List of basses in non-classical music

The bass singing voice has a vocal range that lies around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C (i.e., E₂–E₄).^[1] As with the contralto singing voice being the rarest female voice type, the bass voice is the rarest for males, and has the lowest vocal range of all voice types.^[2] However, the bass voice is determined not only by its vocal range, but also by its timbre, which tends to be darker than that of a baritone voice.

The term bass was developed in relation to classical and operatic voices, where the classification is based not merely on the singer's vocal range but also on the tessitura and timbre of the voice. For classical and operatic singers, their voice type determines the roles they will sing and is a primary method of categorization. In non-classical music, singers are primarily defined by their genre and their gender and not by their vocal range.^[3] When the terms soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone, and bass are used as descriptors of non-classical voices, they are applied more loosely than they would be to those of classical singers and generally refer only to the singer's perceived vocal range.

The following is a list of singers in country, popular music, jazz, and musical theatre^[a] who have been described as basses.

List of names

Name	Lifespan	Nationality	Associated act(s)	Ref.
Joe Ames	1921–2007	American	Ames Brothers	[4]
Lance Bass	1979–	American	NSYNC	[5]
Bob Bingham	1946–2025	American		[6][7]
Bill Brown	c. 1920s– c. 1970	American	The Dominoes The Checkers (American band)	[8]
Greg Brown	1949–	American		[9]
Brian Cole	1942–1972	American	The Association	[10]
Ray Davis	1940–2005	American	The Parliaments Parliament Funkadelic	[7][11]
Elmer Dresslar Jr.[b]	1925–2005	American	The Singers Unlimited The J's with Jamie	[13]
James Farnsworth[c]		British	Out of the Blue	[14]
Tennessee Ernie Ford[d]	1919–1991	American		[16][17]
Melvin Franklin[e]	1942–1995	American	The Temptations	[23][24][25][26]
Sherman Garnes	1940–1977	American	The Teenagers	[27]
Geoffrey Holder[f]	1930–2014	Trinidadian-American		[29]
Corpse Husband	1997–	American		[30][31]
Jawan M. Jackson		American	The Temptations	[22][25]
Avi Kaplan	1989–	American	Pentatonix	[7][32][33][34]
Bobby Bass	1998–	American		[35]
Marc Lavoine	1962–	French		[36]
Till Lindemann[g]	1963–	German	Rammstein Lindemann	[37][39]
Nick Massi	1927–2000	American	The Four Seasons	[40]
Carlo Mastrangelo[h]	1937–2016	American	The Belmonts	[42][43]
Michael McCary	1971–	American	Boyz II Men	[44]
Stephin Merritt	1965–	American	The Magnetic Fields The Gothic Archies Future Bible Heroes	[45][46]
Warren "Pete" Moore	1938–2017[47] or 1939–2017[48]	American	The Miracles	[48]
Rex Nelon	1932–2000	American	The LeFevres	[49]
Patrick Page	1962–	American		[50]
London Parris	1931–1992	American	The Blackwood Brothers	[49]
Ray Perkins	1932–	Canadian	The Crew-Cuts	[51]
Pop Smoke	1999–2020	American		[52]
Thurl Ravenscroft	1914–2005	American	The Mellomen	[53]
Harold Reid	1939–2020[54]	American	The Statler Brothers	[54][55]
Kevin Richardson	1971–	American	Backstreet Boys	[56]
Paul Robeson[i]	1898–1976	American		[57][58][59]
Peter Steele[j]	1962–2010	American	Type O Negative Carnivore Fallout	[63][64][65]
Richard Sterban	1943–	American	The Oak Ridge Boys	[66]
Tim Storms	1972–	American	Rescue Acappella Pierce Arrow	[7][67]
J. D. Sumner	1924–1998	American	The Blackwood Brothers, The Stamps Quartet	[7][68][69]
T.O.P	1986–[70] or 1987–[71]	South Korean	Big Bang	[70][72]
Ike Turner[k]	1931–2007	American	Ike & Tina Turner Kings of Rhythm	[76]
Josh Turner[l]	1977–	American		[7][79][80]
Ray Walker	1934–	American	The Jordanaires	[81]
Barry White[m]	1944–2003	American	The Love Unlimited Orchestra	[7][59][82][83]
George Younce	1930–2005	American	The Cathedrals	[84][85]
Tay Zonday[n]	1982–	American		[7][87]

Gallery

• 
  Bob Bingham
• 
  Greg Brown
• 
  Brian Cole
• 
  Michael Gira
• 
  Tennessee Ernie Ford
• 
  Melvin Franklin
• 
  Geoffrey Holder
• 
  Avi Kaplan
• 
  Bobby Kim
• 
  Marc Lavoine
• 
  Till Lindemann
• 
  Markiplier
• 
  Carlo Mastrangelo (left)
• 
  Michael McCary
• 
  Stephin Merritt
• 
  Warren "Pete" Moore
• 
  Rex Nelon
• 
  Patrick Page
• 
  Kevin Richardson
• 
  Paul Robeson
• 
  Peter Steele
• 
  Richard Sterban
• 
  J. D. Sumner
• 
  T.O.P
• 
  Ike Turner
• 
  Josh Turner
• 
  Barry White
• 
  Tay Zonday

See also

• Voice classification in non-classical music
• List of baritones in non-classical music
• List of tenors in non-classical music
• List of contraltos in non-classical music
• List of mezzo-sopranos in non-classical music
• List of sopranos in non-classical music
• Voice type

Notes

1. For a detailed description of the differences between the operatic and musical theatre voice see Björkner, Eva, Why so different? Aspects of voice characteristics in operatic and musical theatre singing, KTH School of Computer Science and Communication, 2006 (ISBN 9171785183)
2. Dresslar is also referred to as a bass-baritone^[12]
3. Farnsworth is also referred to as a baritone^[14]
4. Ford has been alternately referred to as a baritone^[15][16] and a bass-baritone^[17]
5. Some sources also refer to Franklin as a baritone^[18][19][20] and a bass-baritone^[21][22]
6. Holder is also referred to as a bass-baritone^[28]
7. Lindemann is also referred to as a baritone^[37][38]
8. Mastrangelo is also referred to as a bass-baritone^[41] and a baritone^[42]
9. Robeson was also described vocally as a bass-baritone while identifying himself as a baritone^[57]
10. Steele is also referred to as a baritone^[60][61][62]
11. Ike Turner is also referred to as a baritone^[73][74] and as a bass-baritone^[75]
12. Josh Turner is also referred to as a baritone^[77][78]
13. White is referred to as a bass-baritone^[82][83]
14. Zonday is also referred to as a baritone^[86]