How much can smoking change your singing voice?

One of the greatest singers of all time, and the most recorded musician of all time, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, was a smoker. Not that I would suggest three packs a day based on this, but it can be done.

The vocal folds are folds are sheathed when not in use, so as long as you don't speak or sing while exhaling smoke, you won't do much direct damage to them.

The biggest effect of smoking on the singing voice is a drastic loss of lung capacity. I once knew a smoker-singer who experimented with this. She quit smoking and monitored her lung capacity by timing long notes. Within two weeks, she had literally doubled her time. After six weeks, she caved in and started smoking again, and her lung time almost immediately dropped back to what it had been before.

The brief explanation of this is that nicotine is a sedative. It deadens the nerves which control the support musculature, and does not allow the proper use of the lungs. The effects of tar in terms of congesting the lungs are also significant, but this is a complex problem.

The primary issue of tar in the lungs is that the nicotine deadens the cillia in the bronchioles and bronchial passages. These tiny, finger-shaped bits of tissue serve two purposes: they increase the surface area of the bronchioles, allowing more oxygen to pass through to the capillaries behind them. Under normal circumstances, they also sway gently back and forth to move the mucous and phlegm around, preventing things from getting clogged up in there. Nicotine deadens the cillia, allowing tar and phlegm to coat them. This congestion reduces lung capacity. It also reduces the body's ability to guage and react to irritation from smoke.

In the morning, after not having had a dose of nicotine for eight hours, the cillia begin to awaken and sway again, moving all the stuff around. This is what causes "smoker's cough," the only effective cure for which, is of all things, a cigarette to deaden the cillia again. The cough, of course, irritates the vocal mechanism, and that's a problem, too.

So, I don't recommend smoking, and if you are a singer who smokes, I do recommend quitting. Barring that, though, understanding the effects is the next best thing.

How much? Well, it can kill you -- that would be a fairly serious effect. Short of that, there are a lot of ways it can affect your voice, none of them good. Overall, the question is exactly the same as how much can smoking affect your life? And you probably know the answer to that. If you're hoping for someone to say, "Hey, it's not that bad if you don't do it too much," I'm afraid you're out of luck. (And anyone who does say it is an idiot -- or desperate to avoid seeing what they're doing to themselves.)

If your old enough to remember Skidrow and Guns N Roses listen to the singers voices now after years of smoking.

As a professional singer, and a very good one at that, accept these facts from me. While smoking is horrible for you, that is not the question here. Cigarette smoking does affect your voice and often it does so in an ascetically and qualitatively pleasing way. It will cut back on your sustain of notes to a certain extent, yes, but if you are a good singer to begin with, don't worry. Consider these great singers who smoked and/or still smoke: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Frank Sinatra, Jeff Buckley, Robert Plant, Janis Joplin, Mick Jagger, Madonna, Chris Cornell, Van Morrison, Axl Rose, just to name a few. The best singers I have personally met, including a professional opera tenor, are all smokers. This is not a question about the HEALTH issues of smoking, but the effect on the voice. You want to live long, don't smoke. You want to rock, you may choose to.

Let me say right off that I am a smoker and a musician. I'd like to say that I'm a singer too, but unfortunately I'm not that good! But I can sing reasonably well, and know some of the correct techniques.

Basically the bottom line is that if you're the singer in a Death Metal band, go right ahead and smoke! It probably won't make much difference. However, if you're serious about singing and learning the correct techniques smoking is not an option.

The first thing you will notice, if you're a fairly heavy smoker, is the excess flem production. You will feel the need to clear your throat more often, with obvious consequences for your singing ability.

Secondly, your lung capacity will be reduced and anything you do that disturbs the junk in your lungs will cause you to cough. Sometimes this can include taking a deep breath and singing from the diaphram.

Thirdly, your voice will have a more "raspy" quality to it. Now in some types of music this is not necessarily a bad thing, but I find that it causes me to "miss" notes occasionaly.

Of course some days are better than others. Some days I can sing like an angel and some days I can barely rasp out a few notes. This, obviously, is no good if you're serious about being a singer. Your voice is an instrument and, like any instrument, you need to take care of it.

There is no amount of smoking that will leave you unaffected. Whether you smoke one a day or ten a day it WILL have an effect.

A lot.

Go listen to Tom Waits' album "The Heart of Saturday Night". Then listen to "Small Change" which he recorded only about 2 years later. Tom was and is a heavy smoker, and although it has become a trademark for him over the last 30 years, you can hear the damage it did to his voice in a very short amount of time.

It makes it sexier.

A LOT!!!

It not only gets raspier, it gets deeper and you have to sing in lower pitches after a while. Also, since breathing is such an essential part of singing, it impedes with your breathing. Whoops, I meant "key," not "pitch."

Well, being a singer myself, and smoking, ive found its not the best idea in the world. im now cutting right down to about two a day, before i then go on to quit in the next couple of weeks. Im not a heavy smoker, the maximum is about 4 or 5 a day for me, but thats rare. To be honest, i think it does affect your voice in the long run, sometimes it can effect it quickly. depends how you react, i find everybody is slightly different. But we have to look at all the talented preformers that do smoke, will young, james morrison,paolo nutini, pink, maddonna, and countless others, but maybe there time is just waiting, and soon they wont have the abilities they have now. All i know is im not waiting around, im giving up asap! Maybe you should consider joining me on that one....

Smoking has many adverse effects, and yes change of voice is included. Cigarette smoke contains many chemicals which are irritants to your pharyngeal and trachea, hence your voice.
Of course there are many other irritants, allergies, and illnesses or genetic pathology.
Smoking a cigarette reduces oxygen, increases, carbon dioxide levels making you toxic. It affects your hair, skin, nails, all functioning body systems.
And it makes you stink!

Any can affect it! I smoke and my voice has changed. In some peoples eyes for the better and in others eyes for the worse. Who is iht?

I am a singer and smoker (1 or 2 packs daily)

I started smoking at 14 or 15 years old, quit for 5 years between ages 18-23, then took it back up again in a period of stress.

I have always considered myself a good singer; these are the effects I have noticed during the past 7 years of smoking (at least):

NEGATIVES:

1. Breath control and breathing issues.
I have trouble sustaining notes the way I used to, even 2 years ago. This is troubling because of course in performance art and music you must be able to sustain notes.

2. Time it takes to 'warm up' increases.
For a long time I would wake up ready to sing.
Now it is about 30-40 minutes of exercises and stretching my vocal chords as well as 'clearing out the phlegm'. Without a warmup period (and being required to perform) I would be potentially embarrassed because I would most likely 'crack up' or not hit notes on pitch.

3. Loss of 'resonance'.
My voice is THINNER than it used to be. It had more body and was a thicker texture... It has thinned considerably. This is not pleasant to listen to always.

POTENTIAL POSITIVES:

1. OK: I do not agree (at least in 7 years smoking time) that the range (lowest note to highest note) is always affected. In my case.. I actually think my range has expanded. However, I sing daily and practice a lot. So I do think most people can extend their low range (if not always the high range) by smoking.

2. I had a very virginal, pure, quite 'pretty' voice originally. I don't find that clear of a voice attractive for much character. I think there is a small amount of smoking one can do that will affect the voice in a 'colored' way that adds a bit of character. Again, I am not a screamer or anything and I don't sing death-metal.. But I do like a bit of character. Unfortunately I worry that 1-2 packs a day pushes this to the extreme..

Summary:

I don't and would NEVER recommend smoking and I would quit if I could right now. Smoking has changed my voice definitely -- whether it has irreparably harmed it I am not certain, but there IS a change... if you are considering smoking PLEASE forget about it!! I feel like a horrible person being a singer who is supposedly good and a closet smoker, so there is a self-esteem issue involved (at least for me).

Take care of yourself. THINK and if you can quit early then please do.

i lost my carreer because of smoking...was a rocking singer...not anymore...so kids beware!

I'm a singer and a pianist, and have been for my whole life, and I'm a smoker..but not a heavy smoker. Occasionally I'll go a day or two without any cigarettes. My voice is naturally very clear and rich, and I actually really like it. I've never had a wide range but I can sing fairly high in my falsetto. I've been smoking for few months. The most I will smoke in one day is 4, and that's on a heavy day. How badly do you think this will effect my voice? And If I notice a change that I'm terribly uncomfortable with and I quit, which I plan to quit eventually anyway, will my vocal chords heal?

it does not

I'm a bass and when I started smoking my range decreased and my tone got higher. My voice cracks a lot now when I try to project high, and it cracks when I try to go really low too. My advice to anyone whom likes their voice and wants to continue singing for hobby or profession don't smoke. If you're a heavy metal person and you want to start Screaming then smoking actually helps that. if you're a smoker and you stil lwant to sing normally remember to warm up thoroughly before singing, sing whenever you can basically.

Well, there's Joni Mitchell, one of the most brilliant singer song writers of our time...Her formerly lovely voice of an almost 3 octave range is now about 1/2 an octave of scratchy, hoarse, breathless mess. I still love you Joni! Also, watch a person die of C.O.P.D. and that will be reason enough to quit.

depends the voice, i am a dramatic soprano coloratura, my range with smoking 5 to 10 cigarettes per day is 4 octaves, but the higher notes without warm ups are little raspy and hoarse. When i don;t smoke my range is 5 octaves, i can hit the whistle notes pretty easy and clear, like a flute. So, some people build a career with smoking, while others might loose one by smoking.

I am quiting smoking again now, i want my pretty voice back!

I love musical singer Boy George who in the 80s had a more smooth voice like Smokey Robinson, then in the 90s you could tell a little change in his singing voice, but now in the 2000s his voice sound more rougher, it's not the same singing voice that we all are so use to. He still has the potential to sing, but I believe due to cigarettes that it has changed his singing voice completely. I wonder can it be reversed if he stops smoking, He is still one of my favorite singers.

I came upon this question because I was searching for the answer to my question of "will I regain my singing voice over time once I've quit?"

I have smoked for 32 years, and now am on my fourth day of complete quit. I was a strong alto for all of my teens, 20's and 30's, but in my 40's, my voice began to get deeper and deeper each year. I sang tenor for two years in my church choir, but even that was getting tougher. And women just shouldn't be in the bass section!

My ENT doctor had told me last year after a "scope" that my vocal chords were very swollen from smoking, singing, and talking too much (I'm a negotiator), and that not smoking and using my voice less and better (no yelling or whispering, for example) would reduce the swelling in time.

This is a link to another website that addresses the damage to our singing voices: http://health.ivillage.com/ent/throat/0,,5msq,00.html
Here's another of interest I found:
http://notsosynonymous.tripod.com/sing/qa.html

I do not know how reliable those sites are; I do know this: I had a very good singing voice; I smoked for 32 years; and I've had a low, raspy voice for several years now. And I really hope it's not too late for even some improvement in range and quality as my Quit continues in time!

Smoking is drying and irritating to the throat and chords.

It causes irritation that causes plegm to build up and the methods used to extract it from the throat and lungs are damaging to the throat because the tiny little blood vessels break and can bleed, not a lot but enough to cause that clearing of the throat that is where most of your problems will come from in smoking. (and not to mention cancer.)

However most well traised singers can sing correctly through almost any kind of irritation. It is simply not good for you and aggrevates the throat causing that clearing and hacking on a constant and that is again, where you will run into problems in the long run.

The long term obvious effects of course are COPD. and every singer knows and understands that if you can't breathe... you can't sing.

I have heard a lot of women getting a hoarse voice after a considerable time of smoking. I hear it over the phone, radio and tv. I am sure it can affect the singing voice badly.

Smoking has definitely changed my voice. I have been smoking since I was 14. I am nearly 17 now and have quit smoking a few times. I was surprised how much easier it was to hit the notes when I had quit, unfortunately I have started smoking again and I am sorry to say I actually prefer my singing voice now; it has more grit and I can actually sing lower AND HIGHER than I could when I had quit... explain that. I seem to have more power and vibrato which I think is important to give a more professional sound. OK so when I use my head voice for highish notes it does sound like my throat is made of barbed wire and when I really belt out I end up with a kind of airy raspy emo rock voice, which is a bit sad seeing as I only like R&B music, but hey... We're all going to die one day and I think you should choose wisely what you do with your life. My decision will most probably see a sad future for me, but I am definitely at a peak right now.

Bottom line....smoking is bad for your voice...if you think it make's it sound better, it wont last. Just listen to Joni Mitchell. It's also different from person to person. Just because someone manages to smoke 2 packs a day and sing doesn't mean that you will be able to. I'm only 25 but smoked for 10 years and it ruined my voice. I developed vocal chord nodules and I struggled to hit correct pitch and I would loose my voice for a week after every gig. (And i don't shout). I never thought that smoking would effect my voice because you hear all the rock stars singing and they smoke and do just fine. In actually fact you'd be amazed at how many of them have developed vocal chord nodules...just look it up on google. I stopped a year ago and it's still recovering...and if i was older it probably wouldn't ever get back to what it used to be. So if you're a singer don't make exuses for why it's ok to smoke....you'll love your voice when it's smoke free.

A lot.
It gets heavier and deeper and you can go lower.