Hail to the great female vocalists

#1

Hail to the great female vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:22am

Who, in your opinion, from past to present has the greatest vocals that will be talked about for many years to come?

1. Etta James
2. Ella Fitzgerald
3. Christina Aguilera
4. Judy Garland
5. Billie Holliday

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"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2

Updated On: 6/18/06 at 10:22 AM

#2

re: Hail to the great femal vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:24am

Ella is playing this very moment in Apt 702!

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" ...the happiness in the tune convinces me that I'm not afraid."

#3

re: Hail to the great femal vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:24am

kd lang
Barbra

#4

re: Hail to the great femal vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:27am

There's a trick with a knife
I'm learning to do
And Everything I've got belongs to you

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" ...the happiness in the tune convinces me that I'm not afraid."

#5

re: Hail to the great femal vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 10:36am

I don't know about Christina Aguilera, but all those listed have a unique vocal quality that makes them memorable. I would add Diana Krall to that list as well as the amazing Rosemary Clooney. Diana has a rich, lusterous voice and Rosemary had amazing vocal control and a clarity that few could match.

#6

re: Hail to the great femal vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 11:00am

The reason I chose Christina Aguilera, is because in a day and age of teeny bopper singers that can barely sustain a note in pitch or with power without the help of some studio effects, Christina has a real soulful, powerful voice that can fill a stadium without a microphone. Also, you can feel the emotions when she sings as well, which other folks today just sing the words to sing them.

And I haven't heard Dinah Washington before (I don't think). I will listen to some of her stuff right now.

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"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2

#7

re: Hail to the great femal vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 11:01am

Diana Krall is so-o-o-o boring.

The greats should include: Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, Edith Piaf, Diahann Carroll.

Did someone mention Christina Aguilera? Please. She doesn't "sing," she yelps. Any potential she has is swallowed by the issues of image and commercial appeal.

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Do you know what happens when you let Veal Prince Orloff sit in an oven too long?

#8

re: Hail to the great femal vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 11:03am

Any potential she has is swallowed by the issues of image and commercial appeal.

This is strictly on vocals alone, image not included. And Lena Horne, I COMPLETELY agree with.

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"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2

Updated On: 6/18/06 at 11:03 AM

#9

re: Hail to the great femal vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 11:13am

Voices I love:

Linda Ronstadt
Cass Elliot
Barbra Streisand
k.d. lang
Dusty Springfield
Dolly Parton
Eva Cassidy
Judy Garland
Patsy Cline
Ann Wilson
Pat Benatar
Grace Slick
Pink
Alison Moyet
Annie Golden

Updated On: 6/19/06 at 11:13 AM

#10

re: Hail to the great femal vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 11:31am

I would like add a vote for India Arie. I think the most versatile voice I have ever heard.

#11

re: Hail to the great femal vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 11:39am

I don't know enough about Miss Aguilera to make a judgement.

Spider, if you have never listened Dianh Washington, you must do so. She is one of the greatest gospel/soul singers ever. If you like Ella and Etta, you will probably like Dinah.

I also love Bessie Smith. Although I would not classify her voice as beautiful, it is strong and unique due to the fact that it is full of pain and emotion, much like Billie Hoiliday.

#12

re: Hail to the great female vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 11:56am

Ella, Ella, ELLA!!!!

#13

re: Hail to the great female vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 12:19pm

I'm actually listening to Ella right now as well. :)

But on sheer vocal talent alone? I'd have to go with Sarah Vaughan.

#14

re: Hail to the great female vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 12:23pm

Image aside, because it's a shame, I agree that Christina Aguilera has a very impressive set of pipes.

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A work of art is an invitation to love.

#15

re: Hail to the great female vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 12:28pm

But on sheer vocal talent alone? I'd have to go with Sarah Vaughan.

Perhaps..but on sheer musicianship alone? Ella all the way. Impeccable phrasing. Ridiculous scatting. She's like a horn. A soft, silky, unbrassy horn. Amazing.

#16

re: Hail to the great female vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 12:34pm

I think it is interesting that we seem to always salute the female singers, but we rarely have a male singer tribute thread. I have always preferred the female voice to the male voice for some reason. Not that there aren't men's voices I don't adore (Mel, Nat, Johnny Hartman...the list goes on).

I love almost every singer mentioned in this thread so far. It is funny, because I alway lumped Christina in that "Britney/Jessica/Ashley" group until I heard her singing on a friend's stereo one day. I had no idea who it was, but I was pretty surprised when he told me who it was. I think she has a great voice. She is obviously singing stuff targeted for a specific audience and her image reflects that. I don't really like a lot of the music she chooses to sing, but she definitely has the pipes.

kd is another phenomenal vocalist whose choice of material lately has left me cold. She has gotten so self indulgent it makes me sad.

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PEACE.

#17

re: Hail to the great female vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 12:49pm

my favorite: Miss Peggy Lee
....soooo cool yet warm, playful & earthy yet sophisticated, dramatic yet existential...

other favorites:
Sarah Vaughan
Dr. Nina Simone
Blossom Dearie
Ella Fitzgerald
The Boswell Sisters
Dionne Warwick
Dusty Springfield
Dee Dee Warwick
Eartha Kitt
June Christy


& of course
Miss Judy Garland!!!

Updated On: 6/19/06 at 12:49 PM

#18

re: Hail to the great female vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 1:12pm

Joni Mitchell. She has such control over her voice, allowing precision, but at the same time getting a very free sound. And she can write one hell of a song.

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"We don't value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last. Life's bounty is in it's flow, later is too late. Where is the song when it's been sung, the dance when it's been danced? It's only we humans who want to own the future too." - Tom Stoppard, Shipwreck

#19

re: Hail to the great female vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 2:12pm

Ella will always be my favorite jazz singer, even though I accept that Sarah is a more serious musician and Billie reaches a greater depth of feeling. But I was lucky enough to see Ella perform live 20 times: once a year (and sometimes more!) at Newport, Kool and JVC Jazz festivals for the last 16 years of her performing life, and her joie de vivre became a part of my being.

I would add to these lists the late Shirley Horn and the influential Ivie Anderson, (arguably) the greatest of Duke Ellington's vocalists:



Her "Stormy Weather" was definitive until Lena and Judy sang it, and her "Love Is Like a Cigarette" influenced k.d. lang.

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#20

re: Hail to the great female vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 2:32pm

OH & i want to mention Mary Ford!!!!

#21

re: Hail to the great female vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 2:40pm

I agree with the boredom of Diana Krall. Listen to her "As Time Goes By" and then Barbra Streisand's rendition. Krall comes up flat.

Peggy Lee is bliss. I can never get tired of listening to "As That All There Is?".

#22

re: Hail to the great female vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 2:51pm

Is that all there is, is one of the finest female vocal performances of the last fifty years.

Two Peggy Lee tracks worth checking out, I Wanna be Seduced and The Doodlin' song. Light but fun.

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Life is...just a bowl of cherries...

#23

re: Hail to the great female vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 3:20pm

Oh & Elis Regina!!!!!!
Elis Regina: AGUAS DE MARCO

#24

re: Hail to the great female vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 4:09pm

Sueleen, that's an interesting point about the focus on female vocalists as opposed to males. I wonder if it may be that females, in general, have a greater ability to get in touch with emotion and bring it out in their music.

If you look at the most popular male vocalists that have been around, with a few exceptions such as Johnny Mathis or Luther Vandross, very few seem to reach the depth that the women listed here are able to. Ella played her voice the way John Coltrane and Miles Davis played their instruments, Judy Garland and Billie Holiday sang in a way that allowed you to hear every heartache that had expereiced, Peggy Lee sung in a sultry tone that was as smooth as a well aged scotch.

The male vocalists, although they may have had very good voices, don't seem to put the same range of emotion into their music as frequently as women do.

Updated On: 6/18/06 at 04:09 PM

#25

re: Hail to the great female vocalists

Posted: 6/18/06 at 5:03pm

Madonna - she knows where he range is and she knows how to push it to the limits and sound awesome.

Gwen Steffani- how unique is her voice? I remember hearing her all throughout my childhood and she always intrigued me.

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And the other thing about the Phantom Lady was, Bert, she realized, in the city that never sleeps... What did she realize, Kitten? That all the songs she'd listened to, all the love songs, that they were only songs. What's wrong with that? Nothing, if you don't believe in them. But she did, you see. She believed in enchanted evenings, and she believed that a small cloud passed overhead and cried down on a flower bed, and she even believed there was breakfast to be had... Where? On Pluto. The mysterious, icy wastes of Pluto.