Singer Vocal Ranges: 9 Famous Voices, Note by Note
Famous singers' lowest and highest notes, each one from a source we opened, with songs that suit each voice.
Ever wondered how low Johnny Cash really went, or how high a famous diva can climb? This page lists the vocal ranges of 9 famous singers, from their lowest recorded note to their highest, written the way musicians write notes. Middle C is C4, the C below it is C3, and so on, so a range of C3 to C5 covers two octaves. Each singer has a page with their range drawn on a piano keyboard, a few plain words about the voice, and the songs of theirs that actually work at karaoke.
Where the ranges come from. A range online is easy to find and hard to trust. Plenty of sites repeat numbers from fan databases, and some just make them up. So every singer here has a range stated by a source we opened ourselves: a newspaper or music magazine, an interview, a book or a research paper. Fan range sites can back that up, but never stand alone. When sources disagree, the singer's page says so and tells you which one we went with. If we couldn't find a credible source for a singer, they aren't on this list yet. We'd rather have fewer singers than guess.
What a range does and doesn't tell you. A singer's full range includes notes they hit once, in a studio, sometimes in falsetto or the whistle register. It's not the comfortable zone they sing most songs in, and it doesn't make anyone a better singer. Most hit songs use far fewer notes than the singer can reach, which is great news for karaoke: you don't need Mike Patton's 6 octaves to sing one of their songs.
Compare your own voice. Take the free vocal range test first. It listens on your device, finds your lowest and highest notes, and then every singer page shows your range next to theirs, with how many semitones you share. The vocal range chart explains the six voice types if you want to know whether you're a tenor, a baritone, an alto or a soprano.
Browse by voice type
Only singers whose sources name a voice type are grouped by it. The rest are listed after.
Sopranos
A typical soprano sings C4 to C6.
| Singer | Range | Span |
|---|---|---|
| Christina Aguilera | C3–C7 | 4 octaves |
Mezzo-sopranos
A typical mezzo-soprano sings A3 to A5.
| Singer | Range | Span |
|---|---|---|
| Aretha Franklin | B2–Bb5 | 3 octaves |
Baritones
A typical baritone sings A2 to A4.
| Singer | Range | Span |
|---|---|---|
| Freddie Mercury | F#2–G5 | 3 octaves |
Voice type not stated
| Singer | Range | Span |
|---|---|---|
| Mariah Carey | F2–G7 | 5 octaves |
| Axl Rose | F1–Bb6 | 5.5 octaves |
| Mike Patton | Eb1–E7 | 6 octaves |
| Beyoncé | A2–E6 | 3.5 octaves |
| Steven Tyler | D2–E6 | 4 octaves |
| Kurt Cobain | C#2–F5 | 3.5 octaves |