Grab: you made an interesting comment about "people singing in their own voices".

I sometimes wonder whether some British singers are actually aware of what their voices are to start with. A number of them appear to sing in some sort of poppy (no, not the heroin one!), sub-American, "performance" style; (not actually being sure what it is, that's about the best name I can put to it.)

I do at least understand it when it's done for effect with music of American origin (even I would find "Mannish Boy" sung in a Terry Thomas accent a bit hard to take!), but I think it sounds naff when it's done for traditional British stuff.

Is this phenomenon in any way related to the fact that - apart from songs or artists that are seen as "novelty", e.g. Ian Dury, Squeeze, "Parklife" by Blur - British people singing in their own voices don't usually make much money?