In Your Opinion, Who Was/Is The Best Singer Ever?

Cleo Laine would be in the running.

Ray Charles

My fave was always Linda Ronstadt.

Karen Carpenter - Mario Lanza - Keely Smith - Chet Baker

Liza Minnelli is one of the all-time great performers in concert. No one could surpass her. She's electrifying. Her talent, voice and presence on stage were simply beyond anyone before her.

Barbra, Whitney rank one and two as singers go, but Liza rules when it comes to performances on the concert stage.

Do groups count? I personally have never heard a trio of singers better than the women of The Three Degrees. They made every song interesting, even if not all of them were good. But when they were at their best, they were amazing. Even The Mamas and the Papas didn't have harmonies this good. This is their version of "Rain on My Parade". They add so much of grit, soul and edge to the song, things that Barbara Streisand lacks (she's too "perfect" for that).

R6 yes

Rob Dickinson of Catherine Wheel is my choice for best male singer. He has a guttural quality to his voice that makes Joe Strummer sound smooth. When he sings about being down in the dumps like in this song, it's rough.

Karen Carpenter

Dusty Springfield

Skip to the 2 minute mark to listen to "Rain on my parade".

Luther Vandross

Bing Crosby

Placido Domingo

Adele

What kind of singer?

[quote] Bing Crosby. Placido Domingo. Adele. What kind of singer?

Hopefully not one as tragically boring as any of those three.....

Luciano Pavarotti. The man had no range, no languages, no brains, but he was born with the most perfect voice ever. Warm, expansive, glowing, technically marvelous in his younger days... and that "open throat" quality that makes grand opera sound natural and unforced - the last being an incredibly rare quality.

He really was the best, he was born with the most incredible gift and he made the most of it.

Karen Carpenter, Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, Andrea Bocelli.

Regine Velasquez, Asia's Songbird

There is only one.

I'm torn. I want to say Whitney, Barbra, Frank, and George Michael. Can't just pick one.

stinky link, R17

I'll say it again R19

There is only one!

Miss Francis. Number ONE.

Nina Simone

Karen Carpenter

Billie Holiday

The only correct answer to this question is Miss Connie Francis. Nina Simone is a close second.

Connie Francis?

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

But there are many jondras of music!?!

Agree about Connie Francis.

I know you bitches will flame, but I think the greatest vocalist is Mariah. I've never heard anyone with such control of their voice to make so many different notes. She has been able to pull off so many different styles successfully: hip hop/r&b, power ballads, whispery vocals, Christmas songs, dance music, she's sung with Ol Dirty Bastard and Luciano Pavarotti. No one else could really pull that off.

Gia Carangi

The ravishing beauty and flawlessly natural song stylings of Miss Belinda Carlisle

Connie Francis....no.

Mariah....double no.

Whitney or Frank Sinatra

Are YOU kidding me, OP?!

Nina Simone was a good singer. But a bitch in life. She was racist and mean to Dusty.

Dimash.

Female- Whitney Houston Male - Freddie Mercury

R32 nope, no kidding?

R14 When he was compared to Bjorling, Pavarotti said this: "Please, I'm only human".

Just listen

And of course, the incomparable Maria Callas

Yeah, ok, thumbs up, R6. Rolls eyes.

Janis Joplin

You don't just hear the music, you FEEL it and know she means every word. There are lots of singers who are technically good, but not many who connect to it and pour their soul into it like Janis.

Connie for females...Sinatra for males

R41 nailed it.

Sinatra (when he was young), Barbra (when she was young), Karen Carpenter.

It has been Linda Ronstadt since I first heard "Long, Long Time" in 1976 and bought her latest album, Hasten down the Wind, the next day. Eventually, I would buy the album with "Long, Long Time," but I could not stop listening to HDTW.

Enough with these cornballs.

I vote for Mick Jagger.

So many popular song singers could sing beautifully when Sinatra was the big star. Hard to really name the best. And then Elvis sang as wonderfully as Sinatra, both live and on recordings.

Frank!

"There's really only three female singers. There's Streisand, there's Ronstadt, and there's Connie Smith. The rest of us are just pretending."

R5, you're either under 45, or an idiot. Her mother could not only touch her, but could blow her off the earth even at her sickest.

I defer to Sinatra, Bennett, Torme, Crosby, Mathis, et. al.

The First Lady of Song is Ms. Ella Fitzgerald.

Whitney Huston

Umm Kulthum, you blue eyed satan...

Sinatra? Puleaze. His voice gave out in his early sixties around 1981 (not to mention when it gave out in 1950-52), but unfortunately his ego didn't.

On the other hand, Tony Bennett was singing WELL, well into his 80's.

Here he is at age 85. Sinatra couldn't have hit the high note at the end even in his 40's.

Miss Kate Smith

Whitney Houston is the obvious choice..

Ella Fitzgerald.

The greatest singers of my lifetime are Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand, and of course Maria Callas.

The best male singer of the last 50 years is Gary Puckett of “Gary Puckett and the Union Gap” from the late ‘60s. Gorgeous voice, tremendous range.

I agree with mist mentioned and will add Donny Hathaway into the mix

Obiously, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Janet Jackson and Madonna

Nice to see so much love for Connie around here. And let's not forget that not only did she have the voice of an angel, she possessed otherworldly beauty too.

For me, no one had as much control over their instrument as did Sarah Vaughan.

Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, Frank Sinatra Pavarotti. Yes. But have you ever heard a recording of Paul Robeson?

Now Maria Callas and Barbra Streisand, Whitney, and how can you ignore Celine Dion? And Mariah in her prime. Anyone here familiar with Minnie Ripperton?

YOU know there are people who are obviously spectacular performers,entertainers. Then there are those who belt out songs who have power. And those who are melodic.So just opining on"the best" is difficult. I thought Nina Simone was brilliant but she isn't the best singer.No more than Peggy Lee is.

Miss Brenda Lee. Patsy Kline.

Aretha Franklin

Whitney Houston

Maria Callas

Placido Domingo

Kathleen battle

Lily pons

Andrea bocelli

Edith Piaf

Andrea Bocelli? Oh, God no. He's near-total schlock.

Truly magnificent!

R42 Yes indeed!

Nico. Yoko Ono. Diamanda Galas,

"I vote for Mick Jagger. "

Jagger was a crap singer, but a GREAT entertainer. Probably the best front man of all time, even if he couldn't sing for shit.

R60 Certainly agree.

I prefer Tony Bennett for a male singer over Frank, although I love both. Nina Simone or Ella Fitzgerald for women.

The ravishing beauty of Miss Shitney Houston who wouldn't clean up for her crazy fans =

Bonus beauty =

R75 seriously, Lmao. That photo. How did I ever forget that photo.

My husband knows he’s my only man, but damn Adam is 2nd. I find him Sizzlin hot.

Karen Carpenter

k.d. Lang

Whitney

Johnny Gill

Bing

Nate Dogg

Stadium = Freddie Mercury. Opera House = Maria Callas. Concert Hall = tie: Judy and George Michael.

Dean Martin or Vic Damone