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Top ten favorite vocalists

Kirby

Kirby

Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Since we're on the whole Top 10 things, who are your favorite vocalists?
Here are mine in no particular order:

Paul Rodgers - Free, Bad Company, The Firm, The Law, Queen - great sound and great vocal clarity. I'm pretty sure this guy could sing anything.
Geddy Lee - Unique voice that wouldn't fit in with most bands, but it totally works with Rush.
Steve Perry - Amazing range and power.
John Waite - Very underrated singer, and like Paul Rodgers has great clarity in his vocals.
George Harrison - My favorite singer in the Beatles.
Jimmy Barnes - Great crooner when he was younger with Cold Chisel and early solo career. His voice has really fallen off lately, but so good pre 1990.
Tony Bennett - Classic.
Lloyd Cole - Unique voice.
Willie Nelson - Stardust is still one of my favorite albums of all time. I've never seen him in concert, but now that weed is legal in Colorado I'm sure he'll be around a lot more.
Roger Daltry - The Who. 'nuff said.
 
Julie Andrews
David Bowie
Roger Daltrey
Daryl Hall
Michael Jackson
Mick Jagger
Paul McCartney
Freddie Mercury
Kate Pierson
Tom Waits
 
1. Sarah Brightman
2. Sarah McLachlan
3. Sting
4. Sinead O'Connor
5. Enya
6. Neil Finn
7. Tina Vero
8. David Gehan
9. Jewel
10. Sherine Abeyratne
 
1. Steve Perry
2. Sting
3. Paul Rodgers
4. Nora Jones
5. Van Morrison
6. Freddie Mercury
7. Annie Lennox
8. David Bowie
9. Warren Zevon
10. Rob Thomas/Seal (tie)

*honorable mentions: Otis Redding, Janis Joplin
 
^I forgot Otis Redding! I'm changing my list!

Oh, this is hard. Going purely on the voice, I'd say:

Jónsi Birgisson - Possesses both sweetness and power. I also like how Icelandic sort of sounds like someone speaking English backwards.

Miriam Makeba - Strength.

Billie Holiday - Unique voices are the best.

Tom Waits - No one sounds like him, and the slow, sad songs show off his gift as much as the more bizarre numbers.

Otis Redding - So much soul.

Lauryn Hill - The woman can sing, I'd kill for a voice like hers.

Mary Fahl - (Lead singer of October Project) Her voice is strong and comforting. A voice to listen to when your mother is not there.

Mark Lanegan -- (Lead singer of Screaming Trees) Gentle, subtly unique, and incredibly sexy.

Colin Blunstone -- Possibly the sexiest voice in the history of rock.

Isaac Brock -- Utterly manic, utterly bizarre, but used with exquisite skill: controlled chaos.
 
*purely on basis of having largest number of recordings by...

Marvin Gaye
Ella Fitzgerald
Billie Holliday
Doris Day
Rene Kollo
Robert Palmer
Kate Bush
Bjork
Beth Gibbons
Maki Nomiya
 
thestrangequark said:
Mark Lanegan -- (Lead singer of Screaming Trees) Gentle, subtly unique, and incredibly sexy.
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Mark came to our town 2 summers ago, which was really weird because we are way out of the way and big names rarely come down here except to go on holiday. I think Eagles of Death Metal must have recommended us as they played the same place the year before and we blew the roof off for them, they had a really good time and they and Mark are in the same circles, being connected by Josh Homme.

He played a 500 capacity venue, and I was about 2 feet away from him for most of the concert. It was an amazing experience to see one of my my favourite ever vocalists that close up, he puts on a hypnotic show.

After the gig he didn't even go backstage, he walked right out to the foyer and started signing records and chatting.

ETA: Do you have the Gutter Twins LP? If not, I cannot recommend it highly enough, it is a collaborative album with Greg Dulli, one of my other favourite singers from Twilight Singers and the Afghan Whigs (who incidentally have a new album out in a few months), they only did one album but it is an absolute cracker.
 
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No particular order, here, and I'm sure I'll kick myself for missing someone later:

Carol Decker (of T'Pau)

Richard Marx

Marina Diamandis (Marina and the Diamonds)

Dolores O'Riordan (of The Cranberries)

Audra Coldiron (of the defunct indie band Audra and The Antidote)

Stevie Nicks

Susanna Hoffs (of The Bangles)

Nina Persson (of The Cardigans)

George Michael

Cyndi Lauper
 
My top 10 (in no particular order):

Mike Patton (Faith No More)
Steve Perry (Journey & solo)
Mark King (Level 42)
Roland Orzabal (Tears For Fears)
George Michael (Wham! & solo)
Toni Halliday (Curve)
Bono (U2 & other projects)
Corey Glover (Living Colour)
Dryden Mitchell (Alien Ant Farm)
Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode)
 
Mike Patton would definitely be on my list too. I avidly follow as many of his projects as possible, although, he has a lot of projects. Really liked the last Tomahawk album, but I think Anonymous or Peeping Tom might be my favourite album he has sung on.
 
Mr. Laser Beam said:
Karen Carpenter
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^I'm with you all the way, there.


I cheated by not splitting up two duos:

Karen Carpenter
Don & Phil Everly
Aretha Franklin
Emmylou Harris
Carole King
Richard Manuel
Sam Moore & Dave Prater
Roy Orbison
Linda Ronstadt
Dionne Warwick

Close runners-up: David Hidalgo, John Doe, Levon Helm.

Carole King may not be a technically great singer but I love her voice and the direct way she gets to the heart of her lyrics.

I like a lot of "non-traditional" vocalists, too, like Pete Townshend, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Elvis Costello, Paul Westerberg, Keith Richards...
 
Several of my favourites have already been mentioned, so I'll just add Loreena McKennit (one of those voices you either love or hate; she's also a brilliant songwriter and musician), and my favourite bass-baritone, Bryn Terfel (do classical singers count?).
 
Vocals, as solo artist:

  • Neko Case
  • Vanessa Daou
  • Jeff Buckley
  • Shirley Bassey
  • Sarah Vaughan
  • Utada Hikaru
  • Nina Simone
  • Neil Diamond
  • Kim Leaman (who you wouldn't know; she's an old friend)
  • Björk

Vocals, as part of a band:


  • Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley)
  • Tegan & Sara
  • Corin Tucker (Sleater-Kinney)
  • Eugene Hütz (Gogol Bordello)
  • Ian Curtis (Joy Division)
  • Shirley Manson (Garbage)
  • Corey Glover (Living Colour)
  • Miho Hatori & Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto)
  • Loulou Ghelichkhani (Thievery Corporation)
  • Kawashima Michiyuki (Boom Boom Satellites)
 
C.E. Evans said:
macloudt said:
do classical singers count?
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They most certainly do.
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I could easily have just a top ten of classical, but felt Kollo was worthy of a spot in overall ten as listen to at least once a week.

M'Sharak said:
macloudt said:
and my favourite bass-baritone, Bryn Terfel (do classical singers count?).
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I don't see why not - Terfel is a pleasure to listen to even when he's speaking.

Another baritone who comes to mind is Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. When he sings Schubert songs, you can pretty much tell everyone else to go home.
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Agreed on both :). Love Sherill Milnes' baritone as well, as well as Sam Ramey (bass-baritone).
 
No one's mentioned Ian Gilan, one of the great rock voices, and I don't think I saw Robert Plant either. Aside from those 2, Geddy Lee, Kate Bush, Daltrey and Townshend, Tarja Turinen, Glenn Hughes (his sversion of 'Nights In White Satin' is amazing), Paul Rodgers, Freddie Mercury, Annie Haslam (Renaissance, one of THE great female singers), Graham Bonnet, Brad Delp (Boston), Adele, Anne Wilson (Heart). Can't limit it to 10, the art is too vast! And this hasn't included more pop performers, like Cass Elliot (the Mamas and the Papas would have been nothing without her) and Brian Connolly (Sweet).
 
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