Who's your favorite singer?

[bnm73]

Hopefully, this will be a relatively simple diversion.

 

Some people prefer opera (though not many these days, it seems). Some are all about the current Top 40. Some hold on to a singer from their youth.

 

When you think the words "great singer," what name pops immediately to your head?

 

For me, it would have to be Ella Fitzgerald, even though she was "before my time." She had a way of making everything she sang seem like it was the easiest thing in the world. Her pitch was darned-near perfect long before people were using Autotune. She could scat with the best in jazz, but her interpretation of songs from "Porgy and Bess" can bring a tear to your eye.

 

Who's next?

[+ WilliamM]

 

 

 

 

 

I was lucky enough to see Ella Fitzgerald perform relatively often, beginning when she appeared at a local summer theater for one night around 1963. I was in college then.

 

Her live recordings are superb, especially "Ella in Berlin," when Ella forgot the words to "Mac The Knife," and made up lyrics on the spot.

Edited September 28, 2018 by WilliamM

[Mo Mason]

There have been so many great female vocalists. When I think of my favorite singers of all time it is mostly females that come to mind... Billie, Karen, Judy, Mama Cass...

 

But my #1 is, always and without hesitation, Patsy Cline.

[Rockey]

Female singers for me too, and with very unusual voices. Stevie Nicks, Chrissie Hynde, Janis, Sia.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

I like people who can truly tell the story through a song.

 

A good singer can hit all the notes. A great singer doesn't always have to: They live the song as they sing it.

 

Ann-Hampton Callaway, Marilyn Maye, Judy Garland, Ellen Greene, Edith Piaf, Nell Carter, Lillias White, Frank Sinatra. A ton of others, but these were the people that came to mind immediately.

[+ WilliamM]

I like people who can truly tell the story through a song.

 

A good singer can hit all the notes. A great singer doesn't always have to: They live the song as they sing it.

 

Ann-Hampton Callaway, Marilyn Maye, Judy Garland, Ellen Greene, Edith Piaf, Nell Carter, Lillias White, Frank Sinatra. A ton of others, but these were the people that came to mind immediately.

Then Ethel Merman might belong on the list since Gershwin, Porter, Berlin and Sondheim wanted their lyrics to be heard before Broadway singers used mics.

[bigvalboy]

Lena Horne

Shirley Bassey

Aretha Franklin

Tina Turner

Etta James

Mahalia Jackson

Celine Dion

whitney Houston

Ella fitzgerald

 

Ray Charles

Andrea Bocelli

 

 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2018 by bigvalboy

[+ E.T.Bass]

Are there very few singers anymore? Most are just overproduced, stylized entertainers.

 

I do like Adele, and Alison Kraus.

 

I learned about Julie London a few years ago. Love her.

 

For easy listening, perhaps something playing in the background in my living room, you can't go wrong with Julie London.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3iPylQoucI

[EastbayMike]

Roger Harry Daltrey

[EastbayMike]

Carly Elisabeth Simon

[EastbayMike]

Ann Lennox, OBE

[EastbayMike]

Deborah Ann Harry

[EastbayMike]

Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez

[EastbayMike]

(The Reverend) Albert Leornes Greene

[EastbayMike]

Dorothy Jacqueline Keely

[EastbayMike]

Leonard Norman Cohen, CC GOQ

[+ WilliamM]

Peggy Lee could sing blues and jazz (for jazz, try her live recordings at Basin Street East in New York).

[TruHart1]

Above are all good singers of popular and classic popular standards.

 

I do enjoy opera immensely and many, many operatic interpreters, but that is a discussion that belongs under the "Opera" section of 'Comedy and Tragedy.'

 

TruHart1

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Then Ethel Merman might belong on the list since Gershwin, Porter, Berlin and Sondheim wanted their lyrics to be heard before Broadway singers used mics.

 

Merm was sheer volume, not intense interpretation

 

She has her place in history, but not on my list. My kind of Rose was either Patti LuPone or Tyne Daly.

[+ WilliamM]

I saw Merman in Gypsy twice. The musical was written specifically for her. Ethel played Rose for two years in New York and then for at least six months on tour. The original cast album is Merman at her best vocally, but you do not get a sense of her ability as a comic or a tragic figure during Rose's Turn.

 

I saw Daly and Peters in revivals. I suspect you had to see Merman in person to fully appreciate her, so nothing against others who played Rose.

[Guest AnthonyDriller]

I love Beyoncé

[mike carey]

On reading the OP I thought around what constitutes 'great', and it is not just one thing: a great voice, a great catalogue of performances, an iconic style, a notable backstory or one great role. The first name that came to mind was Édith Piaf. Others when I think about it rationally rather than in any sense emotionally include Julie Covington for her role in the original recording of Evita, Paul Robeson, each of the three tenors. There are others.

[TruthBTold]

There are so many, each for their own particular things. For instance, Aretha did not write her own music but, man, could she deliver. Edith did the same. Bruce Springsteen wrote and appealed to a whole different side. Tom Waits writes deeply and you have to appreciate his voice in a particular way. Joni Mitchell did not have the greatest voice but I would put her up there with Cohen and Dylan for the breadth and depth. So once I find one, I would then find another, then find another . . .

[+ WilliamM]

 

 

 

Tony Bennett is still performing. His live album at Carnegie Hall from the 1960s is a gem, especially "Strangers in Paradise" from the show Kismet.

Edited October 7, 2018 by WilliamM

[+ Charlie]

Those who know that I am basically an opera fan might be surprised that two of my favorite popular singers were Edith Piaf and Janis Joplin. I guess it was the incredible drama in their voices.