Most Overrated Vocalist

Mariah Carey owns this thread.

This has to be pre-2006 too I don’t think pop music has had an actual singer after Leona Lewis and Kelly Clarkson (who just screams now)

People like Ed Sheeran definitely don't cut it. But I do think Lady Gaga is a singer even if her music is dull now.

Sorry Op, I'm going to go with underrated and say Pink. If she can hold her own and is up there next to Clarkson in my book.

I watched Barbra’s concert on Netflix and got really into it. By the end, I was standing and cheering in my living room.

R4, I'm ok with that opinion :-). For some reason, Pink is one of those artists that really turns off some people. People either love her or hate her.

This is screaming?

Lea Michele. The pipes flow, bit the expression is mediocre

Michael Fucking Crawford.

Overrated by whom? Twitter? Ranker? Buzzfeed? Can't we just like who we like? And why not Madonna? I'm not a big fan, but I think most people would consider her a "vocalist." Much rather listen to her than to Cher.

Beyonce Knowles. She doesn't sing. She warbles. And she doesn't even do that well.

[quote] And why not Madonna? I'm not a big fan, but I think most people would consider her a "vocalist."

I'm a former huge fan but no. She was never a vocalist. Nobody cites Madonna when people discuss great voices.

R11, something about Beyonce's tone just sounds a bit harsh to me at times. Not sure what it is exactly. I'd rather listen to Rihanna and she's definitely not a great singer. I love the way Rihanna sounds on this song.

Whitney

Ariana Grande. Don't get the "next Mariah" comments, she's not even close

R15, her voice lacks depth. There's 0 grit to it. She hits a bunch of high notes and that's all.

[quote] "Whitney"

To each their own, but GTFO. Maaaaaybe in her last few years. But only then, if at all.

Agree Mariah, but since about 1998. Before that the praise was justified for the most part.

R14: it’s all personal opinion I know but come on, Whitney in her prime in the mid/late 80s and early 90s live was amazing!

I’d say Adele after hearing some of the songs on her latest album. Think I said this before on here when it came out but there’s a song near the end of the album where she’s screaming. Obviously no one wanted to tell her to do another take as she’s surrounded by sycophants I’m guessing. So painful to listen to.

R11: I’m first to want to laugh at Beyoncé as she takes herself way too seriously and I’d include her in the overrated list but that clip has been distorted I think to sound bad. The song doesn’t have that much music/backing vocals to mask singing that bad. Assuming this is the same performance, she sounds fine.

OP, you know nothing about Barbra Streisand, an iconic singer, and one of the most successful female artists in America music history. Donna Summer is also an iconic singer, but please, she does not as you say, “destroy” Streisand in anyway shape or form on their duet single.

Their voices are perfectly matched in range and intensity. Your comment is unfounded and infantile.

The public comment Streisand made about her acting and singing career, is that she considers herself an actor first, who can sing. How you translated that into “she does not like to sing, and has admitted to this”, is bullshit. Tell us that again, after you count the number of concerts/ tours she has done in her near 60 year career. Link provided. You’re welcome.

Destroyed? Really, destroyed? Hahaha…

Whitney was always overrated, R17. She sang songs other people wrote, and she sang them with no emotional depth to her singing. So no, I won't GTFO. Whitney sucked. She was all technique, and no heart. She was incapable of finding the emotional center of a song. Her performances influenced singers with less technical skill to badly use melisma to disguise the fact that they couldn't hold a note. Her destructive influence on pop music continued for decades, as a result. Also, she was the herald of loud=good.

Carol Burnett - she actually got musical theatre roles. The mind boggles.

Katy Perry. Nobody claims she is great but millions like her hits. I do believe she cannot sing a single note.

Personally? FRANK.

I heard him singing something just today and it was awful. He had his moments, but I don't like his singing and he lacks emotion.

R21: this is probably a losing battle given what you’ve written above but how about this performance from about 3 minutes. I always loved the ‘didn’t we’ repeats at about 5 minutes and the emotional behind it. Agree she didn’t always sing with feeling though, maybe she was missing Robyn her lesbian lover that night, who knows.

Also, I love Whitney but do hate the ‘shouting/loud = good’ thinking you mention too, and I know Whitney does have a few performances that fit under that. But when she was on form, she was amazing

On the shouting/loud thing, Jennifer Hudson holds that crown. She’s awful for it.

Judy Collins. I'm tempted to add Joan Baez.

The fact cher gets any respect as a vocalist is nuts

Britney

Madonna

Christina Aguilera. I think she's more guilty of "oversinging" than Whitney is

Janet

etc.

I don't think Mama Cass was so great. She was just...OK.

Ariana Grande

Whitney's weakness wasn't her voice but her material, especially really early on in her career. Her first album was good but her second was mostly shit. But I think her material did improve in the 90s, especially My Love is Your Love (which is a very good album).

Carole King, Joni Mitchell, lady from fleetwood whac

Édith Piaf, Juliette Gréco

Corrine from Swing Out Sister. Tone deaf.

Annie Lennox

Carly Simon

[quote] lady from fleetwood whac

You are going to cause a riot here on DL. But honestly, I agree with you. I don't understand what the big deal is about Stevie Nicks's voice. She sounds like a goat in heat, especially her solo stuff. I prefer Christine McVie over her. Another unpopular opinion here--Fleetwood Mac was best when Peter Green was at the wheel. But that's a topic for another day.

There are "bad" singers I happened to like, however. Buffy Sainte-Marie, Yoko Ono

Nobody really rates Stevie as a great singer. She was excellent as a star up to mid career. Her 80s solo material is iconic and very enjoyable. Her image was hilarious AND likable.

People did thing Annie Lennox was a fantastic singer. I always just found her a "strong" singer. If I wanted strength I preferred the small vocal gifts of Grace Jones combined with Grace Jones' very skilled theatricality. And she could sing a hell of a lot more variety of music than Annie Lennox and let you enjoy it.

OP didn't say it had be gurl singers....but I guess this being a gay site...

Zayn. He was the one who was supposed to be able to sing. I just listened to a mix tape I made pre-covid and meh.....

I have a hard time really enjoying Al Green or Otis Redding. I know they are soul legends but I don't connect with them the way I do with James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, etc.

Otis was FABULOUS when he was fabulous. A lot of it sounds draggy now, but at his best.

I only like a few of Al's songs.

Cher can be very good. She sounds better today than in the 60s.

Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac because Buckingham wanted to fuck her.

Mariah Carey, a glorified studio singer. She’s no vocalist when it comes to singing LIVE. She’s a joke.

Cher had only ONE great song back in the old days

Anyone who thinks that Grace Jones can sing - never mind sing better than the great Annie Lennox, is deaf.

Annie Lennox has one of the great contralto voices in popular music. The combination of her technical ability, vocal quality and performance gifts make her one of the most UNDERRATED singers.

Of the good singers with good to great voices - the move overrated is Streisand, for sure. Celine surpassed her a million miles and years ago and without all the bitching about having to sing. Try this Barbra. La Resonance and REAL power. RANGE. 49 years old. Celine can still sing as pretty as she pleases. Don't ever mistake her as not exceptional in every way. She is unrivalled at what she does.

Streisand has some very specific gifts to her voice. And they are quite remarkable. But she knows nothing about singing, has no love for it, communicates nothing but "sound" and is a pretty bad interpreter of song. Striezand is the famous singer who is most overrated. As her increasingly miniscule popularity demonstrates.

Celine and Whitney are extraordinarily top notch live singers

Whitney was not singing her own songs and a lot of times not even songs that were written for her so but never got the feeling she didn’t “feel” the songs. Surprised that others did.

Yes My love is your love was such a good album but I like all of the albums, for different reasons. There weren’t that many compared to other artists. Or it seems that way.

Her original concerts made for good tv and looking back she was probably coked up to the gills but she put on a show even though she didn’t really dance.

Totally true, R54. Celine and Whitney performed their well produced perfect hit songs so much BETTER live! Astounding voices and talents - the soulful Whitney was a vocal goddess and phenomenon LIVE. Her heart was on full display with that voice like church bells and trumpets. Celine is so much more passionate and improvisational LIVE. She already has vocal gifts beyond reason.

I have to agree with Beyonce. She uses too much melisma, and can't hold a note.

Mariah Carey is not overrated. Her rating is well-deserved. Just the song "Vanishing" from her debut album is enough to establish that fact and unlike her contemporaries, she evolved her style a lot.

I love Aretha, but she was overrated as a vocalist. Not as a singer. There's a difference. Gladys Knight and Dionne Warwick are both better vocalists.

R53 listen you pathetic "boiler plate diva worship stan", do you have reading comprehension challenges?

I did NOT say Grace Jones sings better than Annie Lennox. I said I preferred Grace Jones "small vocal gift" and theatrical skill. Annie Lennox is bombastic to my ears. A MATTER OF INDIVIDUAL TASTE.

People like you are an embarrassment with your technical rants straight out of the Sheboygan Conservatory of received critical pablum. With your deliberate misreads, because your diva worship must be fed, or frankly your retarded intellect.

GOAT. Don't ever disrespect greatness. Her name should never be mentioned on this thread.

You are unhinged.... as you so often spit at others, R60.

Read the thread title and don't come back with your uniformed and ancient disco worn out hole opinions.

Grace Jones was never a singer or a vocalist. She's the musical equivalent of RuPaul for whatever decade your ass was last busy. The 70s? There is no reason for her name to be here.

[quote] something about Beyonce's tone just sounds a bit harsh to me at time

This 100X. Beyonce has technical skills, she can do runs, etc. but the TONE of TIMBRE of her voice is grating. It's not rich or smooth.

People citing Whitney or Mariah or just racist and/or insane.

Whitney had a combination almost no one else in pop music has ever had: 1) range 2) tone (so rich and smooth) 3) power and 4) control

And LIVE she took it to another level. Especially early on. If you don't like soul/RnB/gospel you may not appreciate it but her talent was undeniable.

Mariah: Unique voice. extreme range and control. But never had the full, rich texture of Whitney in all her registers. She was amazing live in her first decade (look up her SNL rehearsals, esp of Vanishing). She fucked up her voice for a while....... like from 2000-2010. She has gotten better now but is not at the level of her prime.

[quote] Grace Jones was never a singer or a vocalist. She's the musical equivalent of RuPaul for whatever decade your ass was last busy. The 70s? There is no reason for her name to be here.

You're limited.

Grace Jones is a great entertainer. Nothing wrong with that.

I couldn't BEAR Grace Jones - nearly all my friends had her fucking LP.

Grace Jones can't sing. How can she be overrated when no one considers her a singer?

[quote]Nobody really rates Stevie as a great singer. She was excellent as a star up to mid career. Her 80s solo material is iconic and very enjoyable. Her image was hilarious AND likable.

That's helpful. I never had a sense of how people rated her as a singer. She helps me to understand the resistance many people have to listening to Bob Dylan and other tough-sell voices (usually great songwriters who mostly perform their own material). I find her almost unlistenable, with the grating tone, the abundance of mannerisms, and the shallowness of what she does with words, even if they're hers.

But yes, she could be funny. I still cue up the "I Can't Wait" video once in a while. It's like a parody of an '80s video. I know she's said it embarrasses her now, because she was...altered during the shoot.

[quote] Grace Jones can't sing

That is ridiculous.

I didn't say Grace Jones was overrated or underrated. I said Annie Lennox is overrated. I find her strong but also bombastic and treacly. I hate treacle. Annie was cool when she was young. That's it. Grace Jones did fantastic tours in her dottage and remained strong. Annie? Nope. Lame standards. Creepy "Christmas" music. Activism and arty farty crap. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

I like Barbra's early stuff, but then after "On a Clear Day" she gets ridiculously full of herself and starts oversinging. Some of her later stuff like "The Broadway Album" is to me unlistenable.

Some of Stevie Nicks 80s output is balls to the walls. We love her for that. Rock Pop singer.

A few are making distinctions about vocalist (trained) versus singer (bigger category that including vocalists - but a singer conveys emotion and mood and intellect - and will have varying levels of technical skill from few to abundant.

It doesn't really matter to a listicle on Datalounge. Anyone can have an opinion about who is an overrated singer or vocalist.

Grace Jones sold out the Hollywood Bowl next week.at 74 fucking years old. Props to her.

Look who's there.

Bow down Barbra. Celine idolized you. You can be over the top, have a beautiful voice and STILL remain present in the song. That's what a great singer does.

A vocal racehorse needs to run. Celine shows you how it's done.

Christine McVie always sounds like someone's mother singing along to the radio. She's awful.

Adele.

People can talk about Whitney, Mariah, Celine, and Barbara but their music is pretty diverse and they’ve done different types of music to showcase their vocals compared to Adele.

There’s songs they’ve all done that are vocally impressive. Maybe I can’t speak for Celine but like Mariah singing words in her whistle register on “Bliss”, Barbara holding that long note in “Enough is Enough”, Whitney and the whole Bodyguard soundtrack lol.

Adele has NOTHING and she’s overrated because a lot of people consider her to be in the same category as they are because she’s sold so many albums.

Mariah has a formula on a lot of her songs but they’re impressive vocally.

Adele has no range to me, I feel like she sings the same exact notes in every song. Her voice is not very colorful.

I mean complain about Beyonce at least she experiments and does things outside the box. Adele does nothing.

You may have to go to church to find a Whitney or Mariah but you can go to any coffee shop and find an Adele.

R76 I like that about Christie though. She does sound like a mother singing to her children but that’s why “Everywhere” is so pretty.

You can see the Countess Luann or Grace Jones. They are equally "talented."

Disagree about Cass Elliot. As John Phillips said, she could sing like an angel or a whore. She harmonized so well with everyone from John Denver to Julie Andrews.

R70 I disagree.

I mean “No More I Love You’s” is ridiculously theatrical and was a huge hit and is still accessible today.

I think that speaks volumes about her.

No More I Love You's is almost 30 years old. Do you know it's a cover? Is that Ballet Trocadero with her? It's a nice interpretation but it is treacly, to my taste.

By the way I didn't say Annie Lennox is bad. People see everything in binaries. Sheesh!

If we're doing male vocalists.....Timberlake. He's just okay to me

Am I the only one who finds Céline's voice impressive, but not very pleasant? It has a nasal(?) quality that irritates me.

I still enjoy many of her songs though.

Timberlake is a successful singer but is he a highly esteemed singer or vocalist? Who rated him highly?

r84, I agree. I feel the same way about Carrie Underwood. She can sing, but I don't like the actual tone of her voice

Oh lord, help us. Annie Lennox belongs with the greatest of blue eyed soul singers. It's a small group. The Righteous brothers, Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones, Teena Marie, Michael McDonald, Amy Winehouse. (Sam Smith and Adele can stay in the waiting room:)

Annie Lennox is so far from bombastic. She can sing rock music, new wave and new soul. Classics and her own lane of downplaying the beauty of her voice for the sake of the song. Her voice is buttery. With a beautiful burr. She sings properly from her diaphragm and her chest voice and transition to head voice is no less than impeccable. She's soulful. Tuneful. That's not bombastic. This song seems like a walk in the park but it's not - not with the consistent power and beautiful phrasing that Lennox delivers. She manages to convey love and joy. She's a wonderful vocalist and a great communicator as a singer.

Canadian French as that tone. She kept it in English.

R83 Timberlake is a good one. He wasn’t even the best singer in NSync, JC Chasez was.

I would say Adele. I think the genre she sings has provided her with more credit than she deserves. A lot of the pop singers have better ranges and techniques than her but aren’t taken as seriously because of genre bias.

Much like Shakira, I think Céline sounds better in her native language (I guess that's no surprise ...)

Frank Sinatra was awful, if he was alive today, his singing would have been compared to rapping!

Frankie talked-sang. He was very limited, there was not much of a range at all.

R87 that's your taste expressed. Lennox shares a lot of qualities with Patti LuPone and Kate Smith. Amply on display in the belting you posted at R87. Needless to say I prefer Bernadette Peters to Patti LuPone. I do love Dusty. Impeccable. Never "shouty".

R89 omg just listen to Timberlake sing the National Anthem. He is no one’s vocalist.

Frank Sinatra did a lot more than talk sing. Sheesh. Even Marlene Dietrich, the queen of talk sing in English, flat out sang songs when she was young.

[quote]Frankie talked-sang. He was very limited, there was not much of a range at all.

Later, when he only had the remnants of a voice, yes. But at his peak, especially in the '50s when he was making the Capitol albums, nah.

Not sure if anyone really "rates" him but Adam Levine's thin, nasal voice bugs the shit out of me

The French vocal masque is very forward in the resonators, aka in the face and more nasal. It's simply the way of speaking and singing. The Quebecois sound is even more so. Celine has the two biggest selling French albums of all time, and two albums in the top ten selling albums of ALL time. Parts of her voice are nasal. But it is not a flaw. It is her style. And what she does with belts and runs and the coloratura are not nasal at all. She can sing in the Parisian Chanteuse style as she wants or give it all in her backwoods Quebec sound when she is home and free. Celine comes across much better en francais. Her low notes and laser fast runs and gorgeous overtones are unique to her. No one sounds like Celine. And like Whitney, her heart is there on display. She's slick but she's real. Her vocal ability is stunning in any language.

Paul McCartney

It's not because she is french that she sounds great -Celine is rightfully one of the greatest voices of the last 80 years. She looks and sounds very tired here, but her two lines of Piaf in this clip prove her specialness. She is casual. Like Whitney, Celine has sung all her life. She's never nervous about singing, even when not her best. So listen to the dramatic hesitancy as she approaches this modest duet and the very beautiful quality of her vocal tone and the "particular" nasal RESONANCE that sets her apart. Her voice is an instant jolt of who's that now? Celine.

Kelly Clarkson = like a default karaoke champion voice

Carrie Underwood = same like kelly clarkson

Adele = overhyped voice that is just lower pitched unlike most female singers which makes her "unique" I suppose

Ariana Grande = her upper register is squeaky and grating

Beyonce = the only time she did something impressive with her voice was the final run she does with the piano in the song "Ego" from her "I am... Sasha Fierce" album. She screams a lot during live otherwise

Lady Gaga = good voice for pop shit but her attempt at operatic themes like when she sang sound of the music at the oscars was mediocre at best

Cristina Aguilera = we all know this

I’m going to get clobbered for this. Aretha of course had amazing pipes but somehow I was never moved as much as I was supposed to be.

OMG, you're a big fan, but time to get a room for you and your DIVA worship.

This is a great one from Aretha.

What was so extraordinary about Peggy Lee?

Technically Steisand was pretty good in her prime, but there is not talent in interpreting a song. She might as well sing the telephone book. You have no idea what connection she has to the song, to the meaning of the lyrics. There's no spontaneity, no playfulness, no soul, no effortless-ness.

Compare that to Whitney Houston or Gladys Knight who did a superb version of The Way We Were.

These ladies can connect to an audience, they tell a story. Streisand just goes through the motions as the arrogant, self important cold fish she is.

There are two types of singers, one comes to sing for you, the other expects an audience comes to see her/him. Steisand is the latter.

Overly nasal singers who sound like a vicious old battered queen... so Lady Gaga.

R104 you can discover a bit about Lee's talent here:

I was never a Frank fan, mainly because I heard him in his later burned out years and he was always a thug. The rest of the family, Nancy Sr. and Jr., Tina were very nice. Frank Jr. was a depressing downer.

[quote]Celine has sung all her life. She's never nervous about singing

Celine had a extraordinary voice in her prime, but Peabo Bryson stole the show from her.

Whoever said Whitney Houston doesn't know how to interpret a song needs a new set of ears!

Geez, that woman could feel a song.

Peggy Lee

[quote]I’m going to get clobbered for this. Aretha of course had amazing pipes but somehow I was never moved as much as I was supposed to be.

Not by me you won't. I like Aretha - her voice was a thrill and she could when she felt like it deliver a dynamic live performance. But not unlike Streisand - she presented the illusion of feeling more than shared the song. She sang AT people. She was getting off on herself. Streisand and Aretha are both better on recordings. Not because they couldn't sing - but because they didn't seem to enjoy it.

We shouldn't forget that Aretha was a fine musician and maybe saw things in a different way. Streisand planned out every inflection. Neither of them did much LIVE but stroke their own ego when singing. Aretha's voice had it. Soul. Some pain lived there.

Still, I agree.

Peggy Lee was a musical sorcerous R104. She seems camp and simplistic. She wasn't exciting, but she really had a special voice and she fucking KNEW how to sing. I admit I'm not a big fan. But you have to go back before all the weirdness to find her real voice.

Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. were the male Judy Garlands. A baritone and a tenor. Great range and great voices and not afraid of showing real emotion - vocally.

Sinatra had the greatest resonance of a popular male singer. Great phrasing and breathing. He sounds a bit less than perfect. A bit of a wreck with all that pent up emotion and big voice. That's what grabs you in the gut.

Resonance is what separates the great popular vocalists from the rest. Then you better know how to sing.

Just like she could feel her girlfriend's nasty pussy.

You're about to talk about Whitney drowning in the bathtub R113? We know your hatred and omnipresence on Datalounge. Whitney was magnificent. She suffered and died. You show up everytime she is mentioned to speak in the most common ways about the greatest recorded singer of the last 50 years. You have no understanding of singing - so your attacks must all be on her character, drug use and sex life. How sad that your mind and experience is so small. All the creators shone on Whitney Houston. She had likely the greatest popular voice you will ever hear.

This is for R109. How in the fuck did Peabo Bryson steal Celine's show? They were perfect together. He deserved a better career. And it's the best Disney duet of All Time. The melodies may be similar, but no one sounds like this. LIVE.

I know Madonna gets shit on for her voice but I NEVER understood how anyone could stand the sound of Mick Jagger. I have recently become really absorbed by The Beatles catalogue and I really tried hard to appreciate The Rolling Stones too. Nope. Mick Jagger has the most guttural voice I have ever heard (Joe Strummer does a much better job and his voice has a similar guttural quality). The only song I can stand him on is Paint It Black. On almost every other song, it sounds like he is posturing. This goes for his "performing" too. Not the least bit convincing to me. I find it laughable that The Rolling Stones were considered "bad boys" in their day.

R83, apparently his big influence is Donny Hathaway. I can totally see it. The original is so much better

[quote] What was so extraordinary about Peggy Lee?

Legend has it she was so disturbed by Madonna's cover of "Fever" that she died immediately on the spot, melting in her wheelchair. OK, I made that up. Or did I?

Peggy Lee -- Miss Peggy Lee if you please-- may have stayed on the stage too long, before falling off it.

But in her younger years she was the perfect smoky ballad singer. She defined an era, the big band singer of the '40s.

Aretha was a masterful singer, but there was a certain aloofness about her that prevent her from connecting to an audience the way Whitney or Diana Ross could.

DL hates the Twins The New Trend reaction videos.....cuz these brothers know nothing about music or singing and they're no longer fresh or believable. Agree. But. Tim's reaction to Peggy Lee's Fever was sweet and visceral. He thinks she's a pretty thing from the 1980s. He's feeling the simple genius of the song.

[quote]How in the fuck did Peabo Bryson steal Celine's show?

He did without even trying.

^ Already a better version was posted at R114, weirdo.^

Back to the subject and on the offensive: Sarah Vaughan. She did vocalize gorgeously and had a freaky range from bass to lyric soprano. She had the most amazing vocal facility and sang most every song. I don't like her singing. Her register breaks are too noticable and her notes were too rounded and plummy. I think broken register singers can never be tops. This includes Mariah and Julie Andrews.

Diana Ross and Michael Bolton

I don't think Diana Ross is considered a great vocalist.

Ella Fitzgerald --She was like a less skilled Jo Stafford. Jo Stafford could really sing. Ella tried to do things with her voice that she clearly wasn't meant to do--low tones were bad from her. She wasn't bad, but she wasn't very good or great. She too often used a range of octaves that she simply did not have in her voice to make.

Barry White--I just don't like the tone of his voice. Put his voice against Lionel Richie's. Then, you can hear the major difference in quality! Low tones in a very manly voice, singing naughty lyrics isn't enough to make him a standout vocalist.

Diana Ross gets hard to listen to after a song or two. She makes her already high voice go higher, but not without a loss in quality. It's irritating when she does it! Like when a man sings falsetto--it's just grating. In her early years, Streisand did it too. Making a good voice too high in her songs. She improved quickly, but Ross still uses that over high tone in most of her songs. Ugh. No thanks.

Streisand herself admitted that her early singing wasn't as high quality as her more experienced vocalizing. By contrast, Judy Garland sounded awful in the last decade or so of her life. She ruined it with booze and pills, I'm sure. In the end, her voice sounded ugly. Such a huge turn around from her early musicals. She was so great from her teens through her twenties.

Diana Ross is a great star with a unique voice who has a beloved amount of hit records. She has many gifts as a singer. A uniquely sweet tone. No one sounds like her. Amazing syncopation with that delayed against the beat timing of star quality. A pretty little soar to her voice that grew more powerful and sustained as she learned more about her ability to really sing. Diana is never mentioned as one of the great vocalists.

Michael Bolton???? Nobody has ever mistaken him for a great vocalist.

Xtina - she SUX

R126, So wrong about Ella. She was vocal perfection.

r125 Completely ignorant statement about Ella Fitzgerald. She had even tone production throughout her entire range, without formal training. Dame Janet Baker was quoted as saying that if she could have been born with any other female singer's voice of all history she would have chosen Ella Fitzerald's. Her 'schtick (because no one else ever came close to her in the ability to do it with speed and creative note choices ) was the imitation of other jazz instruments, (clarinet, trumpet) through scat singing and obviously many of those instruments have pitch range that exceeds the normal singing range of a female, but those insertions were for jazz effects not for demonstration of vocal beauty. But in simple, undecorated melodies, she could sing as gorgeously as any other jazz singer and usually with cleaner pitch.

Dare I say, Liza Minnelli?

Yes, you should R132. She's not in the group of great singers. Ever.

[quote]I’m going to get clobbered for this. Aretha of course had amazing pipes but somehow I was never moved as much as I was supposed to be.

My only reservation about Ree is that as she aged, she relied too much on the melisma and whooping; she'd lose the shape of the song. The sound wasn't as pure and beautiful as it once had been either. Even as early as the Who's Zooming Who period in which Generation X discovered her, she was sounding huskier. (Smoking played a role, but voices darken with age anyway.)

I love her, though. The Atlantic stuff from 1967 through the mid-'70s is the best of her.

About emotional response: She wasn't a living-every-line type, and she rarely generated her own material (and sometimes the material provided her was far beneath her). But at her best, she tried to capture what a song was about. She could move me.

Aretha seldom sounds bad but that does nothing for me R134. I don't think she was a very moving singer except in the exalted ways. Some voices are just so great that it seems they must mean something? Not necessarily true. Aretha's version of If Ever I Would Leave You sends me to the moon. But she apparently didn't like those early recordings. Queen of Soul - forever, that's sure.

Aretha was a fine musician and extremely confident performer who took some joy out of it all. Sometimes I think she loved it most when she was besting other people's songs or just ignoring her duet partners. Ha.

Pretty obvious that Peobo Bryson owned the song, R122. Dion got better after that though.

Diana Ross had an extraordinary voice. Very unique lyric soprano. She had range and perfect control, wonderful interpretative qualities and she could do it live.

Wow that was awkward R135. She didn't look at him once. Very strange woman. Amazing artist, but so dismissive and aloof. She was like that with pretty much everybody though.

Newsflash. Celine Dion is one of the top ten selling recording artists of all time and has one of the most beautiful and exceptional voices in modern history. All without Peabo Bryson.

Celine will not be remembered in the same way as Aretha or Whitney are. She can shove her money down where ever, but she's not a singer of note. Never was, never will be.

Aretha was on fire that night, r103. For me, she, along with Ella and Whitney, are three of the most intrinsically gifted singers who achieved mainstream success.

Whitney could sing her ass off even when she wasn't in top vocal shape.

FUCK YOU, OP. Block OP and you see this is a typical Madonna hater who wants to imprint Madonna isn’t a singer by lumping her into the Britney/Janet non-singers who Madonna destroys vocally on her worst days. She’s the most underrated.

Mariah Carey or Lady Gaga own this thread. LG has a honking, soulless voice. Basic and unremarkable. Mariah Carey likewise. Pat Benatar destroys that bitch vocally with crystal clear, sharp, strong vocals and can effortlessly hit really high notes unlike Mariah. Mariah could never sing rock, very fast songs as strong as Pat(or many many many many others).

[quote]Basic and unremarkable. Mariah Carey likewise.

WHen you make statements like this, one cannot take you seriously.

You may not LIKE or appreciate Mariah's style, tone, or song choices, but to say her voice is "basic" and "unremarkable" is just stupid. Full stop.

Her range alone makes her not "basic" and very "remarkable." Her whistle register, same.

Not sure why someone would diss Celine’s singing of all things. She’s not a classical or opera singer. She’s not singing for that crowd. But I bet she could. I bet she could nail Ave Maria if she wanted to. Or any other classical hymn.

But that’s not what she is trying to do. She is pop and one of the best at the adult pop thing.

Taylor Swift.

[quote]Not sure why someone would diss Celine’s singing of all things.

I'm not generally familiar with her work, but I heard her sing something last week. It was screechy AF.

Sinatra had a unique way of phrasing a song, making it his. Mariah tended to oversing everything. I guess that was the style in the 80s but her voice great. Madonna was a fantastic entertainer and her songs were fabulous..a singer, no but who cares. Celine just wasnt my taste but could sing like an angel

Florence (and the machine).

She hits every single note 1/4 to 1/8 pitch flat. Cannot sing on pitch.

I'm sure you elders will love this

Gloria Estefan. She has zero power, and can barely hold a tune.

Milli Vanilli

Yes she ways r140. I was a white boy in affluent NY suburbs and was a huge fan of Aretha at that time.

You can see in her face and body she is communicating those songs but there's nothing florid. And her backup trio is so cool and elegant.

[quote] Barry White

Isaac Hayes had a much better voice

[quote] FUCK YOU, OP. Block OP and you see this is a typical Madonna hater who wants to imprint Madonna isn’t a singer by lumping her into the Britney/Janet non-singers who Madonna destroys vocally on her worst days. She’s the most underrated.

You are histrionic and way off base. I am not a Madonna hater, in fact, up until a few months ago I was a staunch defender of her! I make fun of her now and no longer call myself a huge fan. And btw, I agree with you on Madonna being a better singer than Janet and Britney but that STILL does not make her a vocalist! Again, nobody who discusses great voices will be discussing Madonna.

Mariah sounded amazing at one point. Her Emotions and Merry Christmas album show her at her best.

MARIAH CAREY

Thread Closed

[quote]I am not a Madonna hater

I am. She ruined popular music with her lip-synching aerobics classes she put out on video. I wish she had joined the convent. Or became a lawyer. Or a truck driver.

What a piece of shit is she.

^^^^ Mariah is the most overrated because some of these other bitches being named don't even rate as vocalists. Mariah topped a VH-1 best singer poll at a time when she sang to prerecorded tapes. Whitney, Streisand, Donna and Aretha actually vocalized in performance, Mariah did not.

R158 I suppose I might come across you in your next life, when you will still be working on your miserable mindset. That makes me sad. I'd rather you dropped dead for eternity when I finish typing this sentence.

I love the poster that compared Streisand to Celine Dion. I can sort of see it as Celine respected music and sort of took her talents to greater heights. Barbara was like Jlo in her desperation to be sort of everything. She has GIFTS but it's sort of wasted. So much of her music is just noise and she keeps her listeners half a stadium away from her soulless songs.

I'm not kidding myself Barbara Streisand is still one of the best selling females of all times and was an entertainment juggernaut. But there could have been so much more. Though I respect a woman that does things her way, so I remain a fan.

The hits against Whitney's song selection is weird way to judge her as a singer. Many don't write their own music. Who cares. Most actors don't write their own scripts.

Mariah is not underrated, as others said. She was unique and conquered her own lane. Even her B-side tracks had little vocal gems, see 3:17 & 3:46. She was liking a humming bird jumping from note to note.

R158, I definitely have given up on Madonna. I was a megafan since the late 90s at the age of 12. And now I"m in my mid 30s annd I'm over her now. I've largely moved on from pop in general and into rock, hard rock, soul and jazz. The problem isn't her music, it's her. And reading stuff about the countless lawsuits for plagiarism against her has really made me look at her differently and I find that impossible to ignore.

Mariah sounded great live in her Unplugged Special. Her voice is gone, though, she can't hit the notes anymore

R98, Paul McCartney overrated as a vocalist, really? I would argue underrated.

Doesn't matter if she can't hit those note anymore. Vocal cords are muscles and Mariah voice played at an Olympic level, as did many women mentioned in this thread. We don't expect 90s era Olympians to pull off their skills in 2022, so why bring up a similar expectation for vocalist? Like athletes, some can maintain well into old age, others lose their skill before their 30s.

R164, he was ranked in the top 5 or so on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers list. Ahead of Whitney Houston.

R166, I wouldn't take that list too seriously, nobody cares about Rolling Stone magazine anymore.

Does Britney actually sing herself? Ever?

[Quote] Florence (and the machine). She hits every single note 1/4 to 1/8 pitch flat. Cannot sing on pitch.

That’s her charm

R141, that was stunning. Few singers give me chills like that. She was one of the overall greatest pop vocalists.

167, it was from like a decade ago.

What still freaks me out about Diana Ross is that her voice sounds so thin on records (but she has an excellent sense of rhythm and vocalist), but when I saw her live about 10 years ago, her voice was so big and full!!

R171, I don't think Rolling Stone magazine has been relevant since the late 90s. When TRL became a thing, that's when they went downhill.

I never like the voices of the Bee Gees.

You bitches are insane calling Mariah Motherfucking Carey 'basic.' There was nothing 'basic' about her voice, not then, and not now. Mariah, at the mere age of 22, was a phenomenal live singer.

I know that's right, Oprah: "That girl can SANG!"

A cut above Alvin and The Chipmunks.

All the male vocalists you can think of except Harve Presnell, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye and a few other black singers I don't have the time to list.

The little purple guy.

^Definitely not.

R178 I meant yes, sorry.

Frank Sinatra OWNS this thread.

He was more famous in his day for all the BROADS he banged than for his singing prowess.

Not to mention Frank's enormous juicy cock.

R165: I guess the difference is Olympic athletes from the 90s have long since retired now. But I agree Mariah is still one of the best singers ever (even though for me that’s 1990-1997). Whitney’s 1985-1995ish). She really started to lose it after the Bodyguard but because she was so good it took five years or so after that for the cigarettes and drugs to really do their damage. Even her speaking voice was sad to hear. So hoarse. But those ten years of greatness mean she’s still my #1 for best vocalist ever.

Off topic slightly but it is interesting how some singers keep their voice and others get a relatively short period of being at their peak vocally. Maybe it is down to maintenance and discipline. It isn’t just age.

Michael Buble'.

R181, I don't THINK so! Yes, OBE was in the gossip columns, but he wasn't exactly ignored as a singer OR actor!

Yes to Michael Buble! He sounds like he’s drunk and/or having a stroke.

Martha Wash

Mariah. I'm aware she was incredible in the early 90s but she became a parody of herself pretty quickly with the whistling and moaning. She tries too hard to sound pretty and sexy. Now she can barely sing.

Every song on Dusty in Memphis sounds the same.

She had great taste in picking songs, though.

I think Amy Winehouse is actually a very good singer. But she did try way too hard to emulate the black singers of the past. She sounds best when she isn't straining as much. A great song of hers is "You Know I'm no Good".

Buble’s career is based on trying to sound like Sinatra

Green Celine, still a teen. Astounding talent. Voices like this don't arrive every day. Or decade. Or....

R187: agree on Mariah becoming a parody of herself. She’s shat all over her 90s legacy since then with the lip syncing, big saggy fake tits and general BS.

I’ll probably still like a lot of her future music but she lost me finally personality-wise with her book.

Barbra is not an overrated vocalist. Don’t be silly. She has an absolutely gorgeous gifted voice and excellent technique skills. What she lacks is the passion for singing and being a generous singer.

Celine is the best live singer I’ve ever seen. She has a very very beautiful and powerful voice combined with unparalleled technical singing abilities. The best thing about Celine is she’s a reliable and the most consistent vocalist out there.

Mariah is a fraud, a studio singer. All her “so-called” live performances were dubbed before being released to the public. No wonders no one in the industry takes her seriously. People on the other hand have tremendous respect for authentic singers like Whitney, Barbra, Aretha and Celine

R189, I'd put Aguilera in the "trying too hard to sound like black singers from the past" category. She can sound really, really good when she's not trying to hard

R194, I always thought Aguilera always tried really hard to outdo Mariah at her own game.

Xtina without a doubt is the Voice of her generation. I hate her over singing however. She can deliver a top notch performance if she really wants to. LIVE.

I always thought Blossom Dearie sounded weird. I mean, like most everyone is this thread she was a good and popular singer, I'm just saying, a little overrated.

R177, Harve Presnell was black?

LOL @ the Xtina stan calling her the "voice of her generation" while shitting over the woman who had the biggest influence on her as a vocalist.

Too many live performances from Mariah in the 90s, undubbed, proved she's a real talent. Xtina stans are so envious that she'll never be considered legendary or in the same vocal league as Mariah. She'll only be remembered as a late 90s teen Pop tart who was a better vocalist than Britney - the much bigger star.

Mariah is one of the most influential female vocalists of the last thirty years, alongside Aretha and Whitney.

Edith Piaf was overrated.

Mariah Carey OWNS this thread.

R188 It's a subtle album. Repeat listenings reveal all the depth.

R132 I love Liza, but I don't think she can sing, couldn't really even at her height. Granted I'm no expert, but she seems to be forcing her vibrato. And she talks rather than sings the high notes. All kinds of tricks. But she sounded original and unique, and in the end that's really all that matters.

Hmmm... I think Mariah Carey is rated about where I'd put her. She's not as good as Aretha or Whitney, but she had a few good moments. This performance is really good for instance:

According to the X-Tina stan in this thread, that live Grammy performance was dubbed! LMAO.

I liked the one from SNL better because she performed the full version of the song and felt more bluesy with the SNL band backing her.

She sounds really good there

Linda Ronstadt. I even saw her in concert and still didn't get it.

R181 Frank Sinatra OWNS this thread. He was more famous in his day for all the BROADS he banged than for his singing prowess.

His was called The Voice, you moron. He was a brilliant singer.

Mariah’s live concerts released on DVD were dubbed but performances like the one R205 posted show how well she could sing early on in her career. I guess it wouldn’t be Datalounge without these type of posters but it does make me laugh people who post their sweeping absolute statements on a topic they obviously don’t know enough about.

R11 is an idiot. That's fake.

Mariah. Christina Aguilera. Kelly Clarkson. Adele. Beyonce.

But hands down, Lady Gaga and Patti LuPone own this thread. Absolutely THE most unpleasant voices I've ever heard (among other things about them). They're the musical equivalent to Foghorn Leghorn.

WHY is Madonna even mentioned here? She's in no way a singer, same with Britney.

Both have careers due to MTV, studio wizardly, stage productions and excellent backing musicians and touring dancers, remember, none of that has anything to do with actual singing.

Adele

I don't care if Mariah has a 70 octave range. It's unpleasant.

Often these pairings are uncomfortable gimmicks. Not this time. Celine shows the utmost respect and times her every breath and inflection to stay out of Pavarotti's light, and yet she stuns. Vocally and visually. Gorgeous singing. The RING of her voice is so very beautiful.

Put on headphones. You're welcome.

"Buble’s career is based on trying to sound like Sinatra”

r190 Harry Connik Jr was the same...trying to phrase the songs as only Sinatra could do

This was LIVE. One was scared and ran away because she knew too well she was smoke and mirror. Listen to her voice, you could tell immediately that she doesn’t have what it takes to compete with the Queen of Soul. The other one, well, is a REAL singer who can sing LIVE.

Madonna is a top notch and the best performer/showgirl of all time. She def can sing and sings much better than other pop girls like Britney, Janet, Katy, etc… I however wouldn’t call her a vocalist. She’s no where near Celine’s level when it comes to singing. Sorry but not sorry

r168 Britney is no great artist but she has something that can really be worked into some good songs if given the chance. She will never be a vocal powerhouse but she can carry a tune with the right producers guidance.

This was Britney singing from her bathroom that she posted on her Instagram live. A fan added the music. She is not a great singer, but we can instantly iD Britney on a song. She can do a lot with what little she has.

P.S. I wish she'd do more songs with this vibe.

R193, Celine's major drawback is that she is so very uncool.

And ugly.

[quote] She will never be a vocal powerhouse but she can carry a tune with the right producers guidance.

Translation: with studio wizadry, you TOO can sound as great as Ms. Spears!

Whoever said Celine is uncool nailed it. That's exactly why nobody cares for her today except her fans. Yes, she can sing, but she's about as exciting as Debbie Boone. Try to imagine her singing Whitney or Mariah's edgier songs like It's Not Right (the remix version) or one of the many Fantasy remixes. It's embarassing just thinking about it.

I remember a hysterical review of Celine's first Vegas residency. The writer said she looks great for 45, except she's 32.

Now that I think about it, this is something Celine and Barbara Streisand have in common but at least Celine seems much kinder. Uncoolness is the reason Celine and Barbra don't have much appeal today. Versus someone like Frank Sinatra who was last really relevant in the 60s and still streams well.

Miley Cyrus owns this thread. I've seen her perform two separate times live on TV and both times she was off key with bad histrionic vocals. Thank God for auto-tune and the magic of studio dubbing.

Madonna can definitely sing. If she wasn’t good she would never have been considered for Evita or pulled off Ray Of Light. She’s, though, a middle tier singer where most singers are. She has more range than people give her credit for. The Madonna haters on this thread are two, three people. Block one and the anti-Madonna posts disappear.

Mariah has one Grammy for singing. That right here shows what the industry thinks of her smoke and mirrors singing. She has so much help live it is laughable and the industry knows that hence ONE vocal Grammy. She isn’t anywhere near most of the greats. And lets not get started on her “songwriting” which Sony bought for her (as bad as it is) to set her a part from Whitney. So obvious.

And no, we aren’t watching the videos of Mariah singing that keep getting posted by the out of control Mariah loon.

R229 I couldn’t agree. It’s laughable that most of her #1 are bought with no shame. She has no self respect whatsoever.

R230 Sony did all kinds of shady shit for Mariah. Tommy couldn’t do the same for his next wife because the industry changed and wouldn’t allow it. Mariah’s #1s, which none are classics, are so obviously bought when she wasn’t selling them at huge discounts of .49 cents vs $2.00 other artists were.

R221 why was Celine never cool? Not even remotely, even when she was popular. I never found her sexy either. Just a stick person who draped garments over her bones.

Her interviews are always awkward. It’s like she’s so deeply Canadian that she can’t understand the nuisance of the English language and comes off sounding stupid.

R228 Fuck that. Vadge has never been a singer. Actual singers can sing live with no vocal enhancement.

Demi Lovato. Also Avril Levigne, and Selena Gomez

I cannot stand Celine’s voice or her oversinging. Her one performance I loved was the Titanic song where she said she was so nervous she “under sang” it. I wanted to scream BITCH YOU SOUNDED BETTER STOP OVER SINGING YOU DON’T HAVE TO!.

R231, she also sold tons of albums, not just singles. Geez, can you try to be objective towards people you don't like? And you think no one else ever benefitted from discounts on singles?

Celine does not oversing. Mariah, Xtina, and occasionally Whitney oversang. Celine's voice is near flawless. She could whisper and it would still be full, round, clear and resonant. Celine does the most beautiful runs and trills in the world. She's and Whitney were both virtuosos in this area.

R237 Discounted albums, too.

R237 The vast majority of the big hitters, except Mariah, didn’t discount their singles/albums. Madonna’s were the most expensive. Madonna often had deluxe singles going for $5 or more usually near the price of a full album.

Celine obviously is a very dumb woman, but quite frankly so was Whitney who I have the deepest respect for as a singer and artist. Anybody who picks Bobby Brown as a husband is not very bright and no I don't think she picked him because she needed him to distract from her rumoured lesbian-ness. But Whitney stuck with all the wrong people and all the wrong believes until she drowned in the bathtub.

This was interesting for awhile then the dueling DIVA stans arrived. It's degenerated it slapping matches, with breaks for splooging hosannas to their one beloved DIVA.

[quote] You bitches are insane calling Mariah Motherfucking Carey 'basic.' There was nothing 'basic' about her voice, not then, and not now. Mariah, at the mere age of 22, was a phenomenal live singer.

At that age, she was about as "phenomenal" as Christina Aguilera at the same age. Nothing lifts her into the league of great vocalists or interpreters.

[quote] Mariah, Xtina, and occasionally Whitney oversang.

Whitney never oversang. Her vocals were always calibrated for the lyric and the mood.

R239, you think no one else ever had albums on sale? 😄

Love how people think you can get a bunch of #1 and multiplatinum albums over the course of decades just by putting some of your stuff on sale. If that was the case, every artist would be huge, no one would ever fail

It's like when people say all it takes to be an A-list or an Oscar winner is to sleep with a famous guy. As if there aren't tons of people who did that and still failed anyway

Mariah is so fucking rich and delusional and lazy and done. She's a little fun but her fantasy life is getting OLD.

I think she still decent...

She's atrocious R248. Mariah sounds like a crying tween girl having a tantrum.

R248 No one is listening to the endless Mariah videos you post. No one except you replying to yourself.

247 and 249 is the blocked Madonna hater.

I don’t get why people think Adele is so great. She sounds like she’s wailing

It IS OP. OP is the Madonna hater. I knew it! That’s why he dared include Madonna in with Brit and Janet. He’s also the Mariah loon.

I’m sorry but the people saying Whitney are crazy. The pop songs she sang are lyrically dumb as hell but her voices lifts them. She makes a song like How Will I Know listenable.

Taylor Swift. She's a mediocre singer at best. The level at which she is worshiped escapes me.

Pluhlease...

Celine Dion, besides being overrated, has one of the most nasal voices in the music industry. Listen to her singing All By Myself on YouTube on the Taking Chances World Tour: The Concert. Jesus Christ! Sounds like she has a clothespin on her nose while singing!

Celine Dion, besides being overrated, has one of the most nasal voices in the music industry. Listen to her singing All By Myself on YouTube on the Taking Chances World Tour: The Concert. Jesus Christ! She sounds like she has a clothespin on her nose!

cheater

If you say you were a huge Madonna fan until her recent descent into mental illness you’re the dumbest, lying-est MFer on DL. All major stars have descended into mental illness and drug/alcohol abuse with embarrassing behavior. Just about everyone listed in this thread. The Madonna haters really need new material and don’t sway anyone with their negative BS. Plagiarism? All songwriters have been sued dozens of times for this.

Frank Sinatra. I never understood his appeal. Never.

R232, r221 here. Are you asking me a question? I don't understand your address to me.

Yeah Celine Dion has always sucked. I don’t get peoples love for her she’s not even sexy or appealing to young girls the way some untalented pop stars are.

You're talking to yourself again R264. Stop agreeing with your own posts, you ancient sick fuck.

Yeah, Madonna still has great music and performances regardless of her current behavior. MJ was a freakish looking pedo yet people still like his music. I can separate the person from their music.

As a vocalist, Madonna is not rated. She's a Happy Birthday level singer.

R255, I think Taylor's stans rate her for her songwriting rather than her voice.

MariFat Carey dominates this thread 🤣🤣🤣 which doesn’t happen very often here. 😂😂

Well, her songwriting sucks too.

This thread must be what like walking down the hallway of a packed insane asylum feels like.

^given the termites who have invaded DL due to Betty Windsor ‘s death, I’d say this is a relatively sane thread.

Well, except for a certain Stan of an aging, mentally disturbed “singer.”

R272 Leave Janet out of this Jabba

Madonna's a real crappy singer. Amazed there are people defending her vocal abilities. She sucks as worse as Brit Brit and Janet.

R274 poor attempt to elicit a reaction. Block 274 and behold the racism, trumpism, anti-trans.

R274 shut up! Nobody takes you idiot seriously.

274 Except she’s not.

That's like Madonna's best performance. It's about as good as Janet's best performance. Sometimes bad singers have good days.

Whitney was already past peak and starting her long decline by 1996 when she recorded this duet with pretty Mariah. Guess which one is struggling with it and who SOARS? Why did Mariah insist on singing in that strangled whisper all the damn time? Whitney was a m a z i n g.❤

Roseanne Barr

*1998

R274- Not just that. She's not talented in ANY way but a lot of HOMOS and woman have adored her for decades.

Miley's version of Like a Prayer was awful.

Miley sucks

278 ahahahahahahahaha Janet cannot sound as good as Madonna on Madonna’s worst day. The anti-Madonna loons gaslight. That is the only way they think they can change opinion, but we have hears, and eyes, and memories. 99.9% of people think Janet cannot sing and 99.9% think Madonna can. Madonna is not in the Greats range except for the category of being emotive with her voice.

R282 Here comes the ancient white fags troll. Block it and see for yourself.

Janet's sounds about as good as Madonna does. Sorry.

R287 ahahahahahahahaha my sides oooookay, hun.

It's the truth. Madonna and Janet are about the same level of vocalist. Sorry.

289 Said no one ever.

Mariah is the poor man’s Celine and Whitney Janet is the poor man’s Madonna Justin Timberlake is the poor man’s MJ and Prince Jessica Simpson is the poor man’s Christina Aguilera Patti L is the poor man’s Aretha

Whitney is the Voice Beyoncé is the Queen B Madonna is the Queen of Pop Aretha is the Queen of Soul Celine is the Queen of Ballads MJ is the King of Pop Britney is the Princess of Pop Mariah is the Queen of Fraud

And Janet is MJ’s sister

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Mary J. Blige.

She has always received a lot of kudos for her singing, and her voice does have a mournful tone to it which allows her to convey a lot of emotion in her songs.

But the bitch always sounds off-key to me. Most singers, when they go off-key, go flat. MJB sounds like she's singing sharp a lot of the time, which is weird.

CHRIS CORNELL. He was the Christina Aguilera of hard rock. Constantly oversinging. Sometimes he'd be great but many times he'd just screech (like on Jesus Christ Pose). Layne Staley was the best rock singer of the 90s.

R293, can you believe at one point some people were comparing Mary J. Blige to Aretha!?!? It boggles my mind. Mary is not even in the top 10% of singers, nevermind near the queen of soul.

294, 295 blocked racist troll talking to itself.

Britney and Madonna both sound like they need adenoid surgery! ASAP!

297 Trying too hard.

[quote] 294, 295 blocked racist troll talking to itself.

You're an idiot.

[quote]CHRIS CORNELL. He was the Christina Aguilera of hard rock. Constantly oversinging. Sometimes he'd be great but many times he'd just screech (like on Jesus Christ Pose). Layne Staley was the best rock singer of the 90s.

Chris had a powerful distinctive voice, but, like so many other rock singers, he didn't know how to use his voice properly. That's why, years down the line, so many rock singers need throat surgery, they've damaged their vocal chords but not knowing how to sing properly..

Lots of rock singers actually don't have technically good voices, they are more song stylists than vocalists, people such as Rod Stewart, Layne Staley, Robert Smith, Bruce Springsteen etc. These singers voices definitely suit their bands sound, their voices function like another instrument.

I agree with all of the people listed here except for Whitney, Annie and Ella.

I am quickly going to become even more hated but George Michael had a thin voice. Great performer and I love many of his songs but, he's overrated vocally.

R291 Why don't you learn to construct a couple proper sentences before you post? Ya nuthin but run-on sentences, vile fucking cunt.

Kirsten Flagstad

You ain't getting a blue ribbon for your grammar homework neither, R302.

R304 ancient white fags troll

R305 must be the ANCIENT WHITE RACIST FAG!!! Loathed old man multiple poster from multiple accounts. Stupid but relentless opinions.

His old man racist opinions are all over this thread. And diaper smell.

306 is a staunch trumper. Block and behold

This thread is getting even uglier.

R308 That's just the shitty smell of your prolapsed anus, sister. You need to give it a good wipe once in awhile.

Try harder moron. I am left of Trotsky. A true progressive. Black. Ain't no one blocking me.

Put the bottle down and get strapped in for the night, R307.

You stalk posters out here. We can't block you because you have so many accounts.

Go jerk me a soda.

You're about to be healed.

People like R309 and R310 just have to gaslight and have an agenda. They’re racist Trump supporters who spam DL. BTW- this is at most 2 posters which is evident when you block them.

308 As was the intention.

DL has always been close to 100% trolls, dumbfuckers. Has been in all the years I knew about it.

Céline is "uncool" because she1. is just not a very pretty woman and 2., has lived an extremely sheltered, conservative life. From what I remember, she comes from a deeply religious (catholic) family with like 15 kids, and she got married to a middle-aged man at 19 or 20. She met her future husband when she was just 12, so she likely never slept with another man, at least until he died. Looks aside, is it any surprise she never radiated "sexy"?

I feel sorry for her; she must have missed out on so much. And although she seems to have loved her husband dearly, the way that relationship started was creepy as fuck.

Celine is a MAJOR touring force, the 2nd highest touring artist of all time just 2nd to Madonna. This says a lot. Mariah and Janet tours always FLOPPED hard. Touring is where money comes from. I understand why Mariah tours are not attracting fans but never understand why Janet tours were never doing well. She’s a good entertainer too, not at Madonna or Beyoncé level but not bad at all.

Touring shows the level of true, deep support. Mariah and Janet have good commercial success, but way lower touring success. Speaks volumes.

Yeah, Janet doesn't have deep support. I agree with that. Her low Spotify streams show she's not really thought of by the younger generation too.

[quote]Only ACTUAL singers please (no Britney, Madonna, Janet)

Edith Piaf. France considers her a treasure, but her nasal, droning voice seems peculiar to me.

[quote] France considers her a treasure because of her nasal, droning voice

Fixed!

The comment above about the insane asylum is spot on and really made me laugh. I grew up on Whitney, Mariah, Celine and Janet and loved them all and I was obsessed. But I have enough sanity to see their flaws and to recognise and acknowledge what other artists, that I like less/don’t like have done well, what they’re good at etc. R229 laying into Mariah so much sounds like the loon rather than anyone posting videos of Mariah singing well. Better to be a loon who’s got a positive passion for something than one who’s deranged and negatively obsessing over someone or something that hate anyway.

^ *they* hate

Mariah Drew Carey

Madonna voice many yrs ago was described as Betty Boop on helium..., Britney can’t sing either but they are fabulous entertainersand that’s all that really matters to their fans.

They gave good show

[quote]They gave good show

You want a stage show? Go see a Broadway musical or go to Las Vegas.

Music should not be about an elaborate stage show. The shows are there because the so-called 'singer' cannot sing for shit. As my father says, "You can't see all that nonsense when you are listening to their records." Of course, he's100% correct.

Don't forget me! Was I overrated or underrated?

Chris Cornell was like Jeff Buckley. Both incredibly talented singers, and sometimes the oversinging worked great, other times it didn't.

Patti LaBelle. She doesn't sing a song, she just sells Patti. She has no respect for a melody and often she mangles the lyrics. She screeches and screams and has been a horrific role model for the many aspiring vocalists.

I 100% concur on Miss Patti LaYell.

Like Judy G. and Janis J. she would be a far more compelling singer if she would just take it down a notch. Or two.

Barbara Streisand overrated?!

R2 and R218 STOLE this thread 😂😂😂

Sorry I meant

R1 and R218 STOLE this thread 😂😂

[quote] Music should not be about an elaborate stage show.

I agree with this. I don't care about seeing live animals, masturbation, costumes, 1000 backup daners on stage. I just want to see the music.

R333 this is stupid. If I just want to listen to music, I can just play music at home. I’d rather pay hundreds of dollars to see a spectacular show than see a singer s just standing there and lip syncing. That’s a major difference between Celine’s show and Mariah. Celine can sing and her shows are fucking amazing, very entertaining.

[quote] I’d rather pay hundreds of dollars to see a spectacular show than see a singer s just standing there and [bold]lip syncing[/bold]

The point just went right over your head.

[quote] That’s a major difference between Celine’s show and Mariah.

As unbelievable as this may sound, there are other artists in the world aside from pop divas. Some singers don't need to have 1000 dancers or cyborgs included in their shows to make an interesting performance. They can just sing and captivate people. Aretha is an example of that. And there are even artists out there who play instruments like guitars and the drums live! These are usually rock artists. They can play music and make people interested without 100000 costume changes.

How did 334 like their own post 14 times? That's impressive.

And that’s why Celine is a major minor touring force. Millions paid high priced tickets just to see her shows. Amazing.

OP, everything you say in your original post is bullshit. Streisand's voice for over 45 years was a hell of a lot more than just "pretty," and she certainly was not "destroyed" by Donna Summer in that duet. In fact, it was said that in trying to keep up with singing with Streisand, Summer fell off erh chair.

You don't need a big voice to be a great vocalist. I think people are misunderstanding the term, and yes, as someone said, this has turned into a dueling divas discussion.

R218 Celine never "ran away scared" in that clip, stupid cunt. The show was over. Urethra Franklin fucked her father and had a kid with him. Disgusting. Celine fucked a grandpa and had his frozen sperm impregnate her for millions of dollars. Disgusting.

R340, I think that poster may have been referring to Mariah. Mariah was indeed no match for Aretha that night. Mariah claims she didn't want to "upstage" her . I call BS.

R340 has mental illness and is illiterate. R218 specifically implied Mariah was the one who was scared and ran away.

R56 Years ago I remember reading a blind item, supposedly about Britney, saying she was fully invested in some kind of imagined relationship with Prince William and devastated when it turned out to be nothing, which precipitated her first breakdown. Granted, just a dumb blind item from back in the day.

Shit, wrong thread. But almost fits.

R341: yeah I think Mariah knew her voice had gone to shit. She’s always been bitter about that night because Celine did come forward and ‘sing’ with Aretha. I love Celine but hate the screaming she did but then she was only matching what Aretha was doing.

Back to Mariah’s bitterness about it, without naming her she bitched about Celine that night again in her book, for having the audacity to dare step up and sing alongside Aretha. This is all part of Mariah’s black is great, white is bad schtick though.

Mariah is so overrated.

Some would say that Mariah is the MOST overrated vocalist.

R345, yup, I read the same thing. Its so dumb. Why is she mad at Celine for "throwing done" with Aretha when Aretha wanted her to go toe-to-toe with her? That video also reveals how great of a singer Aretha is. She had more grit and personaltiy than any woman on that stage. And she maintained her voice for like 5 decades.

R348: agree. It’s funny I watched that expecting to think Aretha was awful and screaming but she sounded better than Mariah and Celine. Maybe as gospel and shrieking to God suits her voice better than theirs, definitely Celine’s.

R349, that's why she's the real Queen of Soul. The other women there are just pop stars.

I should say "pop vocalists".

Aretha's voice did not hold up for 50 years. Barely 30.

Celine stood toe to toe with her. Matched and bested her in vocal purity and accuracy. Aretha was in good shape that night with the famous soar to her voice - but it was already raspy by that point for years.

Celine's voice is hard on the Elder Ears of so many DL posters, because she is a pure soprano with a real 4 octave range + the head voice and coloratura. Her clarity and resonance and bell like tones were unmatched by anyone. Amazing power too. Celine did her thing with Aretha - cuz Aretha was singing her part. Celine is the sweetest woman in the world but she's a DIVA too. She could have hit exclamation notes an octave above if she wanted to show off. She was respectful AND sang HER part.

Carole King thought so.

[quote] As my father says, "You can't see all that nonsense when you are listening to their records." Of course, he's100% correct.

of course, mary!!

R352 Exactly. And these cunts are claiming Celine scurried away from Urethra like a rat.

Billie motherfucking Eilish. That bitch's picture is right above the printed definition of industry plant.

No-one earns/wins several decades worth of awards and once in a lifetime career opportunities in less than five years without TONS of help and payola.

And no-one should be dead behind the eyes at such an early age like that either.

She always looks bored or unamused in spite of her huge manufactured success and having everything handed to her but when she won that Academy Award she dropped the fake act and was jumping up and down and grinning ear to ear like the cat who got the cream.

Also it's obvious her brother is/was fucking/sexually abusing her. The fact his girlfriend looks exactly like her Is fucking creepy.

All of them except Gladys

Gladys is great.

Who doesn't love Gladys? (Aretha - who hated every female singer)

This is Vegas act as hell - her rich, raspy, powerful voice with the catch in each note - what a fucking joy. Great singing and performance. Gladys Knight's voice cuts through to the solar plexus. Always. Empress of Soul - because otherwise Aretha would sue.

Gladys is > Streisand. Nobody beats Gladys Knight singing The Way We Were. She probably performed it somewhere last night.

Real singers want to sing. For people. Live.

It's ridiculous to compare Aretha Franklin with Celine Dion, who had a great voice, no doubt, but wasn't a musical talent. So much of what Aretha did was being her own musician, arranger, conductor. She was the center piece when she recorded all those Atlantic Records in Muscle Shoals. The musicians just fell around her and what she did on the piano. She was the musical inspiration.

Elvis The Pelvis

It’s funny we all just started naming females. I’d say most males singers are overrated. Bruce Springsteen has been hailed for his voice which is technically shitty, but it works for the music he “sings”.

Most of what many consider to be great voices are just screamers to sound loud. No vibrato in sight.

Norah Jones…snooze-worthy.

R293, You are not wrong. As someone who listens to R&B and I love old school Mary but she has been singing off pitch for YEARS. She always did oversing but her pitch problems have made some of her performances downright sorry and I'm talking about since circa 2006. Alicia Keys is another one, who be crafting songs in keys that she never duplicate live and be pitchy as fuck. That's why when people say Beyonce is overrated one thing about that girl is she knows pitch and melody. She never over sings and the shit usually sounds flawless.

Whitney. Absolute zero emotion. Just singing notes. One might as well had a machine do it.

Beyoncé has pitch issues sometimes too.

[quote]Alicia Keys is another one, who be crafting songs in keys that she never duplicate live and be pitchy as fuck.

I don't make a point of keeping up, but I've heard Keys sing live a couple of times on telecasts and her voice sounded really damaged. That stood out to me more than pitch issues, and it didn't sound like a passing indisposition. It sounded as though she had sung a lot with a bad technical foundation, and it had caught up with her: just fried. And the earlier of these occasions was in the early 2010s, when she hadn't been around that long.

It was surprising to me, because I understood she had a serious musical education. But then, some opera singers study for years and take master classes with retired greats and also shred their voices within ten years, so it does happen. (If someone's heard Keys recently and she sounded glorious, I'll be happy to be wrong.)

I agree OP

This is a little off topic but I will never forget watching an episode of the View when Beyonce begin singing as Elizabeth was still giving her introduction. It's classic diva behavior.

R362 Thank Gawd this is an anonymous site because you'd be in danger of being suffocated by those fat, miserable cows from the 2000s who were dictating she was the savior of music., after they turned on Jewel for doing that Pop Intuition song.

Horrible creatures... still have nightmares about them.

When did anyone declare Norah Jones the savior of music? Must have missed that

Her debut album had music critics tripping over themselves trying to one up each other in their praise of her.

The media spent decades declaring so and so the “new Madonna”. The media record companies now collude and help each other’s artists with puff pieces and declarations of so and so being “the all time great.”

[quote] That's why when people say Beyonce is overrated one thing about that girl is she knows pitch and melody. She never over sings and the shit usually sounds flawless.

But her TONE is so fucking annoying. Always sounds whiny

R371 That's true. Her music is pleasant but nothing to exult about.

Ho please

Gladys did a masterful version of The Way We Were some time ago in the 90s at VH1. Beautifully done, sheer vocalist master class and I think musical genius Ricky Minor did the instrumental arrangements. It's one of my favourite live performances by a singer, just wonderful!

The way Barbra never could!

People excited by Norah Jones have never heard actual jazz singers.

Male singers never get the scrutiny females do and they are the ones who are truly overrated. Most can’t sing.

Sam Cooke and Luther Vandross want to have a word with R378

R379, they did say "most". And it's true. I'm still blown away Mick Jagger's voice constitutes "music". More tuneless than any of The Beatles.

Randy Newman. Although I guess he’s regarded as more of a songwriter. I just can’t listen to him.

Yeah most of the people here are pretty well rated for their level of talent. I would also say Norah Jones is one of the most overrated, she was a total flash in the pan. I also agree that a lot of the men are overrated and get passes more than women.

Beyonce is an interesting case. Like someone said, she is a technically good singer, but I've always felt that Beyonce's vocals lacked soul. She rarely can convey real grit and emotion, it is always a show for her.

I agree about Norah Jones. Saw her at the Hollywood Bowl and she was boring af. She CAN sing but totally overrated.

Actually OP, Streisand’s voice in their duet has more range, clearer timber, more power, much more pure pitch and supple dynamics. Donna herself said she understood why Streisand was such an icon when they recorded. So… Clearly you don’t know much about her, or singing.

Fuck Streizand, no one cares. She is an example of someone with a great voice who was NOT a great singer. Her first and only priority was always to show off her voice. She destroyed more songs than she elevated. Talk about oversinging. Yikes.

Thank you R376. No one sings The Way We Were like Gladys Knight. She's been singing it in concert for 50 years, but your posted performance is incredible. Amazing.❤

[quote]Randy Newman. Although I guess he’s regarded as more of a songwriter. I just can’t listen to him.

I can, but I just think of him as one of those people who aren't great singers but can effectively put their own material across. Like Paul Simon, but with more personality and humor in the delivery. You never feel you're listening to a demo, at least.

But more highly regarded as a songwriter/composer, for sure. Some of his non-'toon movie scores are beautiful. He had a nice run as Hollywood's "bygone America" guy (Ragtime, The Natural, Avalon, Pleasantville).

What about Chaka Khan? She's just OK to me. I have not seen a performance of hers where I was like "wow."

Sia! People say what an amazing voice she has. She sings like she has marbles in her mouth, it's ridiculous. In her song "Elastic Heart", she sings: "I'm still fighting for peace", and it literally sounds like she's singing: "I'm still farting for peace."

I thought the title said overweight.

R388, there’s a vocal coach on YouTube who teaches people how to sing and annunciate like Sia. It’s hilarious and they’re dead serious.

David Gilmour's voice. If I never hear that reedy-sounding fuck sing "owe ah weesh yew wa heah-erh" again it will be too soon.

r387 Chaka is not OVERrated at all. When we have this lists and threads of great singers she is always underrated or an after thought, the fact that it took almost 400 replies before she's mentioned indicates she's not overrated. Chaka is an amazing vocalist, when's she not high!

Chaka isn't that great live. Amazing vocalist, OK performer and interpreter.

Chaka wasn’t mentioned because no one cares. Her voice works for what she does, but she is overrated.

Mariah Carey owns this thread. She could sing for like 5 years then it was over. Terrible performer.

Grace Jones may be a mediocre singer, but she gets her tits out stage while hula hooping. She’s a born entertainer.

OMG R390! That's hilarious! Maybe I'll check it out sometime when I can stomach it!

Liza.

There, I said it.

Looks like we have a new JonesBot. I wish he, Janbot, and madgebot would jump in a lake.

R295 I think the comparisons were more so that Mary was the Aretha Franklin of the newly emergent genre of hip-hop soul. And say what you want about her vocal prowess her style was highly influential. From Faith Evans to pop superstar, Mariah Carey. By the early 2000s all the pop/r&b galswere emulating the style she made famous. Beyonce gives her props, so does Christina Aguilera.

Gaga

Bette Midler.

[quote]Chaka wasn’t mentioned because no one cares

r394 how can someone be overrated if no one cares? Make it make sense please.

[quote] Sia! People say what an amazing voice she has.

Sia invented "seal voice". Her music is unlistenable. That song "Chandelier" is horrendous.

Adele. She is someone who owes her mega-success to the fact that pop music made for people over 30 practically disappeared in mid-to late 2010's. There was virtually no serious competition for an act like her. 20-25 years ago, she would've been a second-tier pop star.

Adele better get off her now skinny ass and deliver a good Vegas show. Those $58 million dollar houses don't pay for themselves.

They are very different singers but I genuinely wonder if Adele would have exploded the way she did if Amy Winehouse never died? Amy's Back to Black was massive too. Not as massive as 21 but similarly to 25. And Amy's voice was more impressive and she was more creative.

I don't think Amy had a better voice than Adele.

R407, I think Amy had a better voice; it was more unique and dynamic. And I'm not an Adele hater; she is an excellent songwriter and competent vocalist.

I also think Erykah Badu has a better voice than many of the so called 4 octave divas. Melisma is overrated, unless you can execute it perfectly like Whitney or Queen Bey.

Streisand

Sarah Vaughan has no place on this list. She's one of the best to ever do it.

Tony Bennet

Whitney's mother had 10X the expression and range of her daughter.

It's a shame that she never got bigger breaks and will now be best remembered as a grieving parent

[quote]Whitney's mother had 10X the expression and range of her daughter.

Range, absolutely, Cissy had an enormous organ, but as an interpreter she was totally flat. That woman had no idea what to do with a melody. That's why she never had a career beyond backup singer.

^^^ She also didn't have the TONE. As I stated earlier, Whitney had a unique combo of Range, Technique, Tone, and Power. Each note was beautiful regardless of which register she was in.

[quote] Melisma is overrated, unless you can execute it perfectly like Whitney or Queen Bey.

You lost credibility comparing Beyonce to Whitney.

R414, I made no such comparison. Queen Bey is in a league of her own.

^^^^ yeah, about 50 leagues BELOW Whitney.

Whitney Houston, RIP, ruined her voice with her addiction to cocaine and crack. Queen Bey's voice is a lively and earthly as ever.

^^^ Compare Bey when she's 20 years older.

Anyway, Beyonce at her Prime is no where near Whitney at her prime on any level. Get real.

Whitney died at 49. Unfortunately at 41, she was already a full fledged junkie who had ruined her vocal chords. Many friends who've seen her live in her later years can attest to that. Such a beautiful voice wasted. Here's Queen Bey just a couple years ago, just shy of 40.

So what? Beyonce never had and never will have the beautiful voice that Whitney had. B has technique, I'll give her that. And power. But the actual sound of her voice is annoying.

Whitney---and NOT Beyonce---had what Dian Warren called "Not of this planet voices" (I forget the exact term she used, but she used it for Whitney and Celine, whom I do not like personally but understand why Diane W said that).

R403 - "seal voice"! That's a perfect description!

I see someone got pissed off and my comments have been removed. Lol. Be well.

Beyoncé is a better performer but a XTina does have a better voice than B

R1 has 60 LIKES? 60 agree with R1? OMG 😱

R421, yup and it's true. I feel like after Sia hit it big, they were so many disposable female pop stars who had that same kind of voice. The early part of the 10s was rough!

I was kinda startled at how terrible she became once she hit big. She was quite well respected on alternative radio here in Australia in the early days, though I was never a big fan. I do have her "Some People Have Real Problems" album though, and it's pretty good.

I was in grad school in the early 10s and that "Wild One" song with Flo Rida was played incessantly. As was the David Guetta produced "Bulletproof". Both feature Sia's horrendous voice.

Beyonce is a good singer and a great live performer, but unlike Whitney, she's overdoing it with the melisma.

Diana Ross

I grew up in the 60's and 70's with *great singers* so all the awful singers who came after left me cold.

Most overrated? Probably Whitney. (Sorry, I know she gets a lot of love but I never thought she was that good. She was very loud though, I'll give her that.)

Madge, obviously. Britney, Beyonce, so many I can't think of them all.

Aretha could really sing, even Disco Queen Donna Summer could sing her face off, a lot of those disco divas could really sing well. These pop princesses of today and in recent decades just can't sing, or sing poorly, weakly and barely.

Really sing or get the fuck out. I don't care about your "show" I care about How. Well. You. Can. SING.

I'm really glad to see others talking about Sia's horrendous voice. I thought I was the only one, and it makes you feel a bit crazy when everyone else is saying how amazing it is and you can't hear it.

[quote]What still freaks me out about Diana Ross is that her voice sounds so thin on records (but she has an excellent sense of rhythm and vocalist), but when I saw her live about 10 years ago, her voice was so big and full!!

I will always love Diana Ross' voice. So unique, nobody sounds like her, like flute, and she became an excellent vocalist and also live performer. And yes she has a very powerful voice. She's one of those singers where no other vocalist can sing her songs without falling flat. Here she is singing Close To You, and yes she's doing it better than Dionne, IMO.

[quote] yes she's doing it better than Dionne

Shut your whore mouth!

Nobody did anything better than Miss Dionne!

Diana Ross - Close To You

Diana’s voice is as thin as she is.

You need a new set of ears R435

You can tell Diana Ross is a born performer and absolutely loves to sing.

Here's a better video of her singing Close To You, in the previous one at R434 the sound was not in sync with the video.

Another vote for Adele. She is insufferable.

[quote]vocal chords

Oh, dear.

Of course Diana Ross can sing, very well. Her voice is exceptionally sweet in tone and she always had great timing and rhythm - not overly ornamented, but an urban woman with innate individual style and soul. Over time her voice became stronger and her dynamic abilities deepened and developed. No more Minnie Mouse. Her voice is strong and powerful, just lighter in timber. No one sounds like Diana Ross. She's one of the greatest selling artists of all time and her sensitivity of a singer is sometimes overshadowed by her glamour as a woman. Her effects are always direct and from the heart, when her heart is in in. This is by no means her greatest vocal performance but a very mature and lovely one. Her voice shimmers and glimmers. It's silvery. So very pretty. Diana Ross is a STAR.

[quote]Most overrated? Probably Whitney. (Sorry, I know she gets a lot of love but I never thought she was that good. She was very loud though, I'll give her that.)

Again, saying something like this is hard to take you seriously. You may not. LIKE her style, which was very gospel-influenced, but she was way more that "LOUD".

Listen to onen of her 1st singles, YOU GIVE GOOD LOVE on headphones. She has dynamics, range. Same with Saving All my love for YOU. every time she holds the note on for YOU, she sustains and changes the register to a flute-like falsetto with a touch of vibrato, never losing pitch.

There's a reason she's known in the industry as "the voice". Musicians understand the complexity of Whitney's talent, regardless of whether you like her style and song selection.

Even sung as a bridge between other songs, this is such evocative and pretty singing. Diana Ross has a beautiful way with melody, be it a dance track, a ballad or a classic torch song. Ms. Ross is an UNDERRATED vocalist.

I totally agree, r441. The world ain't flat. Whitney was the very best.

Miss Warwick's twitter page remains wonderfully weird.

Has anyone mentioned Michael Bolton yet? That guy sounds like ass.

Bolton always sounds like he’s passing gallstones. Or needs more fiber in his diet.

Bolton was Frau catnip in the early '90s, but I never had a perception that he was well respected. There might have been a decent voice in there, but he had no taste. He was like an overwrought parody of "blue-eyed soul." And I'm writing about him in the past tense, even though he's probably still doing his thing out there.

Bolton's heyday ended years ago so we're not forced to listed to her today like we are Adele.

*listen

Adele

Most Underrated:

Eartha Kitt

Nobody ever called Eartha Kitt a vocalist. A throat goat maybe.

I stand by my earlier assertion that Sarah Vaughan is overrated. Of course she had a stellar voice and was a jazz great. BUT. She dismantles the song as much as sings it. It's all too much. She was almost always drunk and high when she sang and it shows.

I have a problem with her hybrid voice. I guess she was one of the great? old troupers. It's show off unrelatable singing.

R454, Did you just arrive at the planet from Mars? Unrelatable singing? The vast majority of the comments below that performance indicate what a superb talent Sarah was. Your problems with her are a YOU problem. Trust me, plenty of people related to her singing for almost fifty years.

She's nowhere close to being overrated. She's OFF the list.

I agree Sarah Vaughan is overrated. She always sound too hollow

Noticing which singers are not getting mentioned

R456, you need to get your ears checked, Vaughan is never overrated. Who are you heathens?

Beyoncé.

R1 and R218 already sum up everything. Thank you

Sure, Jan. At 460. Celine Dion scurried away from Urethra. OK.

Someone ancient and blind has woke up from his bender.

Who says sure, Jan? But a 75 year old KWEEN!

Who cunts out the non-existent word QUEEN but fucking Janbot. Fuck off, Janbot.

KWEEN I meant. Fucking merc retro.

Sarah Vaughan without all the operatic forays into oversinging and drunken self indulgence: This girl is good.

Fresh clean jazz singing with a familiar refrain. Stardust. Samara Joy.

R465, is hilarious with his Sarah Vaughan erasure? Dude give it up. Sarah will always the DIVA LEGEND DIVINE ONE ok?

The greatest singer

R465--Wow, never heard of her. Fantastic!

Fritz Wunderlich

Billy Eilish

[quote]Fritz Wunderlich

I don't think he's overrated for the singing he did, but he's a case of the tragically young death that stimulates romantic sensibilities. "If only he had lived longer!" When, of course, if the person had lived longer, anything could have happened, including a premature decline.

If he hadn't died young he might have suffered a premature vocal decline? That's tragic R471. Fritz dodged a bullet.

Amy Winehouse died young and already couldn't sing no more. At all.

Billie Eilish makes some pretty dreamy music. And she can sing, in her style.

I more a fan or Lauren Spencer Smith. She has a lot of the bad habits of the indie girls singers for 25 years now - the broken vowel, too much tremelo, slightly crying voice.

But she can really sing - the instrument is fully there. And this is a well written song for a 16 year old. Canadian girls don't get in the game without being able to sing.

I like Eilish's voice. She just does lots of mumbling

Maxine Sullivan

Audra MacDonald. I love her as an actress ('The Good Fight') but not her singing - even though everyone thinks she's incredible.

Adele. She has no range above a high E. All her shit sounds the same.

Irene Cara. Ugliest bitch alive. Had a great voice but horrible repulsive personality that killed her career. Watch the duet with Andy Gibb. A super fug bitch like her cannot be that cocky with cutie Andy.

Audra's voice is a sometimes uncomfortable mix of Broadway and classical styles. She's a legit singer with a glorious, robust instrument. Great as she is - she lacks a certain charisma.

When she did that killer-cast benefit performance of DreamGirls - she was unimpressive with the rymthmic faux motown, light disco sound. Her voice is a bit plummy.

Beautiful here. It's a gorgeous song - for men. Tveit and Esparza are swooning.

There's no one very good right now. It was exciting when Whitney and Mariah came along at the same time. It's been a while. That's why the mediocre are selling records.

[quote] Mariah Carey is not overrated. Her rating is well-deserved. Just the song "Vanishing" from her debut album is enough to establish that fact and unlike her contemporaries, she evolved her style a lot.

One song and one performance does not a vocalist make. Mariah was a competent performer for about the first 5 years and since then she has been lip-synching.

Idina Menzel owns this thread. Her voice is like a squeaky child who has just sucked in as much helium as possible. Kristin Chenoweth is the same. Whenever I hear either of these "singers" it's like someone running their nails on a chalkboard.

R478, WOW. You must have known her personally.

[quote] Chaka wasn’t mentioned because no one cares. Her voice works for what she does, but she is overrated.

I don't think Chaka Khan has received enough acclaim to be "overrated." She is a phenomenal talent who has been highly influential to almost every female vocalist that has come after her. Even Aretha Franklin -- who hated other female singers -- liked Chaka and would occasionally praise her. Chaka isn't a trained, disciplined vocalist, and had debilitating addiction issues for most of her career, so she doesn't have a whole bunch of incredible performances on record.

This is a good one showcasing how effortlessly she could access most of her range. I believe she was pregnant at the time, so she was probably not using and it shows.

R355 You should have quit before the last paragraph.

Beyoncé

Liza Minelli and Shirley Bassey. They both basically over-enunciated and shouted two to three notes in each song they "sang."

Celine fucking Dion. Nails on a chalkboard.

Many of the "divas"/vocal powerhouses have voices that are impressive, but not necessarily pleasant imo. Celine, Amy Winehouse, even Mariah ... they make your jaw drop, but I don't find their voices "beautiful". Whereas someone like Madonna might be talentless in comparison, but has a much more pleasant tone.

R489, agreed. Nobody's tone is harsher than Aguilera's though. Dear god, to be able to sing but sound like THAT. What a curse.

Adele. The woman can only sing in one key and has zero range.

[quote]Madonna might be talentless in comparison, but has a much more pleasant tone.

I heard something by her in a store the other day, and there was nothing pleasant about it. It was non-musical warbling. Not to say I'd prefer to hear Aguilera or Mariah, but Madonna's singing voice is the most mediocre one with which anyone has ever been paid to sing.

R36 Carole king was never ever considered a vocalist. Only a songwriter and then a singer/songwriter. Her voice by itself is a squak.

R478 she’s dead and you’re an asshole of misery.

R478 What duet?

R495: Presumably her "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" duet with Andy Gibb when he was the co-host of Solid Gold in '82. I'd never seen it myself. I don't think she's doing anything here except trying to create the usual cheesy variety-show "chemistry" with the other singer. It's sad they're both gone, though. He was 24 here and only made it a few days past 30.

R496 What's wrong with this duet? Did she not look at him enough? I didn't get a sense she was being "cocky."

If no one's mentioned Frank Sinatra yet, then him. Not a fan of him, his music, or his overrated voice.

Billy Potter

Hermione Gingold

Lens Dunham

Beyoncé

R496 Jeesus fack. Videos of super fug Irene Cara should come with a warning. Besides Rue Mclanahan there's never been an uglier bitch to ever cunt her way in the universe.

Stefani Germanotta

Michael Buble. How has he been so successful? He sounds like he’s having a stroke.

R503 He is truly awful. I've always heard him described as the world's "greatest karaoke singer".

Mariah voice @ Lovers and Friends concert in May 2023 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💩💩💩💩💩💩

R505 Bitch's voice is long gone. All she has left is hand flourishes.

R505: wow, that really does shit all over 90s Mariah when she sang that song and everything else pretty much effortlessly.

Rod Stewart- He sounds like broken glass and razor blades run through a dry garbage disposal with some thick powder cleanser mixed in. I hated how in the 1990s he was considered some fantastic vocalist, gargling his way through duets with The Temptations and "classic" songs. He made some of the most cringe worthy and trashy music of the disco era1970s, but suddenly he was on par with Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, etc. If I never hear his version of "Reason to Believe" again, it will be too soon.

Better Midler- How appropriate future generations will only know her as a warbling witch.

Bump. My top three (female): Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt. Not saying they aren't good or formidable, just that they're overrated.

Taylor Swift or Beyoncé. Pretty much a tie…

That girl who played the secondary female lead in the recent London production of Anything Goes. Beyond dull, no stage presence and highly forgettable. Who’d she f*** to get cast?

[quote] Madonna's singing voice is the most mediocre one with which anyone has ever been paid to sing.

That bitch was singing off-key ON THE RECORD!

Stefanie Germanaughty aka Lady Gaga

Singers like Cher, Rihanna, Britney and even Lana Del Rey whom ai love do not have great voices but they have genuinely distinctive tones, you can instantly recognise them which is why they are very successful pop singers. Of course Lana is also a songwriter.

In Rihanna’s case for a decade after Umbrella all the female singers who weren’t aping Adele’s accent were imitating her tone.

Mrs Miller

Donna Summers

Shirley Bassey. She has about a two-note vocal range, and she mistakes shouting for singing.

Donna Summers had an awesome voice. She was uglier than sin but she had a huge range and most of her 70s stuff was cream.

R517, R518 Donna Summer, for fuck's sake!

Yes, tardo. WE know its Donna Summers.

Donna’s voice I would say was very pretty, angelic high notes. Shirley Bassey is pure power, to me she sounds a lot like prime Judy Garland.

Donna Summer is underrated.

A good friend said Barbra is a great “technician”. She sings beautifully, but it lacks emotion.

Donna Summers was awesome in the 70s. Her 80s stuff was mostly garbage.

R508, I agree. I never liked Rod Stewart. That raspy voice sounds laryngitis.

Rod Stewarts always had two litres of semen in his stomach. I'm sure than affected his singing. His poor girlfriends lol. Having to put up with him always burping up semen.

Lea Michelles

R527 gets it.

Aretha. Though I did enjoy aerobing to the "Who's Zoomin' Who?" album in the '80s.

I don't think Aretha is overrated at all. She was the most influential vocalist pre-Whitney.

OP, if Barbra Streisand had died in 1970, you wouldn't be saying she's overrated.

adele

[Quote]Donna Summers was awesome in the 70s. Her 80s stuff was mostly garbage.

r524 It's "Donna Summer" NOT "Donna Summers". Got it, Dionne?!!

[quote] On her duet with Donna Summer, Summer destroys her and really lets loose.

Uh, no, OP, not at all.

R508 it worked in the faces, although they were just a B-grade version of the stones he was much more suited for that kind of music.

[quote] adele

To me she’s an example of someone who sings without any real joy or passion. I’m not saying I’m correct about how she feels about singing, but she has never moved me in any way.

She’s overwrought r536

R536, it would help if there was some variation to her music and singing style. There are lesser singers who vary their voices more than she does.

Christina Aguilera is maybe the most over-rated.

The most underrated is Tina Turner. While these contemporary singers lip-sync... some because they can't carry a tune and some because they are dancing and doing crazy gymnastics onstage and therefore can't catch enough breath to sing, Tina Turner could do it ALL and do it best She worked that stage like a trooper, danced like a mad woman, and she could still damn sing great. I saw her live throughout her career, starting with Ike Turner Revue in the early 1960s. She was nothing short of fucking AMAZING. She could do it ALL and do it GREAT. Love you, miss you Tina Turner. There will never be another Tina Turner. The look, the energy, the wanting, the tension, the raw sex. She was the gold standard.

Get them out of the studio and away from the special vocal effects and see how they sound.

OP, most experts in vocal artistry think just the opposite. Donna Summer herself thought Streisand the greatest voice she ever heard when she recorded their hit. Silly.

Donna Summer said on a Merv Griffin show that she wanted her career to resemble a combination of Barbra Streisand and Katharine Hepburn's. Oh, well.

R542, Summer had good taste in whom she aspired to emulate, but I'm not sure what kind of an actress she would have been.

She wasn't emulating their work, R543, she actually thought it was possible to duplicate their CAREER PATHS - BOTH.

I meant, R544, she wanted to emulate their careers, not them, hence my comment about whether she could act. My apologies if I wasn't clear.

Mary J Blige. Another "great" singer with a horrendous tone. That AT&T commercial she did about 15 years ago was the worst.

R546 She's always a quarter of a note flat.

R547, is that it? That could be it. There is something about her voice that makes every note sound wrong. Whenever she warbles, I cringe.

I had to Google this thread to retract my opinion at r301. I am watching George Michael's freedom documentary and got to the Freddie Mercury tribute concert.

Mea Culpa, I was terribly wrong George had an amazing and powerful voice and no one could have done as well on covering Somebody To love as he did. As good, if a bit different, as Freddie's version.

Can someone explain why so many singers (especially female ones) sound so much more nasal live than in studio versions? Do they use "nasality filters" in the studio?

Dinah Shore

I'm serious about Dinah, she was the #1 fav vocalist (granted, a long time ago), but why? She was one of the worst pop singers I ever heard.

ANYONE who thinks Barbra is overrated is too stupid to live. Listen to like her first 20 albums.

R550, the vocal sound that carries the most is forward and bright. In a large space, you want that so people can hear you over the band or orchestra. In a studio, your vocals can be turned up. A lot of singers use a more intimate sound in the studio. Louder or brighter tone doesn’t usually carry any better in recordings.