Vocal Range Record Holders

We have all heard of the soprano Opera singer who can shatter glass and the baritone singers who can blow out sound systems, all because of their vocal range. The Guinness Book of World Records released a listing of several categories of vocal extremes in 2006, and we will highlight some of those records here.

For the females, the greatest range on record belongs to Georgia Brown of Brazil and consists of an astounding eight octaves from G2 to G10. Ms. Brown also holds the female record for highest note: G10, the top of her range. This is amazing when you consider that Guinness has listed the highest demanded note for a repertoire as G6 in "Popoli di Tessaglia," a Mozart concert aria. However, this is not even a common repertory piece. F6 is the highest record holding note for a standard repertory piece, "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" by Mozart, the aria in which this note originates.

For the male record holders you would think it would be the lowest notes that would make records, however this is not the case. Tim Storms of the United States holds the octave range record with a total of six. Adam Lopez of Australia holds the record for highest male note, C#8. The lowest vocal note record goes to Tim Storms as well, with a B -2, which is actually two notes below the lowest B. Listed as the lowest demanded note for a classical repertoire is "low D", which is actually 2 D's beneath a middle C.

It is also extremely interesting to mention that a man named Charles Kellogg claimed to have a 12.5 octave range. Kellogg would often imitate bird calls and those calls could reach an ultrasonic range. However, his claims are very hard to substantiate, although some recordings of his voice can still be found.