[Music] Rolling Stone 200 best singers of all time

[HantsSeagull]

no Al Bowlly - i'm out

 

[Stato]

1. So all of the Top 11 are all black/bi-racial and predominantly soul singers. Really?
2. Neither Elvis or Sinatra in the Top 10 - again, really?
3. Robert Plant only at No. 63? Shocking.

1. Yes, undoubtedly. Soul and jazz singers are the best singers. Rock singers are lucky to ge as high as 12 especially with the distinctly average John Lennon.
2. Elvis and Sinatra both great singers, but Presley was copying Roy Hamilton who he was better looking than, whiter than, but not a better singer than. Sinatra was just a standard pretty boy crooner in his early days. His geat period came when he started to sing jazz style between the melody and he learned that from Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald who should both be above him.
3. I thought he'd be higher too.

 

[attila]

jacques brel

 

[Pavilionaire]

1. Yes, undoubtedly. Soul and jazz singers are the best singers. Rock singers are lucky to ge as high as 12 especially with the distinctly average John Lennon.
2. Elvis and Sinatra both great singers, but Presley was copying Roy Hamilton who he was better looking than, whiter than, but not a better singer than. Sinatra was just a standard pretty boy crooner in his early days. His geat period came when he started to sing jazz style between the melody and he learned that from Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald who should both be above him.
3. I thought he'd be higher too.

I agree with you about Lennon. In pure vocal terms good, but not the best white voice of all-time. I'm a huge Sinatra fan, his timing is impeccable and the jazz / swing stuff is my favourite. I don't have any argument against Aretha or Whitney, their vocals are fantastic.

I have been listening to a lot of Led Zep recently and Robert Plant is the quintessential rock lead singer, what a talent. Your hear a lot about Lennon and McCartney but Plant and Page - for me - are at a higher level. If they did a Top 200 for guitarists then Page would be my No.1.

 

[Trufflehound]

No Edith Piaf?

 

[Pevenseagull]

No Edith Piaf?

Indeed.

No Sarah Vaughan either.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

If they did a Top 200 for guitarists then Page would be my No.1.

Not even the best guitarist in The Yardbirds.

 

[Hamilton]

Bing Crosby and Dean Martin don't even make the list.

Enough said.

 

[jakarta]

All opinions, I LOVE Robert Wyatts voice for example, many people don't!

Have a listen, this was his last vocal before he left the Softs...

 

[marcos3263]

No James Blunt?
No Rick Astley?

or more seriously Beth Orton? Beth Gibbons?

 

[LennyTee]

Surely it all depends on what you listen to as you won't have heard the people mentioned if you don't listen to that music to start with.
I don't listen to Tom Jones but I'd expect him to be up there. I don't listen to Mariah Carey but she is a great vocalist, the people I listen to won't be up there because of the music they are involved in, but are more versatile than most of the top singers. So I give you Floor Jansen, Aliza White-Gluz, Tatiana Schmayluk, Maynard James Keenan.

 

[AstroSloth]

In no particular order but I'd like to think fairly diverse my top 5:

Bruce Dickinson
Ronnie James Dio
Chester Bennington
Dolores O' Riordan
Nat King Cole

In any such assessment you need to make the distinction between pure singing ability and the ability to hold and work an audience. On that score Freddie Mercury ticks both boxes big time.

Are we also talking longevity? Range? Live ability?

The criteria change for everyone.

In terms of my own personal choices

Will Ramos (Lorna Shore)
Mat Kerekes (Citizen)
Tatiana Shmayluk (Jinjer)
Freddy Mercury
And maybe Dave Grohl

 

[AstroSloth]

Surely it all depends on what you listen to as you won't have heard the people mentioned if you don't listen to that music to start with.
I don't listen to Tom Jones but I'd expect him to be up there. I don't listen to Mariah Carey but she is a great vocalist, the people I listen to won't be up there because of the music they are involved in, but are more versatile than most of the top singers. So I give you Floor Jansen, Aliza White-Gluz, Tatiana Schmayluk, Maynard James Keenan.

I have Tatiana in there too, such a versatile amazing artist.

Aliza is a great choice but misses out on my top 5.

Death metal vocalists are never going to be on these kind of lists unfortunately, despite the technical ability they show and feeling they elicit.

Will Ramos from Lorna Shore would be my number 1 at the moment, he has everything and can pull it off live.

 

[Worried Man Blues]

Glad to see the Wolf is in there, can you just get a list or do you have to wade throught the whole damned lot? and Bessie love.

 

[herecomesaregular]

Opinions and all that, but Ronnie James Dio isn't even in the top hundred.
He's in the top ONE as far as I'm concerned

I always listen to this at Xmas:

 

[chip]

No Frank Zappa, no Captain Beefheart, no Jerry Garcia and even worse, no Lee Perry. All a matter of taste and mood.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time

Best Singers. Beyonce, Prince, Adele, Bob Dylan, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey

www.rollingstone.com

Clearly open to debate, especially amongst the music lovers of NSC, 15 years ago they published the Top 100 singers, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Elvis were all in the Top 10, 2023's version and Mariah Carey is at number 5 and the aforementioned 3 music legends are out of the Top Ten.

Music can't have changed that much in 15 years?

I could post my 100 favourite singers you've never heard of

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

No Frank Zappa, no Captain Beefheart, no Jerry Garcia and even worse, no Lee Perry. All a matter of taste and mood.

No Frank Zappa, no Captain Beefheart, no Jerry Garcia and even worse, no Lee Perry. All a matter of taste and mood.

To be fair, Frank Zappa isn't renowned for his singing. Napoleon Murphy Brock, on the other hand....

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

1. So all of the Top 11 are all black/bi-racial and predominantly soul singers. Really?
2. Neither Elvis or Sinatra in the Top 10 - again, really?
3. Robert Plant only at No. 63? Shocking.

In America, they have their soul singers.

Here, we have . . . .

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Is there a big scrollable single page list available anywhere anybody know?