Additional Coverage:
- He’s a vocal coach for dozens of A-listers. They taught him that being famous is more taxing than you’d think. (businessinsider.com)
Meet Eric Vetro: The Man Behind the Voices of Hollywood’s Biggest Stars
What do Grammy nominees like Timothée Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter, Addison Rae, and Blackpink’s Rosé all have in common? They’ve all honed their vocal chops with the same secret weapon: vocal coach Eric Vetro.
In an industry often fueled by glitz and glamour, Vetro operates largely behind the scenes, sculpting the voices of some of the most recognizable names in entertainment. His A-list clientele has grown organically over decades, with satisfied students enthusiastically recommending him to their peers.
Beyond coaching today’s pop titans like Grande, Katy Perry, and Carpenter, Vetro has contributed to over 40 feature films. He’s transformed actors such as Chalamet, Angelina Jolie, and Jeremy Allen White into musical icons, guiding them to embody the vocal styles of legends like Bob Dylan, Maria Callas, and Bruce Springsteen.
His impressive resume also includes rock vocalists (Meat Loaf, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo), Broadway legends (Bette Midler, Kristin Chenoweth), and Oscar winners (Emma Stone, Renée Zellweger). He even earned a shoutout in Ariana Grande’s 2019 single “Monopoly,” with the lyric, “I never track my vocals, so shout out to Eric Vetro / I love Eric Vetro, man.”
While his profession places him in close proximity to the spotlight, Vetro has always preferred to remain out of it, embracing his coaching role with a gentle touch. He emphasizes that his work extends beyond vocal technique, encompassing confidence-building and stress management for his famous clients, alongside the delicate art of delivering constructive feedback.
“I’m pretty good at delivering a negative in a way that they know I’m only doing it because I care about them,” Vetro explained. He insists on honesty, stating, “A lot of times I say to people, look, I’m going to be honest with you because I don’t want you to come back to me later and say, ‘You told me I was doing a great job, but I really wasn’t,’ or, ‘You said I sounded great on this song, but I really didn’t.'”
Most of his clients are receptive to feedback, eager to improve. “I’m not really interested in working with someone who’s just phoning it in,” he added.
And Vetro certainly doesn’t “phone it in.” His dedication has led to some unconventional coaching scenarios: huddling with pop stars in public bathrooms for better acoustics, or being whisked to LAX at 6 a.m. to conduct vocal warm-ups with a client straight off a plane. He even once had a session with Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the middle of a poison ivy patch while she was filming the 2000 musical “Geppetto.”
Despite the often-frenzied logistics, Vetro expressed that he loves his job more now than ever. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he affirmed.
Ahead of the 2026 Grammys, Vetro shared insights into what it’s truly like to teach, critique, and earn the affection of some of the biggest names in show business.
Navigating the Pressures of Fame and Delivering Honest Feedback
Working with stars on the cusp of major events like movies, tours, or performances, how much of your job is dedicated to stress management?
“Well, picture singing at the Grammys, which is live. So if they screw up, that’s not good.
Or the Oscars. That’s live, so if they make a mistake, that’s not good,” Vetro elaborated.
“So a lot of it is stress management. But I try to think of all the things that the person needs, and then I try to fulfill all of those needs in every session that we do.”
He takes a holistic approach, ensuring clients learn proper vocal technique, warm-up routines, and correct vocal placement for their songs. But it also involves teaching them “how to stay grounded, how to stay relaxed.” This includes advising on diet, hydration, sleep, and even environmental factors like humidity.
What have you learned about the realities of being famous through your students?
“I’ve learned it’s exhausting. It’s intrusive,” Vetro revealed.
While it can be “fun and wonderful,” he noted it also makes people “much more self-conscious because they don’t want to get caught looking their worst. They don’t want to get caught tripping, looking foolish.”
He highlighted the loss of personal freedom: “Sometimes they just want to be with their friends alone. And how often can you really do that?
You might be in a city and go, ‘I just want to take a walk up and down this strip where there are some great stores,’ or, ‘I’ve heard this is a really fun walking path.’ Well, how can you just be yourself when people are taking pictures of you?
And not just paparazzi now. It’s anybody.”
You witness a vulnerable side of these highly public figures, as singing can be a very exposed act, especially when tired, a cappella, or with a strained voice.
“I do, but I get also a really sweet, wonderful side, people who are so appreciative,” Vetro said warmly. “I don’t have any bad stories.
I couldn’t sell a bad story about someone. I’ve had such great experiences with people – and most of them, when you really get to the heart of things, are pretty humble.
Even the biggest stars are the most humble, and they aren’t arrogant about what they do.”
He explained that while celebrities might project confidence in interviews, in private sessions, they are “very sweet people who want to do the best job they can, who don’t want to disappoint. They don’t want to disappoint their family.
They don’t want to disappoint their teams, and they don’t want to disappoint their fans. So they’re working really hard to do the best possible job they can.”
Vetro shared a shift in his perspective on the industry’s structure. “I used to have this image in my head of a pyramid: all the bricks on the bottom of the pyramid represented agent, manager, labels, choreographers, vocal coaches, stylists, hair, makeup – all these people holding this one person up, whether it’s an actor or a music artist, at the top. That’s how I used to see it before I really worked in the ‘big time’ or the professional realm.”
“Now I see it as completely opposite: The person who is the artist or the actor is at the bottom, holding up all of this. Because without that person, none of these people have jobs,” he concluded.
“So they have to be successful in order for all these people to have jobs, and people feel that. They feel the pressure of making sure their team is taken care of, making sure their team has work.”
Sabrina Carpenter’s Work Ethic and Helping Timothée Chalamet Channel Bob Dylan
Addison Rae is nominated for best new artist at the Grammys. Coming from TikTok, what was your focus in developing her voice as someone not primarily known as a singer?
“My main focus with her was just to get her to understand her voice, so that she would know how to sound like she wanted to sound,” Vetro explained. He noted her collaboration with talented female songwriters, stating, “especially after I heard ‘Diet Pepsi,’ I was like, ‘Oh, OK.
I completely get what they’re going for.’ So now, let me try to keep working with her to be able to have her voice sound the best it can – in that world, in that sound, in that genre, keeping that vibe.”
He praised Addison’s personality and creativity: “Addison has her own thing going on, and so I just wanted her to feel confident when she got onstage that she could sound like the album.”
Timothée Chalamet is also nominated for a Grammy for “A Complete Unknown” soundtrack. What’s the biggest difference between training someone to emulate a singer versus singing as themselves?
“I start out basically the same with both, just trying to teach them how best to use their voice, how to understand their voice, vocal exercises to strengthen their voice, to increase their range,” Vetro began.
The divergence comes when emulating: “Then we start listening, and I try to get them to really listen: What are the characteristics that make this singer special? Is it the way they pronounce a word?
Is it the way they attack a note? We start really discovering the essence of these singers that they’re going to emulate – not as a carbon copy, because a carbon copy then becomes an impersonation.”
For Timothée Chalamet’s portrayal of Bob Dylan, Vetro delves deeper: “why did Bob Dylan sound a certain way? And then when you look at him, you go, oh, well, he had a certain posture about him.
You can see maybe his leg twitching a little or tapping on the beat.” He contrasts this with Joan Baez’s aggressive tone, prompting questions for Monica Barbaro (who played Baez): “why do you think it was so aggressive?
Do you think it was just, that was her naturally? Or maybe she felt like she had to be a woman in a man’s world, especially in those days?
Or is it because the subject matter she’s singing about is so powerful to her and so strong, and she wants to get it across?”
“So then you start thinking why they are singing a certain way. That’s a better way to capture the essence of them organically,” he concluded.
When working with artists who want to sound like themselves, Vetro asks, “what do you think is special about your voice? What do we want to bring out about it?
Or what is it you want to sound like?” A crucial question he poses is: “if someone is listening to you in a concert, what do you want them to walk away with?
How would you want your voice to be described?” This often encourages artists to consider aspects they hadn’t before, such as desiring a “warm tone” or a voice that fosters connection with their audience.
Sabrina Carpenter is another major nominee this year, and you’ve worked together for a long time. What’s most notable about her growth from an insider’s perspective?
“Sabrina worked so hard for so many years,” Vetro shared. “She’s one of those performers that, kind of like Ariana, once they get on a roll, they know what they’re doing.
Once they find their voice, find out how they want to sound, what they want their vibe to be, what they want their performances to look like and sound like, they just get on a roll, and then it’s almost like a freight train. It just goes.”
He highlighted her authenticity: “Sabrina has really honed in on having the best possible time being authentically herself, and I think that that’s what’s so great. She takes episodes out of her own life and puts them into her music, and she’s been doing that for a long time, but I think she just keeps getting better and better and better at it.”
Vetro emphasized the importance of continuous effort. “Now, if they’re the type of person who takes big vacations, big chunks of time off in between, I don’t think you can have that momentum, but these girls don’t take time off.
They’re constantly moving and doing things. You might not see what they’re doing because they’re prepping for something else or prepping for something for the future, but she’s working all the time.
She is the least lazy person on the planet.”
It sounds like a significant part of your job focuses on longevity, ensuring people maintain healthy voices amidst the chaos.
“I focus a lot on that. I think that’s so important,” Vetro affirmed.
“I don’t want anyone to burn out, or miss a really great opportunity, or to sing incorrectly, then get a vocal nodule, then have vocal cord surgery, then lose several months out of their life. I try to avoid that at all costs.”
He concluded with a sentiment he reiterates annually: “I enjoy it more now than ever. I keep enjoying it more as I get older. I feel like I’m more empathetic than I’ve ever been, because I really understand how difficult it is.”