6 singers who were told they couldn’t sing – BIGMOUTH Chorus

No one is born able to sing perfectly. For everyone singer you see in the charts, there are countless hours spent practising and rehearsing away from the public eye. As we don’t see these, we can often assume that they’re naturally that good and can get disheartened. However, just as we can be told “you can’t sing,” there are many professional singers who were told the same thing.
When people say “you can’t sing,” what they often mean is “I don’t know how to teach you.” What matters is that they didn’t give up. They wanted to sing and so they put in the work needed to get better. Many of them came to choirs and learned, others had private lessons but all of them remained committed to the love of singing.

1. Elvis Presley
Perhaps the most famous singer in history, Elvis was told time after time he couldn’t sing. When he was 14, young Elvis was given a C- grade for music, “below average”, with his teacher specifically commenting that he “had no aptitude for singing.” Later in life, his audition to a local quartet failed, again because of his perceived lack of talent. After a performance at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, Elvis was told by the concert hall manager that he was better off as a truck driver because he would never make it as a singer.

Elvis didn’t quit though. Instead, he studied Gospel and Blues records until he was discovered by Sun Records producer Sam Phillips.