How High Did He Go?

Charting the Highest Notes Ever Sung by Male Singers in Popular Music

I have written in the past about how the stratospherically high male vocals of early 70s soul music are an indelible part of my earliest childhood memories of music. 

I would like to expand my admiration for those higher than high vocals.  It’s safe to say that no matter what the style or era of music may be:

I always just classified all of them as “really, really high vocals.” Then a few days ago, I started wondering just how high some of them were. 

• I took a bunch of songs that I remembered featured the singer reaching for the heavens, and when he sang the highest note in the song,

• I identified it on the piano.

• I began compiling a list. 

After a bit of research on some vocalists known for their upper range, I added a few songs with which I wasn’t as familiar. The highest note in the song is labeled according to the note name and the octave. Each octave begins on the note “C”. 

If you are not familiar with this system, here is a piano keyboard that has the pitches labeled:

The lowest notes start at the left of the keyboard, and as it moves to the right, it gets higher.  You will notice the octaves are numbered to increase as the pitches get higher. 

For perspective, I sing mostly tenor in my church choir, which is the higher male voice part. 

I can get up to a G4, and after that it is probably best that I do not go any further.  The highest note discussed today will be a full two octaves above me. I’m sorry, but that’s just crazy.  And I love it.

So here is my list. 

I begin with the highest notes, moving down from there, stopping at an E5 as the lowest examples, but make no mistake; these are all high! 

This is not an evaluation of the singers themselves and who can sing the highest. The majority of these singers can sing higher than the song and note listed. I just wanted to stick to mostly songs that I knew and that hopefully others may know as well. 

The time in the song where the highest note occurs is listed, but I recommend listening to the whole song, or at least a portion before that note happens. I stuck to studio recordings only, but be aware that in many cases, singers would often go much higher on these same songs when performed live. A playlist of all the songs is included at the end. 

This list is by no means comprehensive. 

Many other singers could easily be listed here. If you have a song in mind that features a high-pitched male vocal and you are wondering just how high he gets, drop it in the comment section and I will try to take a listen and advise. 

And now without further ado, time to get high! 

Nope, that came off wrong…

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F6

Philip Bailey is basically in a class by himself. 

This came out on a Christmas album in 2014, when Earth Wind and Fire was well past their 70s peak, and yet here he is hitting a note that’s nearly a half an octave higher than anything else on this list. 

It’s worth noting, however, that on the Live at Velfarre version of “Fantasy”, he goes up to a G6, a full octave higher than on the original recording. Insane!

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C6

Of course, Michael. 

In the range covered here today, there are well over 100 examples of Michael smack dab in it. Many of them are in the form of a woo, a yelp, or a hee-hee and such, but the fact remains that he can get up there higher than just about anybody.    

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B5

What’s remarkable about this is that the man covers the span of C#2 to B5.  That’s nearly 3 octaves. In one song. And it all feels completely effortless.  And the song is a stone-cold jam.  Am I done?  Not really.

Part of the original wave of New Romantic bands that helped define the British synth pop sound of the early 80s, this great band never quite got its due. 

Just how high he goes here is evidenced by how high on the list this is, but many of their songs featured him in a more baritone range. Really, he could do it all.

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Bb5

That Bb5 would be the last “for me” on the “Beelzebub has a devil of a friend” section of the song.

Freddy also has that range, but Roger was chosen to tackle the high stuff on this one and he shredded it. 

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A5

Speaking of Freddy, this is just a half step lower than Roger on that last one, and man, does he nail it. 

Just a thing of beauty. That was always going to be the case with Freddy.

One of the finest rock vocalists in history, Delp is another one that almost exclusively dwelled in the celestial realm. 

He can go higher than this, but I just love that crazy A5 he belts out near the end here.

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Specializing in Russian folk music, Ivan had a vocal range of over four octaves, beginning with an F1, which near the bottom of the piano, and shouldn’t be humanly possible. 

His supposedly highest note on a recording can be heard here. He is equally comfortable down in the deepest, darkest depths and soaring to the stars.  Not many can do what he does. (It’s not on Spotify.)

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Though the pitch he reaches is clear and definable, this is more of a scream.

It’s a legendary one and it must be included.

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G#5

Bobby handled all the high parts for the duo. 

On this classic, he memorably reaches to the heights to “woo” a couple of times, which serves as an emphatic exclamation point to that powerful bridge.

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This always stunned me how he just jumped up an octave on the melody at the end of the sung, in full voice. 

It still does after hearing it zillions of times.

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For all you millennials wondering how this jam from the early ‘00s stacks up in terms of some of the all-time sky-scraping lead vocals, yeah, it’s up there.

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Through the decades, his falsetto remains one of the most distinct and powerful out there. 

Pretty much the highest notes in his range can be heard on this one, as the song is fading. 

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G5

Those otherworldly, spine-shattering runs Barry does at the end sound more terrifying and nightmarishly hellish to me than any heavy metal scream

And I mean all of that in a good way. I was getting chills just now listening to it, and I’ve heard it countless times. One of the most powerful usages of that range that I’ve ever heard.

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The entire lead vocal on this song is out of my range, just to give you an idea. 

Hearing those highest notes could change your life. The fact that Robert Plant can sing this high is not primarily what makes him possibly the greatest rock vocalist ever, but it sure helps.

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I always wondered how high Steve Walsh gets on that haunting, wordless passage at the end of this song as it’s fading. The answer is “very.”

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It needs not to be said that some of the most beautiful, sublime falsetto singing ever in rock/pop came from these guys.

Brian and Carl could get even slightly higher, but this is my favorite.   In case anyone was wondering, the theremin at the end gets up to an Eb6.  Still not as high as Philip Bailey.

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Wolf totally nails that super high note at the end and holds it for an impressive amount of time.

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Have I mentioned how much I love this?

Disco high male vocals have a special section reserved in my musical heaven.

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Rob has to be included. 

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F#5

So does Curtis.

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Yes, it’s a backing vocal, not the lead that goes to the F#5, but that whole bridge just soars vocally, and it needs to be here.

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He’s in and out quickly, but he definitely hits it.

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F5

A sustained high F never sounds quite as majestic and pristine than the way Steve Perry does it here. 

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Awww, yeah. 

Early 70s soul, where this all begins for me. One of the most gorgeous songs ever recorded and Hart’s high note at the end hits me right where I live.

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E5

Though it doesn’t reach quite as high as most of the other songs here, what’s impressive is how that one note at the end of the chorus just comes seemingly from out of nowhere. It’s a defining moment of a generation of music, no?

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A distinct part of the Moody’s sound would be those thick, choral-like harmonies that stretched from the bass to soprano range.

Bassist John Lodge was primarily responsible for the higher stuff, and it was always the aural equivalent of the cherry on top of the sundae.

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Perfect pop falsetto vocals that take an already emotionally charged song into euphoric territory.

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His legendary falsetto was both suave and angelic. 

He can go quite a bit higher than this, but that run at the end is a just about as lovely of a thing you’re going to hear on this list. 

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Not to offend fans of this band, but I love exactly one song by them, and this is it, their first hit. 

When Jon breaks out into that sky high part over the top at the end, do you know what that is?  It’s the sound of a band that will soon take over the rock universe.

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