Art Garfunkel, who shows up later, may possess more chops, but Paul Simon's voice is most soothing indeed. Pretty good songwriter too actually. Who knew?
I have actually heard very little from "The greatest backing vocalist ever" Michael McDonald. Yet the little that I do know, as well as his work on Steely Dan's Aja alone, is enough to warrant inclusion.
The Jewish Elvis Neil Diamond has always sounded great, perhaps now more than ever. The Rick Rubin produced stuff further proves this plenty.
As well-respected of a white blues guitarist as there has ever been, I was actually surprised when I got into Johnny Winter to find out just how glorious his Texan falsetto bellowing truly is.
I am a sucker for blue-eyed soul, so Steve Winwood's 80s stuff as well as late 60s/early 70s Traffic, (and let us not forget Blind Faith), is plenty tasty as the man has never lost his chops.
Shock-rock pioneer, (and a god to Bruce Dickinson), Arthur Brown's utter bonkersness on stage could have cemented his legacy just fine. Yet on top of all the fire helmets, terrifying make-up, and being on all of the drugs, this dude has a powerful as hell voice.
Certainly one of the most unconventional vocalists on this list, Sigur Ros' Jonsi Birgisson uses his voice solely as an instrument, wailing a never ending and haunting falsetto of made-up language over slow, gorgeously building chord progressions for ten plus minutes at a time.
Besides being one of the best drummers ever, Levon Helm managed to stand out vocally in a band, (ha get it), with two other fantastic voices in it besides, (Richard Manuel and Rick Danko respectively). A yodeling master as well.
Being a huge Bowie fan as much as the next mentally-sound individual, I have also always dug his rater unique voice. "Heroes" particularly stands out with some of the finest full-on vocal shredding ever.
Sixpence None the Richer's Leigh Nash has such a sweet and lovely voice that it even manages to make the band's old Jesus-flavored songs sound rather fantastic.
One may not think of Jagger as a technically proficient vocalist, but how many decades have The Rolling Stones and Mick been putting out records? Also, how many songs has he sung in all of those years? More to the point, how many different types of songs has he guy sung in all of those years? Jagger can do anything is what I am getting at. If anything else, one has to love a British guy who prefers to sing in an American southern accent.
89. Mark Sandman
Morphine, (the band not the drug), was fronted by the late Mark Sandman who infamously died on stage and had one of the most unique vocal stylings possible. Imaging Lou Reed as a crooner gives one a solid idea to go by.
Ever since Magnolia entered my life, I have made it a point to check out as much Aimee Mann as possible. Her distinct voice was exactly the same back in the Till Tuesday days as it is now. Can only hope the decades continue to be as kind.
Another blue-eyed soul legend, Daryl Hall has always had a reputation as one of the most impassioned white boys to ever serenade us. I have been a Hall & Oats fan since always, so no way was their first half not showing up on here.
Is there a finer screamer in all of metal? Arguably no and there is really not much more I can say about the legend that is Rob Halford which has not already been said many times before. The dude fucking (still) rips, all there is to it.
This guy gets better and better. The latest Incubus album at this writing, If Not Now When?, is their masterpiece and good god, Brandon Boyd delivers the performance of his career on it.
Feist's music is all over the place, which is one of the things that makes that and her voice so splendid. Her singing manages to make every style she tackles warm and inviting and her version of the Bee Gees "Inside and Out" is easily one of my favorite covers of all time.
Most people do not go bananas over Don Henley's drumming, which is plenty competent mind you. Yet as a singer, well that has always been a different story. No matter how burnt out I can get on any particular Eagles song that classic rock radio continues to enjoy ruining, all is never lost as Henley's voice always sounds amazing.
I have always thought of Ian Astbury as a less-Elvisy Glenn Danzig. I have also been a Cult fan for years now so it is impossible to ignore Astbury's ass-whooping vocal delivery.
David Coverdale oddly started to sound and look more and more like Robert Plant over the years, which is odd because his powerful bluesy croon in the Deep Purple days certainly did not resemble Mr. Plant at all. "Mistreated" is and will always be a vocal tour de force to be reckoned with.
I honestly never kept up with what Boston or the late Brad Delp kept busy with after their self-titled debut and Don't Look Back, but man did this guy wail on said albums. Soaring arena rock vocals right here, astonishingly so.
I can understand how Mr. Geddy Lee could be a little grating in the early days. He certainly had that "my testicles have been permanently removed" painful banshee wail on the first three or four Rush albums. Certainly by the time Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures came along though, Lee began to settle into his more low key and mature voice which is equally unique and excellent.
Out of King's X's two frontmen, Ty Tabor is sufficient and good with the harmonies, but Doug Pinnick's soulful wail stands-out so, so much more. He even managed to steal the mighty James LaBrie's thunder on his DT cameo in "Lines In the Sand", which is no small feat.
Everything and everyone in the Doors were awesome, making for one of the most unique bands in history. Chief among the ingredients was Jim Morrison's devilish, bluesy croon. The man may have considered himself more of a poet than a singer, but his effortless vocal delivery has influenced just as many as his words have.
I had never heard of this Albino, afro-pop singer until I saw him in the first part of Martin Scorsese's Blues documentary. Just a clip of the man sitting on a couch with an acoustic guitar singing something in his native French language that I could not understand was more than enough to hook me. I have since checked out a few albums and the man's voice is spellbinding to say the least.
No comments:
Post a Comment