Tom Dunne: It's not just her acting — Jessie Buckley is such a talented singer too
Jessie Buckley singing in a scene from Wild Rose.
The Baftas 2026. Stormzy, a singer — as in a singing man from the singing world, is announcing plans for an acting career. Presenter Alan Cumming reacts immediately. “Stay in your lane, Stormzy! How’d you like it if I headlined Glastonbury?”
“Oh Cumming,” I cry, “the pot calling the kettle black!”
The problem, be in no doubt, is not singers taking acting jobs, it’s the other way around. “Actors,” to paraphrase Stuart Lee, “coming over ‘ere, with their masterful breathing techniques, and their advanced diaphragm control and their long hours of vocal study with top coaches!”
My fears reached melting point as Jessie Buckley won Best Actress for her role in “Oh Christ,” I yelled at nobody, “just don’t let her sing! Isn’t it enough that Cillian Murphy is on the last Frank and Walters album without Buckley being able to sing the birds out of the trees!” Actors and singers, not a fair fight.
My real gripe is how bloody easy they make it look. This singing lark is supposed to be hard. You work at it for years to “find your voice”. The word “tortured” gets bandied about a lot, although it’s never clear who exactly is being tortured. You’re not supposed to master it during your coffee break at RADA. Lads, please, show some respect.
They are not the first. Bradley Cooper trained for months to sing his own vocals alongside Lady Gaga in That must have taken some nerve. Gaga is platinum standard, a Messi of the staves. To sit beside her and say: “I’ll take this.” Holy Moly.
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone both learned to sing for Gosling even learned to play piano. Tom Hiddleston performed his own vocal in the Hank Williams biopic Jennifer Laurence’s performance of from even charted.
Some others, had they not acted, would probably have thrived in music. Meryl Streep is classically trained as an opera singer — hence her own vocals in Anne Hathaway is a classically trained soprano and performed as a teen at Carnegie Hall.
She is known, pay attention singers, for rigorous vocal preparation that borders on the obsessive. To prepare for Hathaway worked with vocal coach Joan Lader to enable her to maintain perfect pitch while crying in the key scenes. She sang every note live on set. Naturally, she won an Oscar.
But it’s the ones who casually maintain a stellar singing career in tandem with the acting that get to me the most. Zoey Deschanel, brilliant actress and one half of the superb indie duo She and Him; Scarlet Johansson, two albums and counting; Jared Leto, frontman in 30 Seconds to Mars.
The “issue” is that actors work harder on their voices than most singers do. They are trained in its use and control from day one. “Singers” tend to treat it as some kind of mystical gift. They are born with it. They believe it responds well to abuse. They certainly don’t need to warm it up!
If this acting turns sour for young Buckley, we singers are in deep trouble. The soundtrack album for (2018) was superb. Her take on songs from John Prine, Emmylou Harris and Primal Scream would give veteran performers pause for thought. Her performance of was an absolute showstopper.
The album with Suede’s Bernard Butler was better still. (2022) was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize. It was rightly described as “mesmerising”. It did not have the feel of a side project, by any stretch. A follow up, if the acting ever allows, cannot come quickly enough.
Mind you, next up in this “actor turned singer” routine is one Paul Mescal. This year, he will step into the role of playing Paul McCartney in The Beatles films. I can offer some singing fraternity advice here: Paul’s songs are notoriously hard. He has the voice of an angel and the range on an intercontinental missile. Is it too late to play John?
