Scratchy voiced female singers

Bonnie Tyler,because of a Botched Operation on Her Vocal Chords,now sings Raspy,which gave Her hits,something that did not happen before!

 

Marianne Faithful,after nearly a lifetime of Drugs and Booze,now has a Raspy,nearly unrecognizable voice! And the same went for Janis Joplin and Tina Turner!

 

Her Boozy Voice was caused by too many Ciggies and Booze,which eventually took Her life.

 

The only modern scratchy voice girl I like is Elle King:

 

Understood.
I love her version though. Gets me right here.

 

Susanna Hoffs' Voice,after one too many takes on the "When You're a Boy" Lp,Nearly Wrecked Her Clear Voice-She now sings with a Croak in her voice,every now & Then,Sadly.

 

If you're hearing most of your female vocals on reality tv, you are missing quite a bit. It's really a golden age for female vocalists, many of whom sound nothing like each other. Aside from the ones that top the charts (Adele, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Carly Rae Jepson, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, etc.), the younger alternative artists have issued recent albums that are, at least in spots, just brilliant (fka Twigs, Julia Holter, Sharon van Etten, Grimes, Joanna Newsom, Florence + the Machine, etc.). Oh, and if you missed it, Mavis Staples, Ronnie Spector and Loretta Lynn released new albums this year. Loretta's track with Willie Nelson is wonderful.

 

That's a nice one. Thank you.

 

I think they are both 83 years old. Amazing.

 

SHE would not agree :

 

Sass Jordan
Beth Hart
Dana Fuchs
DILANA

 

The original poster did a disservice to his own thread? Funny.

 

Yes, he did. If you read the original post and the rest of the thread you'll understand that it was a bad choice of wording that doesn't represent his own post and has lead to people posting on the likes of Kim Carnes, Bonnie Tyler and even Moms Mabley. None of them has anything to do with what he was talking about in his initial post. This thing has gone off the rails.

 

Yes, the OP clearly doesn't mean "scratchy" at all: he's referring to the girlish, faux-naïf style that is fashionable in pop and indie music right now. "Scratchy", to me, would mean somebody like the peerless Maggie Bell, who is as far from girlish or naïf as one could hope to get:

 

I understand... I think. I believe I addressed what may have been the intent of the original poster in the second part of my post (the lemmings-like imitation going on in the realm of pop music not being a new phenomenon).

 

Sorry 'bout the Moms Mabley.

 

Otis Redding can rasp all he wants and pour some sugar too

 

To me, there is a roughness , maybe "smokiness" . 1234 by Fiest is an example. You can't tell me that her voice is smooth. It's scratchy or at least rough or smoky. The reason we got off on this tangent was by getting hung up on that one word. I also described it as "affected old soul, jazzy, mumbly, scratchy, Billie Holiday voice" Neither of the older singers like Kim Carnes could ever compared with Billie Holiday, nor is she current. The key word is also "affected". Janis Joplin, Kim Carnes and Stevie Nicks are not singing in any affected voice. If I could change the title of the post I would.

 

Lulu and Brenda lee.

 

In another thread a few weeks back, I used this description, which might be what the OP meant : the overly breathy, husky, slightly strangled vocal as featured in hundreds of advertisements, which is supposed to convey sensitivity along with sexuality. There are literally millions with this same voice! Yet i can't think of anything like it pre Rickie Lee Jones' debut, although there were probably a few. By the early 90s you can certainly hear a few female indie singers with added breath and hungover smokiness in their voices. Harriet Wheeler, Bjork, then Hope Sandoval and Cat Power, but back then it still seemed a bit alternative.

However, I don't think anyone really sounds like Bonnie Tyler, Marianne Faithful, or Janis now - these are characterful individual voices - there's nothing generic about them.

The male equivalent is that hoarse/gruff just got out of bed having taken too many drugs and being down on your luck vocal presentation. Green Day, Richard Ashcroft, Jamie Cullum etc etc

 

At the tender age of 81.

 

First person I thought of.

 

not just a great raspy female singer...but one of my favorite singers currently out there

this is amazing..

Beverly McClellan

 

Elyse described her own voice as the "old gravel pit"

 

If the thread title is being followed, along with examples like Bonnie Tyler and Kim Carnes, then I nominate Lydia Pense of Cold Blood.