Accents

DaveJames

Why do Mick Jagger, and Rod Stewart, sing like they were born and bred in Nashville?

GoFish

I guess they love that country honk?

Funkfingers

GoFish said:

I guess they love that country honk

I see what you did there.

DaveJames said:

Why do Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart sing like they were born and bred in Nashville?

I don't think that they do.

Like many of his generation, Jagger spent his formative years listening to American Blues records, trying to suss out the lyrics and studying the cross harp stylings of Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter. 

If/when Jagger attempts Nashville vocal mannerisms, it tends to be on Country pastiche songs such as Dead Flowers or Far Away Eyes 

EricTheWeary

They don't. Not really. 

Singing tends to neutralize accents plus these are artists with American influences so they tend to sound mid Atlantic. 

ICBM

Rod Stewart definitely doesn’t sing with any kind of American accent - he sounds like what he is, a half-Scottish Londoner.

BillDL

The singing accent is what many people used to refer to as a "Mid-Atlantic" one.  It's only been in more recent decades (excluding George Formby and traditional folk music of course) that singers have been able to become popular singing pop songs in their native accents or in some kind of UK regional accent.  In fact, there are a lot of UK singers that now sing in what I would think of as a contrived "Mid-UK" accent while trying to sing with a non-American accent.

The same could have been said about Abba.  They are Swedish (Anni-Frid born in Norway).  You can sometimes hear a slight roundness from their native accents, but in general they sung in an American-type accent, because that is what was fashionable and expected of pop groups from anywhere.  Status Quo kept some of their English inflections in their songs, but most of the singing was "mid-atlantic" accented.  Three Quarters of AC-DC were born in Scotland and still had/have a slight Scottish twang while speaking, but they didn't sing like the Proclaimers or Kevin Bloody Wilson because that wouldn't have suited their style of music, nor would it have been popular.

Of all places least likely to have a very distinct regional accent, Nashville is likely to be one of them due to the influx of people from all around the world seeking stardom there.

Would you rather that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had sung in London accents?

I met a gin-soaked, bar-room queen in Peckham

She tried to take me upstairs for a ride

I laid a divorcée in Clapham Common

I had to put up some kind of a fight

mudslide73

ICBM said:

Rod Stewart definitely doesn’t sing with any kind of American accent - he sounds like what he is, a half-Scottish Londoner.

He sounds like a Sam Cooke fan to me.

Litterick

Mockney, innit?