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:

Another thing I wanted to add.
I love Lennon and I may be his biggest fan, but how can he better than Bob Dylan, if without Dylan there won't be any Lennon.

No matter how good someone's voice is, or his performance, I feel a great artist is measured in the influence he had on the following artists.

Example: Lennon can't be better than Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Little Richard or Chuck Berry ... Cause he learned everything from these guys. They were the inspirers, they should take the credit.

^ imo Lennon is a much better singer than Dylan. Dylan didn't even have a great voice at all really.

That's the thing ... He made performance more important than singing with a pure crystal voice. We would only have Sinatras if it wasn't for him.

I suppose... but Lennon is still better.

But probably neither of them would be in my top ten.

YouTube - Inside a Beatles Record 1: Strawberry Fields Forever

Listen from 4:08 (Now that is just...wow), or just watch the whole vid, it's great.

If both of you are trying to persuade me that Lennon is a great singer, believe me I already know. My nickname is one of Lennon's songs for god's sakes.

I'm not trying to persuade you of anything. We're just bantering about whether Lennon or Dylan is a better singer:)

I just loves how he sings at the ending of that vid :rolleyes:

That's the thing ... I'm not saying who sings better, or whose voice is better.
I'm saying who influenced the other.

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.

It's in Art ... in general ...
It's the same reason why I don't like many bands. Their songs may be great aesthetically, but that's not what matters. It is the originality of the song, or the band, or here the performance.
That's why I hate Michael Bublé, I don't care that his voice is so charming or whatever. He just sings like Sinatra and we already have a Sinatra.
When someone isn't offering anything original, why go to him, just go to the source.

My point was that, despite my personal beliefs, Lennon can be better than Dylan, Orbison, and those other guys, because he did bring something new to the game. Beyond that it's just preference.


And Buble doesn't sing like Sinatra. He sings like Sinatra-Lite. What a talentless hack he is.

The New thing is all that matters.

**And comparing Bulbé to Sinatra sounds so blasphemous. Talentless hack indeed.

Either Lou Reed or Johnny Rotten. Maybe that guy from King Missile.

Nevermind, Mark E. Smith.

It's between these two;

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_U2DIQZo8uV...cooke%2008.jpg Sam Cooke

and


http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/.../Tom+Waits.jpg Tom Waits.

I disagree with that completely. Lennon started his first band in '57 and I've no doubts he was singing before he'd even heard of Bob Dylan. I doubt Lennon's voice was directly inspired by Dylans.

Brad Nowell is probably my favourite singer. His voice is superb and fit any time of music he and Sublime played. Maynard James Keenan, Otis Redding and John Lee Hooker are other favourites of mine.

Never realised how cool Elvis Costello's vocals where till 10 minutes ago when I had Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes going round my head.

He said so himself. He might be feeling modest the day he said it, but that doesn't sound like him.

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...

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

What a horrendous list...Lennon at number 5? Laughable. Black people may have a monopoly on professional football and basketball but Rolling Stone seems to think they have one on singing as well. Not to cast aspersions on the singers in the list, nothing wrong with Aretha at number one or Marvin in the top 10, but 7 of the top 10? Makes it seem like they have some sort of agenda lol.

Half of the people on that list can't sing for ****, I call major bull****.

I'm not even gonna try to give a complete list. Just a few off the top of my head:
Freddie Mercury
Chris Cornell
Mike Patton
Frank Sinatra
Billie Holiday
George Michael (crappy music, great singer. Only one that could sing one of Queen's songs properly on Freddie's tribute concert)

I have to go with HR:

These are a few of MY favorites, and the best TO MY EARS.

-Layne Staley
-Thom Yorke
-Matthew Bellamy
-Robert Plant
-Cedric Bixler-Zavala

Brad Delp
Matthew Bellamy
Freddy Mercury

yeah i was thinking him before i clicked the thread.. i see someone got to it long before me

bummer

I'd plump for Joan Baez at a push in terms of sheer vocal talent, but a lot of my favourite singers have something of an idiosyncratic sound that perfectly fits the music they're associated with.

Mathew Bellamy = http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...colmfriend.jpg

^^ what?

i think what dac was trying to convey is that matt bellamy sings and composes like the disabled black kid from Malcolm in the Middle. i.e. not very well. That's my interpretation.

YES!

also, so cliche, she heavily overdo's her voice. If she never her voice would be even more awesome.
http://www.divasthesite.com/images/W...ickname_01.jpg

In the style of music I like, there really isn't any permanent singers, but Sarah McLachlan by far is one of the most memorable even though it was a one off.

aside from that I've never really been exposed to a permanent vocalist, sorry for my blurred choices.

If we want to be technical, we could just say that Caruso handily beats everyone named here. Now, whose voice do I probably relish the most upon first hearing? Probably David Bowie. If not him, Win Butler or Bob Dylan (who is a great singer by any standard I care about).

I wouldn't say the best singer...
 

That guy from the Fray is pretty good, singing was never my strong point so I never had any idols... Also the guy from Alexisonfire on the album Watch Out!

No one's mentioned Helmut Lotti yet. Is there any style (or language) this Belgian cannot perform and excel in? A four octave range. Too bad he's not better known in the U.S.

rebecca

John Lennon.
Robert Plant.
Kurt Cobain.
Freddie Mercury.

Mariah Carey? :S
Sorry but I hate her with a GREAT passion, she hits a lot of bum notes.
Whitney Houston? Ray Charles?

Imogen Heap, Jónsi Þór Birgisson, and Zoe Johnston:



She does pure vocal stuff as well and has her own solo project, but her voice in this song is outright angelic.