1. There are many born tenors. Nothing wrong with that. It's what he SAYS and how he says it that is important. Tell him that being a tenor is fine...he can become the next Luciano Pavarotti, the 20th century's FINEST tenor. He did have the tenor voice when speaking.
2. I taught young men and women for 27 years. I noticed the pitch of voices, as some young women are natural altos. NO BIG DEAL. Make sure that no stigma is attached to the natural tenor/alto. Why change what God made? They ought to embrace it and sing the parts. There are a ton of tenor songs as there are alto songs.
Glee clubs, singing groups, whatever, always need tenors.
**TRUTH: The TENOR always gets the best singing parts...and, in opera, the tenor ALWAYS, ALWAYS gets the girl.
While I am not certain about having an effeminate voice, when I was a child I had a lisp. It was horribly embarassing when I had to pronounce the TH sound. It took a little bit of speech therapy but by the time I hit my 20s it was more or less gone.... although to this day, I avoid saying the word “sixth”.
I think fishtank is referring to a speaking voice rather than a singing voice. In which case, a speech coach could be quite helpful.
The reason the tenor saxophone is popular is because the range is similar to that of the human voice.
True story:
I was at a gig, and during a break, a guy offered to buy me a beer if I serenaded his girlfriend.
I refused.
When he asked why, I said because if I do, she'll be going home with me, not with you.
Yes, I was a brash mofo in my day, with good reason...