Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 April 12

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April 12

Overweight lady pop singers

Why have very overweight female singers like Adele (UK) suddenly become no. 1s in the top ten? A few years ago it would have been the kiss of death to try to promote a fat pop singer, nobody would even have considered it. Thanks. 92.15.21.224 (talk) 13:32, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Is she "very overweight"? Anyway, Beth Ditto's success might have encouraged promoters to push some female singers who aren't thin. Warofdreams talk 13:42, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Not forgetting Susan Boyle. doomgaze (talk) 13:55, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Yes, I think Susan Boyle is the reason. Studio execs assumed that nobody would be willing to pay to see a fat singer, but she proved them wrong. Now some might even go overboard and try to get their own fat singers ("I'm just going to leave this bucket of KFC here, help yourself !"). StuRat (talk) 18:45, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Adele is not very overweight; she's a UK 14-16[1], which is about average (14 is generally cited as average[2]).

I don't know much about women's dress sizes, but if she is a UK size 14, and if UK size 14 is average, then she may be short and thus able to fit in a 14 but still be very overweight for her height. 92.15.8.229 (talk) 10:25, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

I don't think is a recent trend. There have always been singers fatter than the normal sylph-like sex symbols. It's been very popular in soul and disco (Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Mavis Staples, latterly Ronnie Spector, even Tina Turner at times); Alison Moyet had lots of UK hits in the 80s; Missy Elliot; Queen Latifah; Michelle McManus; Ana Matronic of the Scissor Sisters (who has lost weight recently); not to mention novelty acts like The Weathergirls and Monserrat Caballe (with Freddie Mercury). --Colapeninsula (talk) 14:11, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

I think Colapeninsula's generally right, but it's very important to note that Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, and Tina Turner were famous first, and then gained weight. Aretha was never thin, but she was a classic hourglass well into her 30s. Chaka's first cover flaunted her figure. And I can't find a good picture for it, but until she was in her 50s, there wasn't an ounce of fat on Tina's body -- that weight was all muscle. --M@rēino 19:08, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

Sophie Tucker, Kate Smith, Cass Elliot, Bette Midler, Carnie Wilson, those are a few popular plus-sized singers that come to mind from various generations. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:20, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Good call, especially Mama Cass. The Mamas & Papas even sang about how fat she was. --M@rēino 19:08, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

OTOH, there's examples from the age of music video, especially Martha Wash of Black Box and the C+C Music Factory and Ann Wilson of Heart who either got partially or totally written out of music videos and other public appearances for no reason other than their weight. Marta Wash got particularly screwed when they would put other women lip syncing to her videos, and she would get no public credit for the singing she did. These women are among the best vocalists, male of female, of the past 30 years, and because of their weight there was a concerted effort to minimize their contributions. --Jayron32 15:24, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Despite assertions above, she is certainly not average and is very overweight: see http://www.last.fm/music/Adele/+images/13352355 for example. She also has rather a deep voice. Perhaps her music sales are to the ever-enlarging market niche of overweight people, with little or no fat pop-singer rivals. As far as I recall the fat pop singers in the past were either mainly or perhaps exclusively American, where people are on average wider than the UK, although regretably we appear to be rapidly catching up. 92.15.8.229 (talk) 10:25, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

• I agree, Adele is overweight. But I don't think she got a record deal because she's fat. She got it because she is a contender for best Contralto in the world. --M@rēino 19:15, 18 April 2011 (UTC)