What about Angus Young and AC/DC?
What about Angus Young and AC/DC?
Elvis
Billy Corgan - Smashing Pumpkins (among the others mentioned)
Cash ...
All singers are distinct if you listen to that band enough times.
Wow, some goods ones so far, but you've missed so many:
Applause for the Tom Waits listing, but no one mentioned is early 70s counterpart The Boss.
Two Classics:
Frank Zappa
Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart)
Many Standards Missed So Far:
Every Beatle
Harry Nilsson
Neil Diamond
Van Morrison
Roy Orbison
Tom Petty
Brain Wilson
Nick Drake
Donovan
Arlo Guthrie
Harry Chapin
Cat Stevens
Eric Burdon
Elton John
Ray Charles
Paul Simon
Stevie Wonder
George Clinton
Ric Ocasik
Rivers Cuomo
Elliot Smith
Beck Hanson
That guy from Crash Test Dummies
Frank Black
Michael Ness
Jack Black (TD)
Mark Mothersbough (Devo)
Stephen Tyler
Raymond Douglas Davies (The Kinks)
Roger Daltrey
Henry Rollins (Black Flag)
Mick Jones
Joey Ramone
Jimmy Hendrix
Jimmy Buffett
Jack Johnson
BB King
and the King of POP, Michael Jackson
Don't forget the ladies:
Blondie
Patty Smith
Joan Jett
That chick from Heart
Cindy Lauper
Madonna
Chrissie Hynde
My head is spinning........
colin hay from men at work has a pretty distinctive voice
The longer this thread goes, the more these voices seem "distinctive" in the same way that fingerprints and snowflakes are distinctive. Tom Waits (a reasonable candidate) seems less distinctive when you throw in, for example, Leonard Cohen, Harry Chapin, Van Morrison, and Joe Cocker. (I didn't notice Cohen and Cocker mentioned before. I was surprised not to see Cocker.)
Louis Armstrong is looking better and better here. On the female side, Janis Joplin.
"That chick from Heart" is probably Nancy Wilson, although I suppose it could be her sister Ann.
Distinctive really implies both different and notable. Of the wellknown singers, those who are distinctive have to be:
Kate Bush:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua7Wr3YhkQM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ-m8nv2SrA&feature=related
Tom Waits:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByomIJf5n9w
But if you want distinctive with a capitol D, than you have to consider the lesser knowns:
Christian Vander, of Magma- can sing in a gibbering falsetto, in a linguistically correct language he made up over the course of a nearly 40-year-old career.
Modern:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS0pKRBdHFA
Mid-Period:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS0pKRBdHFA
Early:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZZ68i_TE2U&feature=related
Diamanda Galas- like no singer you have ever heard:
This is one of her more mellow electronic pieces (!):
I would have to say
-Eddie Vedder
-Jack Black
-Serj Tankian
-James Hatfield
-Angus from ac dc
Neil Young
Jon Anderson (Yes)
but I'd also include Zach de la Rocha
I can't believe nobody has mentioned Jim Morrison! The Doors leader had a VERY distinctive sound.