years, Stinson has recorded with some of the
most successful artists, including Brooks &
Dunn, Jimmy Buffett, George Jones, Vince Gill,
Faith Hill, Lyle Lovett, Reba McEntire,
Bette Midler, and Johnny Cash. He co-produced
the 2007 Grammy-nominated album
Live at the Ryman by Marty Stuart and his
Fabulous Superlatives. Stinson is also co-
founder of Dead Reckoning Records.
www.myspace.com/harrystinson
SESSION SINGER · SINGER ·
VOCALIST
JOB OVERVIEW
A session singer is hired to sing the lyric
melody, harmony, or both.
SPECIAL SKILLS
"The two things that have served me best are
having a good ear and a versatile
instrument," says Gene Miller. "I'm able to
sing a lot of different styles. Another thing
for me is my range, which is three and a half
octaves, and I have a first tenor voice. If
you can sing extremely high or extremely low,
where most people can't sing, it helps."
A DAY IN THE LIFE
"On the way to the session I vocalize and get
my instrument warmed up," says
Miller. "I'm not like a guitar player where you
can plug in and play. A lot of times I have
to sing pretty high, so if I go in with a cold
voice it's the equivalent of a sprinter walking
up to the starting blocks and running without
stretching his legs first. You're going to
end up hurting yourself. You need to come out
of the block strong. I generally get the
material beforehand, if I'm singing a demo in
Nashville. In Los Angeles, you walk in
cold and learn the song in fifteen or twenty
minutes and sing. That is kind of a neat
challenge to learn it that quickly and then
sing it like you've known it all your life."
"Singing is like acting. When you're singing,
you're playing a role. The
greatest singers to me are people who can
really come from the heart and
make you believe the story they are telling
you. It comes from way deep
inside of you. Anybody can learn the mechanics
of how to sing, but unless
you have heart, the ability to draw up from the
center of who you are,
people are going to hear a mechanical
performance."--GM
"I spent a lot of time in my bedroom when I was
a kid learning how to
play [guitar] and singing; emulating people and
listening to
harmony."--GM
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