Best Vocalists?

Kold

Male and Female. Think of actual voice rather than lyrical content and song writing. (Dylan, Cohen and Cash would fall into the latter imo, of course you may disagree.)


Male: The worthy contenders for me would be Beck, Jeff Buckley, Brandon Boyd but the winner goes to Thom Yorke. He's always had a beautiful voice but the way he used it on The Eraser and In Rainbows is enough to convince me that he's one of the best definitely.

Female: Sade, as soulful and emotional as Nina Simone and Tracy Chapman but at the same time gorgeously feminine. Eva Cassidy had a beautiful voice too.

'Ol Jack Chance

Good thread, I think Johnny Cash has great voice, it sounds like its made of iron! Also Bob Dylans voice on Nashville Skyline is really smooth i lubbs it.

Others I like would be Regine (i think thats her name?) from arcade fire, shes real nice haunting voice. Agree with Nina Simone she has a wonderful voice! Levon Helm from the band has one of the best voices, specially with that southern tinge y'all. Ian Curtis too hes a good strong voice. Billie Holiday has voice of an angel too.

Creature

Kold wrote: »

Male: The worthy contenders for me would be Beck, Jeff Buckley, Brandon Boyd but the winner goes to Thom Yorke. He's always had a beautiful voice but the way he used it on The Eraser and In Rainbows is enough to convince me that he's one of the best definitely.

Haha seriously? Thom used to have an amazing voice but it's totally gone to hell in the last eight years or so. He really sounds bad and just seems to mumble or wail through songs now. It's especially noticable when he tries to sing older songs live. That said though, I have tremendous respect for the band since they've adapted and changed and are still making great music despite Thoms inability to sing.


Anyway, for male it's got to be Mark Lanegan. That dry gravelly sandpaper like voice of his works perfectly on every project he's ever done.

As far as females go I Bjork wins. Seriously amazing voice so emotive and expressive.

Kold

Creature wrote: »

Haha seriously? Thom used to have an amazing voice but it's totally gone to hell in the last eight years or so. He really sounds bad and just seems to mumble or wail through songs now. It's especially noticable when he tries to sing older songs live. That said though, I have tremendous respect for the band since they've adapted and changed and are still making great music despite Thoms inability to sing.

:eek: Nude? Analyse? Scatterbrain? Jigsaw? It's the wailing that's so great. If you listened to instrumental versions of The Eraser you'd see how much his voice makes the songs.

Flamed Diving

Thom Yorkes voice on the song 'Reckoner' is his best vocal performance on a track, ever.

HalloweenJack

Male: Bowie, especially on Wild Is The Wind, Teenage Wildlife, the Young Americans album.

Prince.

Garry Shider of Parliament-Funkadelic.

André 3000.

Female: Róisín Murphy.

June Tyson.

Elza Soares.

Placid_Casual

Carl Wilson, Ryan Adams, Michael Stipe, Joni Mitchell, Frank Sinatra - all with different styles.

Jeff Buckley was arguably the best singer i've heard when he showed restraint (e.g. Lilac Wine, Hallelujah) but too often he went off on a self-indulgent vocal tanget, almost as if to say "look what I can do", especially on the closing parts of songs. Half the songs on Grace, I skip to the next track about a minute or two before the end rather than listen to him caterwaul his way to the finish.

KnifeWRENCH

I have to concur with Thom Yorke and Bjork. Amazing voices.

Another great female vocalist I'd mention is Kim Deal. Her voice is so sweet and restrained - you could lost in forever. Her harmonies with sister Kelley are gorgeous.

delbertgrady

Tony Bennett
Kate Bush
Freddie Mercury
Carl Wilson

IanCurtis

Female: Beth Orton, Bjork, Tori Amos, Hope Sandoval, Beth Gibbons

Male: (Young) Brett Anderson, Thom Yorke, Tim Booth

Flamed Diving

Early Neil Young

Rigsby

Peter Cetera

Karen Carpenter

Billy Holiday

Jim Reeves

Earthhorse

square_igloo wrote: »

Another great female vocalist I'd mention is Kim Deal. Her voice is so sweet and restrained - you could lost in forever. Her harmonies with sister Kelley are gorgeous.

True. Very, very true. She has a very seductive voice. Full of character.

Also, like or loathe her, Sinead O'Connor has a beautiful voice. Incredibly powerful.

GrahamThomas

Creature wrote: »

Anyway, for male it's got to be Mark Lanegan. That dry gravelly sandpaper like voice of his works perfectly on every project he's ever done.

+1 for Mark Lanegan, an incredibly talented vocalist. Underated as well IMO. As for other males, Joe Strummer (especially his post-Clash stuff) and Nick Cave.

And females: Dusty Springfield such a sultry, sexy voice. Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley and Beth Gibbons of Portishead get my vote as well.

Call Me Jimmy

Prince has a ridiculous voice. It shouldn't be possible for someone to have the range he has.

Moneymaker

Male:

Mikeal Akerfeldt(Opeth)
Roy Khan(Kamelot)
James LaBrie(Dream Theater)
Neal Morse(Spock's Beard, Transatlantic)
Steve Wilson(Porcupine Tree)
Cedric Zavala(The Mars Volta)
Justin Furstenfeld(Blue October)
Daniel Gildenlöw(Pain of Salvation)
Mike Patton(Faith No More)
Matt Bellamy(Muse)
Kevin Barnes(Of Montreal)
Jim Morrison(the Doors)
Stuart Murdoch(Belle and Sebastian)

Female:

Cristina Scabbia(Lacuna Coil)
Bjork
Beth Orton
Fiona Apple
Illaria Graziano
Floor Jansen(After Forever)
Tarja Turunen(Nightwish)


thats all i can think of right now.

JimiTime

Me.

S.I.R

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


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

Bubs101

Chris Cornell surely deserves a mention here. The strongest vocals I have ever heard in rock. Paul Stanley's range is impressive and he doesn't lose any of his charisma while doing it. As for the ladies, Emily Haine of Metric has a really unique voice with a really nice whiney quality

dregin

Maynard Keenan - Tool
Layne Staley - Alice in Chains

suckslikeafox

Agree with the people who said Matt Bellamy and Chris Cornell, 2 fantastic voices though I dunno if Cornell can cut it anymore

Firetrap

David Gilmour from Pink Floyd.

tinkletoes

Neil Young:D

The Volt

Myles Kennedy, Alter Bridge.

I envy his range more than anything

Kold

Give reasons/evidence.

adox

Outside of heavy rock/metal vocalists, I would have to go with Neill Finn from Crowded House. The tone of his voice for me is a joy to behold.

Female - Bonnie Raitt or maybe to a lesser degree Julianne Regan from All About Eve. Again with those two its the tone of the voice.

jill_valentine

'Ol wrote:

Others I like would be Regine (i think thats her name?) from arcade fire, shes real nice haunting voice.

Didn't expect to see her in this thread, certainly not that early - I love her voice, but I think it's kind of an acquired taste. I know a lot of people who can't stand it, they keep complaining that it's "out of tune", and then I have to kick them in the ears until they can hear it correctly.

Emily Haines is another, I absolutely love her voice. Neko Case and Cat Power, too, I could listen to those three singing anything.

PrivateEye

Cat Power.
www.myspace.com/catpower
Fantastic voice, listen to her quite a lot. She can take any song (see her two covers CDs) and make it her own.


Leonard Cohen.
"Only in Canada could somebody with a voice like mine win 'Vocalist of the Year'"
especially from 10 New Songs on.....that voice eh?

Jenny Lewis (From Rilo Kiley)
www.myspace.com/rilokiley
I've always loved her voice, her delivery is perfect. There was a vulnurability in her voice for years but it seems to have passed. Her solo album is worth checking too.

Andy Irvine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRg6X1sHBt4
Andy has a fantastic voice. One of my favourite folk singers, the above clip is him covering Woody Guthrie. Billy Bragg is among his fans, I've seen him live a few times and nobody does it like him.

Beth Orton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV9V-kU621s
click and learn.

----

^I'd agree about Emily Haines, another fantastic voice.

jill_valentine

Ah, Holy Hell, yes, Jenny Lewis.

I far prefer her solo stuff though, Rilo Kiley just isn't as weird and interesting any more. I really think Born Secular is one of the best songs I've ever heard.

all the stars

best female vocals:

Bjork
Sinead o Connor
Amerie
Ny
Tori Amos
Beth from Portishead
Sade
India Arie
Amy Lee (evanscene)

Male:
Joe
Johnny Cash
Ginuwine
Serg form Tool (while not really mt thing)
Thom Yorke
Micheal Buble (just think the swing thing he does it so well..while i dont listen to it much)

Kold

all the stars wrote: »

Male:

Serg form Tool (while not really mt thing)
Micheal Buble (just think the swing thing he does it so well..while i dont listen to it much)

Maynard is the lead singer from Tool, you may be thinking of Serj Tankian from System of a Down? As for Michael Buble, heard him for the first time the other day, just seems like a cheesier Rufus to me.

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... )

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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.