Solo and Duo Acts

[stunningbabe]

I know there are female singers who give problems to the Band. There was this girl who was a sexy and pretty...age 20+. Her singing was average...nothing great...but not lousy either.

Being the only girl in the band with 4 other guys....she gets all the attention and praises from the customers, naturally.

She was humble at 1st when she started...but after only 6 months or so...she started to be arrogant to the band leader and became lazy to learn new songs. She gave the 'Hey...you need me cos without me your band is worth nothing' attitude to the band members. :rolleyes:

She was holding the Band ransom with her bad attitude. The band had to swallow their pride and kept her in the Band for another 3 months before they finally kicked her out.

[Guitarman63]

No one likes to deal with ego's, female or male. I dislike arrogant people period, weather it's musicians or anybody else. If someone has to go around bragging all the time, or putting others down, they are probably not worth there own hype. Most of the good musicians I know are humble about there talent.

[guido61]

I've never found girls to be any harder to work with than guys or to have any worse egos. And I've never found any real corelation between being a good person and being really talented--either positive or negative. I've seen plenty of good and bad in all types of people and musicians. People are either prone to having a good attitude and keeping their ego in check or they aren't. But I've never worked with anyone who was so talented that I was willing to put up with a BS attitude. I don't care HOW great a singer or player you might be...there's always somebody we can replace you with or another band I can find to play with.

[EightString]

I have worked with some fine female musicians and singers who were great people and pros onstage and off. My wife is one of them. She's good natured, motivated, and always the first to start grabbing equipment to help load in and out. I have also worked with some self-centered egomaniacs. :freak: Oddly enough, in my personal experience, the ratio of good to bad is about the same when compared to male musicians. :lol: The worst behavior is from singers, male or female. But wow, have I seen some bad behavior from the women there! Maybe it IS because an attractive female singer gets more attention. But I have seen with my own eyes, female singers who deliberately sabatoge anything that might even momentarily draw attention away from them, even if it's good for the show. I have worked in more than one duo-singer situation, and my first condition before I come on board is, "We will each sing the exact same number of songs as the other, every night, no exceptions." This is to avoid any sort of ego wars. She is not my backup, and I am not hers. Fair, right? But every time ... EVERY TIME, the female singer in the duo starts lobbying to get more songs. First, it's a covert effort during set-list arrangement. Then I point out the discrancy and it's, "Oh, sorry..." Then it turns more overt. "I think that I would sound better singing that song.", trying to get the band to help her "steal" songs she likes away. Not knowing that when she isn't around, sometimes audience members tell the band that I'm the better singer, and the band would sound better if I sang more. Then it becomes blatant. I have had a female co-singer just launch into the vocal on one of my songs at a gig. Wow. Maybe if I worked in a duo with another male singer, I would encounter the same behavior? I don't know. God, I love being a solo act. :lol:

[guido61]

I work with two very talented, ego-less girls. I'm very lucky for that. They are great fun. Last night after a gig one of the girls and I were talking to a guest who was complimenting the band and we got into a mock-argument about who makes the band better: me saying it was the girls upfront and her saying it was the guys in the back. It's great to be able to just leave the egos at home and just do the gigs, work hard and have fun.

[Telecruiser]

No one likes to deal with ego's, female or male. I dislike arrogant people period, weather it's musicians or anybody else. If someone has to go around bragging all the time, or putting others down, they are probably not worth there own hype. Most of the good musicians I know are humble about there talent.

^^^THIS^^^

[MDLMUSIC]

How many female vocalists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

One. She just holds the bulb and the world revolves around her.


How can you tell there's a female vocalist at your door?

She can't find the key and doesn't know when to come in.


Sorry. These just popped into my head...

[Terry Allan Ha…]

My personal experience has been that singers who can't play an instrument well are often a liability, still feel entitled the same $$$, but bring only half as much to the table as a singer who does play an instrument well...this is directed at either gender.

[EightString]

My personal experience has been that singers who can't play an instrument well are often a liability, still feel entitled the same $$$, but bring only half as much to the table as a singer who does play an instrument well...this is directed at either gender.

In your implied scenario, would the singer need to actually play the instrument at the gigs to get equivalent pay, or just have the musical background that strong instrumental ability implies? This is a slippery slope, because some of the greatest singers of all time don't or didn't play an instrument.

[guido61]

My personal experience has been that singers who can't play an instrument well are often a liability, still feel entitled the same $$$, but bring only half as much to the table as a singer who does play an instrument well...this is directed at either gender.

I think it's a bad idea to start divvying up money based on how many instruments one plays.

[rodclement]

My personal experience has been that singers who can't play an instrument well are often a liability, still feel entitled the same $$$, but bring only half as much to the table as a singer who does play an instrument well...this is directed at either gender.

Really? Here goes my singer ego again...so a frontman that gets people dancing, interacts with the audience...literally fronts the band is not worth the same as a singer that plays a guitar in the background? Interesting...I will take that challenge any day! All my years of practicing, lessons, working on my singing is not enough for an equal share? OK then... Rod

[pogo97]

I think it's a bad idea to start divvying up money based on how many instruments one plays.

Probably true. I play with a female singer who doesn't play an instrument. She's the face of the duo and certainly the front-man. However, when we're putting songs together, I find the charts, I transpose everything, I put together the lead sheet, I practise long and hard... and she sings the song. And she's very very good. But I put an awful lot of time into our duo and I need her to cover jobs I'm no good at--like shmoozing and getting gigs--and we're having a bit of conflict about that. We would not consider unequal pay.

[guido61]

We would not consider unequal pay.

If you have one person, in either a duo or a band, who obviously and agreeably is putting more work or time or equipment and therefore deserves more pay and everyone agrees with that. Then obviously that makes sense. But anything short of that, just wouldn't be worth it. I can't imagine paying a singer who doesn't play guitar more than one who does. Or paying a keyboardist who plays guitar more than one who does not. Or paying singers differently based on how many lead vocals they do. Or anything even remotely close to any of that.

[rodclement]

That's a different situation, it's about dividing the workload equally, not about who plays what instrument. I book the gigs, I own and set-up the PA, I run the website, and I am "just" the singer. My point is that everyone should carry a part of the load, if not, then I see Terry's scenario, but it has nothing to do with what, if any instruments someone plays. Rod

[rodclement]

responding to pogo...

[pogo97]

Well, I'll contend that keyboard players get slagged with owning and dragging great piles of equipment because they're expected to cover so many bases. At the very least they deserve danger pay.

[Terry Allan Ha…]

I think it's a bad idea to start divvying up money based on how many instruments one plays.

It's worked well for about 35 years, in my case. When I audition someone to work with, I'm always up-front as to what is expected, so there'll be no misunderstandings/hurt feelings. If this is not what they want to do, there are other musical situations they may explore.

[stunningbabe]

I agree that Singers who can't play any useful musical instrument should be paid less. I dont mean playing percussion either. We spend so much time practising the chords, licks, melody and etc....and all the singers has to do is sing. What's so hard about singing?

[stunningbabe]

I'd rather get a good Singer who also plays things like Violin, GUitar, Flute, Clarinet, Trumpet,Saxophone etc.

[Terry Allan Ha…]

I'd rather get a good Singer who also plays things like Violin, GUitar, Flute, Clarinet, Trumpet,Saxophone etc.

Around here a gal singer who can play bass, sax or fiddle can write her own ticket...my daughter, who is an excellent singer/hand percussionist/fiddler, has recently (5 months ago) taken up the bass, and between my trio gigs (about 4/month) and fill-ins with other bands, she can work as often as she wants to.

[center]

There she is, behind the congas[/center]