Is it ever excusable for a British singer to put on an American accent?

Question

I'm thinking Bobby Gillespy, that little chimp boy from Busted, the one from Reef and of course the godfather of putting on a ridiculous American accent - Mick Jagger.

Answer 1

There are afew singers who sing with the american accent .The one that springs to my mind immediately is Ozzy Osbourne .

In an interview he was asked " why sing with a US accent " , he replied "well , can u imagine me singing Paranoid with my brummy accent " ( finished wi mi wuman cos she cudnt help mi wi mi mind) !!!! hehehe

In my honest opinion his fake US accent works really well , Though some singers just sound lame doing he same

Answer 2

Sure it's acceptable. Imagine Swansea's greatest son, Shakin' Stevens, if he'd sung "Green Door" with his natural accent? Or Tom Jones, come to that?
It may not be right, or big, or clever, but sometimes it's necessary to use an American accent to get the song across. Doesn't change the fact that busted should in fact be Blasted from the nearest available cannon, but there it is.

Answer 3

Never.

It might be forgivable if they get it absolutely, dead-on right, problem is, they never do.

The funniest examples (to me, anyway) are the generations of British bluesmen who've tried to sound authentically like they were born in the Mississippi delta area (Eric Clapton, John Mayall, Peter Green, etc, all do terrible impressions of Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon.)

But then, most white American bluesmen can't do it either.

Answer 4

I'm 53 years old. I'm a musician. That's like asking if it's excusable for a country singer to use 'ing' on 'hook' not unlike Merle Haggard's "Working Man's Blues" or "Silver Wings" where he sings "Silver wings ... 'shining' in the sunlight.

As a matter of fact, of all the Beatles songs, I hear very little 'British' accent in any of their songs and I used to wonder why they didn't sound like 'Brits'.
Mack
Mack

Answer 5

Yes. Oh God, yes. Can you imagine Ozzy singing in a Brummie accent? The first line of Paranoid would sound so fecking bad.
Sorry, just seen someone else put this too. Fuc k I'm original.

Answer 6

i think that when you change your accent to something else it means that you must be ashamed of your natural accent, which in this case means they are ashamed of Britain. now i am Irish and i have an Irish accent, i would never try and mimic someone elses because i am proud of Ireland.

now these singers should be proud of Britain, but obviously they are not and that is not good.

Answer 7

All hail Paul Weller and the Proclaimers. Oh and that **** out of Oasis.

Answer 8

No.

I like your description of the lad from Busted. That really does cover him! Well done!

Answer 9

they just get used to another accent....
if you'd move to the states you might be talking 'american' faster than you'd think

Answer 10

Yeah - it sounds a lot better than the other way around...
"Ello Mary Poppin's!" see what I mean...