The lead singer wasn't the best singer in the band

Ric Ocasek said that when he wrote a song that needed a real singer, he always gave it to Ben. He had no delusions in that area.

 

It wasn't until last year that I learned that Knock Me Down was sung by John with Anthony on backing vocals.

 

that's good...

 

Possibly! Derek was nominally the lead singer, but although he wasn't bad, he never really had much charisma. Then again, although Kerry and Phil were both arguably better singers, neither of them were really frontman material either. That band had everything going for it except no real frontman. With a lead singer on the level of (not necessarily the sound of!) Jon Anderson, Greg Lake, or Peter Gabriel, they might have done better.

 

Michael Stipe once said in an interview (with Nicky Campbell, BBC Radio 1, March 1991) that he thought Bill Berry had the best singing voice in R.E.M.

 

I always thought it was more faux-Dylan, myself.

 

He's also still the best singer. His voice is still phenomenal.

 

I really like Morse. For me he has a better voice for prog than most prog vocalists.

 

Fleetwood Mac didn't really have a "lead singer", though. They had three songwriters each of whom tended to sing their own material. It's like asking who the lead singer of the Beatles was. There wasn't one.

 

I prefer Christine to Stevie but in fairness, Stevie was an incredible vocalist 1975-77 before the Peruvian marching powder, the smokes (she ended up with a 3 pack a day habit for a long time) and the common problems of an untrained singer destroying her voice by going at 200 mph every time out with no governor.

 

I've never heard the other members of Rush sing a note, but I'm confident in tossing them into this thread.

 

Never cared for McVie. Her house is too thick... syrupy, and not like real Vermont maple syrup, more like the gooey Mrs. Butterworths.

 

Both so self evident it goes without saying.

 

Johnny ****ing Marr...
I ve seen him solo and he sings all those smiths songs great... and without the things that bugged me about Morrissey's voice

 

And if you’ve heard Barney sing live in the early days of New Order, you’d probably wonder why they didn’t just let Hooky sing everything. Barney got MUCH better with time but in the Joy Division era, I doubt he would have been anywhere near as effective as Ian Curtis was.

 

The Dictators. Richie Teeter was the best singer in the band, followed by Andy.....

 

Dead Milkmen

Even Rodney admits Joe was a better singer. I concur, though neither are stellar.

Also Oasis. I prefer Noel's voice to Liam's, but I'm probably in the minority there. Maybe I just want to punch Liam more.

 

Me too.

 

In the case of CCR, I think we can agree that Stu Cook isn't the answer...

 

Out of the designated lead singers Toto have had through the years, none of them sound anywhere as good, melodic, soulful, haunting, and passionate as guitarist Steve Lukather.

 

What would one listen to if one wanted to hear these marvelous vocals?

 

They really should have kept the whole band, including David Palmer. Oh well.

 

Another vote for Christine, her voice is gorgeous. "Over my head". Peter Green was great too. I wonder if a duet between them would have been good?

 

Judging by "December 1963 (Oh What a Night)", I'd say that Gerry Polci was a better singer than Frankie Valli in the Four Seasons.

As for Christine McVie, as has already been mentioned, there was no "lead singer" in Fleetwood Mac, so I don't think this is a good example. But I agree that Christine has a much better voice than Stevie Nicks'.

 

Catman