Crossword Genius

Singer vocalising a note spent (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tenor

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'singer' is the definition.
(tenor is a kind of singer)

'vocalising a note spent' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
an anagram of 'note' is 'teno' which is located in the answer.
A single letter 'r' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for tenor that I've seen before include "Singer (one of three?)" , "Voice classification of Jose Carreras" , "Higher male voice" , "Voice of Tamino" , "character" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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