OT: Rock and Roll lead singers

[UC313]

Layne Staley
Chris Cornell
Cedric Bixler-Zavala

So stoked someone mentioned cedric. The mars volta was a very interesting experience live.

Mavis Staples is my female choice.

 

[alexd]

Still...to this day...probably the greatest American band you've never heard of.....The Blasters....and Phil Alvin at the mic...

 

[RabidHusky]

Michael MacDonald
Tom Johnson - long train runnin - doobies
Don Henley -last working eagle

 

[8893]

Still...to this day...probably the greatest American band you've never heard of.....The Blasters....and Phil Alvin at the mic...

Saw them at Cafe Nine in New Haven. Great bar band. I really like Dave Alvin and have seen him there and elsewhere a few times with his Dirty Women and Dirty Men bands.

 

[B1GEast]

The incredible Johnny Lang

 

[superjohn]

He had a series of shows he called "Midnight Rambles" at his barn in Woodstock and he would play with his band and special guests. It was basically like attending a kegger at your good friend's house, if your friend was Levon and he had a great band and the coolest barn that was both a residence and a performance space/recording studio. It was BYOB and there was a big potluck table where people brought food to share. It couldn't have been a more relaxed setting. Maybe 100 people or so. It felt like hallowed ground to us.

During the regular Midnight Rambles there were no pictures allowed, and Levon was nice and gracious but didn't mingle a lot, understandably, as everyone wanted to talk to him. His kitchen was right off the main room and he would enter from there to take the stage. After attending the first one we noticed that he had a knack for finding all the ladies on his route to the stage and giving them a nice little squeeze, hug and/or kiss as he walked by, so of course we positioned ourselves there for future visits and my wife and a few friends were lucky enough get a little Levon lovin' a few times.

The Kids' Ramble was a little different. It was like going to Grandpa Levon's house, as he mingled with the kids the entire time and really couldn't get enough of them. Pictures were allowed and we got a lot with him; he stopped and chatted with my girls for several minutes and graciously posed for pics. My youngest daughter was only a year old at the time and I'll never forget him playfully whispering her name in her ear repeatedly as he posed for pictures, saying "We gon' dance tonight!" with the biggest, warmest smile that characteristic drawl that just melts you.

So happy we got to do that, and I would give anything to be able to have that experience again.

I still vividly remember standing maybe ten feet from him when we was sitting on the stool at the front of the stage for the "Atlantic City" opener. It was all dark except for a single spotlight on him for the first verse, and then when the band kicked in behind him the houselights came up. It was magical. Getting goosebumps again now as I type--and a little misty again...

That's amazing, those are some experiences you and your family will never forget. My mom was in town a month or so ago and we were walking downtown looking for a place to eat and saw Mavis Staples was playing at the Chicago Symphony. I'm sure you've seen the performance from The Last Waltz, Mavis is in her late 70's and she still has it.

 

[superjohn]

The incredible Johnny Lang

He's playing here this weekend and there are still tickets available, hmmmm.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Freddie Mercury's Live Aid performance should be required viewing for every front man of a band. He owned the crowd for every second of the performance.

 

[8893]

That's amazing, those are some experiences you and your family will never forget. My mom was in town a month or so ago and we were walking downtown looking for a place to eat and saw Mavis Staples was playing at the Chicago Symphony. I'm sure you've seen the performance from The Last Waltz, Mavis is in her late 70's and she still has it.

I absolutely love Mavis. Her voice always makes me happy, and yeah you right she's still got plenty. Her last two albums have been fantastic--last year's was one of my favorite albums of 2016. I've seen her a few times in the past five years or so at a couple different festivals and she has been great.

Did you know that Bob Dylan proposed to her back in the day? Can you imagine their offspring? Someone with his pen and her vocal talents could rule the world.

They have a great duet on his "Gonna Change My Way of Thinking" on an album called The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan. It's worth tracking down just for the rapport between the two of them before the song.

 

[formerlurker]

The 80s had some very unique male vocalists that I liked, maybe haven't withstood the test of time?

I saw The Cure at MSG last June and Robert Smith sounded better than ever. Looks like but his voice was amazing.

 

[Brownie]

Hard to believe that this was 10 years ago. Makes me teary just thinking about it again. The NYT happened to be at Levon's barn when we brought our family to one of the Kids Rambles, and two of my kids were lucky enough to be among the crowd in this pic from the article (Anna Lee, of "The Weight" fame was also there that day; she's a friend of Levon's from home):

Those of you into Levon should check out Bow Thayer, with whom Levon occasionally records and plays. Dude is out of VT and plays great Americana music that you just don't hear in mainstream music anymore.

 

[Brownie]

For me there is only one and he is Raymond Douglas Davies. Not the greatest voice in rock but IMO the greatest singer/songwriter. And tragically underrated.

 

[superjohn]

I absolutely love Mavis. Her voice always makes me happy, and yeah you right she's still got plenty. Her last two albums have been fantastic--last year's was one of my favorite albums of 2016. I've seen her a few times in the past five years or so at a couple different festivals and she has been great.

Did you know that Bob Dylan proposed to her back in the day? Can you imagine their offspring? Someone with his pen and her vocal talents could rule the world.

They have a great duet on his "Gonna Change My Way of Thinking" on an album called The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan. It's worth tracking down just for the rapport between the two of them before the song.

Didn't know about Dylan until after I saw the concert. Read all about her the next day. Dylan wanted to marry her, huge in the Civil Rights Movement, Pops Staples was best buddies with Dr. King etc. She's had one hell of a life.

You would have enjoyed this show, back in her hometown with a crowd full of like-minded people. A few subtle references to POTUS and how she ain't even close to done marching. Good times!

 

[UConnfan8]

Layne Staley
Chris Cornell
Cedric Bixler-Zavala

You think anyone else on here knows who CBZ or TMV/ATDI are?

 

[metsfan2323]

For Voice and stage presence (gotta be able to move on the stage, I love my LED ZEP albums but Plant always looked like he never knew what to do on stage except play something close to air guitar)

In no particular order my top 5:

Elvis
Prince
James Brown
Freddie Mercury
Michael Jackson (never my cup of tea, but gotta give the man his due, he owned the stage)

 

[tdrink]

You think anyone else on here knows who CBZ or TMV/ATDI are?

That got a few likes so there must be some.

Anyone who doesn't know, it's their loss. The guy has an amazing set of pipes..

 

[Husky25]

And argument can be made that the Eagles were not exactly rock 'n roll. Be that as it may, I always liked Frey's voice over Henley's. Though Henley sang at least three absolute classic tunes (Hotel California, The Long Run, Desperado).

It might be his lower voice, but Frey kills it, IMO, on Lyin' Eyes, Take it Easy, Peaceful Easy Feeling, and took over for Randy Miesner on Take it to the Limit.

Other considerations between the two include solo work. Frey was more rock (Smugglers' Blues, You Belong to the City) and Henley morphed into Adult contemporary (Dirty Laundry, End of the Innocence, Last Worthless Evening, Heart of the Matter. Though Axl sings back up on I will not Go Quietly).

As long as I'm on the subject of bands with more than one singer, Roth in his prime was a better frontman, but Hagar destroys him in terms of musicianship and vocal range.

Also, Bradley Delp may have been the primary singer in the band, Boston, but make no mistake that Tom Shultz is/was the unquestioned leader.

Finally, '72-'76 era Steven Tyler for the win.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I'd like to be in that room.

Yeah, and you could add Tom Waits and make it the CSNY songbook, but Young can't sing his own songs.

 

[Huskies4ever]

I like Brian Johnson but he's more a screamer than a singer.

That can make you great as a rock frontman.

 

[Horatio]

 

[Husky25]

Not gonna quote myself but...but Frey kills it on Already Gone as well.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Four pages in and I don't think I'll derail this, but I long ago noticed great American frontmen were individuals or individuals with a backing band.

American put way more emphasis on the man on the mic; Brits stayed with the group.

Elvis
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Prince and The Revolution
James Brown
Michael Jackson
Jimi Hendrix Experience
Bob Dylan
Etc.

The Brits were all about the band

Led Zeppelin
Beatles
Stones
The Who
Queen
Pink Floyd
Etc.

 

[boba]

Because he said the category was men only?

Apologies, reading before amphetamines always results in error. even worse when it's after glue.

 

[Ewekon]

Mick Jagger invented the live lead man and to the present no one has surpassed him in his hey day ..... and I would have to put Freddie Mercury as 1A. Both literally had the audience in the palms of their hands. But Jagger invented the cock sure yet androgynous lead. Friggin' Adam Levine paid tribute. (Anyone else see the Stones and Maroon 5 at The Rent?).

There are too many to list and until 5 years ago I was still checking out the latest and newest bands (then my kids grew up and moved out of the area, damn them. Lost my concert buds.) But I've never seen Jagger and Freddie matched. Seen Pearl jam bunches of times and Eddie is amazing as well. A real highlight for me was Pearl Jam opening for The Stones in the Oakland Coliseum in '97.

So going a little off topic I will turn to 1971 which to me is a watershed year for album oriented rock and for top 40. Check out these 1971 releases:

Sticky Fingers
Who's Next
Led Zeppelin IV
Every Picture Tells A Story (I agree, when Rod was good he was great ..... plus the Jeff Beck collaborations)
Master of Reality

And OK.....Tapestry

Top 40 drew from every genre. To this day I bet a lot of us know the words to these songs and the younguns might know them as well:

Joy to the World
Maggie May
It's Too Late
Just My Imagination
Me and Bobbly McGee
What's Going On?
Brown Sugar
Ain't No Sunshine
Proud Mary (Ike and Tina version)

Timeless stuff.

 

[storrsroars]

Some random thoughts based on names I've seen in this thread...

My issue with Freddie Mercury is that, IMO, Queen's best songs were written by May and Taylor, and specifically on songs like "39" and "Drowse", when done live and Mercury handled the singing, the songs were markedly worse than the album versions where May and Taylor did the leads. I think Freddie actually did his best work on their 1st album, which nobody remembers.

If we're talking RnR and not soul (which would eliminate JB), Gillan was tops in my book. Guy could hit and hold any note. But, like Daltrey, he hasn't been able to hit his notes in quite some time.

Perry had a great voice, but too many ballads, not enough rockers for my taste. In a face-off with Zander, Robin wins based on that criterion alone.

Marriott was incredible. Criminally overlooked on lists of phenomenal artists we lost too soon.

Happy to see someone remembered Burton Cummings. He could do anything.

I'll throw out a guy not mentioned who's now customizing cars instead of singing: Rob Dickinson (Catherine Wheel). Although he also shared lead guitar duties, so not a traditional sing-only frontman.