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Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

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    Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

    You would expect country and folk artists to sing in their native accents, but it can be surprising when rock/pop stars do it.

    Of course sometimes the accent could be spurious or even downright fake, but off the top of my head I can think of a few:

    The Proclaimers - Edinburgh

    Blur/Madness/Chas and Dave - Cockernee

    Duke Special - Ulster

    The Whisky Priests - Geordie

    Midnight Oil - Australian

    Catatonia - Welsh

    REM - Georgia

    The Pogues - Oirish

    I don't like saying simply 'Australian' for Midnight Oil, simply because the differences in regional accents in such a vast country must be huge. But I don't know enough about Australian dialects to know if Peter Garrett's singing voice is genuine.

    There must be loads of other examples out there- whether genuine or hammed up. Can you suggest any?

    #2
    Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

    Ian Dury and Billy Bragg can be added to the Cockney artists.

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      #3
      Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

      Can I have Bob Marley as Jamaican?

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        #4
        Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

        Along with pretty much every reggae artist.

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          #5
          Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

          Except UB40.

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            #6
            Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

            Actually you could include UB40 if you can forgive the Brummie twang.

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              #7
              Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

              Can I have UB40 as Brummie?

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                #8
                Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                Maximo Park - Boro (or more accurately Teesside as Paul Smith is from north of the river)

                The Futureheads - Mackem

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                  #9
                  Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                  The Pogues - Oirish

                  Shane mcGowan is from pembury in kent.

                  Dolores o'riordan is from about 40 miles down the road from me, and I don't really understand the half of the things she sings.

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                    #10
                    Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                    Add The Small Faces to the Cockernee list, and John Cale's voice has a detectably Welsh lilt to my ears

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                      #11
                      Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                      The Awesome Berbaslug!!! wrote:
                      The Pogues - Oirish

                      Shane mcGowan is from pembury in kent.
                      Yes but he sings in an Irish accent.

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                        #12
                        Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                        No, it is an Oirish accent, how second-generation Irish imagine an authentic accent sounds like.

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                          #13
                          Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                          Róisín Murphy sounds distinctly Irish but I'm fucked if I know which bit of Ireland. I always just assume that all Irish musicians are from Cork for some reason.

                          Robbie Williams's singing accent might be a weird transatlantic mixture but he raps in a proper Stoke accent.

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                            #14
                            Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                            Shane was born when his parents were on holiday from Ireland, he's basically Irish although his accent has varied back and forth, as has his place of domicile (he's based in Dublin now).

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                              #15
                              Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                              Tricky - Bristol/Westcountry

                              And maybe a bit parochial, but

                              Adge Cutler - Somerset/Westcountry

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                                #16
                                Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                                There's a bit of Swindon in some of Andy's Partidge's singing for XTC, e.g:

                                High climbs the summer sun
                                High stands the coRn

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                                  #17
                                  Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                                  Probably too obvious but The Beatles' scouse is pretty evident on many of their songs, especially the ballads. Also true of other merseybeat groups of the era. Peter Noone's Mancunian accent is also well to the fore with Herman's Hermits.

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                                    #18
                                    Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                                    Amor de Cosmos wrote:

                                    Probably too obvious but The Beatles' scouse is pretty evident on many of their songs, especially the ballads. Also true of other merseybeat groups of the era.
                                    The scouse lilt is an interesting one in the context of the late '50s/early '60s.

                                    I recall reading somewhere that Billy Fury was advised by his manager not to speak too much in public for fear that his thick Liverpudlian brogue would put teenagers (or their parents) off buying his singles.

                                    I only know one or two of his songs but his accent seems pretty well disguised.

                                    Times have changed thankfully.

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                                      #19
                                      Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                                      Gruff Rhys in place of Catatonia?

                                      Cerys forced it so much it was beyond painful.

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                                        #20
                                        Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                                        Still though, mcGowan barely set foot in an irish school, and whatever he sings in isn't any kind of irish accent that an irish person would recognize. he was living in Blooms hotel in temple bar, for a very long time until they managed to get him out.

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                                          #21
                                          Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                                          Maybe so, but as he spent much of his childhood living in Ireland, so much of his life amongst the London Irish, playing Irish music, and has been in Dublin for a while, you can't say he "comes from Surrey". He was born there on holiday. As my (Irish) mother used to say, if you're born in a stable, it doesn't make you a horse.

                                          It would be odd if he had a Surrey accent and it's not surprising he's got the one he has.

                                          Oops, not Surrey, Kent.

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                                            #22
                                            Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                                            MsD wrote:

                                            As my (Irish) mother used to say, if you're born in a stable, it doesn't make you a horse.
                                            Which is quite relevant to this thread because IIRC that line is attributed to the Dublin born Duke of Wellington when his critics accused him of being Irish and not British.

                                            A sort of inverse Shane MacGowan, if you like.

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                                              #23
                                              Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                                              Andy Stewart

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                                                #24
                                                Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                                                Sometimes I wonder if I'm affecting a slight Irish accent, but it's hard to be sure.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Artists Who Sing In Regional Accents

                                                  MsD wrote:
                                                  Sometimes I wonder if I'm affecting a slight Irish accent, but it's hard to be sure.
                                                  Is there a missing comma after 'hard', there?

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