Credit: Far Out / Heinrich Klaffs
Sat 30 May 2026 14:10, UK
If anybody knows what it means to push yourself to the limit creatively, it’s Ian Anderson.
Throughout his career, he has never remained stagnant with the kind of work that he produces. This applies to the type of music he was making and how he would sing. There were never any rules for Anderson; the only thing that mattered was producing the most mind-bending music he could.
As he told Far Out in a recent interview, in his youth, he was compelled by music with a vastly expansive outlook. As he said of the precursors to his prog future, “Piper at the Gates of Dawn and The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s in 1967, released only three months apart from each other. Those two were a signpost saying, ‘Progressive rock this way’. They were intriguing because they were a sign of things to come.” But beyond those cornerstones, the next big impetus arrived two years later.
Anderson’s diverse approach towards music was cemented with the gutsy Led Zeppelin. When Jethro Tull first toured with Led Zeppelin, they realised how bands could embrace sounds from different cultures and incorporate them into genres that had once seemed set in their ways.
Like how the Beatles worked with Indian influences and Led Zeppelin worked with Africa, Jethro Tull borrowed from various cultures, genres and overall styles when they were making music, giving rise to one of the most diverse discographies in rock.
While Anderson was always happy to embrace the more bizarre-sounding music, he did push himself too hard at times. In the ‘80s, the band recorded several albums with him singing in a slightly different octave. While it sounded great in the studio, it proved too much of a struggle for Anderson to perform live.
Credit: Far Out / Jethro Tull
“I made records in 1982 [The Broadsword And The Beast] and 1984 [Under Wraps] where I sang really well on record, absolutely at the top of my range. I’m a baritone, and my range is usually up to an E or an occasional hasty F, and then I was singing F# and G,” recalled Anderson, “I was singing at the top of my range and singing consistently up there, not just the occasional high note.”
He continued, “It was something I couldn’t keep up night after night and I lost my voice in 1984 and had to pretty much take a year off to recover. I cancelled three shows in Australia and two shows in the USA. Over the period of a month I cancelled more than 50 per cent of all the shows that I’ve cancelled in my entire 44 years in music.”
Ian Anderson’s favourite rock singers
Many singers seem to struggle with this, as they don’t consider how difficult it will be to perform the vocals they record night after night when they go into the studio. When Ian Anderson performed with Foreigner’s Lou Gramm, despite having huge admiration for Gramm and calling him “rock’s finest ever tenor,” he recalled the singer saying how difficult he found performing live compared to performing in the studio.
Regardless of these difficulties, though, Anderson isn’t shy in embracing just how much of a big fan of Gramm he is. He acknowledges that while he may not be one of the most exciting singers to watch, he does believe that he’s one of the best. In fact, he goes a little further than that when it comes to classic rock.
“I still have a soft spot for Lou because of his incredible vocal ability and the wonderful controlled quality of his voice. I do believe he is rock’s finest tenor,” said Anderson, “His diction was good, his articulation and rhythm was great, he was a truly great singer. It doesn’t mean he’s rock’s best singer or best-known singer, because the usually out of tune Rod Stewart and gymnastic Robert Plant were probably more charismatic.”
His glowing praise continued, “Lou was more mainstream, but it was nevertheless a joy to listen to someone, rather like Alfie Boe, who is in complete control of their vocal ability as the result of hard work and a huge amount of natural talent. He may not be the most exciting pop singer, but for me he is the best.”
Praise doesn’t get any higher than that. But for good measure, on another occasion, Anderson was also moved to further assert Gramm’s class when he called him “head and shoulders above all rock singers”. Meanwhile, in another facet that Anderson will no doubt appreciate, the Foreigner frontman himself has remained as humble as they come. Perhaps that lack of ego is part of his class?
ADD AS A PREFERRED SOURCE ON GOOGLE
The Far Out Classic Rock Newsletter
All the latest Classic Rock content from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.
