hear james dean & judy garland’s voices again as they read texts on elevenlabs’ AI reader app

Elevenlabs’ introduces iconic voices on its AI reader app

ElevenLabs brings Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, or Sir Laurence Oliver’s voices back to life through its AI Reader App. Their iconic voices can now narrate Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, and many more. The audio research company has partnered with the estates of the Hollywood stars for their comeback onto digital screens as AI narrators. ‘The heirs are excited to see their’ legacies live on and for fans to be able to discover them in new ways,’ says the company.

all images courtesy of ElevenLabs as well as video stills, via Youtube

Judy Garland, James Dean, and more narrate texts

Users can listen to the voices of Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, or Sir Laurence Oliver by accessing ElevenLabs’ AI Reader App. Before enlisting the iconic voices into their platform, the audio research company unveiled their Reader App. With this in mind, users can listen to any text content using the ElevenLabs voices, anywhere they are. They fire up the app, run the articles, PDF, ePub, newsletter, or any texts on their smartphones of their choice, and choose the voice they want. They click play, and the narration begins. ElevenLabs says it is growing its voice library. In this way, users can find a narrator to suit their content, mood, or occasion.

Judy Garland reading The Wizard of Oz on Elevenlabs’ AI Reader App

Iconic AI voices Available only for individual streaming

As opposed to dictation, the AI Reader App offers what it describes as an ‘emotionally rich, context aware voiceover’. There’s no robotic or monotonous reading. Certainly not when Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, or Sir Laurence Oliver read. ElevenLabs says the iconic voices are only available through the app and for individual streaming. On this occasion, the AI narrators aren’t part of their Voice Library for commercial sharing or content creation. Those who may want to use the Hollywood stars’ voices for their video or audio content won’t be able to find them in ElevenLabs’ voice library.

ElevenLabs says the iconic voices are only available through the app and for individual streaming

American actress and singer Liza Minnelli, the daughter of the late Judy Garland, gave her thumbs up to the estate and ElevenLabs. Partly because of this, they were able to use her mother’s voice as an AI narrator on the Reader App. She comments that ‘our family believes that this will bring new fans to Mama, and be exciting to those who already cherish the unparalleled legacy that Mama gave and continues to give to the world.’ As of publishing the story, the AI Reader App with the voices such as Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, and Sir Laurence Oliver are only available on iOS. There’s a waiting list for Android users, as the app is slated to hit the Play Store.

ElevenLabs brings Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, or Sir Laurence Oliver’s voices back to life