Musicians who don't look how they sound.

[Tiberius Jim]

Have you ever heard a song on the radio and automatically developed a mental picture of what you think the singer might look like...only to see them in a picture, video, sex tape, etc...and realize that they look completely different than you visualized? Maybe it's ethnicity, maybe it's facial features, body type.

For instance...

Coheed & Cambria's Claudio Sanchez: Totally thought he was a she.

 

[Small White Car]

I thought Gavin DeGraw was, well...blacker. I dunno, nothing wrong with white guys, it's just not what I was imagining!

And this one is not so much that the image was wrong, but I never imagined that the version of Sea of Love that I knew was sung by one of the biggest rock stars out there. I really thought it was some one-hit-wonder guy that sings sappy love songs. Who knew?

 

[T'Baio]

I remember hearing "Black Horse and The Cherry Tree" for the first time by KT Tunstall and thinking she would be much older.

 

[aladinsane]

Tom Waits blew my mind when I first saw him. He was a young, skinny white guy who sounded like a 70-year-old black man.

 

[Kirby]

I remember when Rick Astley emerged in the 1980's and I thought he sounded like he'd be a big old-time soul singer like Aaron Nevill or someone.
It turns out he's a scrawney little red-headed dude.

 

[melancholymecha]

when i first heard Fiona Apple's Criminal I thought it was a much older woman.

 

[archeryguy1701]

Josh Turner, his deep, deep voice doesn't really match his appearance. In his more recent videos it doesn't stick out as much, but this is his first video and it definately sticks out more in this one.

 

[M'Sharak]

And this one is not so much that the image was wrong, but I never imagined that the version of Sea of Love that I knew was sung by one of the biggest rock stars out there. I really thought it was some one-hit-wonder guy that sings sappy love songs. Who knew?

Who knew it was Robert Plant when the song first came out? Well... everybody, pretty much. I don't think it was ever a secret.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I remember when Rick Astley emerged in the 1980's and I thought he sounded like he'd be a big old-time soul singer like Aaron Nevill or someone.
It turns out he's a scrawney little red-headed dude.

And who would have thought a huge, imposing guy like Aaron Neville would have a voice like that?

 

[RoJoHen]

This is probably going to sound awful to all of you, but for most of my life I thought "Piano Man" was sung by middle-aged woman.

 

[JonathonWally]

No one's said Geddy Lee yet?

 

[Mr. Fergy]

^ He doesn't sound like the Rush front man in concert?

BTW: Milli Vanilli of course.

 

[JonathonWally]

^ He doesn't sound like the Rush front man in concert?

BTW: Milli Vanilli of course.

When I first heard Rush, many many years ago, I my mental picture didn't match up

 

[Aragorn]

Since I didn't know who Limahl was, I always thought the singer of The Neverending Story was a woman!

 

[M'Sharak]

And who would have thought a huge, imposing guy like Aaron Neville would have a voice like that?

Okay, YOU tell him he can't. I'll watch.


Another one for the topic: Jonny Lang, when he first got played on the radio, sounded like a 70-year-old black blues singer but looked like a 15-year-old white kid.

 

[gblews]

The Average White Band. I had been hearing "Pick Up the Pieces" a lot way back then. I thought it was something by the JBs (James Brown's ultra funky virtuoso backing band).

My only question about the track was; how come James Brown isn't hogging the mike on this JBs tune like he always does?

When I found out it wasn't the JBs I was shocked. When I saw the picture of the band for the first time, I was staggered. But when I found out they were Scottish, I had to lie down for a while.

 

[Brikar99]

I thought Chris Cornell would be heftier. Probably the same for Scott Weiland.

 

[Crewman47]

The Osmonds with Crazy Horses, to me when I hear it I can't believe it's them that's singing it because they don't look like big punk rockers which it what the song sounds like.

 

[Velocity]

Amy Winehouse sounds like an older black woman and that guy from Simply Red sounds like a black woman too.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I thought Chris Cornell would be heftier. Probably the same for Scott Weiland.

Well, Scott used to be, but then drugs and all.