Rolling Stone just released their top 100 Greatest Singers of All Time; a list compiled by "industry insiders" such as Bruce Springsteen and Alicia Keys. They asked them to list their favorite singers from the rock era (which kind of contradicts "of All Time" in my opinion), but here is their list - who would you add/remove?:
1 Aretha Franklin
2 Ray Charles
3 Elvis Presley
4 Sam Cooke
5 John Lennon
6 Marvin Gaye
7 Bob Dylan
8 Otis Redding
9 Stevie Wonder
10 James Brown
11 Paul McCartney
12 Little Richard
13 Roy Orbison
14 Al Green
15 Robert Plant
16 Mick Jagger
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
26 Jackie Wilson
27 Hank Williams
28 Janis Joplin
29 Nina Simone
30 Prince
31 Howlin' Wolf
32 Bono
33 Steve Winwood
34 Whitney Houston
35 Dusty Springfield
36 Bruce Springsteen
37 Neil Young
38 Elton John
39 Jeff Buckley
40 Curtis Mayfield
41 Chuck Berry
42 Joni Mitchell
43 George Jones
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
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
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
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
You can view the list with links to snippets about each singer here (they even have a playlist for each artist with a couple songs powered by Rhapsody): http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/24161972/page/103.
It raises the question of what makes a singer good? Pitch? Control? Range? Finesse? I'm more of the traditional school of thought that says pitch, control and range are more important than finesse; or in other words, substance over style - when it comes to vocals. I agree that Freddie Mercury is one of the greatest vocalists ever, but Bob Dylan? I think he's a great musician but I wouldn't have pegged him as "top ten greatest singers of all time". Some other noteable, curious ommissions: Frank Sinatra, the Beach Boys, Brad Delp, Pat Benatar, Diana Ross, Billy Joel, Sting...
My Top 10 Greatest Singers of All Time would be:
1. Brad Delp (of Boston)
2. Freddie Mercury
3. Stevie Wonder
4. The Beach Boys
5. Frank Sinatra
6. Don Henley (of The Eagles)
7. Frankie Valli
8. Michael Jackson
9. Elton John
10. Aretha Franklin
And some newbies: Sara Bareilles, Tom Chaplin (of Keane) and Anthony Kiedis (of Red Hot Chili Peppers)
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2 comments:
The Beach Boys weren't totally omitted--Brian Wilson made the list. Would you put the Beach Boys collectively versus just Brian?
good catch, I'm going to stick with the Beach Boys: Brian, Carl, Dennis, Mike, Al, the whole lot of them.
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