The whole list is here.
I really can’t comment on 100 singers, partially because that takes way more time than I have. Second, because I don’t listen to that much of every kind of music. My tastes are eclectic, and I have representatives of most genres in my collection, but I don’t know enough about, say, John Lennon, to compare him to Aretha Franklin. I know some Beatles songs, but I can’t tell you who’s singin.
At any rate, here are the top 10:
1 | Aretha Franklin
2 | Ray Charles
3 | Elvis Presley
4 | Sam Cooke
5 | John Lennon
6 | Marvin Gaye
7 | Bob Dylan
8 | Otis Redding
9 | Stevie Wonder
10 | James Brown
If James is in the top 10, then it’s obviously not about singing per se. And y’all know that ain’t no dis to James. I can probably count the number of people who dig James as much as I do, but he ain’t no singer in the same way that Aretha is a singer. They both got soul, and they both can jam, but Aretha is, as her father said on the Amazing Grace album, “a stone singer!” James was more about gettin down than singin.
All in all, I don’t really have any complaints about the list, but there are a lot of people I don’t know. Elvis over Sam Cooke, though? I may hafta go back and check that one out. That one seems a little suspect. Oh. And Mike at #25? MIKE? Nah, B. Mike’s work with the Jackson 5 — shoot, on Maybe Tomorrow alone — sons most artists’ whole catalogs. I’m not sure who you’d take out, but he should at least be in the top 15
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I think RS’ list prioritized the idiosyncrantic resonance of singers’ voices, rather than tonal strength or quality. Is there any other way to measure Michael Jackson in this context?
yeah…i think you might be right. but even then…well, i guess i don’t know enough about the beatles for 2 of em to be in the top 10, cuz i can’t tell em apart.
What you think about Marvin over Stevie? I think, in a technical sense, Marvin was a betters singer. But these ears will always prefer Stevie over anyone else.
And yeah, you just can’t leave Mike out of the Top 20. It’s like keeping Pete Rose out of the Hall of Fame. We all know better than that, you know?
now if the question is who am i gonna listen to first? it’s stevie. no question. always. like, i could do a wedding playing nothing but stevie all night. (and with about 12 hours of stevie, i could literally do it.) from groovy-grooves to love songs and back. marvin, i think, is as you said, technically superior. marvin could sing and he could sang. nahmeen, i could do a marvin hour at a wedding too, but stevie? marvin’s in a different galaxy. stevie’s a dimension to a whole universe.
The difference between Marvin and Stevie being you can play both at the wedding, but only Marvin during the honeymoon,
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shoooooooot!! let’s get it on, track 7? wha’chu know about?
Somehow, some way, Luther Vandross has to be in the top 10. And, I have a personal favorite as a long shot for the Top Ten, Peabo Bryson.
Aretha. Gladys. Jackie Wilson. Sam. Otis (not a great trained voice, and no super range, but a singular sound and emotion). Ray. Al. Teddy. Luther. Etta James. Smokey. Levi.
seee otis? like, if i was doin a top 10, i’d think that the singers would hafta have both tonal control and emotion. cuz otis, he was good for hittin a sour note here and there. on a ‘woman, a lover, a friend’….ooooh whee! i was like, O!! you might wanna pull that one back in.
i might hafta do some research into this.
Check out this Stevie Wonder performance.
And this one is even better because it’s live.
I’m making my case for Stevie being number 1.
my favorite stevie song is superwoman, and i really, really like his live version of that.
[...] Stereo Describes My Scenario » Rolling Stone Top 100 Singers [...]
Freddie Mercury of Queen is the best singer of all. Watch YOUTUBE videos of Freddie singing “In the lap of the gods revisited” 1974 and 1985 Live Aid Concert, also “My melancholy Blues”, A winters tale, “One year of love” , Living own my own. I could go on and on. Watch how he puts energy into every song he has ever sung. I love his voice live in concert the most. It’s perfection. Every song he ever sung is great. Most Americans have not heard alot of his music and really have missed out of not knowing just how great he really was.
thinking of your choice of Freddie Mercury, it kinda dawns on me that what makes a great singer in one genre is not necessarily what makes a great singer in another. So in that respect, it’s almost irresponsible to make a list inclusive of all genres, because a gospel/soul singer is gonna have different aesthetics than a rock singer, even with rock’s background in blues. Now would I say that Freddie Mercury is the rock equivalent of Aretha Franklin? It’s hard, because the styles are significantly different; I will agree, however, that despite the popularity of some of Queen’s songs, Freddie Mercury may not get his just due as a singer.
no freddie mercury, no michael jackson, whats up with that what about barbara streisand or celine dion? these are all great voices to listen too.not to take anything away from the top ten but co on no frank sinatra. im thinking i disagree with the winners here.