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Good Duets for Guys

When you think of famous duets, you probably think of romantic pop songs or musical theater ballads performed by a male singer and a female singer. It can be challenging to come up with duets for a male duo to perform. However, there is a refreshingly large selection of duet material for men.
  1. Broadway Musical Duets

    • Broadway is teaming with duets for men that range from tear-jerking to comical. "Agony" from "Into the Woods" is a funny song performed by the princes. "Rent" has two duet numbers for men: "What You Own," a power-packing rock song between Mark and Roger, and "I'll Cover You," a romantic song between Angel and Collins. "Pretty Women" from "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is a dark duet between Sweeney Todd and Judge Turpin. "You're Nothing Without Me" is performed by Stine and Stone in "City of Angels." "The Producers" has three lighthearted duets for men: "We Can Do It," "'Til Him" and "Where Did We Go Right?"

    Popular Music Duets

    • Musical artists from many genres perform in duos and collaborate on duets. "Miss Sarajevo" is a poignant and surprising collaboration between U2's Bono and opera great Luciano Pavarotti. "Under Pressure" by David Bowie and Freddie Mercury is a 1980s male duet. "Debra Kadabra" by Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart from the "Bongo Fury" album is quirky rock duet. There are plenty of duets from these male duos: Hall and Oates, The Everly Brothers, Simon and Garfunkel, The Righteous Brothers, Pet Shop Boys, Kris Kross, Air Supply and Savage Garden.

    Operatic Duets

    • Opera has rich duets for men. Bizet's "Au fond du temple saint," is a well-known piece from "The Pearl Fishers" for a tenor and a baritone. Donizetti's "Qui del padre ancor respira" from "Lucia di Lammermoor" is a passionate, angry piece for a tenor and a baritone. Mozart's "Vivat Bacchus!" is a comedic song from "Abduction From the Seraglio" that celebrates hedonism. Verdi's "Solenne in quest'ora" is a duet between two male leads who are plotting to kill each other in "La Forza del Destino."

    Gender Bending Duets

    • You can bend the rules of gender to make a duet work. When singing a part written for a woman, most men find they need to bring the notes down an octave or more. Because there are few romantic duets for two men, male artists who want to perform a romantic duet can change the gender pronouns in a song originally written for a man and a woman. Male-female duets that are not romantic can simply be reworked for two men. Even all-female duets can be changed to work for two men.

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