David Bowie’s Producer Tony Visconti Questions Whether Adele’s Voice Is Real Or Not

Producer legend Tony Visconti, who worked on two handfuls of David Bowie‘s albums over a span of 45 years (including the final one, Blackstar), has been named as a judge on the second series of UK talent program Guitar Star. And given that he’s on the hunt for stellar musicians, he had a few things to say about the current crop of pop stars flooding the airwaves.

“There’s a sound to pop now that is so perfect it’s boring, because everything is fixed,” Visconti told the Daily Star.

He singled out Adele, who to-date has sold nearly nine million copies of her current album 25 in the US alone since its release nearly seven months ago.

“You turn the radio on and it’s fluff, you are listening to 90% computerised voices,” says Visconti. “We know Adele has a great voice but it’s even questionable if that is actually her voice or how much has been manipulated. We don’t know.”

So what does it take to actually impress Tony Visconti?

“I’m looking for virtuosos like Hendrix, Cobain and Bowie,” he says. “There’s no fluffy back story, there’s no: ‘I lost my pet dog in 97 and that made me want to play’ nonsense. No-one can mistake me for Simon Cowell. Today is the worst time ever in the music industry, but Guitar Star is a step in the right direction.”

There you have it: Tony Visconti is apparently going to be the one to save pop from itself.

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