GETTING MORE TALE #713: End of the Road? Paul Stanley’s Voice
In 2012, before the release of the last Kiss album Monster, I wrote an editorial about Paul Stanley’s voice problems. Thanks to the advent of Youtube, anyone can hear how rough Paul’s voice has become in the last decade. The guy who was once one of the top singers in rock, ever, is now the worst singer in Kiss!
Curiosity in Kiss and Paul’s voice has peaked again due to the End of the Road tour. I received some hits from a Q&A site called Quora, so I followed the address and checked out the site. I found something very interesting, from a man named Kevin Richards, who says he was a vocal coach for Paul Stanley and others such as Rod Stewart. His story checks out. Mr. Richards answered a question about Paul’s current vocal state, and it was very revealing indeed.
Richards said that Paul’s vocals today are a result of health and age. He is also trying to live up to his own image too hard. “He is trying to maintain a stage presence from 25 years ago and doesn’t realize he isn’t in the vocal shape to do so. He is being VERY STUBBORN in doing anything that changes what he thinks the audiences expectation of the ‘Starchild’ should be. The way he moves, the way he sings, etc.”
Paul is still great as a frontman, but to me, it’s the music that matters more, and the voice is the biggest part of that. Richards continued, saying he “told Paul that he needs to rethink how he sings his songs because it’s not 1990 or 1984 or 1976 anymore. He had to make adjustments to his vocal delivery and rearrange the set lists to give him more space between his songs. He reluctantly agreed but again stressed the ‘needs’ of the audience. I said ‘yes, but they also have an expectation that you sound good at THEIR concert. Bad vocal performances aren’t rumour anymore, its on Youtube the next day.'”
You have to admire Paul for wanting to give fans a level of showmanship above and beyond the call of duty, but his priorities seem mixed up. Richards’ bottom line is that Paul is a “stubborn, aging rocker refusing to accept that he can’t perform like he’s 30 anymore.” There is even more, so be sure to read what he had to say.
What does Paul think of the current state of his voice? “I’ve been doing a lot recently to make sure that my voice is in great form. If you want to hear me sound like I did on Kiss Alive!, then put on Kiss Alive!”
“Great” form? I’ll let you know how Paul sounds when Kiss hit Toronto in March 2019. Can Stanley’s voice survive a whole tour? Will there be more Gene, Eric and Tommy vocals to compensate? We will find out at the End of the Road.
EDIT 11/12/2020: The plot thickens.
mikeladano.com 
Fuck, does this mean they’re not gonna do any Badlands tunes? Bullshit. Count me out.
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…I have no words.
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Old age creeps up on everybody, I know. I hope Paul listens to advice and his voice holds out on the tour. I would like to see KISS when they come to the UK.
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It’s one last go round. There are kind of two choices. Either see them and deal with Paul’s voice, or stay home and remember them how they were.
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Great post Mike!! We will see how it turns out. I am not sure when I will see them. I am hoping on the 2nd NA leg they come to Charlotte. I don’t think the family is willing to drive 3-4 hours to see a show. Since my show will probably a year from now, I hope his voice is holding up.
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Looks like I am going with Buddy Jason and his whole family…three young kids who love watching Kiss videos on youtube! So for me, this will be a fun experience just to see their reaction. Fortunately they know what Paul used to sound like.
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No matter what, it is going to be great. Did you see the videos from the Kruise?? Damn, I wish I would have gone to that. I actually debated it as an early 50th Birthday present to myself.
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Dude that was awesome. And Kulick’s set too. King of the Mountain sounded, truthfully, better than Kiss. I’m glad Bruce is playing those songs.
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The ultimate Kiss show would be Bruce’s band opening, Ace next up and then Kiss. Talk about a way to go out.
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SOLD! I would see that in a heartbeat. Four By Fate could play in the parking lot while Vinnie Vincent smiles a lot wearing his makeup.
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I haven’t checked the Vinnie thing yet. But that would be nice as well. And heck, all the ghost musicians could get up and play…Bob, Anton and anyone else. Peter could just come out and do Beth during the Kiss set.
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Why not right? It would be better than Eric singing it on the last shows of the tour….
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I’m sure it will be a good show regardless of Stanleys voice. Hopefully he can cut the mustard vocally for the tour.
Watched some of that Ace footage of him playing all of those tunes he did in KISS like Getaway and Dark Light. I will say after watching them he needs to practice what he wrote.
Sounded sloppy his playing that is…
Ace is a puzzle man…puts out a strong studio album two weeks ago than hops aboard a cruise ship and plays these songs that have been buried for decades and is sloppy as fuck…
C’mon man…
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I reckon any vocalist has to adjust as they get on in years. Sounds like he’s accepted that based on that quote, though. Perhaps they’ll change the key of certain songs or slow the tunes down a bit?
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My next 2 Ian Anderson concerts might be my last. It’s bad enough that he can’t do it anymore; that he still tries makes it worse. The thing is, Ian Anderson is otherwise so unique that he could get a new singer to sing everything and people would still come to see him play acoustic guitar and flute (on both of which he is by far the best in the rock world).
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Awesome post. I’m with J. (he read my mind!)
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I do like that quote – if you want me to sound like I did then, put on that record!
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