Cedar Grove, NC
James Mangrum, Axl, Chris Cornell, Ozzy, Nas, Eminem
Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Patti Smith, Aretha Franklin, Chrissie Hynde, Rickie Lee Jones, Stevie Nicks
(Topic ID: 309940)
Quoted from Llabnip1972:Mike Patton
Was the first I thought of...
Freddie Mercury, David Bowie and Elton John all have indelible voices.
There are not a lot of female singers in the kinds of music the I listen too. As far as voices go I really did like Pat Benatar and Joan Jett back in the day. Not my style of music, but Rihanna has a great voice. Heard her sing some old classics before and also the DC Veteran's day concert a few years back was really impressed with her range and the way she really put her heart into it.
Metals big 4 back in the day Ronnie James Dio, Bruce Dickinson, rob halford, and Geoff Tate. Other singers would be smoking butts and drinking whiskey before a show. These guys are sipping tea. Or in halfords case…
Ronnie sang real good up till the end. The others can’t really hit the notes anymore but what do you expect these guys are 60-70. But back in the early 80s these guys were monsters. Check out Tate live ‘85 “take hold of the flame”.
Also Fish(marillion), king diamond, Jeff Scott soto, Klause meine, Phil lynott
David Draiman from Disturbed has an amazing voice and a huge range.
Kinda too bad Disturbed doesn't do more songs that show off his full range like their cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence".
Draiman's version is incredibly powerful and emotional.
Ronnie James Dio: best vocalist, best frontman for every band he was involved with (including Sabbath).
(See? So great he could even do Christian music!)
Steve Walsh:
Candia Ridley (Inkubus Sukkubus). Throwing a fairly obscure one into the mix but she has an amazingly melodic voice and deserves to be more widely known:
(Never again, people!)
David Gilmour is my all time fav singer/guitarist. Here’s a few shots from the United Center 2017 when I was able to snag 4th row center tickets. Saw him 3 times that week in Chicago - Best week of my life.
713397F1-DD3A-4DAB-880B-26D0E1A9FF4A (resized).jpegD878DA49-95E9-4CE5-A08F-C3E58A29728E (resized).jpegF4185318-1437-47CE-9A9B-768003085057 (resized).jpeg
Quoted from Mike_J:Stevie Nicks
Linda Ronstadt
Patsy Cline
Johnny Mathis
Rod Stewart
Elvis
Sam Cooke
Nat King Cole
Glad you mentioned Nat, I was going to.
Let me add Roy Orbison and Etta James since I don't think I saw their names.
Quoted from PismoArcade:[quoted image]
Drake doesn’t get nearly the recognition he deserves for vocals OR songwriting. Unfortunately he is also one of the saddest cases in music (just look at his image on that cover 
), and knowing his history it’s difficult to listen to some of his songs (especially on Pink Moon).
Leonard Cohen
The last song he recorded is a masterpiece, with a voice that aged like the finest wine:
Ok…here we go again. Just like the best guitarist thread you have to look at this as best vocalist then you could debate about best frontman. Big difference as DLR is a TERRIBLE singer and Van Halen took a chance with him and it worked but barely. Great frontman though.
Best Rock vocalist is Sammy Hagar period. Numerous people have also said he is just the best hands down for rock. He was also the singer Van Halen really wanted in the very beginning but DLR had a lot of flair…they had concerns if he could hit the notes in the studio but they made it work…..for a while.
Johnny Cash- perfect for the music he sang- country, gospel, folk etc. his voice and way he could tell a story is something you could feel in your bones.
Roy Orbison- incredible range
Metal- Halford or Tate. They both are damn good. I may have to give it to Tate as I saw Queensryche in 92 on the Empire tour. They did about 45 min set then took about 20-30 min break for set change and then did Operation Mindcrime in it’s entirety….total show was over 3 hours. How the hell his voice could do that for an entire tour is crazy.
Tons of good female singers so it’s hard to narrow it down to the best.
Quoted from Pickle:Ok…here we go again. Just like the best guitarist thread you have to look at this as best vocalist then you could debate about best frontman. Big difference as DLR is a TERRIBLE singer and Van Halen took a chance with him and it worked but barely. Great frontman though.
Best Rock vocalist is Sammy Hagar period. Numerous people have also said he is just the best hands down for rock. He was also the singer Van Halen really wanted in the very beginning but DLR had a lot of flair…they had concerns if he could hit the notes in the studio but they made it work…..for a while.
Johnny Cash- perfect for the music he sang- country, gospel, folk etc. his voice and way he could tell a story is something you could feel in your bones.
Roy Orbison- incredible range
Metal- Halford or Tate. They both are damn good. I may have to give it to Tate as I saw Queensryche in 92 on the Empire tour. They did about 45 min set then took about 20-30 min break for set change and then did Operation Mindcrime in it’s entirety….total show was over 3 hours. How the hell his voice could do that for an entire tour is crazy.
Tons of good female singers so it’s hard to narrow it down to the best.
To be fair, this one is titled "favorite vocalist", not "best vocalist"-- haha. Paul McCartney is my favorite, but I also think he's the best. He wrote or co-wrote the best songs, so he's singing the best songs for starters. Also, he's playing bass while doing it all, so paying attention to multiple "instruments". Anyone who records "Yesterday" and "I'm Down" during the same recording session has to be up there. McCartney could go soft or raucous and everything in between. He finally paid for it as his voice is all but shot now. All in the name of rock and roll, I guess.
Quoted from Thermionic:Drake doesn’t get nearly the recognition he deserves for vocals OR songwriting. Unfortunately he is also one of the saddest cases in music (just look at his image on that cover ), and knowing his history it’s difficult to listen to some of his songs (especially on Pink Moon).
Agreed. I'm sort of a Nick Drake geek. Have all of the books, etc.
It's such a shame that he only released three albums in his short lifetime nor did he live to see how popular they became posthumously. Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layter and Pink Moon are all perfect, in my opinion although none sold more than 3000 copies when they were first released. Also zero recordings of him live unless you count the John Peel stuff.
Prague
Quoted from usandthem:To be fair, this one is titled "favorite vocalist", not "best vocalist"-- haha. Paul McCartney is my favorite, but I also think he's the best. He wrote or co-wrote the best songs, so he's singing the best songs for starters. Also, he's playing bass while doing it all, so paying attention to multiple "instruments". Anyone who records "Yesterday" and "I'm Down" during the same recording session has to be up there. McCartney could go soft or raucous and everything in between. He finally paid for it as his voice is all but shot now. All in the name of rock and roll, I guess.
Yeah you got me as the title does say favorite…so I will let you slide with McCartney…none of the Beatles would win a best vocalist contest even in their best years. They sang well enough to “pass the audition” and obviously McCartney/Lennon wrote tons of really good songs. Paul did what he loved…and age hits everyone so of course his voice is gone….happens to many singers unfortunately. I think we identify favorite sometimes with how we hear a song originally from a band/artist and that’s how a song is supposed to sound. Vocals are a huge part of that and why many bands are never the same with a new singer. I couldn’t imagine what the Beatles would sound like without Paul or John….their was something special for sure.
Kind of like Motörhead…I couldn’t imagine anyone but Lemmy singing those songs…he was never gonna win a singing contest but his sound was perfect for his music.
Sinatra, Andy Williams, Bobby Darin
Lennon and McCartney
Roger Daltrey
Jagger
Frankie Valli
Carl Wilson
Gin Wigmore
Herb Alpert (j/k)
Quoted from Thermionic:Leonard Cohen
The last song he recorded is a masterpiece, with a voice that aged like the finest wine:
One of my favourite songs, reminds me a bit of Billy Idols near death experience.
I think Rod Stewart is one of the most underrated voices in the last 50 years , he's got so many hits but people don't realise it .
Janis Joplin for the female singers she has some unbelievable songs .
It looks like , I like raw voices :-
Rod Stewart - hot legs
Janis Joplin - Bobby McGee
Paul Rodgers, Peter Gabriel, Bono and Elvis.
Bonnie Raitt, Whitney Houston, Pat Benatar, Paula Cole...
Jokingly - Soohia Urista - Brass Against
Seriously for me Chris Cornell comes to mind first.
Pat Benatar warmed up her vocals before a concert with just me in the room by singing a couple songs. Cool experience but I don't have her in my top 10.
One of the groups I never got to see perform was The Four Tops when Levi Stubbs was the lead vocalist.
The guy had a unique vocal and because he was pushed to sing in a higher key, made for some great songs and moments. From all accounts, he was a cool dude as well.
Already listed. Dio, Geoff Tate, Pat Benatar
I haven't seen listed: Peter Steele of Type O Negative.
Id say that Tom Waits is my favourite vocalist, he wont win a song contest with his unique bourbon soaked ashtray voice.
Though he actually sang pretty well in the early years.
A few other awesome vocalists:
Robin Zander of Cheap Trick. He's like the Todd Rundgren of singers. He's probably your favorite singer's favorite singer.
Benjamin Orr of The Cars. Ric Ocasek said that when he needed a real singer, he'd give the song to Ben. Hell of a bassist too.
Brad Delp of Boston. Awesome crystal clear, high-pitched, got his balls cut off singer.
Quoted from skink91:Floor Jansen
Unbelievable singer and mostly unknown in the US. Has incredible voice control and versatility from growls to opera.
Some tidbits of her abilities-
Live with Nightwish
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