That thread about guitar pickers was such a success. . .

[Kibitzer]

. . . at relieving the off-season boredom (apologies to the UNC hatchers), let's give female singers a little band width. I will list my favorites and others can take it from there. Here's mine:

Jazz - Ella Fitzgerald (simply immortal)

Rock - Janis Joplin (with a nod to Grace Slick)

Country - Natalie Maines (Dixie Chick and occasional political commentator)

Folk - Joan Baez

Broadway - Linda Eder (She sure has the Broadway pipes but very limited time on stage there. You want to make a case for Julie Andrews, feel free.)

Simply greatest singer you have often heard but seldom if ever heard of - Marni Nixon (she was the voice you heard for Natalie Wood in "West Side Story," for Deborah Kerr in "King and I," and for Aubrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady")

Classical - Marilyn Horne (aside from her superlative vocal skills, one of the most gracious ladies to ever grace a concert or opera stage)

Let's see what pleases others' ears. Don't everybody talk at once.

 

[semper]

Ellie Ameling...peerless

 

[MilfordHusky]

Pick your guitar threads carefully. Or plunk your magic twanger.

A classic from my youth:

 

[FairView]

Phew, I was worried this thread was going to be about nose pickers .... or worse.

How about Barbara Striesand? I'm thinking about her stuff when she really sang.
Purely beautiful and powerfully controlled voice and I also consider Cass Elliot.
Debbie Harry gets some uniqueness points.

 

[grizz36]

. . . at relieving the off-season boredom (apologies to the UNC hatchers), let's give female singers a little band width. I will list my favorites and others can take it from there. Here's mine:

Jazz - Ella Fitzgerald (simply immortal)

Rock - Janis Joplin (with a nod to Grace Slick)

Country - Natalie Maines (Dixie Chick and occasional political commentator)

Folk - Joan Baez

Broadway - Linda Eder (She sure has the Broadway pipes but very limited time on stage there. You want to make a case for Julie Andrews, feel free.)

Simply greatest singer you have often heard but seldom if ever heard of - Marni Nixon (she was the voice you heard for Natalie Wood in "West Side Story," for Deborah Kerr in "King and I," and for Aubrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady")

Classical - Marilyn Horne (aside from her superlative vocal skills, one of the most gracious ladies to ever grace a concert or opera stage)

Let's see what pleases others' ears. Don't everybody talk at once.

You named one Horne but neglected another ..... Lena! I think she transcended all the genres.

 

[cohenzone]

Laugh if you will, but I got dragged to a Kelly Clarkson concert and the girl is great in person. She tries many genres in concert and sounds really good in every one of them, pop, rock, broadway, blues - blues might be her strongest suit. I saw Ella years ago, sort of at the end of her career. While not a solo, Mary Travers was special in what she did, but my real admiration of her was her personal generosity. I got to meet her at a benefit show. A very warm person. I'll second Natalie Maine's, one of the few singers who can make me listen to country. Others I like are, forgetting genre, Streisand, Natalie Merchant, Sara Bareilles, Stevie Nicks, and Maria Callas.

 

[VAUConnFan]

Jazz - Maysa (fantastic delivery)

R & B - Gladys Knight (when with the Pips, the best entertainment and the best value)

Country - Dolly Parton (great presentation, nice voice, excellent writer)

Folk - Janis Ian ( a one hit wonder with Society's Child)

Broadway - Stephanie Mills (the reason I refuse to watch the movie version is because the powers that be, namely
Berry Gordy, decided to rewrite The Wiz and cast Diana Ross in the lead; Huge mistake) It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about Ms Mills singing the Home Finale. I just recently had the pleasure of seeing/hearing Audra McDonald in Porgy and Bess; Excellente

Classical - Kathleen Battle (great, great voice. but, everything you have heard and read about her diva tendencies are readily apparent)

One performance, One song - Vann Johnson singing lead on Yanni's Love Is All.

 

[VAUConnFan]

Not a great recording(it appears someone snuck a recorder into the theater), but it captures the essence of young, teen- aged Stephanie Mills' wonderful portrayal of Dorothy in the original Broadway version of The Wiz.

 

[uconnfan68]

. . . at relieving the off-season boredom (apologies to the UNC hatchers), let's give female singers a little band width. I will list my favorites and others can take it from there. Here's mine:

Jazz - Ella Fitzgerald (simply immortal)

Rock - Janis Joplin (with a nod to Grace Slick)

Country - Natalie Maines (Dixie Chick and occasional political commentator)

Folk - Joan Baez

Broadway - Linda Eder (She sure has the Broadway pipes but very limited time on stage there. You want to make a case for Julie Andrews, feel free.)

Simply greatest singer you have often heard but seldom if ever heard of - Marni Nixon (she was the voice you heard for Natalie Wood in "West Side Story," for Deborah Kerr in "King and I," and for Aubrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady")

Classical - Marilyn Horne (aside from her superlative vocal skills, one of the most gracious ladies to ever grace a concert or opera stage)

Let's see what pleases others' ears. Don't everybody talk at once.

R&B - Bonnie Raitt
Folk - Mary Travers, Joni Mitchell
Rock - Melissa Etheridge, Janis Joplin, Grace Slick

 

[Aluminny69]

Hidden Gem:

Eva Cassidy - Over the Rainbow

Why you might have never heard of her:

The Eva Cassidy Story

 

[speedoo]

. . . at relieving the off-season boredom (apologies to the UNC hatchers), let's give female singers a little band width. I will list my favorites and others can take it from there. Here's mine:

Jazz - Ella Fitzgerald (simply immortal)

Rock - Janis Joplin (with a nod to Grace Slick)

Country - Natalie Maines (Dixie Chick and occasional political commentator)

Folk - Joan Baez

Broadway - Linda Eder (She sure has the Broadway pipes but very limited time on stage there. You want to make a case for Julie Andrews, feel free.)

Simply greatest singer you have often heard but seldom if ever heard of - Marni Nixon (she was the voice you heard for Natalie Wood in "West Side Story," for Deborah Kerr in "King and I," and for Aubrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady")

Classical - Marilyn Horne (aside from her superlative vocal skills, one of the most gracious ladies to ever grace a concert or opera stage)

Let's see what pleases others' ears. Don't everybody talk at once.

Jazz - Nina Simone
Rock -Chrissie Hynde
Country - Lucinda Williams
Folk -Gillian Welch, with a nod to Allyson Krauss
Broadway = Patti LuPone
Unknown Voice - ?
Classical - Maria Callas

 

[rocky rococo]

Wanda Jackson



Patsy Cline

Tina Turner

I have one other favorite, Marianne Joan Elliott-Said (3 July 1957 – 25 April 2011), just one album when she was 19.

 

[semper]

Elly...here singing the most beautiful song in the world (some say):

 

[vtcwbuff]

In no particular order -

Patsy Cline
Barbra Streisand
Celine Dion - Probably the most dissed female singer
Lena Horne
Whitney Houston - IMO One time best ever. What a shame.
Janis Joplin - I saw her perform in the 60's in SF. She was snot slingin' drunk and
she could still belt it out.
Re: Natalie Main - the poster child for how to open your mouth and blow your career.

Current female favs - Adele, Kelly Clarkson

 

[Kibitzer]

Mention of Joni Mitchell reminded me of an unusual but stirring collaboration between her and, of all people, Placido Domingo.

He made an album of Broadway songs and did a good job with most (but badly with "Over There!" in which he inexplicably altered the lyrics to "The boys are coming," instead of "The Yanks are coming").

Placido and Joni collaborated on "Last Night of the World," from "Miss Saigon," and in my view it is a masterpiece. Check it out.

 

[Shenandoah]

Gladys Knight (my first ever concert-Ray Charles also on the bill)
Bonnie Raitt
Ann Wilson (from Heart)

 

[Kibitzer]

Mention of Joni Mitchell reminded me of an unusual but stirring collaboration between her and, of all people, Placido Domingo.

He made an album of Broadway songs and did a good job with most (but badly with "Over There!" in which he inexplicably altered the lyrics to "The boys are coming," instead of "The Yanks are coming").

Placido and Joni collaborated on "Last Night of the World," from "Miss Saigon," and in my view it is a masterpiece. Check it out.

Disregard reference to Joni Mitchell. My egregious error. The inspired duet was Placido Domingo and Carly Simon! I apologize to Boneyarders, Carly and Joni, but still recommend it most enthusiastically.

 

[VAMike23]

The Divine One - Sarah Vaughan



Embraceable You

Pennies from Heaven

Misty [live 1964]

Perdido [live 1950]

All of Me

Someone to Watch Over Me


........“No rational person will often find him or herself in a situation of being able to say that something or somebody is the best. One quickly learns in life that in a richly competitive world—particularly one as subject to subjective evaluation as the world of the arts—it is dangerous, even stupid, to say that something is without equal and, of course, having said it, one is almost always immediately challenged. Any evaluation—except perhaps in certain sciences where facts are truly incontrovertible—any evaluation is bound to be relative rather than absolute, is bound to be conditioned by taste, by social and educational backgrounds, by a host of formative and conditioning factors. And yet, although I know all of that, I am still tempted to say and will now dare to say that Sarah Vaughan is quite simply the greatest vocal artist of our century.”

— Gunther Schuller, 1986

.

 

[VAUConnFan]

Half the night has been spent listening to Laura Nyro sing her own version of songs she had written made famous by other performers(Stoney End, Stoned Soul Picnic, Time and Love, Flim Flam Man, Save The Country, Wedding Bell Blues, And When I Die, Sweet Blindness...) I was always familiar with and loved her as a songwriter, but she was absolutely superb in her own right as a singer. So, I respectfully change my favorite folk singer to Ms Laura Nyro.

 

[Icebear]

Jazz- Lady Holiday, Ella, Sarah Vaughn, love what Diana Schurr and Norah Jones have brought back to Jazz
Rock - Janis, Bonnie Raitt
Blues- Alberta King, Lady Holiday
Folk-Baez, Ronnie Gilbert for The Weavers, Emmy Lou Harris, Mary Travers, Allison Kraus
Gospel- Mahalia Jackson (I was entranced by her singing on the old Hootenanny TV show, incredible power)
Theatre/Classical- Sarah Brightman-Pie Jesu (brings tears to my eyes)

BTW, I submit The Weavers at Carnegie Hall for one of the greatest recordings of all time. The spacing and sound stage including room and depth are simply exquisite and readily demonstrate the superiority of vinyl over digital to date.

 

[wire chief]

Hidden Gem:

Eva Cassidy - Over the Rainbow

Why you might have never heard of her:

The Eva Cassidy Story

Me gots an E C album.

 

[Icebear]

I have all of EC's albums. A wonderfully raw and gifted talent who died way too soon. If she had had the same orchestration and support as Schurr and Jones she would have been incredible. Her emotions in her singing were always so palpably genuine.

 

[wire chief]

Laugh if you will, but I got dragged to a Kelly Clarkson concert and the girl is great in person. She tries many genres in concert and sounds really good in every one of them, pop, rock, broadway, blues - blues might be her strongest suit. I saw Ella years ago, sort of at the end of her career. While not a solo, Mary Travers was special in what she did, but my real admiration of her was her personal generosity. I got to meet her at a benefit show. A very warm person. I'll second Natalie Maine's, one of the few singers who can make me listen to country. Others I like are, forgetting genre, Streisand, Natalie Merchant, Sara Bareilles, Stevie Nicks, and Maria Callas.

I second your regard for Stevie & Natalie.

 

[Fiftyish]

Gloria Maria Milagrosa Fajardo Gacia de Estefan
Janis Joplin
Gladys Knight
Cher
Tina Turner
The Horn (nod to Red Foxx)

This does help the boredom somewhat.

 

[cohenzone]

Regarding Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell. I saw Carly a few years ago at whatever corporate name the Wallingford Oakdale theater was going by at the time. She was still excellent on her older stuff.

Joni Mitchell has become sort of a running gag between one of my sons and us. His studio is in Sherman Oaks and he lives in Westwood in LA. He often calls me and my wife on his way home from work. His usual route home takes him past what is known locally as the "Joni Mitchell coffee house", so when he goes by it he'll break into a Joni Mitchell song.