There is some irony in the fact that perhaps the largest body of powerful female singers recently(ish) would have been the most disempowered and stylised by the industry: the female singers forming the bridge from "race music" into 60's "soul".

It gave us the voices of Etta James, Mary Wells, Diana Ross, Martha Reeves - the list goes on and on, but look at the way they were slicked out by the record business.