From Katy Perry to Ariana Grande, the musical genius of these pop superstars can be traced back to their participation in school bands, classic musical training sessions, and local church choirs. There are many classically trained pop singers.
A common point of contention between aspiring singers is classical singing vs pop singing.
Some of pop’s biggest artists have acknowledged that their classical background has served them well as a source of creative inspiration and knowledge of musical theory.
Take a look at all the classically trained pop singers who, you might be shocked to learn, dabbled in other genres such as jazz, opera, and the brass section. These classic pop singers are influenced by their training in classical music.
Famous Classically Trained Pop Singers
It might come a wonder, but many top pop singers were classically trained. Let’s start our list of pop singers who were classically trained.
1. Ariana Grande
Grande says she learned it all by playing the horn and piano when it comes to music theory. She is also one of the classically trained pop singers.
2. Jason Derulo
Hunky pop musician Jason Derulo talked about his classical training and a piece he holds close to his heart in a tweet he sent out in 2018. It must be surprising for fans to find out that he is also one of the classically trained pop singers.
3. Bebe Rexha
Rexha is an American singer and songwriter known for her ability to produce pop classics. In the beginning, though, she had her sights set on music from two centuries before the present. A list of classically trained pop singers is incomplete without Bebe Rexha.
4. Alicia Keys
Alicia is an accomplished player of the acoustic guitar that bears her surname. At the tender age of seven, she first sat down to play the piano, and she fell in love with it. “Classical piano completely helped me to become a better lyricist and a better musician,” she previously stated of her instruction. Classical music training has been a major factor in her success in life. She is also featured frequently in the lists of classically trained pop singers.
5. Roberta Flack
The soul and R&B singer Roberta Flack grew up in a classically trained family. On the piano, she played hymns and spirituals as a member of her church’s choir in her early years. She is one of the most popular pop music singers.
She enrolled in Howard University at the age of 15 on a full music scholarship, making her one of the school’s youngest-ever students. Acclaimed productions of Verdi’s Aida were among her many accomplishments.
6. Katy Perry
Katy Perry studied Italian opera for a short time at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara before becoming a chart-topping pop star. Opera has always been a part of her life, as seen by her appearance at the 2014 Grammy Awards in a Valentino gown embroidered with music from Verdi’s opera La Traviata. Katy Perry is one of the famous pop stars among the classically trained pop singers.
7. Charlie Puth
Charlie Puth is a jazz piano enthusiast, Berklee College of Music graduate, and singer-songwriter with perfect pitch. One of his most popular and famous music videos has Rachmaninov’s Prelude in C sharp minor at the beginning of the video. In other words, a pop artist introduced Rachmaninov’s music to 700 million people throughout the world.
8. PSY
PSY studied Berklee College of Music, one of the world’s most prominent music schools, 14 years before Gangnam Style evolved the first YouTube video to reach one billion views. Park Jae-sang took classes in ear training, current literature, and music synthesis in the late 1990s to pursue music more academically.
He must have felt the pull of YouTube immortality, for he dropped out to return to South Korea to seek a singing career, and he made us all very happy in the process.
9. Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran was a regular at his church in Suffolk, where he grew up singing hymns. A few years ago, the ‘Thinking Out Loud’ singer was even patron of a choral organisation in Ipswich. As a former chorister, Singing positively impacts young people’s lives, and I can attest to that.” It’s impossible to compare the exhilaration of singing beautiful music with others who share your passion.
10. Lady Gaga
Gaga was previously accepted to the Juilliard School of Music as a talented pianist despite her fame as a singer and mezzo-soprano. Her 2009 smash single “Bad Romance” used an excerpt from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, and this is a tribute to that moment in time. It’s as though her classical training never left her.
11. Freddie Mercury
It wasn’t until the age of nine that lead singer Roger Taylor was sent to a boarding school in Mumbai, India, for rigorous piano training. It is stated that Mercury never received any formal instruction in the art of vocal performance. It’s hard to believe listening to his single voice sound’s operatic range and force.
12. Kelly Clarkson
Clarkson took traditional voice lessons intending to earn a college scholarship. She was joined in Berklee College of Music, much like PSY. Even though she declined the offer, the classical training she received stuck with her for the rest of her life.
13. Annie Lennox
When Lennox was a child, she sang in a local choir, where she learnt how to harmonise with traditional Scottish music. The Eurythmics vocalist was awarded a scholarship at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London at 17 after her tutors recognised her innate talent for music.
14. Nicole Scherzinger
Pussycat Dolls actress, who studied musical theatre at college and has a voice that spans four octaves, says she is. This Mozartian version of ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’ is the time she demonstrated that she was truly a lyric soprano in disguise.
15. Elton John
Popular singer-songwriter Elton John learned to play the piano at an early age. While attending London’s Royal Academy of Music, where he studied the piano and sang in the choir, he developed his style of music. It’s a good idea to have classic training since it teaches you the fundamentals—chord structure, melody.—in a recent interview. She is one of the popular pop singers with classical training in music.
16. Björk
While attending the Reykjavk school Barnamskoli at six, the genre-defying vocalist spent her youth immersed in piano and flute practice. It wasn’t long before she experimented with the minimalist and modern classical styles she had grown to love and incorporate into her work. Arvo Pärt and Penderecki are echoed in the choral lines on Medlla. She is one of the well-known pop stars who are also among the list of classic pop artists.
