Tons of water, lots of sleep and Jingle Bells every night
His voice is one of the most famous in rock – and now Rod reveals it’s all down to a nightly rendition of Jingle Bells.
The Maggie May singer’s raspy vocals have barely changed during his six-decade career and now he takes greater care of them than ever before.
“I would say in the last couple of years I’ve learned more about my voice than in all the previous years,” he said. “I never used to warm up, but I’ve been doing that now for 20-odd years.
“But I never warmed down, and now I’ve discovered if you do a warm down, your voice is as good as gold for the next night. “That was a big breakthrough for me.
“Just 15 minutes after each show and that’s it, it’s ready to go. What I have to do is make funny little noises to the tune of Christmas songs, usually Jingle Bells, and that’s how you warm down. You make bigger noises when warming up, smaller noises when warming down. “Tons of water and as much sleep as possible, too. “I read about this online from a vocal coach and I’m deeply indebted to him for it.” Rod’s new album, You’re In My Heart, which is released later this month, sees him perform some of his biggest hits with new arrangements from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
The album includes a new song, Stop Loving Her Today, and a duet with Robbie Williams on It Takes Two, which the pair will perform at the Royal Variety Performance next week. “I was sceptical abo out doing this album at first,” Rod admitted. “I thought the songs stood up on their so how can they be enhanced, but when I heard the a rrangements they y brought
ano ther dimension.
“There is a
trem mendous vibe
whe en you hear the
orch hestra play – it
has s this enormous
sou und.”