Best Vocalists?

Tommy the Cat

Yer one from Metric and Nikka Costa
Robert Plant

Ruskie4Rent

S.I.R wrote: »

Male: Phil lyynott, Prince, matt bellamy ( from muse... )

[/Q]

Bellamy has the voice but not the lungs. Ever since his breathing through songs was pointed out to me, i found it very off putting.

rowlandbrowner

Mark E. Smith... so good he doesn't even need to sing.

aidan24326

Male:

Eddie Vedder - Tremendous power and range to his voice, and is superb live.

Maynard James Keenan - His vocal ability is arguably better illustrated with A Perfect Circle rather than Tool, especially on their 'Mer De Noms' album. For anyone not familiar with APC they're like a slightly softer more melodic version of Tool.

Thom Yorke - So many great songs beautifully delivered. Nobody else around can do what he does.


Female:

Sade - Such a smooth seductive voice, personally my favourite female singer.

Whitney Houston - While I'm not a fan of her music as such, there's no denying the brilliance of her vocal delivery.

Karen Carpenter - Something very effortless about her voice, so easy to listen to. Had an almost soothing quality to it.

Alex Parks - Winner of Fame Academy a few years ago. A strange choice you might say, but she showed on her subsequent albums that she's a hell of a talented singer, even gaining high praise from his lordship Mr.Yorke.

jill_valentine

aidan24326 wrote: »

Alex Parks - Winner of Fame Academy a few years ago. A strange choice you might say, but she showed on her subsequent albums that she's a hell of a talented singer, even gaining high praise from his lordship Mr.Yorke.

I only vaguely remember this girl being better than I expected, I should go an listen to more of her stuff.

KnifeWRENCH

aidan24326 wrote: »

Whitney Houston - While I'm not a fan of her music as such, there's no denying the brilliance of her vocal delivery.

Yeah I'm not much of a soul fan but her voice is remarkable.

Another female worth adding is Lauryn Hill - very few artists are so good at both singing and rapping. Her vocal delivery on "Ex-Factor" is brilliant. She's one of the few "Urban" artists I actually listen to.

Rustar

S.I.R wrote: »

Female: No female singers have the bass required to sing rock music so... Meh.

Females don't get bass, they get "brass"...which is seriously evident in the voices of Ann Wilson of Heart, Amy Lee of Evanescence, and Pat Benatar. So yes, females can do rock.

Edit: One might also mention Joan Jett in that category. Suzi Quatro was about 3 octaves up and she still sounded tough.

dave.omeara

Female: Jenny Lewis, Cathy Davey, Gwen Stefani.

Male: Beck, Paul Banks, Nick Cave

humberklog

Ivan Rebroff. Like many posted he didn't half sing some sh!te but boy could he sing it.
Al Green.

Maria Callas.
Amie Mann.

Karl Hungus

I'm quite surprised there hasn't been more mentions of Mike Patton, the sheer range he has is nothing short of astounding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFYU0m3617E

Sinfonia

Rufus Wainwright, Prince, Morrissey, Cat Power, Black Francis (inimitable in his Pixie days imo)

aidan24326

jill_valentine wrote: »

I only vaguely remember this girl being better than I expected, I should go an listen to more of her stuff.

Couple of examples.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufV8hlJXV9k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Abjt2K4E3w

Karl Hungus wrote: »

I'm quite surprised there hasn't been more mentions of Mike Patton, the sheer range he has is nothing short of astounding.

I was going to include him but he'd been mentioned already. Great singer for sure. He really shows his range on 'ashes to ashes'.

Forsaken1

Guys you are talking BEST VOCALS not best personal taste etc...

The most AMAZING vocals!! Be it range or tone of phrase or style...

My list excluding most classical vocalists...

MALE:

Paul Rodgers - Free, Bad Company, w/t Queen (Best Rock / Blues Voice in the World. Still amazing in his 50s)
Steve Perry - Journey (Best arena rock voice ever! Listen to him live on youtube). High Tenor.
John Farnham - Aussie with a Great Powerful Voice
Freddy Mercury - Great voice! Great live.
David Phelps - American Christian Singer (not my cuppa tea but the most amazing tenor!! Check it out!)
Carl Anderson - Played Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar. Died a few years ago.
Steve Balsamo - Another great tenor voice.

FEMALE:

Barbara Streisand - In her day a great voice!
Eva Cassidy - Great voice and style.
Tina Turner - In her day a great singer.
Sade - Nice singer
Anna ? - blonde from Abba. Fab singer
Linda Rondstant - Great female vocalist.
Christina Aguilera - Great voice for one so small.

KnifeWRENCH

Forsaken1 wrote: »

Guys you are talking BEST VOCALS not best personal taste etc...

The most AMAZING vocals!! Be it range or tone of phrase or style..

I'm sure we all know what we're talking about and don't need you to remind us, thank you.

Kold

How could I forget Anthony?

ridonkulous

Kurt Nilsen, anybody, no. Kurt Nilsen .....

Dave147

I agree with alot of other people, lets see if I've any different ones
Male:
Billy Corgan, Eddie Vedder, Gavin Rossdale, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel and Mike Rutherford. Anthony Kiedis, James Hetfield, Anthony Hamilton, Gary Barlow (I'm absolutely serious..) Dave Gahan, Common as a lyricist, coming from someone who despises rap generally! Bob Marley, Curt Smith of Tears for Fears, Mark King from Level 42 (who happens to share my birthday ), Bernard Summer from New Order. Donald Fagen and Walter Beck from Steely Dan. Can't forget Marvin Gaye. Mark Knopfler.

Female: Beth Orton, Tarja Turunen, Dolce Pontes, Sade, Sian Evans from Kosheen, Amy Winehouse, Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopez R.I.P, Lauryn Hill, Sophie Ellis Bextor.

I think I got a little bit carried away.. Ah well! :P Nice thread Liam..

MagicMarker

I absolutely cannot believe no one has mentioned Dave Matthews... *shakes head in disbelief*

Ken Papenfus - Relish lead singer, absolutely beautiful voice
Eric Clapton - on the likes of his Unplugged album, fantastic voice.
John Fogarty
Brandon Boyd
Jon Bon Jovi - back in the day, not recently.
Jeff Buckley
Robert Plant - both new and old, his voice has matured well
Meat Loaf -
Matt Bellamy
Eddie Vedder
Freddie Mercury
Thom Yorke
Don Henley
Marvin Gaye
Sam Cooke
Roy Orbison
Bill Withers

grumpytrousers

Male - Richard Hawley, a baritone voice so rich, it's cognac for the ears.
Agreed on Neil Finn from Crowded House, there's inflections in the voice that add so much to the songs.
Scott Walker. Just go and listen to 'Make it Easy on Yourself' and you'll see why
John Fogarty from Creedence

not so sure on the Females..obv the usual suspects like Nina Simone. I think Dusty Springfield had a savage voice. Probably not the most technically accomplished, but i still turn to mush whenever i hear anything with Ronnie Spector on it. It's vaguely husky and there's that Noo Yawk thing going thru it all

Steve_o

Male: Thom Yorke, Jeff Buckley, Freddie Mercury, Brandon Boyd, Matt Bellamy, Roy Orbison, Steve Perry.

Female: Nina Simone, Emmy Lou Harris, Celine Dion, Sinead O'Connor, Tina Turner, Olivea Newton John.

Forsaken1

Yeah,
can't believe I forgot to include Marvin Gaye.

Also Amy Winehouse and Feist are very good.

George Michael is also a great vocalist and Steve Tyler has powerful lungs.

Dudess

Male: I love David Gahan's (Depeche Mode) voice - it's so rich and deep.
Bono - U2 haters, I don't wanna hear it , the man has an excellent voice.
Morrissey - rightly renowned for his lyrics but he's also a brilliant singer.

Female: Bjork - obvious but the woman is ultra talented; Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance and Liz Fraser of Cocteau Twins for gorgeous, haunting, goth-flavoured etherealness (no, it's probably not a word).

Rigsby

Dudess wrote: »

Bono - U2 haters, I don't wanna hear it , the man has an excellent voice.

Sorry ! But you gotta hear it.

The man cant sing for nuts :rolleyes: ( IMO of course )

overexcitedaj

Oh i agree with Dudess. Bono has an insane voice no matter what all the haters say.
Also Layne Staley. You could always hear the hurt echo from his voice as he sung

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Male: Nick Cave, Thom York, Richard Ashcroft, Paul Robeson, Freddy Mercury, also Tom Waits gets honourable mention for proving exactly what a destroyed larynx is capable of

Female: Amy Winehouse, that new one Adele, Janis Joplin, Joan Wasser, Cat Power, Billie Holiday, Maria Mc Kee, Regina Spektor has her moments as well

Dudess

Rigsby wrote: »

Sorry ! But you gotta hear it.

The man cant sing for nuts :rolleyes: ( IMO of course )

Ah now . I am not a big U2 fan - the vast majority of the stuff they've done in the past 15 years has been unadulterated blandness, but while I know some things boil down to opinion and subjectivity, others are a case of fact v fiction. And Bono can sing - fact. You may not like his voice but you can't deny, especially if you watch the following from 2.04 onwards, that the man can most definitely sing (it's Clannad and Bono, not U2).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0tHMW-irwM

Phlann

Beth Gibbons is easily the greatest female vocalist since Nina Simone imo. Sexiest voice in modern music.

As for male voices, I don't know. Don't pay as much attention to them really.

Edan is my favourite MC but I don't think that counts.

Kold

Phlann wrote: »

Edan is my favourite MC but I don't think that counts.

"There's a midget in my neighborhood,
and a one armed man and they're both my friends,
they're both Vietnam vets,
They like to call up Asian restaurants and make bomb threats"

Yeah, he doesn't really count.

Censorsh!t

Male: Jesse Lacey from Brand New.

Female: Theo from the Lunachicks

Rigsby

Dudess wrote: »

Ah now . but while I know some things boil down to opinion and subjectivity, others are a case of fact v fiction. And Bono can sing - fact. that the man can most definitely sing

Oh he can sing alright...................... but badly. FACT


Guess we'll have to agree to disagree.