Top 100 singers of all time, per Rolling Stone

[Enrique]

my commentary: disappointed not to see Bob Seger, pleasantly shocked to see Steve Perry, Levon Helm and Sly Stone, and totally relieved not to see 50 Cent, or whoever, there.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/24161972/page/103?commentPage=14#rate

1 | Aretha Franklin by Mary J. Blige

2 | Ray Charles by Billy Joel

3 | Elvis Presley by Robert Plant

4 | Sam Cooke by Van Morrison

5 | John Lennon by Jackson Browne

6 | Marvin Gaye by Alicia Keys

7 | Bob Dylan by Bono

8 | Otis Redding by Booker T. Jones

9 | Stevie Wonder by Cee-Lo

10 | James Brown by Iggy Pop

11 | Paul McCartney

12 | Little Richard

13 | Roy Orbison

14 | Al Green

15 | Robert Plant

16 | Mick Jagger by Lenny Kravitz

17 | Tina Turner

18 | Freddie Mercury

19 | Bob Marley

20 | Smokey Robinson

21 | Johnny Cash

22 | Etta James

23 | David Bowie

24 | Van Morrison

25 | Michael Jackson by Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy

26 | Jackie Wilson

27 | Hank Williams

28 | Janis Joplin

29 | Nina Simone

30 | Prince

31 | Howlin' Wolf

32 | Bono by Billie Joe Armstrong

33 | Steve Winwood

34 | Whitney Houston

35 | Dusty Springfield

36 | Bruce Springsteen

37 | Neil Young

38 | Elton John

39 | Jeff Buckley by Chris Cornell

40 | Curtis Mayfield

41 | Chuck Berry

42 | Joni Mitchell

43 | George Jones by James Taylor

44 | Bobby "Blue" Bland

45 | Kurt Cobain

46 | Patsy Cline

47 | Jim Morrison

48 | Buddy Holly

49 | Donny Hathaway

50 | Bonnie Raitt

51 | Gladys Knight

52 | Brian Wilson

53 | Muddy Waters by Ben Harper

54 | Luther Vandross

55 | Paul Rodgers

56 | Mavis Staples

57 | Eric Burdon

58 | Christina Aguilera

59 | Rod Stewart

60 | Björk

61 | Roger Daltrey

62 | Lou Reed

63 | Dion

64 | Axl Rose

65 | David Ruffin

66 | Thom Yorke

67 | Jerry Lee Lewis

68 | Wilson Pickett

69 | Ronnie Spector

70 | Gregg Allman

71 | Toots HIbbert

72 | John Fogerty

73 | Dolly Parton

74 | James Taylor

75 | Iggy Pop

76 | Steve Perry

77 | Merle Haggard

78 | Sly Stone

79 | Mariah Carey

80 | Frankie Valli

81 | John Lee Hooker by Bonnie Raitt

82 | Tom Waits

83 | Patti Smith

84 | Darlene Love

85 | Sam Moore

86 | Art Garfunkel

87 | Don Henley

88 | Willie Nelson

89 | Solomon Burke

90 | The Everly Brothers

91 | Levon Helm by Jim James

92 | Morrissey

93 | Annie Lennox

94 | Karen Carpenter

95 | Patti LaBelle

96 | B.B. King

97 | Joe Cocker

98 | Stevie Nicks

99 | Steven Tyler

100 | Mary J. Blige

[Bertha Venation]

1. Patsy Cline # 46. Something's wrong in Rolling Stone-land.

And Robert Plant? Robert Plant can carry a tune. That doesn't mean he can sing.

Mick Jagger?! See Robert Plant.

[dualitybites]

32. Patsy Cline is country and RS is a rock publication. Oh, and Robert Plant?

He can carry a tune AND he can SING. I forgot about him...Jagger's good but Plant has the range.

[Bake]

130. Several country singers on the list ... The Hag, George Jones, etc.

I'm just disappointed not to see Johnny Cash.

Bake

[charlie and algernon]

2. Christina Aguilera over Roger Daltrey, James Taylor and Patti Labelle?

:wtf:

[Shell Beau]

19. Well she is a great singer.

[charlie and algernon]

22. but better than the aformentioned singers

or the people that didn't even make the list, like Tom Petty or Frank Sinatra????

[dualitybites]

29. Technically, perhaps, but NOT Roger Daltrey

It's like Celine Dion: she has the pipes but I'm just not feeling it. The material makes the difference, too. Christina and Celine have totally commercial, factory-made songs.

[SoxFan]

3. Tom Waits???

He sounds like a wino with TB horking up a hairball.

I'm not sure what the criteria was here. The list is all over the map. Dylan is a brilliant songwriter and lyricist, but his singing is painful.

Some of the obvious picks in terms of vocal chops (Freddy Mercury, Annie Lennox, Patsy Cline) seem a bit underrated in this list.

[tigereye]

54. I guess they are blending song-writing skill with expressiveness,

as opposed to pure vocal technique.


Waits writes great songs and interprets them really, really well.

[Orrex]

75. That's my thought as well

Upthread there was a complaint about Christina Aguilera, who has a phenomenal voice even if she's entirely commercial, apparently lacking depth or gravity. Tom Waits, on the other hand, is thoroughly anti-commercial, and his voice matches to his songwriting better than pretty much anyone else out there, including Dylan.

[tigereye]

90. have you seen Aguilera do some Etta James material?

She has the opportunity to develop into a really cool artist, if she changes her focus a bit. Also she does a lot of good for charities that work on domestic violence and child abuse.


:hi:

[Orrex]

92. No, but a buddy of mine who's a serious music guy has praised her for it

He really admires her pipes (and that's not a veiled joke about boobs), and he likewise thinks that she could really be an artist to admire, in the long run.

Of course, it's not as though she's over the hill, so she's got decades to develop.

And that's why I hate her! :mad:

[tigereye]

94. ya know, I think it's the Disney Corps fault - she fell in with them and with the

whole new Mouseketeers (or whatever) thing, and that seemed to channel her into some bizarre career path as an innocent Disney corp clone, sex siren (Genie in the Bottle thing) and then weird Madonna influence. Maybe being a parent will change her perspective....


When you compare her to someone like Joan Osborne with a righteous set of pipes, her career path could have been very different had Disney not got hold of her....

[Orrex]

96. I will never forgive Joan Osborne for 'What If God Was One Of Us?'

But beyond that, your comments seem right on the money to me. It's weird and sort of tragic, the way young performers are molded into marketable commodities.

I'm talking to you, Ms. Cyrus.

[tigereye]

98. I wonder if it's because agents and music corps are always looking for young

talent (too young, really) to mold and make money from.

It's kind of gross, actually.


You don't like that song of Osborne's? I think that whole album is amazing. I prefer Spider Web, and a few others, but...

[Orrex]

99. To be honest, I found it too trite

Especially the line 'cept for the pope maybe in Rome. Also, it doesn't help that the song was put into super-heavy rotation, so that I would turn off one station and find it playing on the next, and by the time it finished on the second station it was already playing again on the first. If God was one of us, he'd smite corporate radio, that's what.

The album is otherwise pretty good, especially compared to a lot of what was out there at the time, but it's not as though any station every really played much of it!

[tigereye]

103. aren't you from my neck of the woods? (PGH?)

WYEP played pretty much every song from it when it first came out....


:hi:


to me, that's an alt classic!

[Orrex]

114. I was in State College at the time

There was the Pink Floyd/Doors/Zeppelin station, and then there was the other one.

Actually, there was a nominal alt station, too, but none of them played anything other than the offending ditty.

[unpossibles]

118. I am fairly sure it's a Prince song

blame him for the bad lyrics.

[Orrex]

134. Noted

And I'll take care of it, right after I finish kicking his ass for Manic Monday.

[Initech]

122. If that were the case, they should've included Nick Cave.

His omission from this list shows they pretty much have no credibility left.

[Danger Mouse]

4. I LOVE Bob Dylan, but he is not a good singer.

That's the point. This list is utter shit.

[NewJeffCT]

7. I agree - I have a ton of respect for Bob Dylan

but, he really sucks as a singer.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

9. The list had a HUGE portion of non-singers...

...performers who are my favorites, who are among the greatest PERFORMERS of all time, but could never, under any circumstances, be considered "great singers"...

Bob Dylan
Neil Young
Kurt Cobain
Lou Reed
Iggy Pop

...and how the fuck did Axl Rose make the list? Because the same issue of Rolling Stone has a slobbering review of "Chinese Democracy?"

:eyes:

[alphafemale]

70. You may be too young to remember hearing "Sweet Child of Mine" on the radio for the first time.

It's really a hard thing to explain if you weren't there to realize just how different that sound was from what was playing just about everywhere at the time.

Axl Rose used himself up fast and is now a sad pathetic shadow of what he once was...and he was always an asshole...but for one brief shining moment - that son of a bitch could sing.

[mitchum]

82. Ah...listen to "Turn Blue" and then tell me that Iggy isn't capable of great singing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD8NHjz8nss
:)

Also, in the early 70s, Reed was capable of great delicacy, phrasing, and control, but he can't sing a bit now

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

112. At no time in his life has Lou Reed

been able to sing a melody of two notes. As Dorothy Parker observed in another context, Reed's gamut of emotions "ran from A to B." Vocalist, maybe. Singer? I haff to laff.

Hid narcoleptic presence on a list nominally (and barely) composed of "singers" is pathetic. He is almost certainly the most overrated person in the history of rock n roll. Well, Nico may beat him out, on second thought. It's harder to be more of a pathetic and ludicrous fuckup than a washed-up heroin addict model who thought she was a "media presence."

[begin_within]

11. I like Dylan's songs, but I can't stand listening to him sing them.

I have to hear someone else singing his songs and not him.

[dualitybites]

31. When he was in his prime, he was awesome...No, not antiseptic and predigested

but an original, raw, passionate voice. Now he just sounds like Tom Waits.

Just because someone has a voice that can shatter glass doesn't make them a "great" singer in the respect of the list. The whole point is the unique quality, the energy behind the voice, the songs themselves...Technically good singers are a dime a dozen.

[mvd]

135. Yeah, his voice is a bit "smoked out" now, but..

definitely I found him very fresh in his prime.. he still is listenable enough and produces good music.

[Sebastian Doyle]

45. No shit! I love Bob, and I love Bono, but he's dead wrong here

Greatest lyricist of all time, perhaps. But Dylan's voice, even on his best day, is an "acquired taste" to put it politely.

[mitchum]

84. Yes, but Dylan lowers the bar for a caterwauling prat with a pitch problem like Bono

[Blue_In_AK]

48. I agree, not a good singer.

Exceptional poet and songwriter, but the singing? No.

[speedoo]

100. Your opinion clearly differs from Bono's.

Read his commentary on Dylan and maybe you will understand Dylan a little bit.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/24161972/page/7

"Dylan did with singing what Brando did with acting. He busted through the artifice to get to the art. Both of them tore down the prissy rules laid down by the schoolmarms of their craft, broke through the fourth wall, got in the audience's face and said, "I dare you to think I'm kidding." "

[livetohike]

5. Joni Mitchell #42 and Janis #28

Something's wrong here.

[Danger Mouse]

8. Janis, again, a great artist, but there's no fucking way she's better than Joni as a singer.

[livetohike]

13. They should both be much higher in this list

Joni sings like an angel and Janis is my favorite with her raw stylings. I was in chorus in high school in the 60's and our director brought in some of Janis' records to play so we could learn what she was doing with her voice. He also said that if she continued to sing this way, she wouldn't have a voice in a few years - well, it was much worse than that :-(.

[DS1]

6. Kurt Cobain?

[begin_within]

10. They're wrong. Best male singer: Nat King Cole. Best female singer: Judy Garland.

[bobd0]

12. OK, I know Rolling Stone is primarily a Rock magazine but

the title reads, "The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time" and that covers A LOT more territory than just rock. I see Etta James, B.B. King, and Motown singers on the list so it's apparently gone beyond Rock but if we're blurring the lines where are Ella and Frank?

Seriously, IMO you can't even begin to compile a list titled "The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time" without including Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. And let's not even get into those insane opera singers.

Rolling Stone needs to re-define the title of their list; "The 100 Greatest Rock Singers of All Time", or "The 100 Greatest Pop Singers of All Time", or drop some of those mediocre singers in favor of genuine greats.

[Enrique]

14. it says "of all time", but...

but in their methodology section, they say it's from "the rock era."

[Danger Mouse]

15. Ella Fitzgerald not being on the list makes it completely invalid.

[bobd0]

28. Absolutely. nt

[mitchum]

83. True...she was the greatest singer of the 20th century

[Shell Beau]

17. I wouldn't consider Frank one of the greatest singers.

He was a good performer, but his singing was all right.

[bobd0]

27. No one handled the standards like Frank, IMO.

I love Johnny Hartman's incredible baritone too.

Tony Bennett, Nat Cole, Sarah Vaughn, just to name a few. All incredible singers around during the early Rock era. Where are those names and so many others?

[ProfessorGAC]

73. Tony Bennet Was Better Than Frank

Equal amounts of style, but a smoother delivery and better range. So, he would be on my list long before Frank.
The Professor

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

108. Try and sing along with ANY Sinatra song

I guarantee you can't. I am a bass guitarist and singer who has been trying for thirty-plus years. Sinatra's breath control was mind-boggling and let him phrase things like no other singer. His only rival in that respect was Karen Carpenter. It's a gift you're born with and it can't be learned. All Sinatra did was mimic Tommy Dorsey's trombone playing, but you gotta have the gift to be able to do something like that. Sinatra had the tools all along. He just refined his gift while working with Dorsey.

As a sidelight, Sinatra's favorite singer was Tony Bennett (he is also my favorite non-rock singer) and Bennett's favorite singer is Sinatra.

Frank Sinatra was a lousy human being, but also a consummate artist.

[WCGreen]

57. Mel Torme...

Well, I guess you have to consider the source...

Bing and Frank and Dean and even Burton Cummings aren't even mentioned...

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

113. Mel was great.

Supple, flexible and very subtle. I have never heard a Torme recording that did not impress me deeply. Nothing about him was showy except to other musicians, who were inevitably blown away by his command and technique.

[Shell Beau]

16. As much as I love Willie Nelson, he doesn't belong in the top

100.

[XemaSab]

18. I call bullshit on this list

Rolling Stone = Fail.

[jobycom]

60. Bullshit never answers back.

You can call him, but the phone just rings and rings.

[greendog]

20. Looks more like the 100 greatest post WW2 singers.

Where's Skip James, Tommy Johnson, Sleepy John Estes, and Big Bill Broonzy? And how about the Louvin Brothers or the Boswell Sisters?

[Shell Beau]

21. Who?

I think many people wouldn't know who those singers are. I sure don't. Not saying they weren't great, but I just don't know who they are.

[greendog]

24. But we "should" know who they are.

The history of recording isn't much more than 100 years long and it's certain that the earlier artists influenced the ones we're familiar with. And really, some the music of the 20's, 30's, and 40's is amazing. It's worth listening to and Rolling Stone does it's readers a disservice by helping us forget about it. :)

Skip James - Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv-_mzVBSF8&feature=related

Boswell Sisters - I'm going to sit right down (1936):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjQH5C-mJtI&feature=related

[Starbucks Anarchist]

30. It's like six degrees of separation.

Those singers may not be well-known, but they influenced better-known singers, who in turn influenced more popular singers, who in turn influenced today's singers.

It's like if you asked the average moviegoer about D.W. Griffith or Sergei Eisenstein. Most wouldn't know the names, but they influenced the next generation of directors, and so on further down the line through today.

[dualitybites]

23. These kinds of lists make my blood boil...Bjork before Stevie Nicks?! Marley ahead of Joni Mitchell?

And only one woman in the Top Ten. Christina Aguilera ahead of Morrissey? Whatever...

[MrScorpio]

25. No Ron Isley? That's SOOOOOO Wrong

No SHIRLEY BASSEY?!?!?

No Flora PURIM?

No Minnie RIPPERTON?

No Roberta FLACK?!?!

No Tom JONES??!?!


Not a very good list

[Twillig]

26. After the disgrace of the "Hundred greatest guitarists list,"

who the hell cares what they think?

[LostinVA]

33. Karen Carpenter should be WAY higher

[Danger Mouse]

36. Seriously. Their rating system is crap.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

50. True, dat

You can't learn to sing with that kind of phrasing, expression and tonal beauty, you either can or you can't. Very few can.

[LostinVA]

81. Exactly -- you can or you can't

And, I don't think you can teach a certain...pathos in a voice, either.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

116. I hated the Carpenters when I was a teen

but years later I came to realize that what I hated about them was the parasitic Norm Colemen-like weasel Richard (a good keyboard player and arranger whose treacly tastes I could never respect), who rose to fame on the coattails of his exquisitely talented and fatally insecure sister, one of the best pure singers of the 20th century.

[LostinVA]

117. I couldn't have put it better myself

Except that I liked them as a teen.

[Tektonik]

34. Whitney should be higher

[yellowdogintexas]

46. scratch Whitney and replace her with Linda Ronstadt. Purest voice ever. nt

Whitney should be banned for what she did to "I Will Always Love You" Just listen to Dolly sing it and you will understand. Unless you like Whitney, which obviously I do not.

[Bake]

131. True dat on Ronstadt!

Pure voice. I love love love the Trio with Ronstadt, Dolly, and Emmylou. come to think of it, is Emmylou on the list?

Bake

[flvegan]

35. No Alanis? No Madonna?

Like them or hate them, they're awesome compared to some of the flotsam/jetsam on this list.

[Fire Walk With Me]

37. This list is dead. It's all messed up.

-Paraphrasing Night of the Living Dead...

[jmowreader]

38. They put Axl Rose and Kurt Cobain on here?

:wtf:

Fat Mike from NOFX sings better than either one of those two assholes, and he SUCKS.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

39. Any list of rock singers that does not include Annie Haslam

is by definition a joke. And Bjork (who shouldn't be on this list even if it ran to 500 singers) above Ronnie Spector? Puh-leeeze. Rock critics love masturbation and there's a lot of it on this list.

[Systematic Chaos]

44. Thank you for pointing out the first thought to enter my mind.

Annie Haslam belongs in the top ten!

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

65. With you there, GG!

I actually met her back in the 1970s. I'd struck up a conversation with then fellow Rickenbacker-playing bassist Jon Camp at a club gig and he said they'd be back to Mpls in a theater in a few months and he'd bring me backstage to meet the band. He was good on his word, and I was able to spend a few minutes chatting with him, Terry Sullivan and Annie when they played the State Theatre.

What was striking about Annie, offstage, is that she was tiny, barely coming up past my shoulder (I am 6'1"), slender, and astonishingly, drop dead now beautiful. I mean your head snaps off its u-joint as it spins around when she walked by gorgeous. Very sweet and unpretentious, to boot; just a nice English girl. How that gargantuan, epic voice came out of such a small (but very curvy and sexy) person never failed to amaze me after meeting her. The only other singer in her class in the rock genre, interpreted somewhat loosely, was the late, great Sandy Denny, and as good as she was, she didn't have Annie's boggling technical chops or effortless four-and-a-half octave range. If Mariah Carey ever heard Haslam, she would die of sheer embarrassment.

[NoGOPZone]

40. Barry White and both of the Righteous Brothers should be on the list nt

[PittPoliSci]

41. Pretty pathetic list.

Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb...

[Fire Walk With Me]

42. Nat King Cole.

And Jim Thirwell kicks Robert Plant's whiney ass all the way there and back again. But most folks will never know his name...

Controversy sells. And sells. If we weren't talking about it, they wouldn't sel magazines.

[Tikki]

43. Yeah, yeah...they're all great ....Where is Joey Ramone on that list!!!!

Tikki

[Sebastian Doyle]

47. Where the fuck is David Lee Roth, god damn it?

He's not a "singer" like Pavarotti was a singer, but as a ROCK singer, he definitely belongs in the top 10.

And what about Bon Scott? Rob Halford, for fucks sake??

[Blue_In_AK]

49. Annie Lennox should certainly be higher than 93.

Bogus list.

[regnaD kciN]

51. If Bob Dylan is #7...

...#8 - #100 should consider suicide. :evilgrin:

[Sanity Claws]

52. Art Garfunkel? Is that a joke?

He has some talent but he is not in the top 100 of anything.
He would never have had any kind of fame had he not been Paul Simon's partner.

[tigereye]

53. Patsy Cline should be higher, I think

and as much as I love Lou Reed, I'm not sure he should be ahead of Ronnie Spector and John Fogarty. He's a great song- writer, but not that great a singer. From that standpoint, where is Paul Simon?


The top 20 seem fairly ok. NIce to see Etta James on the list, too.

[stanwyck]

102. I love Patsy Cline's voice

a magical voice.

[Thickasabrick]

55. Dan Fogelberg should have been on there....I call bullshit

[motely36]

127. my favorite

I love the Innocent Age Double Album

[HughBeaumont]

56. Ah, more popularity contest lists. Where the hell is Mike Patton?

He has a wider range than at least 7/8ths of this list and can do nearly every vocal style known to the world of music. Singing should be more than just doing what the in-house writers deliver to you.

[mainegreen]

97. Exactly what I was thinking.

If Mike Patton isn't on that list, you can immediately dismiss it as a load of bullshit espoused by a clueless ninny.

[BlueJazz]

58. Rolling Stone is to Music as ...My Dog is to Quantum Mechanics.

What a Fucking Joke....

[Lindsey]

59. Pathetic list. Karen Carpenter & Pasty Cline have two of the

purest voices EVER (and I'm basically a rock & roller- but if you're talking really great voices - this list is ridiculous). And someone else mentioned this but did Garfunkel make the list and Paul Simon not - WTF? No offense to Garfunkel but he has maybe 1/10 of the talent as Paul Simon.....How the Hell did they come up with this?

[jobycom]

61. Where the Hell is Rick Astley? Roxette? John Ashcroft?

Roseanne Barr?

[bluesbassman]

62. Yeah, and what about William Shatner?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvQwXOCKNLY

[jobycom]

63. Hell. How'd they forget HIM?

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

64. No Sinatra?

Bob Dylan in the top 10, as usual. Jan Wenner is so predictable. I'm surprised he didn't make the cover of the "women in rock" and hip-hop issues as well.

[PBS Poll-435]

66. OMFG a Lounge thread that is worthy of GDP!!!

NT!

[old mark]

76. The virus is spreading.....nt

[enigmatic]

67. George Jones at 43????

Any list of the 100 greatest singers that has George Jones rated lower than Bono, let alone not in the top 5, is instantly worthless.

[blitzen]

105. My thoughts exactly...In fact, I expected to see him #1....

except for the fact that country singers usually don't fare too well in these sorts of rankings.

[MrSlayer]

68. Ronnie James Dio laughs at this list.

Even at 65 he has more power and range than nearly everyone on this list.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

85. Yep.

[WinkyDink]

69. I see opera is well-represented.

[BlueJazz]

79. Yep...as well as some of the Great Jazz singers.

The truly funny part is a lot of the singers on "American Idol" would blow 3/4 of the List off of the Stage. :)

[alphafemale]

71. What... No Mr. Loaf?

Is this fat discrimination again?



bastids!

:rofl:

[ProfessorGAC]

72. My List Of The Missing, But Deserved

Minnie Riperton
Cyndi Lauper
Ann Wilson
Micky Thomas
Cy Curnin
Danny Elfman

There were two more my friend and i thought of, but i can't remember them right now. There are folks on that list that could and should be removed to make room for these greats.
The Professor

[Mendocino]

74. Van Morrison at 28?

And where is Grace Slick, Ray Davies, Lowell George, Jon Anderson or David Byrne?

[Mendocino]

86. Van at #24, sorry.

Still sad, should be in top five if not at #1.

[GCP]

77. They missed out Peter Gabriel and Eddie Vedder

Both great singers IMHO.

[nuxvomica]

78. Where's Allison Krause, Christine McVie, Leon Redbone?

Also, most of the folks at 75 to 100 should be rated higher. Dolly Parton could outsing the whole list.
I could be here all day.

[pscot]

80. Sinatra? Billie Holiday? Louie Prima?

Nat Cole? What about Ella? And what about the people who appeared in Broadway shows? This list is a joke.

[kath]

104. The list was based on favorite singers **"of the rock era"** (see the intro to the article)

[Beaverhausen]

87. Ann Wilson from Heart NEVER gets the respect she deserves. Also Jon Anderson from Yes and Kate Bush

this list is fucked. Kurt Cobain? Bob Dylan? Please :puke:

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

91. Good points

Ann Wilson deserves a ranking comparable to Robert Plant, who is her exact counterpart - an incredibly powerful hard rock singer who is comfortable with virtually any style. Jon Anderson is astoundingly gifted, a natural countertenor (rarest vocal range there is amongst us humans) and if anything, has become a better singer through the years.

[sasquatch]

88. Hank Williams sr. should be in the top ten at the very least

[Beaverhausen]

89. Where's Todd Rundgren? did they realize this list was supposed to be a list of singers?

I've been thinking of letting my subscription run out - I think this sealed it.

[darkstar]

95. what an aTRocity

old TR didn't make it

[kaiden]

93. Why is Axl Rose on this list?

He hasn't done anything for 20 years -- and is NOT -- in any way -- Todd Rundgren!

Disclaimer: I do think his voice is amazing . . .

But he's not Todd.

[astral]

101. Neil Young's on there but Neil Diamond's not?

blasphemy. Not that I mind Neil Young! Whether people think he can sing or not, many women love the sound of his voice.

But -- Neil Diamond! He was my first real favorite singer.

[hamsterjill]

119. Neil Diamond should be on there!

I just saw him in October for the umpteenth time. He's still awesome.

A class act and a classy guy!

[blitzen]

106. I like Willie, but Waylon in his prime (1965-75) was an infinitely greater...

singer than Willie. Waylon needs to be on this list.

[Zavulon]

107. I stopped reading when I saw Dylan's name.

The guy probably farts more melodically than he sings, and to have him in the top ten is a sick joke.

I can therefore assume Springsteen is on the list, and his singing sucks too.

[grannylib]

109. Axl Rose?? WTF?? He can't fucking sing...and where the hell is NEIL FINN???

Probably the most underrated singer/songwriter of all time.

Axl ROSE??? What a pathetic entry. Whiny nasal screeching is NOT singing.

[gmoney]

126. I second Neil Finn...

Recall all the printed editions immediately. :)

[mvd]

138. Third him

I could have mentioned Pink on my list, and Alison Krauss was also overlooked among others.

[Montauk6]

110. I call BOGUS on this entire list

The problem is there's no definition here; do they mean the 100 greatest singers of the rock-and-roll family tree of genres? Or OVERALL for ALL TIME?

Because if the latter, they should be sued (j/k)!

But seriously, you're gonna leave off

Ella Fitzgerald
Frank Sinatra
Johnny Mathis
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Vaughn Monroe
Andy Williams
Joe Williams
Sarah Vaughn
Nancy Wilson
Edith Piaf
Judy Garland
Frankie Laine
Nat King Cole
Billy Eckstine


But, I faintly suspect it's the former, how can you POSSIBLY omit

Brian Johnson (and I'm not even an AC/DC fan)
Cyndi Lauper
Teena Marie
Dennis Edwards
Sade
Levi Stubbs
Tori Amos
Dionne Warwick
Gladys Knight
Bobby Darin
Sting
Peter Gabriel
Phil Collins
George Harrison

[Dinger]

111. My #1: Johnny Cash!

[Wetzelbill]

120. I was thinking top 5, at least top 10

[JohnnieGordon]

115. Donna Summer has a fabulous voice

Very powerful and underrated. She's also one of the most successful artists to have been left out of the R&R Hall of Fame. Oh well, I'm glad to be one of the lucky ones who appreciates her.

[Wetzelbill]

121. This list leaves a lot to be desired

Some worthy picks but I don't agree with the positioning at all. Johnny Cash, Van Morrison, John Fogerty, George Jones, Buddy Holly, Bonnie Raitt and Janis Joplin should be higher.

[WI_DEM]

123. self edit, I see explanation.

[WI_DEM]

124. Where's Miley Cyrus?

:evilgrin:

[WI_DEM]

125. I think Rick Nelson deserves a place on this list.

[Rabrrrrrr]

128. They must be working on a pretty bizarre definition of "singer"

Some of them are great songwriters, but not at all good singers, even if I do still like them: Tom Waits, Neil Young, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Howlin' Wolf, Bruce Springsteen, and some others.

I find it sad that Whitney Houston is on there, too. She's not a good singer at all - she's a cliche singer modified by the experts in the post-production booth.

[MissMillie]

129. that's a horrible list

while there are some terrific performers and song-writers at the top of that list, many of them I would not consider to be great singers.

very disappointing.

[mvd]

132. Here are some of my favs

From that list (I left a couple out because I like the overall music more than the voice, and some I didn't know enough about) -

Aretha Franklin
Elvis Presley
Sam Cooke
John Lennon
Marvin Gaye
Bob Dylan
Otis Redding
Paul McCartney
Roy Orbison
Mick Jagger
Tina Turner
Freddie Mercury
Smokey Robinson
Etta James
Van Morrison
Michael Jackson (up through Bad)
Jackie Wilson
Hank Williams
Janis Joplin
Bono
Dusty Springfield
Bruce Springsteen
Neil Young
Elton John
Jeff Buckley
Curtis Mayfield
Patsy Cline
Jim Morrison
Buddy Holly
Donny Hathaway
Gladys Knight
Brian Wilson
Luther Vandross
Mavis Staples
Eric Burdon
Rod Stewart
Roger Daltrey
Lou Reed
Wilson Pickett
Ronnie Spector
John Fogerty
Dolly Parton
James Taylor
Merle Haggard
Frankie Valli
Patti Smith
Art Garfunkel
Don Henley
Willie Nelson
Solomon Burke
Al Green
The Everly Brothers
Annie Lennox
Karen Carpenter
Stevie Nicks
Steven Tyler

Some others:

Paul Simon
Frank Sinatra
Andrea Corr
A Fine Frenzy
Michelle Branch
Robin Zander
Patty Loveless
George Strait
Emmylou Harris
Vince Gill
Garth Brooks
Courtney Love
Eddie Vedder
Michael Stipe
Alicia Keys
Rosemary Clooney
Susanna Hoffs
Debbie Harry
Amy Ray & Emily Saliers
Melissa Etheridge
Sheryl Crow
Cyndi Lauper
Natalie Maines
Madonna (not the most powerful, but one of the best tones)
Bonnie McKee
Kay Hanley
Nina Gordon
Sinead O'Connor
Alanis Morissette (acquired taste; I love it)
The Pierces
Cindy Alexander
Chris Isaak
Bing Crosby
Steven Page
Mary Weiss
Ric Ocasek
Brandi Carlile
Noelle from Damone
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Amy Winehouse
Kelly Clarkson
Lucinda Williams
Leslie Mills
Steve Earle
Billie Joe Armstrong
Sarah McLachlan
Loretta Lynn
Jim Reeves
Jill Scott
Anthony Hamilton
Harriet Wheeler
Aimee Mann

and more..

[Love Bug]

133. Where's Harry Nilsson?

[whistler162]

136. That list was good for a laugh!!!

No Ella, Frank Sinatra, Frankie Lane, or Mel Torme!

Worthless list!

[mvd]

137. Ella was overlooked

Overlooked her on my list too, but there were too many fine choices to remember at once.

[WinkyDink]

139. One of the greatest non-operatic voices of the last century: Chad Mitchell.

This list is SOOOOOO bogus!!