Skaters with a good voice

[Crossover]

Since it happens often that retired skaters become commentators for TV or internet media, I think it is fun to talk about who you think has a good voice.

Nicky Slater and Christ Howarth on British Eurosport were once figure skaters.
Robin Cousins with a very classical voice.
Kurt Browning of CBC has a really good voice; almost a voice actor quality.
Sandra Bezic, previously NBC commentator was a pair skater. I really liked her elegant voice.
Tracy Wilson has a bit of nasal tone, but her way of talking sounds like a formally trained announcer.
Michael Weiss has a witty voice
Lu Chen with a cute and cheerful voice
Takeshi Honda has a soft tone but a credible voice
Shizuka Arakawa has a calm and resonant voice
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The above listed skaters work as commentators or do commentary occasionally.

I think skaters with a good voice among the skaters active in the current field are like below.
I hope someday they can do a commentary job after retirement from competition.

Tessa Virtue (since not officially retired)
Alex and Maia Shibutani
Alexa Scimeca
Megan Duhamel and Eric Radford
Chafik Besseghier

Although I like Tom Hammond, Terry Gannon's and Simon Reed's voice, they are not former skaters. Many guys will say Dick Button, Paul Wylie or Scott Hamiliton, but they are not just my taste. Of course there are many fine commentators with a not so impressive voice, but the thread is just for casual talking. Feel free to chat about the topic.

 

[Ladskater]

I would like to ad Elvis Stojko here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QADTPYwkPOQ

A pretty good singing voice!!

 

[Crossover]

I would like to ad Elvis Stojko here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QADTPYwkPOQ

A pretty good singing voice!!

Yes, indeed. I remember him as an enthusiastic martial artist apart from his skating career, but obviously he did some recording work. Thanks for introducing the clip.

 

[silverfoxes]

Nobunari Oda, Evgeni Plushenko, Maxim Trankov, Sergei Voronov. Also, TAT was a former skater & I love listening to her. Tracy Wilson & the Eurosport guys are very pleasant as well. But I can't stand Sandra Bezic's voice.

 

[Interspectator]

Lambiel loves to sing.

 

[Crossover]

Nobunari Oda, Evgeni Plushenko, Maxim Trankov, Sergei Voronov. Also, TAT was a former skater & I love listening to her. Tracy Wilson & the Eurosport guys are very pleasant as well. But I can't stand Sandra Bezic's voice.

I wish I can understand several more languages, so I would have no problem with watching figure skating coverage from various countries. I barely watch Russian coverage when there is no available stream or clips, so I don't know whether the commentators or interviewed skaters have a good voice. Voronov's voice sounds very suave. Whenever I listen to TAT's speaking, she seems to lose her cool...some said that is fun to watch though. I read some don't like Bazic's commentaries mainly because of her way of criticizing on their favorites, so I thought her voice was okay to many people's ears. Of course, that is a matter of personal preference.

 

[Crossover]

Lambiel loves to sing.

Stéphane Lambiel singing "Can't take my eyes off you"

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Yuna Kim can get the job done

https://youtu.be/PBV9mFZka4A

CaroLiza_fan (my phone spellchecks your name) who was the ladies skater you posted the acoustic guitar song with her singing? I can't remember who it was but it was very legit :yes:


As far as commentators go...Dick Button had a very standout voice. One of a kind! Tat's voice is piercing but it always makes me smile. I know someone who trained at a rink with Tat and they said her voice had its own frequency that nothing can conquer.

Bonus: I thought Sasha did a great job doing Sochi coverage and I wish she would have done more. She has been the speaker at some events and does a great job.

Her Life-Her Words:
http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/video/2013/may/01/sasha-cohen-life-after-figureskating-video

 

[Layback11]

THE BARCELONA ANNOUNCER. OBVS.


Random lowercase things so it'll leave the all caps alone

 

[Crossover]

Yuna Kim can get the job done

https://youtu.be/PBV9mFZka4A

CaroLiza_fan (my phone spellchecks your name) who was the ladies skater you posted the acoustic guitar song with her singing? I can't remember who it was but it was very legit :yes:


As far as commentators go...Dick Button had a very standout voice. One of a kind! Tat's voice is piercing but it always makes me smile. I know someone who trained at a rink with Tat and they said her voice had its own frequency that nothing can conquer.

Bonus: I thought Sasha did a great job doing Sochi coverage and I wish she would have done more. She has been the speaker at some events and does a great job.

Her Life-Her Words:
http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/video/2013/may/01/sasha-cohen-life-after-figureskating-video

When I started the thread, skaters' singing abilities didn't come into my mind. I've always thought of her singing voice is really different from her speaking and having more diverse tones.

I generally like not only commentaries from Dick Button but also Scott Hamilton. I concur with your opinion on Tarasova's own frequency.

I considered including Sasha in my list along with Kristi Yamaguchi. I thought it would be no wonder if she sincerely turned her career to acting after 2006 since she has a look and voice together.

 

[Crossover]

THE BARCELONA ANNOUNCER. OBVS.


Random lowercase things so it'll leave the all caps alone

He has a distinctive voice and tone. I enjoyed his announcement a lot during the two GPFs in Barocelona. I don't know what is his name, or his previous career, but I hope to see him in any ISU related competitions in the future.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Yuna Kim can get the job done

https://youtu.be/PBV9mFZka4A

CaroLiza_fan (my phone spellchecks your name) who was the ladies skater you posted the acoustic guitar song with her singing? I can't remember who it was but it was very legit :yes:

I get the same whenever I do Google searches for posts that I posted way back and can't remember how to get to them.

It was Kristina Dubrovskaya. Native of Moscow, but grew up in and represented Cyprus.

The links of her singing are towards the end of this post:
http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?56054-Team-Cyprus&p=1210217&viewfull=1#post1210217

As far as I know, Kristina is not skating competitively any more. Instead, she is concentrating on her studies (in England!)

EDIT: Just found a blog post that Kristina wrote about herself in September 2014 in which she says that she has retired from skating due to a permanent knee injury.

What to tell about myself... well, that's always a bit complicated. I had been skating for ,at least, 15 years. Yeah, I started at age of two. I took part in such international competitions like Gran Prix, World and European Championships, World Cup and else. I was up to participate in Olympic games 2018... But all had changed in one moment. You know, sport world is very interesting, incredibly sophisticated and extremely cruel. One day, literally, broke me. Sportsmen is said to stay disabled for whole remaining life. That's absolutely true. My knee injury will stay with me forever. It sounds depressed, isn't it? Like my life had finished at that moment. But that's rubbish! This day became the most significant day of all because it presented me an opportunity to try something what I always wanted to try and to show that I can be more than just a girl in a short, bright dress.

[I'm not posting the link, because the blog page is tied in with her school].​

And thank you for reminding me of her videos, because when I went to her Fan Fest post I discovered that for the three most recent videos of her singing, I had pasted in the same address. : But, they have the right addresses now.

She has posted some new videos of music since then. But, since there are no vocals and just a generic picture, I have no idea whether it is her performing it, or just music that she has found and is using in her coursework.

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Getting back to commentary, as well as the regular Eurosport commentators, I also liked listening to Scottish Ice Dancers Sinead Kerr and Mark Hanretty any time they have been commentating.

And Ted Barton, the Canadian that does the ISU's Junior GP coverage, has a really soothing tone to his voice.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[iluvtodd]

I think Mike Weiss has a pleasant commentating voice.