Tony Visconti, David Bowie’s longtime producer, has apologised for negative comments he made about Adele’s voice.
Last week, the producer suggested that the singer’s vocals might have been digitally enhanced.
“You turn the radio on and it’s fluff, you are listening to 90% computerised voices,” Visconti told The Daily Star on 8 June. “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.”
Visconti – who is currently promoting the new TV talent show Guitar Star, in which he hopes to find “virtuosos like Hendrix, Cobain and Bowie” – has since told Billboard that his comments were not meant to be spiteful.
“I’m sorry that what I said in regards to what’s being played on radio was misconstrued yet I cannot apologise for something taken the wrong way,” he said. “If Adele has taken my comments as offensive that was certainly not my intent.”
He added: “Adele has a great voice and it brings pleasure to millions.”
Since his original comment, the story had already reached Adele herself. During a gig at Paris’s Accor Hotels Arena, the singer is captured stating: “Some dickhead tried to say that my voice was not me on record … Dude, suck my dick.”
