The best thing that I ever did to improve my vocals was to listen to and try to imitate Rob Halford of Judas Priest. A lot has been made of Halford's high screech but if you go back and listen to the first three Judas Priest albums you'll hear he was doing some things that, sadly, got lost on later albums. He had a great baritone voice back then, very powerful and melodic, as on songs such as "Run of the Mill" and "Dreamer Deceiver." He's also got a terrific mid-range snarl, as heard on songs like "Raw Deal."

Another good bit of advice is, don't give up! Back when I was a teen I got into my first band as bassist/vocalist, it was because there was absolutely no one around who could sing or be a lead vocalist/frontman. I stepped up to the mic and, truthfully, I was terrible, as bad as anybody else we'd tried out. Eventually, I got fired from the band, or really I left before they could fire me. When asked if I would continue trying to sing or just play bass solely, I replied there was never any question of "giving up".

So I kept practicing and hooked up with a vocal teacher, practicing classical vocals and pop songs, and although I didn't like every song the teacher gave me, I still use his techniques to this day. Eventually I rejoined the band I'd left and we moved up a notch in overall ability. I'm still singing and, at age 38, I'm still improving and learning how to be a better singer. So invest the time to learn how to sing correctly, have the right influences (i.e. listen to cool singers like Halford, Dio, Ozzy, Morrison, etc), and believe you can do it!

And for sure follow Ty's advice. He's got some good ideas about lots of stuff.