How to Sing Like Bret Michaels

Anyone can belt out the lyrics to "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" on karaoke night, especially after a few cocktails. Having the chops to belt it out like Poison front man Bret Michaels is another matter.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Study Bret Michaels' voice. If you're wanting to sing like the guy, there's a pretty good chance you have at least one Poison album lying around (though in reality, you probably have all of them, right?). There is no better way to emulate a person's voice than by listening to it frequently.
2. Practice singing ballad-type songs in a medium/low, throaty voice. Raspiness is employed at times, though always in moderation. Bret fronted a hair band, so don't get bluesman deep and raspy.
3. Put an odd emphasis on certain words. Examples: 'dawn' should be expressed as a four-syllable word; when there are words that contain the letter 'o', the o should be long, drawn out, emphasized. It should sound like a combination of Pittsburgh (Bret's hometown) and Nashville.
4. Reach the high notes with a scream, not a girlish tone. This will be especially useful for pointless song interjections such as "Wow!", "Ooooh yeah!" and, of course, when you need to call upon a guitar solo.
5. Hit most of your notes in the throat and seldom (if ever) in the nose. Bret Michaels took great pains to look ultra-feminine in the height of his heyday, but he always sounded relatively masculine.