A Vocal Coach about Jon's Voice Decline

It makes sense if there's a high note to hit and you are apprehensive about it, you may tense up and fluff it. A phycological issue manifests into a physical one.

But, as previously mentioned, that doesn't explain how weak he sounds on bread and butter verses or even single words. That's surely either poor technique or a shot voice.


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Thanks for the article. Original link here: https://www.facebook.com/spainbonjov...590130/?type=3

The translation is pretty spot on and says exactly what we've all known/suspected: Jon doesn't seem to have a problem that requires a drastic solution, it's more of a mental/insecurity thing and the technique he's using to improve it it's either not working because it's not the right one, or it's taking some time to work because Jon has to get used to it/overcome whatever is blocking him (I'm reading between the lines here, it's not exactly what he said). He's too aware of his decline and too focused on delivering good vocals clinging to the mic and the results are so-so because of his attitude, not because his voice is gone forever.

Of course, there could be an underlying problem that only whoever is treating Jon would know, but this coach doubts it and I think we all doubt it because it's been a huge decline in a very short period of time coincidentally after Richie left. Not that his voice was stellar during the first leg of 2013, but it was the usual rusty at the start of a tour.

I've read the replies and while I agree that saying "FML, Richie left, I'm sooo sad I can't sing" could be an easy out (and the word depression gets thrown around way too much), I'm wary to downplay the importance of his mental state. Jon really looked like shit after Richie left, and he's too bad of an actor when trying to emote. He didn't sing for 2 years after the end of the BWC tour, so how could he lose his voice if there's no physical problem? I find it hard to believe that a professional singer with 30+ years of experience can destroy his voice only because he didn't practice for 2 years. Many other singers have faced worse problems or lost their voices for good and manage to recover (even if it was partially) due to a medical procedure or new technique/working harder. So my logic says there has to be something else.

I think the key is that whatever problems he's having are linked, and that make it worse. It's not only a voice issue, it's a major shock to the order of things (Richie + the breakup with the label), plus learning to sing again to accomodate his new voice, plus deciding whether to continue, getting new people onboard and many other things. He didn't have the best voice to begin with and then all this shit happened. So I can see why it's taking him longer to recover, IF he ever recovers.

Edit: He could be also contributing to his decline by not having a healthy livestyle. He could be smoking again, many people do it when facing a stressful situation, or doing other things that could damage his vocal cords, who knows, I'm not saying he's a poor blameless victim here because we don't know what's happening behind the scenes.

No one is saying that this is an easy out! We are just stating that this could be a contributing factor...

My concept is simple and probably most accurate... Age and Abuse...

I just think years and years of abuse finally caught up with him.... There is no doubt that he's been on a steady decline for years and I think that he's worked so hard to maintain what he had for the past 10 years (give or take), that now it just finally caught up with him and became more noticeable... He probably gave 110% to improve 20%... He's now beyond the point of return and had a great run...

Someone said it best... In 1989, Jon never thought he'd still be doing this, on this level, at the age of 55. Or when you are that young, you are invincible and the age 55 is light years away...

What does that mean, him not singing for two years? Was that a number we came up with or did Jon say it because the BWC tour ended in December of 2013 and Burning Bridges was out in August of 2015 so he was recording new songs in earlier 2015 right? If we are talking touring then the next show after BWC was mid Sept 2015 so close enough?

This is a general sentiment, not necessarily something that's been stated here, but I see why it can be interpreted like I was replying to somebody here, so my apologies, I'm terrible at expressing myself in any language. Anyway, read the comments in that FB link (Google translator should be enough to understand). People have been saying this since Jon linked feeling/being depressed to not being able to sing. Maybe that's not what he meant, but there's a clear correlation if you read the articles and lots of fans have picked up on it and many feel it's just Jon blaming others instead of owning up to his role on it.

It's clear it's more than just one factor and his voice has been declining forever, which I also alluded to. But the article is interesting because explains why it makes sense that all shit happening at the same time would have a bigger impact than isolated issues getting worse.

I meant tour-level singing on an almost daily basis for months, which is more damaging to the voice than the occasional gig or recording. There were very few shows before the Asian tour.

If done with proper technique, it shouldn't be damaging at all. Do you know if that's the case with Jon? I guess as much as I am - no...

But the thing is, I've read several "experts" state that Jon's technique has been improving and was getting better with age. Said "experts" say that even in 2013 he was singing with the right technique to protect his voice. Which makes it even more puzzling as to why it would decline so fast from March'13 (Cleveland livestream) to December'13 (Brisbane livestream). If he's singing with the right technique, he should be getting better. Richie's leaving affected his singing because of all the stated reasons (which from personal experience make a lot of sense but we don't really know what happened so like always, it's all speculation), we can buy this, but if he kept this technique, wouldn't he sound the same in 2015, rusty but in the same levels of early 2013? His improvement from 2015 to the THINFS promo shows to now is very slow and he's changed his singing again. Why, if it was working?

I'm not going to try to explain why. What do I know? But it makes sense that it's not only vocal decline for whatever reasons.

And I haven't disputed that. Only that singing often will damage your vocal chords (more)...