Top 5 Greatest Voices To Ever Be Recorded

A good question; I think our choices are likely to change with our mood. Here are my preferences today in no particular order:

Men:

Aaron Neville
Sam Cooke
Nat King Cole
Ray Charles
Bobby Blue Bland

Honorable Mention: Jerry Butler, Solomon Burke, Elvis Presley, Al Green

Ladies:

Aretha Franklin
Dakota Staton
Billie Holiday
Dinah Washington
Sarah Vaughan

Honorable Mention: Barbra Streisand, Gladys Knight, Nancy Wilson

 

Opera singers.
Popular vocal : Francis Albert Sinatra.

 

Cannot put them in order, depends on what I am in the mood for at the moment but would include:
Sinatra
Orbison
Aretha
Bennett
Lennon
Tom
Dolly
Marvin
Otis
Pickett

 

Male Vocalists:

1. Luther Vandross
2. Marvin Gaye
3. Bill Withers
4. John Legend
5. Joe

Female Vocalists

1. Aretha Franklin
2. Whitney Houston
3. Gladys Knight
4. Ella Fitzgerald
5. Barbra Streisand

 

Aretha Franklin
Kate Bush
Freddy Mercury
Mike Patton
Sandy Denny

 

No real order
Billie Holiday --especially later period to me--the pain in her voice gets me every time on Verve

Harry Nilsson--just magnificent in his peak, but unlike Billie, when his voice got just a shade gruffer it suffered immensely. Nilsson sings Newman and A Touch of Schmilsson in the night (expanded) are some of the best sung albums in my huge collection.

Steve Marriott--some guys just gave it...Marriott had it, he could sing the dictionary and make it interesting (as evidenced on his sung intros on Performance..., but I really dug him showing the full arsenal in the immediate era Small Faces

Mickey Newbury--man this guys voice haunts...that note in Heaven Help the Child (song) at the end...is breathtaking. This guy was pure genius!!

David Crosby. --sure he fell off the wagon, but man Triad, Everybody's been burned, i swear there was nobody here, and him and my near nominee Grace Slick trading leads on the coda of Paul Kantner's A Child is Coming gets me every time. I want to like his music more (I don't) but his best songs are amongst the very best by anyone--it's all that voice...

 

[QUOTE="majoyenrac, post: 13385635, member: 48913"

David Crosby. --sure he fell off the wagon, but man Triad, Everybody's been burned, i swear there was nobody here, and him and my near nominee Grace Slick trading leads on the coda of Paul Kantner's A Child is Coming gets me every time. I want to like his music more (I don't) but his bestsongs are amongst the very best by anyone--it's all that voice...[/QUOTE]

Dunno why David Crosby didn't do a fifties torch songs album, ala Chet Baker style.

 

Joni mitchell. Before the cigs killed it
Paul mccartney
Sarah maclachlan
Ray Charles
Sam Cooke

 

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Billie Holiday
John Lennon
Ella Fitzgerald
Howlin Wolf

 

Jeff Buckley
Chris Cornell
Chris Isaak
Stephen Page
Sarah McLachlan

....to try and get some more recent names in there.

For those who may not know who Stephen Page is..... Barenaked Ladies. This song really shows off his range.....what a tune.

 

Scott Walker
Kate Bush
Morrissey
K.D.Lang
Gil Scott-Heron

 

Harry Nilsson
Beverly Sills
Steve Marriott
George Ratzlaff aka Brantley
Eddy Arnold

 

My five favorites:

Frank Sinatra
Aretha Franklin
Billie Holiday
Al Green
Marvin Gaye

 

Freddie Mercury
Bruce Dickinson
Kate Bush
Chris Cornell
Layne Staley

 

Nice ! ..Layne Staley
Chris Cornell
Mike Patton
Freddie Mercury
Kelly Jones

 

There really were a lot of rock singers who had great voices.
I am not a fan of Ronnie James Dio, but no doubt he had an amazing voice.
Roger Daltry Art Garfunkle The Everly Brothers the Rightious Brothers Robin Zander
Mark Farner Felix Papalardi Frankie Vallie Dion
And on and on and on.

 

Otis Redding
Alison Krauss
Mary Fahl
Frazey Ford

I've put four names in my list because I can't narrow it down to one more. But some of the contenders were Wilson Pickett, Eddie Vedder, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, and Janis Joplin.

 

roy orbison
robin zander
George jones
Geoff tate
aaron neville

 

A personal selection:

Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (I heard her version of Bridge Over Troubled Water on the car radio yesterday..she brought a new dimension to it)

Marvin Gaye, the Prince (as in royalty) of Motown, from I'll Be Doggone, to Grapevine, What's Going and Let's Get It On, to Got To Give It Up, the duets with Tammi Terrell and Kim Weston etc. Smoothest voice in soul.

Robert Plant, from folk to the heaviest rock, rockabilly, country, world music - great range. Jeff Buckley might have got close had he lived longer.

Alison Krauss, voice clear like crystal glass. Best bluegrass singer.

Nina Simone, so many great interpretations. Could have gone with Ella, or Billie etc.

 

No particular order

Aretha, Little Richard, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole.

couldn't quite squeeze Howlin' Wolf in there, doh !
(and i'd like to point out that I'm a rabid Beatles fan and didn't choose John and Paul)
special mention for Phil and Don Everly -

 

George Jones.
Sam Cooke.
Van Morrison.

In this order.

 

Good call!

 

Nina was outstanding.

 

Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, Leontine Price, Donny Hathaway

 

Male:
Ray Charles
Smokey Robinson
Levis Stubbs
Marvin Gaye
Colin Blunstone

Female:
Sade
Amy Winehouse
Karen Carpenter
Mary Wells
Mariah Carey