but a little known fact is that Foxx was actually a musician before he became an actor. I was also pleasantly surprised by the deftness with which Joaquin Phoenix managed to evoke Johnny Cash in 2005’s Walk The Line.
Closer home, however, actors and actresses who have commendably combined acting with singing include Kishore Kumar, K.L. Saigal, Suraiyya, and Noor Jehan, all of whom were known both as actors and singers. However, from the ’50s onwards, directors began to leave the singing to playback singers. Nevertheless, there have been exceptions in the recent past, most notably Amitabh Bachchan, having “sung” in movies such as Lawaaris, Silsila, Mahaan, Toofan, Baghban, and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, followed by his son, Abhishek, “rapping” in 2005’s Bluffmaster. Others that have undertaken their bit of singing include the three Bollywood Khans: Aamir, Shah Rukh, and Salman. Fortunately, their singing has been more on suggestions from the film directors and/or music directors and are far between, leaving them to concentrate on what they know best and, as I maintain, should remain, acting!

The writer has been part of the media and entertainment business for over 23 years, still continues to pursue his hobby, and earns an income out of it