Tops Fifteen Male Vocalists of the Twentieth Century

I didn't read all four pages of this. Sam Cooke was considered by his contemporaries to be the cream of the crop. Some of mine, in no particular order:

Sinatra--he could seduce a room like nobody else

Sam Cooke

Marvin Gaye

Raul Malo (Mavericks)--like Roy Orbison, but cleaner; if you like Orbison, check out the Mavericks' album "What A Crying Shame"

Josh Grobin--I know some will consider him wimpy, but his choice of music doesn't diminish his talent

Howard Keel

Stevie Wonder

Otis Redding

Marvin Gaye

Sam Cooke

Louis Armstrong

Curtis Mayfield

Al Green

Michael Jackson

refusenick wrote:

Stevie Wonder

Otis Redding

Marvin Gaye

Sam Cooke

Louis Armstrong

Curtis Mayfield

Al Green

Michael Jackson

This is a very nice list. Very glad to see Curtis Mayfield on there. Awesome singer.

Lots of other good choices so far too. I'd have to put Steven Tyler in there somewhere though...dude has SERIOUS pipes. Jonny Lang is up there for me too. Not sure I'd put Art Garfunkel on the top 15 list, but his vocals in Bridge Over Troubled Water are awesome, so I might put that as a top 15 performance but not sure he's top 15 material over all.

Morrissey.

cut it top 5:

Steve Perry

Freddy Mercury

Roger Daltry

MArvin Gaye

Stevie Wonder

Paul Robeson

Nothing like another subjective poll relating to the music industry.

Clowns of the Purple Sage wrote:

No, no, no, no, no, no. Not the Manhattan Transfer

I didn't put 'em in the top ten, just gave them honorable mention. To me, they deserve respect. They've been bringing good songs back to the forefront of the listening world for almost 40 years now. They deserve something.

If people can put Bono up here I can honorably mention the Transfer. They've got chops. I've sat at their feet while they were singing, and once I saw Janis Siegel's boob. She was offstage in the wings, trying to flash Ben Sidran, who was onstage, and I got an eyeful! So, without the boobs maybe I wouldn't have mentioned them.

Not putting Curtis Mayfield on my list may have been an oversight.

But seriously, go to itunes or somewhere and put on some Chet Baker. He does not belong in the top 10, or even the top 25, but oh, what a voice!

And as for having some pipes, what about that guy from Focus that did all the yodeling? Remember that song Hocus Pocus? I don't believe they spoke English. They were bad to the bone musicians.

I couldn't think of a good classical singer who deserved to be Top Ten. Caruso? I don't know. Contreras? No way. Pavarotti? He was too inconsistent, as good as he was. Domingo? Um, no. To me, Andrea Bocelli may be the best of them, but he hasn't been around long enough to make the kind of impact that would merit a Top Ten.

I think Josh Grobin is the real deal and can have a huge impact. It's not Grobin that's wimpy, it's his ego-maniac producer David Foster who makes him put out the saccharine songs. Foster is someone who must keep sticking his face in front of the camera. If Grobin was in the hands of someone more capable, maybe (maybe) Quincy Jones or someone like that, he'd have a better career going for him. He has the best male voice in terms of timbre, power, fatness of tone, overall voice quality, etc.

Yes, this discussion may be subject, but it's like talking baseball. Willie, Mickey, and the Duke.

Bobby Sherman

David Cassidy

Ricky Nelson

Donny Osmond

Fabian

New Kids on the Block (as one unit)

Frankie Avalon

Bobby Rydell

Zac Efron

And the guys who sang “Run, Joey, Run” in 1974.

Not top ten, but maybe in top 15.

John Denver

Matt Monro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbS_-biZ_P4

Jussi Bjorling?

And really, not one classical singer? You realize this is discussing specifically singing. I don't know how you could pace a random rock/pop singer ahead of any half decent opera singer such as a Bjorling, Caruso, Corelli, Pavarotti, etc. There is no competition. These are guys who make their living perfectly amazing singing voices with complete control of all elements. There have been some singers in pop/rock with great voices sure, but there is just no way they are going to compare to somehow who focuses purely on singing for many hours per day.

Groban is a pretty darn good singer, though I'd like to see him be a little less breathy than he elects to be on many songs and for him to develop a little more squillo.

I'm not sure how that quote got copied and attributed to me. I didn't say it.

Anyway, someone should mention Steve Kilbey of The Church.

wow, only one other person had freddy mercury listed.

surely, he's in the top 3.

whirledpeas wrote:

wow, only one other person had freddy mercury listed.

surely, he's in the top 3.

I'd put him in the top 3 too...perhaps even #1.

One GREAT vocalist that hasn't even been mentioned (I don't think) is Elton John. The reason is that most know him from his post vocal chord surgery days, and not from that early days when he was beyond great.

Here's a video from 1970. Dude was a GREAT singer back then.

The only list that matters

Steve Perry

Dennis Deyoung

Brad Delp

Tommy Shaw

Lawrence Gowan

Greg Rollie

Geddy Lee

/thread

gregg allman, eddie vedder, chris cornell, greg brown