Best singer that would be elvis.Best band beatles by far

Joe Cocker for range and emotional content

You are joking, sings in the key of yale and shouts in the key of chubb, quite possibly one of the worst voices of all time, annoying when sane, passable when stoned (in the first person) rode on the backs of real talent for all his life, a worthless contribution to music in general.

Only Leonard Cohen or the Smurfs sound worse.

Lennon on Twist On Shout is pretty amazing. Add also Lee Hazlewood - Eric Burdon - Tammy Wynette singing Stand By Your Man.

Edited February 18, 201115 yr by bulmercke

Aretha Franklin.

Aretha has everything — the power, the technique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi6dqhi8Ptw&feature=BF&list=MLGxdCwVVULXe61HUKknk3PSUElDACS3Z4&index=4

Thanks for the reminder WAYNEandAEI. Aretha. Sheer gold.

The main thing about choosing a great voice is that often the songs they sing have appeal only for the relatively few,

Frank Sinatra, and Matt Monro,both have top class,marvellous voices,but for me,and for the most part,their songs leave me cold.

Whereas Robbie Williams and Elvis had both, Great Voices,Great Songs.

Joe Cocker for range and emotional content

You are joking, sings in the key of yale and shouts in the key of chubb, quite possibly one of the worst voices of all time, annoying when sane, passable when stoned (in the first person) rode on the backs of real talent for all his life, a worthless contribution to music in general.

Only Leonard Cohen or the Smurfs sound worse.

I would agree with you, Lenard Cohen,in the days when you he sang those awful,mournful, Dirges, but see him now on stage,in his latter years with full backing group,and fair to say,he has matured very well,and a great pleasure to listen to.

Never thought he had it in him!

is? was?

not sure.. but Mr. Excitement himself must be near the top of the tree....

(sorry Joe, he's even better than you.. )

No better voice than............................................ Tony Bennett, even old blue eyes had to admit he was the best Crooner of all time.

It will always be debatable who is best in quality but my list of favourites would include

Ray Charles

Dinah Washington

Aretha Franklin

James Carr

Walter Jackson

Bill Medley (Rightous Bros)

Minnie Ripperton

Elvis (depending on the material and the period)

Garnett Mimms

Anthony -from Anthony and the Johnsons in a weird way he has a great voice

Nat King Cole

An incomplete list at best !!!

Edited February 19, 201115 yr by xen

It will always be debatable who is best in quality but my list of favourites would include

Ray Charles

Dinah Washington

Aretha Franklin

James Carr

Walter Jackson

Bill Medley (Rightous Bros)

Minnie Ripperton

Elvis (depending on the material and the period)

Garnett Mimms

Anthony -from Anthony and the Johnsons in a weird way he has a great voice

Nat King Cole

An incomplete list at best !!!

Otis Redding

Curtis Mayfield

Darrell Banks

Jerry Butler

Stevie Nicks

Linda Ronstadt

Impossible to choose, maybe if we could vote 10 out of 100

But I think these two should make this list

Mulligan and O'Hare

Tiny Tim!

Gladys Knight

It seems we have a very narrow range of what most people think is classed as an amazing Singer even though some of the people metioned so far have good voices. If I was to use the standard western way of looking at this then at present I would say Mariah Carey. This is not to say that I like her music as i do not care for it much anyway. The reason for me choosing her is mainly her vocal range and power is off the chart. She can sing higher than most living people on the planet (on pitch) and sing as low as the average male baritone voice but some experts disagree on her lower range. Added to this her use of melismas and voice inflections added to her pure vocal control makes her for me the number 1 in the public eye at the moment and if not she cannot be far off it.

If I was to use more eastern ways of looking at music then hands down cannot be beaten is a man called "Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan" He has some famous performances where he sings for hours and hours only one sentence over and over again using only his large vocal range and a never ending set of improvisational techniques but never sounds the same or boring. He in my opinion is the best exponent of using what we call in the west the standard 12 tone music system and weave in and out into a quarter tone system without sounding out of tune to the western ear, which is a totally amazing thing to do, 100% genius. Shame he died in 1997.

Even if you do not understand non western style singing, listening to him is still a pleasure.

Edited February 19, 201115 yr by barrella

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2Al3iJdtIQ

One of them is Roger Hodgson as well I think (Supertramp)

Without doubt Elvis Presley. Great voice, great range and also a velly hansum man.

Agree - "If I can Dream" is one of my all time favorites and still gives me shivers each time I hear it.

I give a vote for Dean Martin, cool good looking guy with great voice. He was always so relaxed.

Dean Martin relaxed ???? Always drunk....yes

But I admit...one of my favourites and a very warm voice !

Neil Young.

But Orbson's "Danny Boy" available on you tube is something else.

i've resisted long enough....

Sam the Eagle..

Impossible to say the best ever but Mirella Freni is the best I ever heard sing live. I'm far from an opera queen, but hearing her live was ear-gasmic.

Jeff Buckley

If I was to use more eastern ways of looking at music then hands down cannot be beaten is a man called "Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan"

Agree..Im a big fan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvQVxrMZB18

Few vocalists have had the perfect pitch or rich voice of the great Dinah Washington.

http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

I love this YouTube track because it's from a recording session and you hear Dinah spatting with a guy (I believe her manager) in the control booth. A white singer (Julie London) had recorded this song and it was very popular, but most would agree Dinah's version blows her away.

Roy Orbison

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Tj6y1PyPg84

Have to agree, loads of stuff by him that really hasn't been heard by the masses.

Elvis also, his live stuff is great.

Classical and other, Andreas Boccelli. (think l spelt it right)

I really liked sarha brightman at the opening of the olympics. Dame Joan has a serious voice

Well if anyone has heard me at the karaoke after a skinfull then this thread would have finished after one post.

I really liked sarha brightman at the opening of the olympics. Dame Joan has a serious voice

Well if anyone has heard me at the karaoke after a skinfull then this thread would have finished after one post.

You haven't heard my rendition of '' My Way '' yet.

Few vocalists have had the perfect pitch or rich voice of the great Dinah Washington.

http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

I love this YouTube track because it's from a recording session and you hear Dinah spatting with a guy (I believe her manager) in the control booth. A white singer (Julie London) had recorded this song and it was very popular, but most would agree Dinah's version blows her away.

I agree. She is one of the greatest.

Heard an interesting theory that she would have been better well known and accepted by the population at large if she had not have the double misfortune of dying two days before the death of a certain blonde bimbo who's greatest talent was crooning a very outof tune Happy Birthday Mr Peasident and then shagging him. To the media it was Dinah who ?

Michael Jackson.

Classical: Caruso, Maria Callas

Pop: Mariah Carey, Beyonce...

And no, I'm neither Italian, nor Greek, or American.

Robert Plant

female - Sarah Vaughan

male - Roy Orbison