Top pop/rock Vocalists

Submitted by DaveMog on Tue, 06/17/2003 - 12:48
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  • Pat Benatar
  • Sam Cooke
  • K.D. Lang
  • Roy Orbison
  • Michael Stipe
  • Stevie Nicks (not much range, but very distinctive)
  • Tracy Chapman
  • Peter Gabriel
  • Sarah McLachlan
  • Madonna (she may be a trite pop diva, but she can definitely sing)
  • Ray Charles
  • Aretha Franklin
  • Van Morrison
  • Dr. John
  • Marvin Gaye
  • Freddie Mercury
  • Steve Perry
  • James Taylor
  • Aaron Neville
  • Paul Stanley (yes, from Kiss - the guy's got some pipes)
  • Geoff Tate (Queensryche's lead singer - also some good pipes)
  • Etta James
  • Lou Gramm
  • James Brown
  • David Gilmore
  • Crosby Stills and Nash (all of them together is way better than them all separately, though they are still good)
  • Simon and Garfunkel
  • Janis Joplin
  • Louis Armstrong
Author Comments: 

VH-1 recently had a show highlighting people's votes for the top 25 best singers in pop and rock and roll. The results were, not surprisingly, unimpressive and thoroughly lacking. While not limiting myself to 25, most of the people on this list were not on the VH-1 list. (Mariah Carey was the top pick on the show! Ouch.) I'll put more as I think of them.

AJDaGreat06/17/2003

Did you leave Elvis Presley off intentionally? If so, why? If not, he really is one of the greatest singers in rock history and deserves a place here.

Oh, BTW, great list. Nice to see Michael Stipe and Van Morrison on here, they were both great singers with distinctive voices.

professor06/17/2003

Paul Rodgers has the best-ever blues voice without a doubt, and a pretty damn good rock voice too. All who are familiar with Paul Rodgers and Free will tell you about his voice. Read the reviews of Free albums on Amazon and here and here (this live album is fantabidozee) and here and here and here. It is not enough to listen to just one or two songs in isolation, because to really appreciate Rodger's range and style and emotion and his power you need to hear a good few songs proably over a period of weeks. He will not disappoint, and as a bonus, the rest of the band (Free) are pretty damn mean also. The great Paul Kossoff on guitar - admired by all including Clapton, the bestest bassist in Andy Fraser, and the superb Simon Kirke on drums. Rodgers and Kirke went on to form Bad Company.

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osirisdean10/16/2003

id also like to see on the list:
maynard james keenan (tool),
fiona apple,
christina scabbia (lacuna coil),
kate pierson (b52s),
Emiliana Torrini (Gollum's Song, most recently),

and ... my personal favorite:
beth gibbons (portishead).