Bev's range

At the age of 77, I still tingle when I hear Beverly Bivens sing La Mare (aka Somewhere Beyond the Sea). The We Five album that it was on was sensational. What I am wondering is how many octaves was Beverly able to hit? In La Mare, it was incredible to here her move up and up, octave after octave. I kept listening in the We Five's other songs to hear that range, but never found it again. Though their song that got all the publicity was "You Were on My Mind", for me, La Mare was their (at least, Beverly's) stellar performance. So how did she learn to sing like that and when/where did she realize her talent? Her voice was like a drug, I just wanted to hear more and more, always hoping for an album or some singles of just Beverly solo. Then, just a suddenly as the We Five appeared on the scene, they were gone.
Win
Houston, TX

ANSWER: Win,
Beverly did study voice, but only in her soprano range. She had an alto voice that was very strong in the range used for things like You Were On My Mind and Love Me Not Tomorrow. Her soprano range (that so touched you) actually overlapped the alto and you can hear the cross over in songs like Cast Your Fate To the Wind. You are correct that most of her work with We Five after the hit record did not use as much of the upper register.

If you haven’t done so, you might want to order the CD Best Of We Five – There Stands The Door that does include songs not previously available, as well as some Coke commercials that featured her very special vocal abilities. It’s available from our website: www.wefive.net.

Jerry