Lisping...

I didn't know until a couple years ago that I have a lisp and that as a child it was really pronounced (along with the inability to say "r.") A couple years ago, I had started to notice I had a lisp. It began to frighten me a bit but I didn't dwell too much on it. Then while discussing it with my mother she told me that my Uncle had said, "I didn't know Jim had a lisp."after watching my youtube video of me singing "My Stupid Mouth."   

It was a bit of a shock when my mother told me that I had it as a child and because of speech therapy (learning to say "r" by repeating it over and over and over), I lost, but I don't remember having the lisp. (There was another instance which my father told me about: One day he had seen a boy pick on me because of the lisp and he told the boy it wasn't nice and to stop. The kid's mother was near by and in reply stated, "He can do what he wants because he doesn't have a father at home!" Wow I knew lisping had a stigma attached but really....) HA

Anyway,

Only in the last couple of years have I been able to relax my jaw and tongue while singing which in turn allowed my tongue to move back to its former position, more forward in the mouth. I was getting worried about it becoming a bigger problem and started to research online ways to overcome it. Then I came across an exercise, which did wonders, where you smile broadly while showing your teeth (in a tense smile) and repeat, "Susie sells seashells down by the seashore." It was a miracle because after repeating it several times I heard and felt a difference. It trained my tongue to sit in a position further back in my mouth (which most native English speaking people do), making the "s" sound while singing and even talking easier; not to mention it allowed me to roll my "r" a couple of times every now and then which I am totally excited about because I can't roll them.

Michael Buble has a much discussed about lisp which you can hear if you jump to 2:27 of his music video for "Everything" ("You're every song / and I sthing along")  I am in great company. :) 

Do you have any other examples of well known singers who lisp or have other vocal difficulty that they either cover up or use to show they are only human? (I would love to hear from you.)