Your opinion of the best singer of all time

S

Sydnie

New member
Who's the best? Well in terms of technical ability and/or originality, I honestly haven't the slightest clue. Janis Joplin has a fantastic bluesy voice, and Tom Waits can seriously sing. However, I don't really listen to much music because I think the singer is skilled. My favorite singers though they may have little to no actual talent are Steven Malkmus, Alejandra Deheza of School of Seven Bells, Mark Everett I think better known as E of the Eels, Imogen Heap in Frou Frou, Jeffrey Lewis, and Kimya Dawson. Like I said, not the best singers, in fact Steven Malkmus probably couldn't sing on key to save his life, and Lewis and Dawson are hardly even trying. But those singers are the best to my ears. Don't know if that makes any sense...
 
Freddie Mercury
Adam Larabert
Here he is performing with Queen, he's the one with the black hair
[youtube]G6Jgx3vjK3E[/youtube]

Chills...
 
Freddie is deaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad

So tbf in my mind there is no Queen.

George Michael did em justice though.

Moz is my favorite singer of all time, closely followed by John Doe of X
 
Dionne Warwick, Scott Walker, Karen Carpenter, Tim Hardin, Little Richard, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Frank Sinatra, Tammy Wynette, Al Green, Colin Blunstone, Dusty Springfield, Gram Parsons, Joni Mitchell, Merle Haggard
 
That's a tough call-
By genre:Geoff Tate(Prog Rock/Metal)

Etta James(Old Jazz R+B)
Nat King Cole(StandarRAB)
Michael English(Gospel) or maybe Guy Penrod
Howard Jones(Metal)
George Strait(Country)
Ray Benson(Texas Swing)
Freddie Mercury(Classic Rock)
 
Mathew Bellamy =
steviemalcolmfriend.jpg
 
without deepening the trough of psychoanalysis on myself i'd have to lean a hand for Tom Waits.

he probably doesn't have the range or ability of some others but where he overcompensates is in his expansive delivery. the man has as much character in his voice as his parlour predecessors but in lieu of the egregious honey sweetness that made Sinatra and Newman so unbearable. honestly i find it difficult to believe that his voice is entirely organic (abetted by a healthy dose of whiskey i'm sure).

plus he knows how to write a good fucking song.
 
You can't honestly be playing this card, or we would effectively have to credit the first person who ever sang as being the best singer ever, and incidentally better than anyone else who ever sang after him. Nobody is totally original with anything they do, so it's not fair to say that Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison are better than John Lennon simply because he "learned everything from [those] guys." Obviously they weren't totally original either.

A great artist takes influence but also contributes something, and the same principle applies to singing. Personally, I don't think Bob Dylan or John Lennon are great singers in the conventional sense; it was how they utilized their respective voices that mattered. Nevertheless, your point is still flawed.
 
If you go simply on range I would have to say Mariah Carey but a lot of people don't like her. If you go on style I would have to say Ben Gibbard
 
Personal favorites: Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Mick Harvey, PJ Harvey, Leonard Cohen, Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, Freddie Mercury, Isobel Campbell when with Mark Lanegan, and for some reason Jim Morrison.
 
Especially Ray Charles. I like his music but his voice is nothing special, definitely not #2.

Oh and, I really can't get enough of Janis Joplin's voice. It's so fantastic:

[YOUTUBE]01X8z42_9_U[/YOUTUBE]
 
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