Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing

Subject: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: GUEST,The Folk E
Date: 01 Dec 09 - 10:12 PM

The other thread has two much emphasis on the negative. Well perhaps it is more fun, but equal time to those who really do have good pipes. In no order:

Lyle Lovett
Teddy Thompson
Bob Shane
Joan Baez
Waylon Jennings
Marty Robbins
Emmy Lou Harris
Patty Lovelace
Herb Pedersen
Gordon Lightfoot

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: pdq
Date: 01 Dec 09 - 10:23 PM

Perfect.

I thought the same thing from day 1 of that thread.

Herb Pedersen? Emmylou Harris called him "the greatest harmony singer" she ever worked with.

Glen Yarbrough is the greatest voice I have ever heard in person.

Linda Ronstadt is the best female singer I can think of, but Suzy Bogguss is great also.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 01 Dec 09 - 10:26 PM

Ray Charles
Aretha Franklin
Frank Sinatra
Tony Bennett
Ed Trickett
Carmen McRae
Ella Fitzgerald
Richard Hidalgo
Roy Orbison
Tony Williams of the Platters

Anyone want to add another 10? I agree on several of yours, Folke E, although I haven't heard of some of them. By the way, I had a friend many years ago named Folke Johansen. As far as I can remember he didn't like folk music.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: beeliner
Date: 01 Dec 09 - 11:15 PM

The big "O", definitely!

Cleoma Breaux

Dick Price

Will Holt

Ashley Hutchings

Agnetha Falskog (sp?)

Sandy Denny

Terry St. Clair

Dick Justice

Bob Gibson

I've always considered Linda Ronstadt, like Frank Sinatra, a fine entertainer with a terrific stage presence, not really a great singer.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: Genie
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 12:07 AM

Trying to narrow down my list of great singers to my "top 10" is, to me, kind of like People Magazine's annual "Most Beautiful People" list. Once you've listed the top 200 to 500 (or 1000) people who come to mind, the rest is a bit arbitrary.

Just off the top of my head - in no particular order - I could list:

Patsy Cline
Roy Orbison
Nana Mouskouri
Miriam Makeba
Joan Baez
Eva Cassidy
Placido Domingo
Jo Stafford
Alan Clarke (of "the Hollies")
Barry Finn
Aretha Franklin
Ella Fitzgerald
Willie Nelson
Jim Reeves
Marty Robbins
Michael Jackson
Anne Wilson (or her sister Nancy) of "Heart"
Celine Dion
Tracy Chapman
Clay Aiken
Joan Sutherland
Cecilia Bartoli
Edith Piaf
The guy who was the lead singer of The Ink Spots
Stevie Nicks
Robert Plant
Elvis Presley
Glen Yarborough
Emmylou Harris
Linda Ronstadt
Art Garfunkel
Paul Robeson
Annie Lennox
Yma Sumac
Harvey Andrews
Linda Waterfall
Allison Krauss
Elaine Paige
Colm Williamson
Michael Crawford
Diana Crall
Judy Garland
Tony Bennett
Odetta
Marian Anderson
Joan Osborne
Mary Humphreys
Loreena McKibbin (or however she spells her name)
Sissell
Finbar Hughes
Frank Sinatra
Janis Joplin
Harry Belafonte
Dave Guard
Mahalia Jackson


Give me a few more minutes and I'll think of another few dozen.


Then ask me to rank them, and I'll blow a fuse trying,


There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of those who could be in the "top ten."
And, given the number of people whose voices are still available to be heard via the wonders of technology, that's saying a lot!   *g*

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 12:44 AM

This thread could of course go on & on until 'continued p94' makes its appearance. Mention of a few whose innovative or distinctive styles have proved particularly influential might prove instructive — like John Lennon; Martin Carthy; Ewan MacColl; Bert Lloyd; Maddy Prior; June Tabor; Pete Seeger; Peter Bellamy ··· Not meant to be an exhaustive list by any means, but to start a new direction of thought as to influence as well as to ability. All the above, I would argue, are singers whom we have all heard countless others strive, with greater or less success, to sound like. Such influence, I would argue, can sometimes be beneficial, sometimes baleful and restrictive: but it is, I think, a recognisable phenomenon.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: Genie
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 01:01 AM

Yes, M,
And if we don't set up arbitrary "benchmarks" such as "(pitch) range" or "style/genre," we might add many others, e.g. Leon Redbone, Bob Seger, Bob Dylan, Buffy St Marie, Iris Dement, Leadbelly, Louis Armstrong, Frankie Valli, etc.

Oy!!

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 01:26 AM

... or Luisa Tetrazzini; Bing Crosby; Enrico Caruso; Maria Callas; Frank Sinatra; Adelina Patti; Marie Lloyd; Amelita Galli-Curci; Gus Elen — as I said, this one could run&run - contd p 94!

Meanwhile the boy I love is up in the gallery... You could see him if it wasn't for the houses in between.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 01:53 AM

... not to mention [didn't think that was really it, did you!] Elvis Presley; Eartha Kitt; Albert Chevalier; Maurice Chevalier; Boris Chaliapin; Will Kemp; Giovanni Veluti ['last of the great castrati' Wiki]; Marlene Dietrich; Julie Andrews; Tony Rose; Woody Guthrie...

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 01:56 AM

Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Jackson Browne, Emmie Lou Harris, Ian Tyson (until very recently), Bob Dylan (until somewhat recently), Joan Baez, Linda Ronstadt, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Stan Rogers.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: BobKnight
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 05:30 AM

Great singers - Merle Haggard.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: Acorn4
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 05:37 AM

Dolly Parton.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: GUEST,Steamin' Willie
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 05:41 AM

Cut & paste some of the ones from the "can't sing" thread.....

Ok, female singers of folk, jazz & blues do it for me. I have a special place in my musical affections for Kate Rusby, Maddy Prior, June Tabor etc etc.

Going off on a tangent, Ian Gillan could scream a good note in his Deep Purple days, and the lady on Pink Floyd's "The Great Gig in the Sky" Clare Torry (?) can send a shiver or two.

Truth is, we can all sing if we enjoy it. May be flat as a fart but the enthusiasm can shine through.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 06:29 AM

I like your lists, Genie. Just about every singer would make mine, too. And of course, countless names keep coming to mind. Two I can't believe I didn't put on my first ten are George Jones and Merle Haggard. And then there's Claude Jeter (no relation to Derreck), lead singer of the Swan Silvertones, Archie Brownlee, lead singer of the 5 Blind Boys of Mississippi who almost single-handedly created the fervent shouts in gospel music that led to James Brown, and countless other gospel and R & B singers like Wilson Pickett, Sonny Till of the Orioles and the incomparable Sam Cooke of the Soul Stirrers.

Coming up with the list of ten singers who can't sing was a lot easier.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 06:38 AM

Luke Kelly for Christ's sake!

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: bubblyrat
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 07:12 AM

Mario Lanza
Maria Callas
Jim Reeves
Ray Charles
Harry Secombe
The Girl From Tiger Bay
   Maddy (obviously)
Gracie Fields (when she tried !)
Dave Cousins ( amazing power !)
Ethel Merman (mind blowing)

   Luke Kelly ?? You must be joking !!

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: Smedley
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 07:15 AM

Lots of great singers already listed. I'd add:

Michael Stipe

k.d.lang

Gladys Knight

Mariza

and dozens more..............

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: Bobert
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 07:35 AM

Well, any list that does not have Vince Gill on it is missing one of the purest voices of our time... So...

Vince Gill
Tony Bennett
Craig Fuller (Pure Prarie League)
Faith Hill
Otis Redding
Don and Phil Everley
Roy Orbison
Joan Biaz
Our own, Jerry Rassmussen
...and can't leave out, Nat King Cole

B~

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 07:41 AM

Steve - 'Luke Kelly, for Christ's sake!' ...

Yes indeed — & Ronnie Drew. & no, I must not be joking. & of course Tom Clancy. & Tommy Makem. & Sarah Makem ----- +.+.+.+.+.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 07:43 AM

... & happy to endorse Dolly Parton — "my favourite group", as Billy Connolly said.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 07:54 AM

& talking of Sarah Makem - Now where, within these parameters, do we place the likes of Joseph Taylor, Harry Cox, Walter Pardon, Phil Tanner, Sam Larner, George Dunn, Cyril Poacher; Belle Stewart, Jeannie Robertson, Phoebe Smith [whom I personally cannot abide but recognise her importance & why so many admire her], Mary Brooksbank...???

Not to mention the 'straddlers', as I call them - the conscious true traditional singers who also recognised the significance of their traditions and became scholars & collectors themselves - Seamus Ennis, Paddy Tunney, Bob Copper, Doc Watson...: great singers all, surely - & something more...

&, getting back to my above lists of the 'influentials'; why haven't we heard it for Burl Ives?

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: kendall
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 07:57 AM

It depends on what you mean by "Can sing". Are you talking about talent or popularity? They are not one and the same.
Francis A. Sinatra was hugely popular but even he said he doesn't have a great voice.
I like many of the names listed even though Gordon Bok isn't among them. As far as I'm concerned, Paul Robeson and Placido Domingo top the list.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 08:15 AM

Francis A. Sinatra was hugely popular but even he said he doesn't have a great voice.>>>

Maybe - but what a technique.

As far as I'm concerned, Paul Robeson and Placido Domingo top the list.>>>

& should both have appeared om my 'influential' list likewise.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: kendall
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 08:29 AM

I'd also add Jim Reeves, Marty Robbins and Mario Lanza.

I don't want to get into the field of folk singers because too many of them are friends, so I can't be objective.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 09:11 AM

Mel Torme
John Gorka
Tracy Grammer
Nate King Cole
Cisco Houston
Malvina Reynolds
Iris Dement
Don Edwards
Red Grammer
Ronnie Drew
Rod Stewart
Kenny Rogers
Bobby Darren
Roy Rodgers
Art Garfunkle
The Everley Bros.
Ronnie Browne
Ken Curtis
Baby Gramps
amd on and on.

My list has whom I believe to be great performers.
Ultimately the list is endless and maybe pointless. Unless we use these lists to try out people we haven't heard before. I was never a fan of Sinatra or Elvis. Great singers don't need great voices. Listen to Ronnie Drew and Malvina Reynolds. Go to any church and hear some great voices who aren't great performers outside their context. Few people have the whole package compared to the amount of singers there are in the world. Few can argue that Bobby Darrin was the whole package. Or The Everley's. I hope people who have never met them will check out Malvina and Gramps and Don and Red.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: frogprince
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 10:25 AM

I'm not even going to concern myself with the "top 10" part; whole bunchs of singers whom I love have already been mentioned. I'll just add these from the remaining few million who might qualify.

Anne Hills
Cindy Mangsen
Patricia Herdman
Steve Gillette
Janie
Judy

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 10:54 AM

By Judy, is Ms Garland meant here? Fred Astaire, whatever his virtues, was hardly a top singer [tho a most attractive one at that]; but 'A Couple Of Swells' from 'Easter Parade', his duet with Judy Garland, would probably be my choice of best-ever musical number in a film: even more than the two brilliant ones from 'Singing In The Rain', 'Make Em Laugh' & the title number.

Think that needs a new thread. Watch this space.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: frogprince
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 11:02 AM

Nope: This is the Judy I'm married to : )

         Dean, who is always very objective

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 11:22 AM

From left field - Randy Sparks (before he formed the New Christy Minstrels) was a very credible balladeer.

Rusty Draper (made a hit with Willie Nelson's "Night Life" years ago)

I always thought that country singer Kathy Mattea had a near perfect voice for traditional folk music, had she been so inclined.

In pop, Sinatra always said that Vic Damone had the best pipes in the business. The unspoken inference was that he was a "technician" who lacked "soul." I prefer Tony Bennett, who has both.

Roberta Flack had both great pipes and soul. She might well have been very successful as a folk artist.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 11:27 AM

It was indeed, was it not, Roberta Flack who made Ewan MacColl's fortune by recording one of his songs, which then became the theme song on a film soundtrack, Play Misty For me, and a gargantuan hit?

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: GUEST,Elmore
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 11:56 AM

Priscilla Herdman, Martyn Wyndham-Read, Archie Fisher, James Keelaghan,Jean Redpath, Margaret Christl, Jeannie Stahl, Dave Webber,Evelyne Beers, Sandy Paton.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: C. Ham
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 12:10 PM

These lists are very brief and incomplete.

Kate McGarrigle, Anna McGarrigle, Chaim Tannenbaum, Stan Rogers, Garnet Rogers, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Priscilla Herdman, Anne Hills, Cindy Mangsen, Maddy Prior, June Tabor, Kate Rusby, Nanci Griffith, Ian Tyson (then) and Sylvia Tyson all have great voices.

Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Dave Van Ronk, Robert Johnson, Reverend Gary Davis, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Tom Russell, Ian Tyson (now), Mississippi John Hurt, Michale Smith, Paul Geremia, Louis Armstrong and Alberta Hunter are (or were) all brilliant at communicating the meaning and essence of a song.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: GUEST,Gusty
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 12:13 PM

Nioclas Toibin
Joe Heaney

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 12:18 PM

Roberta Flack had a mega-hit with "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," which was taken from the sound track of Clint Eastwood's first directorial job, "Play Misty For Me." It was, indeed, written by Ewen McColl for Peggy Seeger, who was shortly to become his wife. Does anyone recall that Gordon Lightfoot also recorded this song many years ago (one of the few he did not compose)?

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: Smedley
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 12:20 PM

It's a very widely-recoded song. There's even a great reggae version by Phyllis I-Confess-I-Have-Forgotten-Her-Surname.

And the British folk(ish) singer Kathryn Williams sings in beautifully in concert but has not, sadly, recorded it - or at least I don't think she has.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: Janie
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 12:53 PM

Bonnie Raitt, Maria Muldaur, Ralph Stanley and Nina Simone would all be somewhere near the top of my list of 100, which is probably as far as I could whittle it down.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: John P
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 12:55 PM

In an attempt to keep my list short enough to read, I'll just list some of my favorite traditional folk singers:

Alan Stivell
Martin Carthy
Maddy Prior
Jamie McMenemy
Gabriel Yacoub
Anna Clemenger
Davy Axtell
Marta Sebastien
Jacqui McShee
William Pint
Lena Willemark

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 12:57 PM

Theo Bikel? — great actor as well as singer. His One Sunday Morning just incomparable.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 12:58 PM

Kendall, I'll nominate you, if you'll nominate me.


Kendall Morse.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: pdq
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 01:05 PM

I have not seen Burl Ives mentioned yet, so...

Burl Ives

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 01:13 PM

I mentioned Burl Ives at 07.54 AM

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: Genie
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 01:15 PM

The ones I listed were just those who popped into my mind (and some names piggyback off of others).   You folks are mentions others who are also list-worthy. But I can't believe Sam Cooke and K D Lang didn't pop into my mind earlier!

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: Acorn4
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 01:22 PM

Just skimming through the list looking for omissions - I don't think Mick Ryan has been mentioned, though apologies to whoever included him if I've missed it. His voice just seems to get better all the time.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: pdq
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 01:30 PM

Perhaps these are just "favorites" of mine, but...

Tony Rice

Ricky Skaggs

Bill Clifton

Charley Waller

Marty Robbins

John Duffey

John Starling

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 04:38 PM

Tony Williams is great
Jane Olivor
Glen Yarborough

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 04:53 PM

Ten who haven't been mentioned (I think), in no particular order

Martin Wyndham-Read
Norma Waterson
Phil Callery
Georges Brassens
Enda Kenny
Tim Laycock
Shirley Collins
Steve Knightley
Rick Fielding
Jerry Rasmussen

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 06:20 PM

Not forgetting:

Bob Fox
Anne Briggs
Isla St Clair
Mick Ryan
Mike Nicholson
Dave Burland
Ewan MacColl
Heather Heywood
Cyril Tawney
June Tabor
Hilary Spencer
Tony Rose
and of course Martyn Wyndham-Read

G.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: Grampus
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 06:22 PM

Sorry, that Guest was me minus cookie

G.

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: Ron Davies
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 06:25 PM

I just can't find Mary Black on any of these lists.   She is one who has both a wonderful voice and the heart and soul to communicate the song. (I wish she hadn't decided to go pop--but I suppose earning a living is necessary.   Her older stuff is just wonderful.)

Subject: RE: Top 10 Singers Who CAN Sing
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 06:49 PM

Some how Bruce Murdoch was left off my list. Purely an over sight on my part.

Don