Do Europeans purposely sing in American accents?

Question:This is probably going to sound like an incredibly dumb question but it seems a lot of European musicians/bands sing in American accents (for ex. U2). Does that occur naturally or do they purposely train to sing in an American accent. If so, why?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: This is probably going to sound like an incredibly dumb question but it seems a lot of European musicians/bands sing in American accents (for ex. U2). Does that occur naturally or do they purposely train to sing in an American accent. If so, why?

Hi Terpsich...:

Your question isn't dumb.

When particular groups gain popularity, a huge following of fans - including upcoming groups - immitate the "stars" in their own pursuit of stardom. American popular music has had a wide following - so the popular music that crosses the Atlantic (and Pacific for that matter) produces in European (and Asian) groups the sincerest form of flattery - immitation. In a sense, they want to sound "authentic" and so cultivate the "American accent" in doing so.

In a different way the same thing is true of trained American singers who sing in Italian, German or French. They do so, so as to "be mistaken as" Italian, German or French. But this is another subject.

In the case of U2 - the members of which are from Ireland, right (?) ... they may in fact not be imitating an American accent at all, since the Irish way of pronunciation sounds quite "American" (in contrast to London-British) naturally.

Your observation is accurate, and I think, for the most part the immitation is intentional.
Hope this was helpful.

They sing like their influences, which are often American. The Beatles and Rolling Stones are good examples of this.