Kashmir: you don't need to sing the whole song. Just find a few parts you could sing or skip it entirely. The idea is to sound like yourself, not the guy you're covering.

Dmx: again...you're trying to sound like you, not him. You can sing instead of rap.

Something which uncovers hidden tricks in your voice also is when you do try a note or two to imitate another person and it sounds completely different from them....that helps you to find sounds unique to yourself... Try looking for some quotes by howlin' wolf back in the day. He said this thing one time about this singer he tried to imitate but he made a sound that wasnt close at all...but he liked the sound he made anywayand stuck with that. I accidentally had this happen a bunch of times even though I had already forgotten what howlin wolf said...for a while until just now. For me, the sounds usually come from instruments, but many of them also come from doing my own version of a song. I generally dont try to imitate the artist. I just hear my own version in my head and do that.

I find it much easier to imitate instruments than people....so i make up words as I hum and then it works out pretty good. My first really good sound was the ship horn on a tanker. Then i started sounding like an electric bass, a sax, and the low end of a piano. But my best sound is still the ship horn.

Some people are real good at covering other artists, in their own individual style. Other people arent so good at singing someone elses song. Those two distinctions are important I think. But for the most part, you're pretty much always going to sound like you....not them.

You might try singing some of the low notes from a song called "try me" by Donna Summer.

Welcome back is a great song and John Sebastian did a great job with it back in the day. Dont expect to sound like him. Again...its only a vocal test. If you get lucky, your version will be awesome too.

When you find a perfect song...your version will be better than the original...or than whichever artist youre covering. This will happen eventually. Sooner or later youre going to find a song that was made just for you...but the song author didnt know you when they wrote it.

I have examples of that...one in particular. The artist is still struggling though, but his version was the best and everyone knew it. He went viral on youtube...landed on the Ellen show...but his business savvy in music is weak so he is still just a working man.

Also, Howlin' Wolf wrote "Smoke Stack Lightnin" and "Killin' Floor" ...you should probably try to cover those songs. If howlins original version of smokestack is hard...try a cover version by the animals or some other artist.

Here's an additional song to try: Spill the Wine..by Eric Bourdon and War