An adult male singer with a voice that broke at puberty, as it should have done, who uses a singing-technique called "Falsetto"- (or False voice, to the non-singer), employing a very
high, light, sweet-sounding, breathy quality, in order to sound like a
woman, when he sings. Most such singers' Falsetto ranges are normally pretty much equivalent to a
female Mezzo-soprano- (the middle
female vocal-range), with regards to tessitura- (overall range), and timbre- (vocal sound-quality.) Not to be confused with the Countertenor, who's able to sing in the exact same vocal-range naturally, without having to put it on!
Well-known Falsettists include Phil
Bailey from the Seventies band, Earth, Wind and
Fire, and
Barry Gibb from The Beegees.