Non Singing Voice - Television Tropes & Idioms

A trope most prevalent in Western Animation, but it can occur elsewhere. An actor is often cast into a role for which they can provide a suitable voice, but not always do the casting agents manage to get someone that can sing as well. A second actor will be brought in to dub the songs, and this isn't always as noticeable as one might think.

If the actor is supposed to be playing a musical instrument while singing, two doubles might be used.

Most Japanese seiyuu sing the Image Song for their characters regardless of their talent, although again this isn't always the case.

Less frequently, concessions will be made to work around a voice actor with a less than pleasant voice.

Compare Talent Double.

Examples:

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Anime

In the dub of Pokemon: Jirachi Wishmaker, May is voiced by Veronica Taylor as usual, but the singing of her original Japanese voice actor KAORI is kept.
- Completely averted with Brock in the 4Kids dub. Of course, Eric Stuart is a musician as well as a voice actor...
In the English dub of Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny, Lacus Clyne is voiced by two different actresses when speaking normally and when singing - it's pretty obvious in SEED, but much less so in Destiny. In original Japanese, Rie Tanaka performs both, though.
The Macross franchise tends to have different singing and speaking voices for the singer characters. Exceptions are Iijima Mari (Lynn Minmay) and Nakajima Megumi (Ranka Lee).
- In the Robotech adaptation, Rebecca Forstadt did her own singing. Let's just say that it didn't go over too well with the fans...
Priss in Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 also had a different person doing her singing, although that wasn't the case in the original OVA.
- Averted in the English dub, where Christine Auten did both the speaking and the singing voices for Priss.
Normally averted by Japanese seiyuu, but for Saiyuki's Hakkai it's played straight. One can only imagine how terrible his singing voice is, as his Image Song is spoken-word. He's left out of the group song entirely. Lampshaded by Minekura when she referred to the other three seiyuu as "-8" ("Minus Eight"), with Hakkai's name being written with the kanji for "eight."
- Akira Ishida's singing voice doesn't seem to be as bad as he thinks it is (it's not good, but at least it's on key). Still, he refuses to sing if he has to do any image songs.
  - He did sing in the two collaborations between the Saiyuki and Weiss Kreuz casts, though. Apparently, that was too much Fanservice to pass up.
  - He also did "Kageri no Fuuin" for Harukanaru Toki no Naka de's Yasuaki; a version of it was used in the Hachiyou Shou TV anime. The song might be a bit strange, but then again, it's Yasuaki. Still, no instances of the song performed at "Haruka Matsuri"...
Another anime where this happens is for Koyuki's singing in BECK. It's painfully obvious, too. Funnily enough, the dub averts this, as Greg Ayres does his own singing.
In yet another anime exception, the theme song from Excel Saga is sung by Excel and Hyatt— but not their normal speaking voice actors. This being Excel Saga, it is lampshaded in one episode where Excel and Hyatt meet their singing voice actors, in full Excel and Hyatt cosplay, at a bowling alley:
Excel: Why Kobayashi? Why Mikako? [the voice actors' names]
Hyatt: I do so hate knockoffs.
Subverted in Hidamari Sketch where the characters (and voice actresses) visit a karaoke parlor and sing nothing like they have for the openings/imagesongs, but rather sing more like how their characters would.
Full Moon O Sagashite.
- Really? Who? I'm pretty sure Takuto's voice actor does both. And yes, as impossible as it may seem, Myco does the singing voice and the regular of Mitsuki. Japanese voice actors are just that talented.
The Italian dubs of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch and Ojamajo Doremi used this a lot. The second one creeply, having four little girls singing with the same, adult voice.
Subverted in Haruhi Chan. Yuki talks as she usually does through the whole opening theme while everyone else sings, looking like the "work-around voice actor with less than pleasant voice" variation. Then came the end of episode 6, where she suddenly pulls out a karaoke mic and starts singing "Paradise Lost" to get Achakura to forget the argument they just had.
- Averted in the dub of the original. Instead of keeping the Japanese version of the songs, Wendee Lee provided Haruhi's English singing voice for "God Knows" and "Lost My Music." The former was a good try, but didn't quite hit the mark (came close though); the latter although sounded like if Aya Hirano was singing in English.
Meanwhile, Lucky Star left all the songs to the Japanese cast. The rapidfire switching off between Wendee Lee speaking and Aya Hirano singing was a bit distracting.
In the dubbed version of episode 14 of Slayers Next, Lina (voiced by Lisa Ortiz) shouted "In Japanese!" before she and Amelia started to sing, using the original Japanese audio track.
- We do get to hear Lisa and Veronica sing as a practice run though. While they don't sound good together, Crispin Freeman is on key when Zelgadis teaches them the embarrassing lyrics.
- A similar Lampshade Hanging came in the dub of Gokudo-kun Mannyuki: before several characters sing for a concert their de facto manager tells them "and remember to sing in Japanese!"
Phoron's singing voice in the Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica series is clearly not his own, since it's quite a bit higher than his usual speaking voice. Hiroshi Kamiya, Phoron's voice actor, does do his own singing for Phoron's image songs, but the voice he uses to contract Corti isn't his.
Intentionally invoked in Azumanga Daioh with Yomi singing very, very badly in the karaoke box. Of course she's voiced by Rie Tanaka, who sings her Image Song perfectly.
Haruhi Fujioka]] from Ouran High School Host Club had to lipsync when it was revealed she couldn't sing, and she doesn't get an image song! Which means more voice actor irony.

Film

In Dr. No, Honey Ryder had the speaking voice of Monica van der Syl, the singing voice of Diana Coupland and the body of Ursula Andress.
Zac Efron's singing lines in High School Musical are all sung by Drew Seeley, with Efron lip-synching. Apparently, it's pretty well done, but you can tell if you know it's there. (For better or worse, he did his own singing in the two others.)
Marni Nixon was the live-action queen of this for ages (often uncredited). From The Other Wiki: Nixon's dubbing career includes:
- The singing voice of Margaret O'Brien in The Secret Garden (1949)
- Providing Marilyn Monroe with a few top notes in her performance of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
- The singing voice for Deborah Kerr in two different movies - Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I (1956), where her vocals were skilfully intertwined with Deborah's on some tracks; and Leo McCarey's An Affair to Remember a year later.
- The singing voice for Natalie Wood as Maria in West Side Story (1961) and also sang some parts of the score of Anita played by Rita Moreno, sharing the load with co-dubber Betty Wand and Moreno herself. In parts of the quintet setting of the song "Tonight", Nixon sings both Maria's and Anita's lines.
- The singing voice for Audrey Hepburn as Eliza in My Fair Lady (1964), for which Nixon gained much notoriety, as news-eager journalists ripped apart the customary veil of secrecy. Industry buzz has said this to have been the cause of Hepburn's failing even to get nominated for an Academy Award for the demanding role.
- Nixon did get a moment on film, as Sister Sophia in The Sound Of Music. Apparently everyone was worried about her meeting Julie Andrews (Nixon had dubbed Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady in the role that Andrews played on Broadway), but Andrews walked up to Nixon, shook her hand and said, "Marni, I'm such a big fan of yours!" Ice broken.
All the singing voices in Carmen Jones were dubbed in, even though the cast featured trained singers such as Harry Belafonte and Diahann Carroll.
Of the four leads in the 1958 film version of South Pacific, only Mitzi Gaynor got to use her own singing voice. Giorgio Tozzi, the baritone who sang for Rossano Brazzi, is a name well known to opera buffs.
In White Christmas, Vera-Ellen's singing voice was provided by one Trudy Stevens. For the song "Sisters," Rosemary Clooney sang both parts.
In Back To The Future, Mark Campbell was the one to sing "Johnny B. Goode" - in the place of Michael J. Fox. The song was credited as having been "performed by Marty McFly".
In The Sound Of Music, Christopher Plummer recorded every vocal to every song in the movie. In post-production he reviewed his tapes, decided that there was no way in hell he was good enough to sing opposite Julie Andrews, and gave permission for Bill Lee to dub him.
- Kurt's high note in So Long, Farewell is actually sung by Liesl's little sister, Darleen Carr. According to Charmian's memoir Forever Liesl, Darleen and a few other children were hired to provide additional voices on the group numbers. All seven actors do sing every number, however. The only time additional voices are not used is the listless rendition of My Favorite Things at the beginning of Act II, just before Maria's voice joins theirs.
- Margery MacKay provided the singing voice of Peggy Wood, who wasn't up to "Climb Every Mountain."
In the film version of The Phantom Of The Opera, Margaret Preece sung Carlotta's songs instead of Minnie Driver (who did sing "Learn To Be Lonely" over the credits, but didn't have the operatic voice Carlotta needs). Preece also cameos as the female member of the trio in the "Il Muto" scene.
Rita Hayworth sang in many movies, but almost never in her own voice. There's at least one movie musical where she doesn't sing a note despite being the principal actress.
Lampshaded in the finale of Thank Your Lucky Stars, where Errol Flynn lip-synchs to a high tenor note:
Oh, that voice is so divine!
I'm sorry it isn't mine.
Averted in the movie version of Guys And Dolls, where the tone-deaf Marlon Brando was given singing voice by the miracle of sound editing. (It's ironic that he played a singing lead part, given that the musical's second male role, Nathan Detroit, was originally played by the tone-deaf Sam Levene. In the movie, Nathan was played by Frank Sinatra.)
- The same thing was done for Gloria Grahame as Ado Annie in Oklahoma!.
Most every film role that Lucille Ball did before television. After becoming a TV star, she used her own not-quite-singing voice for Mame (and the unsuccessful Broadway musical Wildcat which she starred in and co-produced).
Gigi had most of Leslie Caron's singing dubbed by Betty Wand.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was dubbed in the So Bad Its Horrible film Hercules in New York. Not because he couldn't speak English. He could. It was just his accent was so thick. Now that he is a famous star, the movie has been released on DVD with both the dubbed and undubbed versions.
In John Waters' 1990 film Cry-Baby, all of the characters' singing voices were done by professional singers, including Rachel Sweet, who did Allison's (played by Amy Locane) singing. Johnny Depp, who is a musician, did not sing in this film.
Danny Elfman himself steps in to handle Jack Skellington's singing voice.
In The Harvey Girls, Marion Doenges sang for Cyd Charisse (who was usually dubbed in other MGM musicals if required to sing) and Virginia Rees sang for Angela Lansbury. That Lansbury didn't get to sing for herself is astounding in light of her later success in Broadway musicals in playing Mame and Mrs. Lovett.

Live Action TV

Music

Western Animation

Liz Callaway is easily the queen of singing animated princesses. In addition to her Disney credits listed below, she provided the singing voice for the title character of Anastasia (voiced by Meg Ryan) and Odette in The Swan Princess (voiced by Michelle Nicastro).
- But Kelsey Grammer sings his own part in Anastasia.
- Jim Cummings performed Christopher Lloyd's singing voice in "In the Dark of the Night".
- John Cusack was Dimitri's speaking voice, but his singing was done by Jonathan Dokuchitz.
- As does Howard McGillin in The Swan Princess—after all, he's probably best known for playing the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's blockbuster stage musical, The Phantom Of The Opera.
The Disney Animated Canon is full of this trope.
- Pretty much everyone in Mulan. The heroine's VA was Ming-Na Wen, but her singing voice was provided by Lea Salonga. Shang's speaking voice was B.D. Wong, and his singing voice was Donny Osmond.
- Pretty much everybody in Aladdin had a different singing voice, save for Genie and Jafar. Jasmine's singing was also performed by Lea Salonga.
- Pocahontas' VA was Irene Bedard, and her singing voice is that of Judy Kuhn.
- Esmeralda in The Hunchback Of Notre Dame was spoken and sung by Demi Moore and Heidi Mollenhauer, respectively, although the rest of the cast, to their credit, did their own singing.
- More actresses Liz Callaway has pretended to be:
  - Neve Campbell (Kiara in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride)
  - Linda Larkin (Jasmine in both Aladdin sequels, replacing Lea Salonga from the first movie—which is perfect, seeing as it's ridiculously easy for someone to mistake Liz for Lea and vice versa)
In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Kathleen Turner provided the speaking voice of Jessica Rabbit, while Amy Irving supplied her singing voice.
- The Nightmare Before Christmas has the main character, Jack, with a speaking voice provided by Chris Sarandon and singing voice provided by Danny Elfman.
  - This case is especially odd, as Chris Sarandon went on to sing all of Jack's songs in the game.
- Hercules had no fewer than three voices - Tate Donovan as adult Herc, Josh Keaton when he's younger, and Roger Bart when he's younger and singing.
- Matthew Broderick can sing, but for whatever reason, Cam Clarke replaces Simba for singing in ''The Lion King II: Simba's Pride'
  - And Joseph Williams in the first movie
- Averted in The Little Mermaid, as Jodi Benson did her own singing as Ariel.
Other notable aversions in animated musical films:
- Mel Gibson sings his part in Pocahontas - and would've sung a love duet, too, if they hadn't cut it for pacing reasons.
- Kenneth Branagh and Kevin Kline (voice actors of Miguel and Tulio, respectively) both sing "It's Tough To Be A God" in The Road To El Dorado. Additionally, they recorded many of their lines together in the studio, which is sort of unusual.
  - Unusual, but it does happen. Animation voices are usually recorded separately because of scheduling issues, but sometimes actors are recorded together so they can bounce their performances off each other.
- Steve Martin and Martin Short both sing "Playing With the Big Boys" in The Prince Of Egypt.
  - Also Ralph Fiennes did his own singing for The Plagues, while Val Kilmer's singing voice as Moses was provided by Amick Byram.
  - Danny Glover's singing voice in The Prince Of Egypt is provided by Broadway veteran Brian Stokes Mitchell.
  - Whitney Houston dubbed the singing role for Miriam (spoken part by Sandra Bullock)
  - And Tzipporah's speaking voice is Michelle Pfiffer and her singing voice was Mariah Carey.
  - Actually, while Whitney and Mariah sang the pop version of 'When You Believe', the movie version was performed by Michelle Pfiffer and Sally Dworsky (singing as Miriam).
- Honorable mention goes to Scar in The Lion King where Jeremy Irons did sing Be Prepared, but only the first half. He strained his vocal cords half way through so Jim Cummings had to finish.
- Another honorable mention in The Lion King: Mufasa was supposed to sing a song called To Be King, but it didn't suit his actor's voice.
- The Mexican dub of Hercules naturally averts this one, as Megara is voiced by the famous singer Tatiana, and Hercules is voiced by Ricky Martin. This also had the bizarre consequence of making Hercules speak like a reggaetonner.
  - Megara's English voice actress, Susan Egan, also did her own singing. She's an accomplished musical theatre actress, best known for originating the role of Belle in the stage adaptation of Beauty and the Beast.
- All of the actors in Beauty and the Beast sing their own parts. In fact, Disney personnel went to New York to cast Broadway talent just to avert this trope.
  - A lot of Swedish dubs seems to do this too, usually hiring people from the musical scene to do the voice-acting. (The Swedish versions of Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King all feature the voice actors singing... or the singers voice-acting, whatever way you'd prefer to look at it.)
- Iago doesn't sing in Aladdin, but he does in the sequels, and Gilbert Gottfried sings his part (but then, who could imitate Gilbert Gottfried's voice well enough to pass?)
In Cats Dont Dance, Sawyer's singing voice was provided by Natalie Cole, and the speaking voice was Jasmine Guy. Likewise, Darla Dimple's singing voice is by Lindsay Ridgeway, and her speaking voice by Ashley Peldon.
Jem / Jerrica of Jem and the Holograms had a different voice actress when she was singing. None of the other characters did.
The Family Guy episode "Don't Make Me Over" saw the Griffins forming a family band fronted by Meg. Trouble is, Meg's voice actress, Mila Kunis, can't sing, so they called in Tara Strong to perform Meg's songs.
The film adaptation of Coraline sees the Other Father (voiced by John Hodgman) sing a catchy little ditty about Coraline, in the voice of John Linnell of They Might Be Giants.
Notably averted in Justice League Unlimited. Yep, that's really Batman singing there. The writers discovered that Kevin Conroy was trained as a singer, and figured that it was just too funny to pass up.
- It's not the first time Kevin Conroy has sung in the DCAU, either—in the Batman Beyond episode "Out of the Past", Bruce and Terry see a performance of "Batman—The Musical!". Kevin Conroy provides the singing voice for the onstage Batman (as does Adrienne Barbeau for the onstage Catwoman).
In Lady and the Tramp II Scamp's Adventure there are three examples of this Buster's speaking voice is Chazz Palminteri while his singing voice is Jess Harnell, Scamp's speaking voice is Scott Wolf and his singing voice is Roger Bart, and Angel's speaking voice is Alyssa Milano and her singing voice is Susan Egan.
In the Baby Blues episode World's Greatest Dad the scantily clad big busted Birthday Lady's speaking voice was Kath Soucie and her singing voice by Elizabeth Daily.
In the animated version of The King And I, Anna had a separate voice actor as her singing voice.
In an episode of King Of The Hill Boomhauer who's regular speaking voice is by Mike Judge but his singing voice was by country singer Vince Gill.
In Recess Mikey's speaking voice is Jason Davies but his singing voice is by Robert Goulet, a whole episode was dedicated to his newly discovred singing talent and it's later revealed he can also speak in this voice when he uses it to spread a rumor.
- Although this could be a parody or subversion seeing as his singing voice sounds obviously absolutely nothing like his normal voice.
- In a similar example, Mr. Hyunh of Hey Arnold has an inexplicable country singing voice, done by none other than Randy Travis.
Sonic Underground had the three hedgehog protagonists (yes, even the girl) voiced by the same voice actor, Jaleel White. However, when it came to the Once An Episode singing segment, they were voiced by three separate Voice Actors: Sam Vincent for Sonic, Tom Araya for Manic and Stevie Vallance for Sonia.
In the Danny Phantom episode "Fanning the Flames", the song sung by Ember was by a woman named Robin Kimissel while her main actress is Tara Strong. Strangely, this is the only incident of that happening. Ember sings another song in another episode which as far as anyone knows, Tara Strong does. Robin Kimiseel only does one episode and is never heard from again.
In The Fairly Oddparents Musical Episode, the pixies, normally voiced by Ben Stien, had their singing voices done by rappers Methold Man and Redman.
In an episode of Rockos Modern Life Filbert discovers he has a talent for lounge singing his regular speaking voice was done by Doug Lawrence and his singing voice by Tom Kenny who in addition to voice acting is also a professional singer.
There are a couple of examples of this in the animated film RockandRule, depending on which version you watch Omar's speaking voice is done by Paul Le Mat or for the tv version by Gregory Salata but in both versions his singing voice is done by Robin Zander, Angel's speaking voice is Susan Roman while her singing voice is Deborah Harry, and Mok's speaking voice is Don Francks while his singing voice is Lou Reed.
Subverted in The Jetsons: The Movie, in which Janet Waldo was originally going to reprise her role as Judy Jetson, but she was replaced by Tiffany (who was originally supposed to be Judy's singing voice), at the insistence of her manager.
Taken to the point of parody with Ferb's singing in Phineas And Ferb.

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