Seth Riggs

Seth Riggs, born September 19, 1930, is an American singer, actor, and vocal coach best known for developing the technique known as Speech Level Singing and for a Broadway career that spanned from 1955 to 1963.

Riggs began singing around age seven and joined the Washington National Cathedral Boys' Choir at nine. He pursued formal training at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in drama from Johns Hopkins University. His vocal studies included work with American baritone John Charles Thomas, Italian tenor Tito Schipa, and Keith Davis, who at the time was teaching a significant portion of Broadway's working singers. Riggs began coaching voices as early as 1949, while serving in the United States Navy as a gunner. The Peabody Conservatory later honored him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award, and a masterclass he gave following that recognition was attended by tenor Richard Cassilly, who subsequently sought Riggs out for private instruction.

During his years on Broadway, Riggs appeared in a number of productions, including Guys and Dolls, South Pacific, Finian's Rainbow, the musical Happy Hunting, and 110 in the Shade, among others. His stage work placed him within the professional world of Broadway performance at a time when he was also developing the pedagogical ideas that would define his later career.

Riggs created Speech Level Singing, a technique that integrates a singer's chest voice and head voice. Among the performers who worked with him using this method are Michael Jackson, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Ray Charles, George Michael, Olivia Newton-John, Janet Jackson, Bette Midler, Julio Iglesias, José José, Johnny Hallyday, Sohyang, and AGNEZ MO. In 1995, SLS CEO Dave Stroud began developing a formal teaching platform, which was implemented in 2000 and required all teachers affiliated with the organization to complete lessons and testing through one of seven SLS master classes before receiving approval to teach under the Riggs name.

Riggs conducts workshops and masterclasses internationally and teaches private lessons alongside his wife, Margareta Svensson Riggs, a Swedish singer, recording and performing artist, and voice teacher. The two first met in 1995 when Svensson came to him for singing lessons, became a couple in 2008, and married in 2012. They have a daughter together. Riggs has also authored instructional publications, including Singing For The Stars: A Complete Program For Training Your Voice, published in 1992 by Alfred Music, and American Idol Singer's Advantage: Male Version, published in 2008 by Hal Leonard Corporation.