I wonder why any professional musician would want to emulate someone else? Garg has the right idea I think. Sound like yourself.

A professionally successful vocalist, I think, is one that when you hear them on radio or on a recording, you know precisely who that vocalist is. Why try to sound like them?

Make your own voice immediately recognizable.

At least that's my thinking on the subject.

As to vocalists I admire: Burl Ives, Eddy Arnold, Jimmy Buffet, Perry Como, Dinah Shore, Jo Stafford, John Prine, Rick Fielding, Kendall Morse, Mary Black, and lots more.

DougR