Top Ten Singers of all Time

Born January 8th, 1935 (died August 16th, 1977) Key Tracks "Mystery Train," "Hound Dog," "Suspicious Minds" Influenced Bono, Bruce Springsteen There is a d

There is not a better singer / songwriter / performer in the history of rock, then Freddie Mercury. I won't deny that Michael Jackson is a legend and is one of the greatest of all time, but he can't touch the vocal range of Freddie.

Key Tracks "I Want You Back" (the Jackson 5), "Billie Jean," "Man in the Mirror" (solo) Influenced Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, Usher. Michael Jackson is a perfect storm of innate talent and training.

Aretha has everything — the power, the technique. She is honest with everything she says. Everything she's thinking or dealing with is all in the music, from "Chain of Fools" to "Respect" to her live performances.

It was such an audacious thing to do, not to change who they were. That was the heart of John Lennon's singing — to say who he was and where he was from. He didn't sing very loud. I got that sense when I was learning "Oh My Love," on Imagine. That song has to be done quietly, which turns out to be a feat of strength.

"Paul is like an impressionist painter," says James Taylor, who had the privilege of watching the Beatles record the White Album in 1968. "The pieces of his music are so elementary, yet the overall thing is so sophisticated. He's such a precise and controlled singer." On songs from the Beatles ...

Born August 9th, 1963 Key Tracks "The Greatest Love of All," "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," "Saving All My Love for You," "I Will Always Love You" Inf

John Lennon once told Rolling Stone that when he heard Elton John singing "Your Song" — the 1970 breakthrough ballad that spotlighted John's voice and its union of rock & roll grandness with deep soul feeling — he thought, "Great, that's the first new thing that's happened since we happened ...

Born August 20th, 1948 Key Tracks "Dazed and Confused," "Immigrant Song," "Sea of Love" Influenced David Lee Roth, Freddie Mercury, Tori Amos, Axl Rose As

Bob Dylan did what very, very few singers ever do. He changed popular singing. And we have been living in a world shaped by Dylan's singing ever since. Almost no one sings like Elvis Presley anymore. Hundreds try to sing like Dylan. When Sam Cooke played Dylan for the young Bobby Womack, Womack said ...

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Carey is famous for her staggering vocal range — including those ravishing high notes — and power. Her mastery of melisma, the fluttering strings of notes that decorate songs like "Vision of Love," inspired the entire American Idol vocal school, for better or worse, and virtually every other female R&B singer since the Nineties.

Axl Rose is easily the greatest singer of all time. Name one singer who can go from singing in a soft, soothing voice and seconds later scream at the top of his lungs. What makes him special is the fact that when he screamed, he was also singing.

Born June 7th, 1958 Key Tracks Little Red Corvette," "When Doves Cry," "Kiss" Influenced OutKast, D'Angelo, Gwen Stefani, Kevin Barnes "Prince is the

Stevie Wonder is an awesome song writer and singer. He never fails to entertain people and his songs are all time classic and everybody knows the lyrics of his amazing songs. He is a pure talent, an amazing PERFORMER.M+1.

Frank Sinatra invented the "Concept album", so Thriller, Sgt Peppers, Tommy and on and on (would have never happened if it wasn't for Sinatra's IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS" which was the very first concept album. And probably the greatest vocal album of all time. He recorded 25 Masterpiece albums. The Beatles recorded five.

Review: Bruce Springsteen's Broadway Show Is an Intimate Triumph 'Springsteen on Broadway' takes the audience on a journey through the singer's life story using many of his most iconic songs Such sustained greatness makes choosing highlights a deeply subjective job, but we've given it our best shot.

Ray started out wanting to be Nat "King" Cole. When Nat went down low in a song, like "Mona Lisa," there was a growl in there that was kind of sexy. Ray took that to a whole other level.

The first time I was really introduced to Marvin Gaye was the What's Going On album, and I fell in love. It was so moving to hear him talk so desperately about the state of the world, on top of all that brilliant musicality. One of my favorite things he did was to follow the strings with his voice, or double things that the instruments are doing.

For me, James Brown was never just the voice. It was the whole package. But the impact of that voice gave me hope, because it was a simple presentation and didn't trade on range.

A lot of Bono's free-form singing comes from the band's rhythms and the church-bell feeling of the Edge's playing, the way the guitar sings in that delay. Bono can glide vocally through all of that. But it's very natural.

Still, Morrison, who was at least as influenced by Frank Sinatra as he was by Presley, was capable of surprising delicacy: On "People Are Strange" and "Light My Fire," he lets his baritone glide, crooning just above a whisper.

Johnny cash "sounds like he's at the edge of the fire," Bob Dylan wrote in Chronicles. "Johnny's voice was so big, it made the world grow small." The Man in Black's rolling, stentorian baritone is one of the defining voices in American music, from his earliest singles for Sun Records through his commercial prime in the Sixties and Seventies to his Nineties rebirth.

That's why Madonna really does deserve to be on the list of 'Top 10 American Singers Of All Time' In terms of singing ability, this position is well-deserved for Madonna. She has changed from a young and bubbly voice of the Virgin days into a deeper and more humane voice of Ray of Light and Music.

Mick is a disciplined artist, completely dedicated to his craft. His voice has changed somewhat and has a different texture, but it's stronger now. One time the Stones were on tour, and during a two-week break Mick and I went on vacation in the Bahamas. We'd hang out during the day, go to the beach, shop at the market, cook dinner, drink wine.

Born August 9th, 1963 Key Tracks "The Greatest Love of All," "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," "Saving All My Love for You," "I Will Always Love You" Inf Follow @RollingStone 100 Greatest Singers of All Time

Every line Tyler sings is informed by a leer and a wink, whether overtly ("Love in an Elevator") or with more subtlety ("Walk This Way"). In the course of nearly four decades fronting Aerosmith, Tyler has defined both the sound and style of the lead singer in a hard-rock band.

Born December 18th, 1980 Key Tracks "Genie in a Bottle," "Beautiful," "Ain't No Other Man" Influenced Danity Kane, Kelly Clarkson "I knew she cou

"I'll never forget the first time I saw [Tina] perform," said Beyoncé. "I never in my life saw a woman so powerful, so fearless." Turner started touring with the Ike and Tina Turner Revue almost half a century ago; her breakthrough was their blazing 1971 cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's ...

"Songs like 'Leah' and 'In Dreams' start out challenging, then just climb and climb into the stratosphere," says protégé Chris Isaak. Dion, who toured with Orbison, says that he actually sang very softly: "I'd be two feet away, and when he hit those high notes, it was quiet and heartfelt.

Sam Cooke reached down deep with pure soul. He had the rare ability to do gospel the way it's supposed to be — he made it real, clean, direct. Gospel drove Sam Cooke through his greatest songs, the same way it did for Ray Charles, who came first, and Otis Redding. He had an incomparable voice. Sam Cooke could sing anything and make it work.

Joplin's gravelly rasp, over the psychedelic blues of Big Brother and the Holding Company (on 1968's breakthrough Cheap Thrills), and the rough-hewn country soul on her later solo albums, represented an entirely different approach for female vocalists: wild and uninhibited yet still focused and deliberate.

Sheryl Crow calls Stevie Nicks' voice a "combination of sheer vulnerability and power," and Courtney Love swoons over "that ridiculous beautiful tone." Nicks' strong, deceptively versatile voice — by turns husky, warm, velvety and childlike — has provided the color and texture for songs ranging ...

Billie Holiday Biography. Jazz vocalist Billie Holiday was born in 1915 in Philadelphia. Considered one of the best jazz vocalists of all time, Holiday had a thriving career as a jazz singer for many years before she lost her battle with substance abuse. Also known as Lady Day, her autobiography was made into the 1972 film Lady Sings the Blues.

This is the greatest SINGERS of all time, not the greatest RAPPERS of all time. Speaking of which, Eminem is a terrible singer, to be honest. Adele, on the other hand, should at least be in the top 10.

Key Tracks "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Lithium," "All Apologies" Influenced Dave Grohl, Gavin Rossdale, Rivers Cuomo. Kurt Cobain's ferocious rasp clawed its way out of the rock & roll underground in 1991, transforming the fury and anguish of punk rock into pop singing like nothing else had before. He could scream himself raw in tune.

"There's a lot going on in Etta James' voice," says Bonnie Raitt. "A lot of pain, a lot of life but, most of all, a lot of strength." James is often thought of as the ultimate blues mama, her voice a steamroller fueled by brass and sass.

Ella Fitzgerald, who died on June 15, 1996, aged 79, was an extraordinary vocalist, who won 13 Grammys. Ella Fitzgerald, who died on June 15, 1996, aged 79, was an extraordinary vocalist, who won 13 Grammys.

"Anybody my age turning on MTV and seeing Annie Lennox sing 'Sweet Dreams' — that was enough right there," says Rob Thomas. "There was something so soulful in the way she sang songs like 'Walking on Broken Glass.' " Lennox combines a childhood love of Motown with an operatically powerful voice ...

Born September 9th, 1941 (died December 10th, 1967) Key Tracks "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay," "These Arms of Mine," "Try a Little Tenderness" Influenc

To Lucinda Williams, Cline's voice exceeded any one genre. "Even though her style is considered country, her delivery is more like a classic pop singer," says Williams. "That's what set her apart from Loretta Lynn or Tammy Wynette. You'd almost think she was classically trained." LeAnn Rimes has been absorbing Cline's technique her entire life.

Karen Carpenter's white-bread image and sad fate — she died of anorexia in 1983 — have overshadowed her chocolate-and-cream alto voice. But other performers know the score: Elton John called her "one of the greatest voices of our lifetime," and Madonna has said she is "completely influenced by ...

Born February 21st, 1933 (died April 21st, 2003) Key Tracks "Mississippi Goddam," "Four Women," "I Wish Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" Influenced Jeff Buc

Dolly Parton describes her voice as "a cross between Tiny Tim and a nanny goat." Such self-deprecation is typical, but others hear her childlike quaver and soulful delivery as effervescent, joyful, heartbreaking — sometimes all in the same song.

Joni Mitchell began as the archetype of the folkie female singer-songwriter, an heir to Joan Baez. But she quickly moved forward, incorporating influences from jazz and the blues. "Joni Mitchell heard Billie Holiday sing 'Solitude' when she was about nine years old — and she hasn't been the same since," says Herbie Hancock.

As a teenager, Michael Stipe considered Patti Smith his favorite singer. Her voice, he said, "wasn't a strained, perfect crescendo of notes. It was this howling, mad beast." Smith unleashed that beast in signature tracks like "Gloria" and "Land" — combinations of classic R&B songs and Smith's ...

John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne was born on December 3, 1948. He is also known as ''The Prince of Darkness''. Ozzy is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist of the band Black Sabbath. Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath ...read more.

Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer and songwriter known for her deep expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues, and jazz. She is also a well-known member of the 27 Club, as she overdosed on alcohol at age 27.

Tom Waits' voice "has the smoothness of Barry White, but the raspiness of a mountain lion," says hip-hop producer RZA. The "smoothness" may be hard to believe, but on early solo LPs like 1973's Closing Time and 1974's The Heart of Saturday Night, Waits was more like Hoagy Carmichael than a wild animal, with a jazzy croon lightly covered in gravel.

Born January 11th, 1971 Key Tracks "Real Love," "Not Gon' Cry," "No More Drama" Influenced Beyoncé, Keyshia Cole "I can do a record with Elt

Daltrey didn't write his own lyrics, but he had an uncanny ability to adapt to whatever character songwriter Pete Townshend came up with (the vulnerable, Christlike Tommy cooing "See Me, Feel Me," the cocky thug of "Slip Kid" spitting out the words).