Chaka Khan BLASTS Mariah Carey, Adele and more!!!

She's not wrong..

Set aside your opinions about whether this is professional or collegial or seemly or whatever. Chaka sounds as though she would be fun to hang out with.

Mariah's vocals in the 90s earned her a top10 spot easy. Top 5 also works. The girl could sing her ass off during the peak of her career. Anyone saying otherwise is a fool. Very few could touch Mariah's range and sound.

I fully understand where Chaka is coming from but I am old enough for her to have been new talent when I was young and I understand that any new greatest lists have to include artists from the 90's and after.

The money people in music want to be able to sell the younger artists as the older ones die off. They can't do that unless they continue to hype them. Someone like Beyonce is only relevant because of the hype machine that keeps her front and center.

Those who control music have been short sighted, at a certain point they didn't want to develop talent in order to control more of the profit so now music is bereft of talent that will endure beyond the greats.

Chaka Khan? Chaka Nasty!

The Wrath of Khan.

Chaka isn’t that great of a singer. She is fun. But she has like 3 hit songs.

The Baez diss made me laugh out loud. Chaka should join DL: tell us something bad.

She sounds like trash, calling Joan Baez a bitch, who btw has a lovely voice.

[Quote]The Wrath of Khan.

CHAAAAAAAKAAAAA!!!!!

Chaka is one of the most talented singers ever. She also had a lot of pain and struggle throughout her life. Despite that, she had a good heart, which is hard to encounter in Chicago. At a time when gay people were oppressed beyond belief, they identified with her struggles and she theirs.

Mariah is an abomination.

Shouldn't Chaka be more upset that in her entire career she's never made the cover of Rolling Stone?

The woman whose made the over of Rolling Stone the most times, Madonna with something like 25 RS covers (!) didn't even make the list, which is weird since while she's not a great singer, RS always includes Madonna in their lists for Greatest Artists of All Time, Best Songwriters of All Time, Best Live Performances, Best Albums of all Time etc

Mariah had Mottola using payola for her hits in the 90's. It's common knowledge.

R11 you wrote the exact same thing about Mia Farrow in a previous thread...

Chaka may be a great singer but she wouldn't have had a career were it not for Rufus, Ike Turner, and Prince.

Whatever r12. Mariah could sing and that's what this traggic list was supposed to be about.

Mariah’s not that great. I’ll take Whitney Houston and even Cyndi Lauper instead.

I think she dragged Mariah because vocally, she’s Chaka’s equal. YMMV. Aretha was the same way.

YMMV is already played out.

R19 has bad breath.

She's hilarious. I love good shade.

R20, is so childish but I had to chuckle 🤭 at this remark.

Chaka was never Mariah's equal when Mimi was at her peak. Chaka is just a drugged out moron.

This is seriously like the Got2BReal series. Oh, I wish THAT was still around.

[quote] YMMV is already played out.

Please do tell us more about which hep slang terms are considered in and which are considered out, O 14-Year-Old Popular Girl.

We are all a-twitter.

[Quote] Mariah's vocals in the 90s earned her a top10 spot easy. Top 5 also works. The girl could sing her ass off during the peak of her career. Anyone saying otherwise is a fool. Very few could touch Mariah's range and sound.

Nope. Nope. Nope. Great singers have chops. Mariah's voice was in tatters by about seven years into her career. Chaka is of the generation that does not respect lipsyncing.

“These bitches are blind as a motherfucking bat! They need hearing aids. They don't have hearing aids? They have no eyes. They have no ears. These must be the children of Helen Keller!”

Chaka must be the child of Helen Lawson.

R26 is right. Mimi's voice sounded like shit by the release of Butterfly.

Chaka’s interview with Piers Morgan was legendary. It was after Whitney’s death and she spilled the tea. Best part was when she admitted she smoked up with Bobby and Whitney.

Whitney dodged performing the bridge to "I'm Every Woman" in concert. That's a black mark against her.

[Quote] Chaka may be a great singer but she wouldn't have had a career were it not for Rufus, Ike Turner, and Prince.

Who can't that be said about? Aretha wouldn't have had her career if it weren't for Jerry Wexler, Ertegun etc. Every mega successful artist has had the "right" backing.

Mariah Carey is by all accounts a very technically impressive singer right? I don't know much about vocal technique.

Is? She's a lipsync queen.

R32: She started out with something, but she didn't take care of it. Now she gets by on memories of less than a decade of impressive vocals, careful management, and diva airs,

Mariah was a studio singer. Very rarely was she able to replicate those vocals live (especially beyond the first few years of her career).

I love Chaka. Saw her perform live at a Pride fest maybe 10+ years ago, and she has every right to be a little arrogant about other singers.

THAT HELLEN KELLER COMMENT IS AN ABLEIST SLUR!

Good Lord I think Aretha Franklin is a HORRIBLE singer. I despise most of those shrieking black women singers with egos to match their dress size. Give me Diana, Dionne, Whitney, Roberta and Glayds - women who didn't cause the neighborhood dogs to bark out of control. Chaka Khan is hardly relevant.

I want to agree with her but she also said Beyonce deserves her high position in the list and praised her a lot. So on second thought..

[quote]calling Joan Baez a bitch, who btw has a lovely voice.

No, not really, she has an earnest voice.

[Quote] she also said Beyonce deserves her high position in the list and praised her a lot

She didn't praise Beyonce a lot. She basically said that she has potential.

Way to go Chaka

I wonder what she thinks of Etta James? She had a wonderful voice and sang with a lot of feeling. Especially, " I'd Rather go Blind".

"I was JUST, I was JUST sittin' here thinkin'"

R43 I’m sure she was grateful that Etta propped her ass up while they performed here. Nobody could sing high as the living daylights like Chaka

Prince wrote all of chaka’s songs. Quincy jones fucked her silly

Quincy Jones fucking a black woman? Shirley you jest.

Interesting that she dissed Mariah like that when Mariah has always praised Chaka Khan, and they both follow each other on Instagram.

It really doesn't matter, though. Aretha, Whitney, Patti, Yolanda Adams, Anita Baker, The Clark Sisters, and many others greatly respected Mariah as one of the best ever to do it. Chaka Khan's opinion doesn't mean shit, and with that attitude, I'm happy her ass has never been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Frankly, Chaka needs to worry about herself because she allowed little Stephanie Mills to smoke her ass on Verzuz where she appeared high and drunk, slurring her words and barely remembering lyrics to songs she's been performing for 50 years. I remember one person saying that Chaka was singing in hieroglyphics! Lol

Honestly, the ones who got it the worst were Mary J. Blige, Adele, and Joan Baez.

I love Chaka but is screeching really singing?

Let's not talk about getting on stage while under the influence and giving less than half assed performances...

I love the story that Chaka told Mick Jagger to shut the hell up with his "singing" at an early hours jam session.

R45 I was just about to post that video! Chaka at her worst was still better than those other mentioned singers at their best.

[Quote]It was Mary J. Blige, however, for whom Khan reserved the most outrage. Blige's No.25 spot, a crucial four positions above her own, led the "Ain't Nobody" singer to say of those responsible for the decision: “They are blind as a motherfucking bat! They need hearing aids…These must be the children of Helen Keller!”

Mariah in 1993.

Chaka still performs fucked up. The voice has held up, though.

This thread had me cough-laughing in my cubicle. Now my office thinks I have COVID. Thanks Chaka!

Oddly enough, they actually sang together. Maybe whatever happened afterwards made Chaka say what she said (what I posted at r53).

I wish Aretha herself were still alive to comment on this list.

"Okay... great gowns, beautiful gowns."

No shade ever thrown has ever been more hilarious.

Anyone who says Joan Baez couldn't sing needs their eardrums examined.

Didn't Chaka say some less than complimentary stuff about Prince recently? To VladTV?

[quote] Didn't Chaka say some less than complimentary stuff about Prince recently? To VladTV?

Yup! She said she was glad she didn't sleep with him because she heard rumors that he had an STD. And she dissed Anita Baker in the interview when the comedian Lunell (who conducted the interview) asked her if she would do a Verzuz with Anita.

I feel for you, Chaka Khan. I think I love you.

Stephanie Mills also recently dissed Anita Baker recntly ("... who?"). "Everybody Hates Anita Baker" should be a new project. Documentary. Drama. I don't care.

Did you know Aretha sang "Funny Girl" at the Oscars. It's a forgettable song but Ree made something of it.

[quote] "Everybody Hates Anita Baker" should be a new project. Documentary. Drama. I don't care.

Too bad Luther Vandross isn't still alive. He had major beef with Anita back in the day when they toured together.

Do you believe En Vogue's story that Luther bought himself a pair of thigh high boots? I'm not sure. I can well believe that he responded to their complaints (they opened for Luther) with "I AM a girl group!"

I also love that Luther brought his backing singers to the meeting with En Vogue. He wasn't going to lay hands on En Vogue but his backing singers probably would have.

*lay a hand

One of my favorite Chaka anecdotes was from Audra McDonald. Audra spoke about the time she had been invited to Oprah’s Legends Ball luncheon (where all the famous Black women sat in Oprah’s yard and did slam poetry at each other about Maya Angelou and Diana Ross’ majestic spirits etc.) and was feeling like she had legitimately “made it”.

She was approaching her table when Chaka Khan (who was already seated) saw Audra’s place card, screwed up her face and turned to the table and said “Odd-Ree Mack-Donald? WHO DAT?”

Chaka needs to shut her filthy racist mouth because the ho can't sing for shit.

Racist? She helped out Steve Winwood!

Who?

[Quote] Who?

The guy Harry Styles ripped off with that "Adore You" song.

Maybe Shaka was at this concert and became dissapointed listening to a weed voice?

Chaka is supposedly good friends with musical genius Joni Mitchell who is on record as hating Baez’ guts. So that may explain the Baez diss. Chaka came up in an era when a lot of people talked like this in interviews, unlike the mealy mouthed, prissy types who are today’s stars.

Chaka when Beyonce was mentioned:

*LONG SILENT PAUSE*

"She has what it takes to be a great singer..."

More...

“What about Ariana Grande?”

Chaka: “No, fµck her”

Was she drunk or high during this interview?

I'm not a huge fan of Joan Baez, though I like some of her (relatively) recent stuff where her voice has deepened and is less 'trembly', but I do think she can sing. The comment about her being a good writer is a bit odd as she has always been more of an interpreter than a songwriter. Having said that, Diamonds and Rust is a great song, musically and lyrically: 'Our breath comes out white clouds, mingles and hangs in the air / Speaking strictly for me, we both could have died then and there'.

Chaka Khan doesn’t sing, she just talks.

Funny how she said she is glad she never fucked Prince. He had a VERY specific type, snd Chaka wasn’t it.

Listen to Chaka singing live on German television Stevie Wonder’s song, ‘Til you come back to me’ on YouTube. That woman can sing….

Nothing gets a bunch of Elderqueens all riled up and excited like a good old fashioned diva catfight...

She seemed a little high but in good spirits on Drag Race. At one point she gives Jan a hard side eye.

The Breakfast Club play audio clips of Chaka being interviewed for her reactions to the list. At 0:48, she's says that she told Mary J. Blige TO HER FACE that her vocals were flat, but "she and I have that kind of relationship; we can talk." So all is good.

They also played audio clips of what was already mentioned about her throughout the video, which lasts for almost seven minutes.

It is too bad “Rolling Stone” failed to crack the ranks of U.S. history’s Top 200 greatest magazine publications.

No one but her crack dealer gives the tiniest fuck about this thing called Chaka.

Why are we acting like payola is some shocking thing? Acts had been using it for decades, especially Black acts that couldn't get on the radio. There are plenty of great acts that had to use payola to get their way onto the airwaves.

How long before we hear she’s checked herself into rehab again?

Mary J Blige gets help from autotune, I like the sound of her vocals but she needs help to be on key.

Surprised Chaka went after Mariah because Mariah has always been respectful to all those older divas.

R11 She identifies with us so much she is seen at every gay hating GOP convention

& does The 700 Club with our mortal enemy Rat Robertson whenever she can.

CK isn't a singer but a screamer like fellow 700 Club alum Patti LaHelle.

Isn't she a clam? Not sure she'd be that fun to hang out with.

Cha-KA be looking mighty RUFF

Chaka is hilarious. Mariah was the best singer of the 90s and has unmatched musicality. She remains the most vocally creative of the major divas. Her mastery of melisma birthed countless Pop and R&B divas from Brandy, Beyonce, and Christina in the 90s through to Ariana today. The clear upper belts were the first to go, but vocally Mariah lasted in one way or another from 1989-2014. 25 years of top tier singing on albums, remixes, tv performances, and world tours is enough. The lip syncing only came with the advance in technology and despite everyone using it, she gets blamed the most for being so obvious. People know she can sing regardless, so it didn't tank her career.

From a business perspective, Mariah was smart to prioritize recording perfect and intricately layered studio vocals over live performances. Tour and residency money aside, live shows aren't always captured on camera and don't come with residuals. Her studio recordings have value and provide a deep and evergreen catalog of hits that continue to find new life with Gen Z via streaming and social media. None of her peer vocal titans who debuted solo in the 90s or earlier can claim such continued relevance with the numbers to back it up.

As far as black divas go, Diana Ross, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Beyonce were seen as the perfect mix: marketable sound AND look. They were tall, thin, good looking, with lighter skin, and a recognizable voice, so they had bigger careers for a longer span of time than their darker skinned counterparts. Aretha was also lighter skinned, wasn't AS fat in the beginning, had an outstanding voice in her prime, played piano, and exuded diva stage presence. Overall, Mariah, Whitney, Celine, and Beyonce remain the modern blueprints for how to have a huge career as a pop diva by mixing a big voice with good looks.

The Wraith of Khan may have lost the weight, but her spirit still is clogged with anger-fat and a bizarre notion of her own fucking value to the industry.

Chugga Kong and maybe you'll feel better. Because this is no image to keep.

Don't blame Chaka cause you don't know no better

Oh, except that Beyonce has been heading into the "so light" area so hard for 20 years she'd better watch it in Africa. Some people do terrible things to albinos there.

Fuck Chaka Khan's irrevelant ass! She's about as forgotten in the music industry as De'Andre Warwitch!

R95, English please. If you can.

[quote]She didn't praise Beyonce a lot. She basically said that she has potential.

Where in the linked article is this??

Love her Joan Baez remark. I always thought that overused vibrato of hers made her sound like a bleating goat.

I feel for her.

I think…I love her.

Chaka who kill it onYouTube reacting to and analyzing vocalists.

I'd watch nothing but that r102

[quote]. Joan Baez at #189 - “let’s be honest, the bitch cannot sing.”

I like you Chaka, but you are dead wrong.

Joan Baez gets on my nerves. "The niiiight theyuh droveuh old diiiiixie downuh and aaaall theuh peeeeeeople wereuh singn'" Every "uh" is her catching her breathe in between abusing my ears with her stringent vibrato. I do a dead on impersonation of this in person.

I'm loving Chaka Khan right now. Tell it like it is Chaka.

Mariah Carey owes a huge vocal debt to Karen Clark Sheard of The Clark Sisters. What's sweet with all that is how they're friends and I think she worked with The Clark Sisters actually. Karen can wait with her multi-octave voice even at the age she is now, she would have made a mint in pop or R&B but stayed loyal to gospel because of her religion.

Chaka Khan not giving a crap is golden.

The night they drove ol' Chaka down...

R89 Mariah isn’t Black enough for a lot of people.

25 years of Top Singing from Mariah?! Tell another one!

[Quote] she would have made a mint in pop or R&B

Did Kelly Price make a mint?

Mimi is not black at all. She mentioned in her book she has a white papa.

White mother. Mixed father.

Mariah's father's father (her grandfather) was a mixed-race man from Cuba, and her grandmother was a black woman from Alabama.

I’m going to whispercoo Janet Jackson’s name three times so the JanBot shows up and has a grand mal about her omission from the list!

Mimi has had a lot of black in her though. Nick has had what? -- a hundred bastard kids by now. What a loathsome breeder.

[Quote]She didn't praise Beyonce a lot. She basically said that she has potential.

[Quote]Where in the linked article is this??

R99 She starts to say so at 3:26 in the video at r84.

Love what Aretha had to say about Whitney- a talent- like the good gowns comment, pay attention to what she did not say. Whitney was a great talent but not a great artist. She perhaps lost her way due to substance abuse- but then Garland and Lady Day were addicts as well, and great artists. Judy had talent equal to or greater that Whitney but she was also a great artist. Whitney sang mostly pop- mediocre pop. She never recorded the great composers and writers-except here and there in performance. And in performance, she could not sustain a concert. Carey also falls short on artistry although she is a competent writer. But she too has/had enormous limitations include a rather brief period of vocal prime.

And Mariah's brother Morgan was a staple in those cheesy fitness magazines of the 1980s and 1990s. Can't find a single photo of that era online though.

Dionne did a Cole Porter album... She shouldn't have.

Chaka has an amazing voice and gave good concerts. But she couldn't dance for shit, which was ironic since she sang so many songs that beg you to dance.

Vocally, I prefer Mariah and Whitney over Aretha.

Aretha had a sort of nasally smooth voice with moderate weight on the higher notes.

Whitney’s voice was not so nasally and had more weight.

Mariah’s voice had more weight than Aretha’s, but was lighter than Whitney’s.

I wanted to add… Chaka, Aretha and Patti LaBelle all had similar sounding nasally voices, with Chaka being the least nasally.

I love Patti's voice though. Aretha's voice did deteriorate over the years because of her smoking and yo yo dieting.

Chaka is better than Mariah vocally? Really?

Let’s put Chaw Kaw in some animal skins and let her LEWWS!

Chaka Kahn is very good with a great presence and name. She had the good fortune to have a huge hit early on which included her name in the lyrics thus cementing her fame. She is lucky and she makes no points dissing those in front of her on one of those BS lists.

Curly hair, skinny, early 90s Mariah was nothing to be toyed with. In her book about Whitney, even Robin Crawford said that Whitney felt some kind of way when Mariah debuted on the music scene.

The Baez point is petty in an unfunny way. She has a great voice and is a lovely person. To say she can't sing smacks of weird insecurity.

I never knew I was allowed to hate Joan Baez’s voice. It is awful — though I still respect her based on technical musicianship. And she sings my favorite song ever for all single moms “Love is Just a Four Letterword,” written by Dylan though.

I think the key to all this is, how do you define a “great singer”? I think Chaka is likely more influenced by soul-manship, she’s asking how much does an artist emote? For her, she may feel strongly that without the proper emotional expression/context of an artist (I’m calling that soul) that you’re shit as a singer, and if that is her definition, I can understand her Baez comment.

But let’s face it — those who are mad at the Baez insult may have a more white-centric musical taste. I don’t know, just a theory. Baez is the whitest non-white singer whoever sang in white, that era of early folk was indeed sublimely white, it’s easy to see and giggle at now a la “A Mighty Wind”.….But I think what is more offensive from Chaka is her general arrogance and trashy lack of respect. This girl sure knows how to get press, right?

It was quite clear... she said Blige was singing flat on the record...

You're calling a 70 year old woman a girl?

Mariah killed at the Grammys in '91.

Her performance at the Grammys in '92 was actually better than that one, R131. She wasn't as nervous and had more confidence. She blew the roof off the place, singing a song she co-wrote with Carole King.

She's right about Mariah Carey. Who cares about her "range and sound" was just full-tilt screeching. Power and volume count only when someone sings well or has something worth singing. I couldn't name one of her songs except that fucking Xmas song (thanks to Love, Actually.). She was sappy and dang shit sings in a voice that never stood out except in that American Idol way of she who sings loudest wins

Chaka khan Chaka khan 😩

Chaka did not like that rap.

That's a good point re the 'whiteness' aspect R128. I'm a white guy and with a few exceptions (Dionne, Gladys, Ella, Supremes) most of the music I love and listen to is by white artists from the fields of Americana, country, folk, rock and pop. When it comes to the more soulful stuff, I'd listen to Dusty over most of the black singers and divas. But then again none of the divas that are so beloved here do anything for me - despite their undoubtedly good voices to my ears they either tend to over sing or choose bland generic material.

I have a (white) friend who is really into a lot of black music (Northern soul, more obscure early Motown and other labels etc) and she has played me some truly great stuff and was my go-to to be the DJ at my 60th because of her deep knowledge of and appreciation for the soulful end of the spectrum. So yeah, part of Chaka's distaste for Joan might be that she finds it soulless or perhaps just too warbly or however you'd describe it, something others here and elsewhere have commented on.

She’s rnb

Well she’s right. Notice she didn’t bash Queen Bey because she is highly respected as a master vocalist with perfect live execution.

But Chaka is a big Joni Mitchell fan. Some of you are being rather prejudiced.

Chaka doesn't even come frome the church, fyi.

Liking the (Mexican) Baez makes your music taste white-centric?

A good voice for popular music is not one that can necessarily sing the most octaves or caterwaul the longest - that shit is for opera. I think a voice like Ronnie Spector's is a Top Ten voice to me. Chaka Khan, despite being technically "better" is really not. Emotion and impact triumph over technical ability for me - much like in acting. People who consider Whitney or Mariah to be the greatest singers EVAH are probably the same kind of people who consider Meryl Steep to be the greatest actress of all time.

R35 Exactly. That is not to take away her talents. Because she definitely wasn’t using auto tuned. But she’s a studio singer who needs several takes.

You think Chaka lacks emotion?

[quote] People who consider Whitney or Mariah to be the greatest singers EVAH are probably the same kind of people who consider Meryl Steep to be the greatest actress of all time.

Not really. I consider Whitney and Mariah the voices of my generation (I'm 40), but I can't stand Meryl Streep and agree with everything Pauline Kael and Katharine Hepburn said about her.

Would you describe your tastes as teenage?

R143 I don't she lacks emotionality, I just don't get the same kind of raw feeling from her music (that I've heard, I'm a casual listener) that I do from people like Ronnie. Again, so much of this specifically is personal taste so these "best singer" lists are totally pointless. You can easily gauge the quality of, say, songwriting but not so easily performance.

Brandi Carlisle told about en evening at Joni Mitchell’s where everyone was hanging out and she can’t believe she’s there, a pinch me moment and Chaka Khan enters from some exterior French doors, grabs a drink and walks out and there’s no comment.

Didn't Chaka have a toy boy a few years ago? Maybe she was fucking him in the gazebo.

Carey overdoes the glissando trills and scales, She can’t sing a song straight.

I love Chaka. I can't entirely agree about Joan Baez and I agree with a poster that seems personal or something else is motivating her opinion re: Baez. But the rest, i don't think she told any lies. I remember reading an interview - maybe with Whitney herself - who said in the '60s, it was Aretha, in the '70s, it was Chaka, in the '80s it was Whitney. That makes sense to me.

I think Chaka has one of the best discographies of any singer. Her Warner Bros solo albums are terrific and I don't consider any of them to be bad. Some have weaker material but they're all worth hearing.

Where did Donny Hathaway place?

At R104, Joan Baez singing "Oh Happy Day." IMO, not proof that Joan had a great voice. Yes, she was hitting the notes, but she sounded like the Singing Nun.

OP you noticeably left out that most of her wrath was directed at Mary J. Blige. In what universe can Mary J. Blige sing better than Celine Dion. Mary is lucky she had some great albums and is perceived as authentic because she has soul but has given some HORRIBLE live performances.

Chaka has been around a long time, but did she really have all that much staying power in delivering hit records? I would say no, but maybe I just don't remember Chaka having too many hits.

Who cares about hit records? Great singers aren't necessarily popular.

R154 I feel you. She didn’t maintain mainstream success but is adorned by black audiences. I like how she sings. It has style. Like Erykah Badu. They aren’t just good vocalists they execute with personality almost how like an actor delivers a performance.

People love or hate Mariah because they physically can't do what she does.

133 Mariah NEVER screeched or screamed. It's what set her upper belts (while she had them) above even Whitney and Celine's let alone the many imitators who lacked true mastery over the whistle register.

142 No respectable person in the industry would deign to say Mariah can't sing. It's obvious she is exceptional. Mariah does many takes because she's a perfectionist who stacks her vocals, uses the wall of sound technique, and recorded new verses for her remixes NOT because she didn't have the chops. Mariah was famously rushed during the recording of We Belong Together which was a late addition to the album. She decided to do a big long belt to end the song because she hadn't finalized the ending yet and record execs wanted her to meet some Japanese businessmen who were touring the place.

149 Patti is the queen of glissando. It's her main trick. Every diva in the 90s employed melisma to great effect. Mariah was simply the most agile and could fit runs in without them feeling disconnected or overwhelming.

I love CK's version of this song.

Chaka once worked as a 'domestic' in Joan Baez's household.

R15, R11 is an insane person. They wrote the exact post for Judy Garland too, but used Hollywood instead of Chicago. They also WW’d themselves a million times.

Chaka would be the "domestic" who drinks your booze & gives your husband and/or son the "tight fit".

The way Ariana Grande sang Mariah's most vocally-challenging song like it was NOTHING will always amaze me.

Sza is like the new age Chaka to me.

Why are straight r160 so stupid?

Sza can't sing worth a damn.

Don't let r160 click on a Deidre Hall thread...

[QUOTE]But she has like 3 hit songs.

Tell Me Something Good

You Got The Love

Sweet Thing

Dance Wit Me

At Midnight (My Love Will Lift You Up)

Hollywood

Stay

Do You Love What You Feel

Ain't Nobody

I'm Every Woman

What Cha' Gonna Do For Me

I Feel For You

This Is My Night

Through The Fire

Love You All My Lifetime

Never Miss The Water

Disrespectful

Stuff Like That

I'll Be Good To You

Higher Love

Some people forget that once upon a time there were album artists, e.g. Nancy Wilson, who released many albums on Capitol records. She only had one pop hit that people remember, "(You Don't Know) How Glad I Am."

Chaka is right. The best pop vocalists of all time is Celine, Whitney, Barbra, George Michael, Prince and Luther Vanross

Just the messiness that I needed in my soul 😂

[quote]Who cares about hit records? Great singers aren't necessarily popular.

R155. I wasn't commenting on Chaka's voice. Yes, the woman can sing. I was just saying that I don't recall Chaka having many hit records. She was a presence and an artist, but not necessarily a hitmaker.

Same with Patti LaBelle. Not very many hit records at all. But she can sing with a great, powerful voice.

Old, fat, bitter, washed up has been

R172 = Adele

Chaka (and Quincy Jones) are what happens when people get old and have no more shits to give. There's no more filter. That's the cool part about aging.

I still hope Quincy Jones has a manuscript hidden somewhere and that his daughters don't find it and can't do anything about its posthumous publication.

Patti Labelle is too strident to ever find long term favor with mainstream audiences. She's sort of the Ethel Merman of R&B.

The fact that R160 and R15 don’t know one of DLs most famous copypasta means they do not belong. Go back to Reddit.

[quote]The fact that [R160] and [R15] don’t know one of DLs most famous copypasta means they do not belong. Go back to Reddit.

But then we'll be spared their encore act, when they point out to someone that he misspelled "breaking."

R172 Who? Chaka or Mariah?

[quote] Chaka isn’t that great of a singer. She is fun. But she has like 3 hit songs.

She's a phenomenal singer but her addiction issues have obscured her talent.

R132, Emotions is one of the most slept on albums of the 90s. I don't know why it was so trashed by critics. It was a giant leap from the debut and it felt more R&B than pop.

[quote] Mariah Carey is by all accounts a very technically impressive singer right? I don't know much about vocal technique.

Mariah is a studio singer whose recordings are a patchwork of multiple takes sweetened by audio technology.

The idea of Chaka and Joni being friends scares me. Can you imagine what that combined ego is like? Probably so thick, you can't even see through it!

R69, you should leave Black dialect to Alice Walker, you write like racist trash.

Audra tells the story starting at 2:17. Audra got her karma by pronouncing it "CHA-ka" instead of "SHA-ka."

[quote] No one but her crack dealer gives the tiniest fuck about this thing called Chaka.

Chaka Khan's career has stretched for 50 years and she has won 10 Grammys, and sold millions of records -- she sold gold and platinum back when people had to actually part with real cash to get music. She has a VERY devoted following and she deserves it. While half the time she is high as f*ck and sometimes nearly falling off the stage, when she is in a position to deliver something approaching full mast she is one of the greatest voices of all time.

She has every right to be salty because all she ever had were her vocal chords and these other hoes have all kinds of studio wizardry to make them sound decent when most can't even sing on key.

[Quote] sometimes nearly falling off the stage

Nearly doesn't count.

R185 Thank you, Chaka's crack dealer has spoken.

[quote] Overall, Mariah, Whitney, Celine, and Beyonce remain the modern blueprints for how to have a huge career as a pop diva by mixing a big voice with good looks.

Celine?! Great singer but "good looks"?

[quote] Chaka is better than Mariah vocally? Really?

One video in a career that has spanned more than 30 years?! Y'all give Mariah way too much credit. I suppose it is inevitable given how ubiquitous she was for the first 15 years or so. She is just an OK singer with an impressive gimmick (the whistle). I do love Mariah's recordings and always appreciated how prolific and industrious she is as a music maker. However, I have never paid to see her live because I know she could NEVER replicate what she does in the studio in a live setting.

R189 STFU, Janbot. Janet Floppita Ho is nothing compared to prime Mariah.

[quote] Chaka Kahn is very good with a great presence and name. She had the good fortune to have a huge hit early on which included her name in the lyrics thus cementing her fame. She is lucky and she makes no points dissing those in front of her on one of those BS lists.

"I Feel For You" was NOT "early on" for Chaka. By 1984 she was already a Grammy-winning, platinum-selling, highly influential vocalist with multiple top 10 hits, and a 12 album discography -- pretty much considered legendary by everyone in the industry. Most of her fans consider 1984's "I Feel For You" a novelty song.

Mariah Carey could sing live when she was younger. Here she is singing Emotions on MTV Unplugged. It's obviously a live performance, IMO. Also, if you watch the old SNL performances, it's obviously live. Plus, one or two Apollo performances: live.

Now: her voice is at least somewhat shot. She has struggled, physically & emotionally. She was focused on all the wrong things: plastic surgery, trying to be a dancer like Beyonce.

No doubt having 5 of Nick's 100 bastard children never helped. That dude's penis must be magic. I want some of that juice!

What? She only had 2 children with Nick Cannon. But yeah, what a nightmare for her 2 kids to now have that many half-siblings with that many different women. Embarrassing.

This is a good thread.

Isn’t Joni someone who considers herself very close to black culture too? I believe that to be true, so imagining Chaka at her house and those two divas getting along is not far fetched at all. Joni is a bitch from hell too,

Let’s face it. The majority of female artists that we love are black, and I say, celebrate that fact. I’ve moved more and more toward learning more black history and culture because of the profound influence it has in this country. It is so woven into all that we do that we are often unaware of it.

I looooove Irish folk music. I know I’m a geek, and it is super melancholy (I’m depressive so it’s perfect to me). But I also loooooove RnB, soul, and even gospel. Irish folk music is wistful poetry, while someone like Chaka is groovy, funky, and raw (to me). Both are extremely beautiful. But Baez’s vibrato is horrendous. Cher has that too. Has do you get your voice to have such a fast vibrato???? I’m sure there are trained vocalists reading this. I’m just curious.

Chaka doesn’t make herself look great talking this way, but I also think that elder women in the music industry fucking hate how hard they’ve had to fight. The men talk shit all the time, you wouldn’t necessarily have a whole thread about it. But if a woman gets cunty? We pay attention and try to put them in their place. But you can’t put someone like Chaka into anything, she won’t bow to anyone, and I love that.

Nick has had 10 bastard children from 10 different girls just in the last year. How the fuck does he afford to pay for all these literal bastards?

Miss Baker?

Oh.

The roach came out from behind the wall?

And definitely NOT the right kind.

I have seen all of the divas live and Mariah was by far the worst. She is uncomfortable on stage. Uses too much help with pre-recorded vocals You can tell when she is singing live because she sounds coarse and out of breath.

She had a few good live appearances when she was younger but by the time of Butterfly she just couldn’t dazzle like she did before. She truly is a studio singer. She sounded like shit on the Divas Live special. Aretha, Celine and even Gloria Estefan and Shania Twain sang her off that stage.

I love how Mariah pretended her VH1 Divas performance on "Natural Woman" was due to respect for her elders, not that her voice was shot.

R199, I was just gonna say the same thing. She claimed she found it so disrespectful that Celine was trying to "compete" with Aretha during "Natural Woman"...even though that's what Aretha wanted her to do. When Mariah tried to sing Chain of Fools, she just could not beat Aretha and I think Aretha was already in her 50s at the time.

Mariah needs to have 200 more bastards from Nick. Leave the singing to all the fake talents like Riri or Janet.

Mariah was so jealous of Celine Dion at the Divas concert. (Celine had gone back and forth, vocally, with Aretha - forgot which song.) Mariah even brought it up, again, I think, in her autobiography. And then Mariah dragged Patti Labelle into it, saying that Patti agreed w/Mariah.

R202, Celine and Mariah did Natural Woman.

Natural womyn. You mean. You misogynist bitch.

R162 Ariana didn't sing it as well as Mariah did in studio AND live. There are so many videos of Mariah slaying this song throughout the years.

How’s Miss Baker sounding nowadays?

Fabulous as ever, baby! My Vegas Residency was sold out in minutes, unlike other singers who are performing for buffet coupons at The Golden Nugget!

[quote] When Mariah tried to sing Chain of Fools, she just could not beat Aretha and I think Aretha was already in her 50s at the time.

I don't know what you're talking about. Mariah held her own with Aretha without trying to outsing her. Mariah always held Aretha as one of the singers who influenced her the most (along with Minnie Riperton, Stevie Wonder, and Karen Clark Sheard) and said she was in awe of her. You can see this clearly as she stops mid-song, praising Aretha, "All hail the Queen!"

Mariah's voice wasn't in top shape that night, she was hoarse but didn't sound awful. She let Aretha be Aretha. She's unlike Patti LaBelle or Celine Dion, who go to battle in a duet.

Aretha was clearly tickled when Celine hopped forward, puffed out her chest and let it rip while hotfooting around that stage like an excited stork touched by the French Canadian version of the spirit. In addition to being a virtuosic singer, Celine (strange bird though she may be) has always seemed like she is completely comfortable in her own skin and as a live performer manages to combine supreme confidence with a rather adorable ability to “feel the fantasy”.

Mariah’s a much more inhibited live performer. Her signature hand-to-ear move is the actual physicality of someone disconnecting from the song going on around them to graft at isolated vocals.

[quote] Mariah's voice wasn't in top shape that night, she was hoarse but didn't sound awful.

Aretha did not sound hoarse compared to Mariah that night. Therefore, Aretha won that battle.

[quote] Aretha did not sound hoarse compared to Mariah that night. Therefore, Aretha won that battle.

The problem is you're looking at it as a battle when it wasn't. It was a singer showing absolute respect to one of her greatest influences. She was in complete awe of Aretha. And whatever vocal issues Mariah may have had that night, she sounded good singing with Aretha.

Mariah did sound good, singing with Aretha. But she didn't do what Celine did, which was more vocally challenging, IMO.

Celine said that it was an opportunity for her sing with Aretha and she took the opportunity. And Aretha did not seem bothered at all. Aretha was confident in her own singing and knew that Celine was not upstaging her.

[quote] Whitney dodged performing the bridge to "I'm Every Woman" in concert.

Ariana Grande mops the floor with Whitney and Chaka on I'm Every Woman. And she can sing the bridge perfectly live. .

Ariana murdered them.

We know R101. We feel for you, too From R62

[quote] Curly hair, skinny, early 90s Mariah was nothing to be toyed with. In her book about Whitney, even Robin Crawford said that Whitney felt some kind of way when Mariah debuted on the music scene.

Whitney was momentarily miffed that CBS/Sony had created a 'white' clone of her. Mariah was paired with Whitney's pal and longtime producer, Narada Michael-Walden, to very effectively mimic Whitney's sound. When 'Vision of Love' came out we all thought it was Whitney until that final note...and then we thought "Whitney, you in danger, gurl!" Then within a few years Mariah revealed that she was not really a live vocalist and mostly a studio singer, Whitney hit with IWALY and the Earth resumed rotating on its proper axis.

What does she have against Joan Baez?

Please, Ariana can't outing Whitney even on her best day

What's the bridge part (as far as the lyrics) for "I'm Every Woman"? I'm guessing it's:

And when it comes down to some good old fashioned love

I got it, I got it, I got it, got it, baby, baby

I love Chaka, but when she gets like this it's usually because she's under the influence of something. And she's been having those appearances in recent years where it looks like she's off the wagon again. She could give Liza a run for her money in terms of maintaining sobriety.

Yeah, Mariah is not a great live performer, but Chaka (and Aretha for that matter) are/were notorious for being VERY inconsistent live acts back in the day, It was never expected as to which Chaka you were getting when you went to her show.

I saw this yesterday and laughed. Chaka always been mouthy and honest, which I appreciate whether I agree or disagree. The Joan Baez dig was funny just because of how she phrased it.

Of course the sad thing is that Chaka fell for the easiest attention-grabbing thing in media - a list. Like so many others, she freaks out at an unofficial ranking of something that's subjective to begin with. Join the club, Chaka.

I always find it amusing how everyone praises Aretha and kisses her ring, when its been common knowledge that she couldn't stand the majority of her female competition and had no problem ripping them apart when need be, or just for shits and giggles.

[quote] 142 No respectable person in the industry would deign to say Mariah can't sing. It's obvious she is exceptional. Mariah does many takes because she's a perfectionist who stacks her vocals, uses the wall of sound technique, and recorded new verses for her remixes NOT because she didn't have the chops. Mariah was famously rushed during the recording of We Belong Together which was a late addition to the album. She decided to do a big long belt to end the song because she hadn't finalized the ending yet and record execs wanted her to meet some Japanese businessmen who were touring the place.

I wholeheartedly agree that Mariah is a peerless studio singer. She knows how to make the most of herself sonically. Re-recording vocals for a dance remix was unheard of for a major artist until she started doing it regularly. She has so many ace recordings that she merits being at the top of somebody's list for something, but she is certainly not the world's greatest LIVING singer, as Rolling Stone has anointed her.

Mariah never had the opportunity or venue to perform live and hone her stagecraft or live vocals like her predecessors. And she wasn't taught how to sing correctly so she destroyed her voice.

R216 Watching the Golden Girls has rendered you a complete moron. Good queef.

[quote] I always find it amusing how everyone praises Aretha and kisses her ring, when its been common knowledge that she couldn't stand the majority of her female competition and had no problem ripping them apart when need be, or just for shits and giggles.

I think Aretha did seem jealous and petty and insecure a lot of the time. Her voice seemed powerful to the end, though.

Nice try, R216 Mariah was a vocal beast live and in studio from 1990-1996. She sounded just like the record. That was her vocal peak. She was at her most beautiful promoting Butterfly during 1997. Clive pushed Whitney to tour to make up for her less frequent music output and drug use spending, but even Whitney said it's exhausting. Clive wanted Whitney in the studio more often to keep pace with Mariah and Celine, but she was too lazy post Bodyguard.

All that singing contributed to the vocal decline of all three: Whitney, Celine, and Mariah. Now, Whitney's dead, Celine is dying, and Mariah has outlasted them all, so it looks like studio singing worked out well for her. No one pays attention to every live performance you gave, but they do have the records and music videos. No one watches Whitney or Celine's music videos, but Mariah has a bunch that hold up well especially those from 1995-2008.

[quote] Whitney was momentarily miffed that CBS/Sony had created a 'white' clone of her. Mariah was paired with Whitney's pal and longtime producer, Narada Michael-Walden, to very effectively mimic Whitney's sound. When 'Vision of Love' came out we all thought it was Whitney until that final note...and then we thought "Whitney, you in danger, gurl!" Then within a few years Mariah revealed that she was not really a live vocalist and mostly a studio singer, Whitney hit with IWALY and the Earth resumed rotating on its proper axis.

So many inaccuracies. First of all, Vision of Love sounded nothing like a Whitney Houston song because it channeled Doo-Wop and Gospel. Whitney's music, especially those first two albums, was straight-up bubblegum pop. It's why Black music critics in the 80s labeled her "Young, Gifted, and Wack!" Clive wanted her to appeal to the widest audience ever, and to do that, Arista had to water down not just the music but her singing as well. Furthermore, Mariah's singing style was different than Whitney's. (Mariah likes using melisma similarly to Aretha, Stevie, and The Clark Sisters). Even Narada Michael Walden confirmed in this video that Whitney felt threatened by Mariah when she debuted. If anything, the sound of Mariah's first album shared more in common with her label mate, George Michael. "I Don't Wanna Cry" sounds like a song George Michael would've recorded around Faith.

And Mariah was an incredible live vocalist in the 90s and was able to sound exactly as she did on record. This myth that she couldn't sing well live in her prime is a myth pushed by bitter, disgruntled Whitney stans like yourself.

[quote] Isn’t Joni someone who considers herself very close to black culture too? I believe that to be true, so imagining Chaka at her house and those two divas getting along is not far fetched at all. Joni is a bitch from hell too,

Chaka has been an open and vocal Joni devotee since forever. She recorded background vocals for 1977's "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter" and for almost 20 years has been threatening to release a Joni tribute album. Chaka's cover of "Ladies Man" appeared on an album she did 15 or 16 years ago. Joni and Chaka are the perfect pair of brilliantly talented, discontent broads who talk too much.

P.S. that is Joni in Black male drag on the album cover.

R223 Mariah's mother was an opera singer who taught her the fundamentals from a young age. Mariah was a background singer for Brenda K Starr in the 80s. She surpassed them both. Warner Bros. got into a bidding war with Columbia over Mariah as they wanted both her and Madonna under the same label. Columbia promised more creative freedom, so she went with them and got to write and produce her own material. In the early promo for her debut, Columbia had Mariah do these club performances for industry insiders. They spent serious money promoting her because they knew she had the goods to surpass Whitney in every way. And she did. Even now, Mariah remains a top earner for Sony (along with Harry Styles).

Just because Chaka might have been drunk and high during the interview doesn't mean that what she said was wrong

R227, I am not a 'stan' and I am recounting a real lived experience not something I read in a book or on a blog.

Yes, I was a Whitney fan in 1990, many of us were. Back then music was played on RADIO and when I -- and my peer group -- heard "Vision of Love" on the radio it was indistinguishable from a Whitney Houston song until the whistle. The sound and cadence of Mariah's vocal was carefully calibrated to sound just like Whitney. Anything you've read since then is revisionist, for music fans and consumers of that time Mariah's Whitney bamboozle was a real marketing strategy. And she has never sang anything live in a manner than can be described more glowingly than "serviceable."

[quote] I always find it amusing how everyone praises Aretha and kisses her ring, when its been common knowledge that she couldn't stand the majority of her female competition and had no problem ripping them apart when need be, or just for shits and giggles.

All of them EXCEPT Chaka, who she loved more than Patti, Gladys, Dionne, Natalie, Whitney, Donna and Diana put together.

R231, I was also around during that time and remembered when Mariah debuted with "Vision of Love." Most people debated about her race while asking, "Is she White? Is she Black?" when the music video dropped. I don't remember people thinking it was Whitney singing it, as Whitney's tone is distinctive and recognizable and doesn't sound like Mariah's. My recollection is from growing up in the 80s and 90s when all of these mega stars were burning up the charts with their music.

R229, if you think that linked performance of Mariah compares to anything Whitney Houston you are at the wrong online forum. That is like a sub-Demi Lovato performance.

R231 is deaf. From 1994 on Whitney was merely serviceable. All B4s and nothing else. Even now, Mariah at 48 still had more of a voice than Whitney did.

OMG!!! Who is this f*cking Mariah fanatic?!!

GO AWAY!!!!

Only stans of Madge, Janet, Whitney, Bey, Gaga, Judy, Babs and Liza are allowed at Datalounge. Find somewhere else to play.

R231 Mariah and Vision of Love sound absolutely nothing like a Shitney song. You are 100% deaf and retarded. Jesus queef.

Who knew Mariah would best them all? MJ, Prince, Whitney, and Aretha are dead. Madonna is an alien with bad joints. Celine is shaking to her grave never to sing again. Brandy, Toni, and Janet are irrelevant. Barbra is old and cancelled. Even Patti's showboating voice has finally gone. Mariah still can pull herself together for tv specials and look good in the face while lipsyncing to her biggest hits.

Like someone said CK is just getting old and don't give a fuck anymore. I've thought for years that Chaka will be the last one standing from her generation of singers, most of the other greats from the 70s and 80s are dead.

I can tell some of you Mariah stans are in your feelings, but I know Mariah couldn't give two shits about what Chaka Khan has to say lol.

Chaka still can kill it live when she wants to, which is quite amazing giving the lifestyle she once lived.

Gurl bye

Shitney was demonic just because she was a crack head, in the closet lezzy with a beard named B Brown? LOL. Ok.

R17: Cyndi Lauper in the same sentence as Whitney Houston?

[Quote] Clive pushed Whitney to tour to make up for her less frequent music output and drug use spending, but even Whitney said it's exhausting. Clive wanted Whitney in the studio more often to keep pace with Mariah and Celine, but she was too lazy post Bodyguard.

If Clive wanted Whitney in the studio, why would he push her to tour? It was the likes of John Houston who pushed Whitney to tour because he and others closed to her needed more of Whitney's money to spend...

*close to her

[Quote] Who knew Mariah would best them all?

I guess we're forgetting that televised New Year's Ever performance...

Mariah is a meme at this point.

Ariana’s voice has no soul.

R247, agreed. She just sounds like a pageant girl to me.

Ariana isn't bad on a technical level but her lack of enunciation is horrendous and her music isn't timeless.

yassssss!

You make me feel like a natural construct.

The lack of enunciation is an affectation. She started out in musical theatre.

Enunciation is out of style, you old queens.

Remember, Matteo Lane is a serial Mariah stan. He could be posting here lol.

Mariah can sing but a lot of live performances you can buy on dvd or have been aired on tv are dubbed.

So is talent R253

Is this good enunciation?

Chaka sounds almost as horrible as Vince Neil fucking up every line of their stupid songs.

Chacka ain’t no Mary Jo Bilge

[quote]Chaka has been around a long time, but did she really have all that much staying power in delivering hit records? I would say no, but maybe I just don't remember Chaka having too many hits.

She didn't. She appeared in the Billboard Top Ten only twice, with "I Feel For You" and "Higher Love" which was a duet. A few other singles peaked mid-pack. That said, you can't equate popularity with the quality of an artist's music. And on that level CK is nearly unmatched.

Chaka was very popular on the R&B Charts. People know I'm Every Woman, Clouds, What Cha Gonna Do For Me, I Know You, I Live You, Ain't Nobody, Through the Fire, etc. Her songs are beloved with old skool R&B stations and sampled in R&B, hip-hop and dance songs (Fate was used in Music Sounds Better With You).

She also worked with a lot of talent on her records. You can hear Whitney and Luther in the background on Our Love is in Danger on the Naughty album.

Chaka said that she doesn't like to sing her songs exactly like she sang them on the recordings, so her audience can have unique performance every time. IMO she goes off course too much. And being drunk or high doesn't help.

People appreciate some variations, but most people want singers to hit the notes they did on the record. Its like teasing someone without giving them a climax. Chaka and a few other artists are teases like this.

yes r261 Rufus and Chaka records were sampled heavily especially in the 90s, they have so many awesome albums cuts. Chaka might not have topped the charts back in the day but her records are classics.

r15 & r160, tell us you know nothing about DL without telling us you know nothing about DL. I bet you both think commenters saying "DL fave..." or "Momma's mussy..." are trolls trying to start a DL trend.

All hail, Chaka!

It’s sad to see this thread be derailed. It quickly spiraled into a shit thread on Mariah vs Ariana.

One of my favorite Chaka Khan songs from NAUGHTY

A thread derailed by trolls? How long have you been on the fucking DL?

Ain’t nobody is her best song

Naughty is a great album. Papillion (AKA Hot Butterfly) is a creamy smooth R&B mid-tempo jam, with great background vocals from Luther Vandross.

Chaka's version of the Jackson 5's Got To Be There is also terrific.

I also really like her last WB album, The Woman I Am. The title track was co-written by Chaka with Brenda Russell and... Dyan Cannon!!

Don't sleep on this classic from 1978.

Even in her heydays, I'm sure Mariah Carey would not have been able to sing I'm Every Woman.

Luther did his own great version of Papillon.

R240, homophobic CeCe Winans sounds like she's got a 6th grade education in that interview. Fuck her.

I love this rendition, with Cissy Houston in the background

yessss baybeeeee

Chaka Khan? Chaka Full O' Nuts!

[quote]It was Mary J. Blige, however, for whom Khan reserved the most outrage. Blige's No.25 spot, a crucial four positions above her own, led the "Ain't Nobody" singer to say of those responsible for the decision: “They are blind as a motherfucking bat! They need hearing aids…These must be the children of Helen Keller!”

I agree with her about Mary J. Blige. I remember her singing live on one of those Divas Live shows and poor Mary couldn't find the key signature with a GPS tracking device.

Right on! I am so glad someone has called this shit out. I want to be clear I think Chaka saying this is a really terrible thing. An artists should never say another artist isn’t talented, can’t act or sing. This shows really poor character and it’s just mean. However, if she’s going to do it I am glad she went after these. Adele is overrated, but I like her voice a lot. Her Beyoncé comment was eye rolling a though bey can sing. Her comments about Mary were DAYUM.

First off, voices are very subjective. I’ve never liked Mariah Carey’s singing. I DGAF what she’s rated technically. I am totally agree with Chaka about her- payola. Her entire career has been payola. She hired Roger Friedman to write nasty articles about Madonna. They were all over the web. Tommy Motola bought most of her #1s or she used tricks and shady practices like deeply discounting her singles. Usually all of this at the same time. Mariah is probably the most overrated singer of all time. Her Mariahbot can post a thousand videos of her few glory days, but most of that was probably lipping or her singing over a track. And again, her good years were very short.

Whitney had a great voice, but she’s a bit overrated. Her music was mostly shit.

That list was really insulting so I can see why it pissed her off. When you see there criteria and see who did and didn’t make it it is obvious this list was put together by just a few people pulling names out of the air, leaving huge names off (Celine, Madonna-who causing and fit their criteria to a t) while including much lesser singers like Rihanna and Taylor? Why is Bob Dylan always making the best singers list? His voice is horrific and has no real good qualities. Though a better singer, Bruce Springsteen doesn’t have a great voice yet always makes these lists of best singers. He grunts and yells.

R279 is me. Forgive the typos. OH DEAR myself. I was in a rush. About Madonna it should say can sing not “causing”.

[quote] Mariah is probably the most overrated singer of all time. Her Mariahbot can post a thousand videos of her few glory days, but most of that was probably lipping or her singing over a track. And again, her good years were very short.

S/he can post ALL of Mariah's glory days videos, because there's only about 4 or 5 videos of Mariah singing live in existence.

Feel like that bewigged queen singing backup for Mariah at 229 totally snatched the song from her!

Mariah should have worked harder on being a live performer. So much potential.

R190 Dead @ Flappito ho. But that poster is right. There is a reason Whitney could sell out venues despite not being an entertainer. Mariah has never been able to sell shows like that especially outside of her prime era. She cannot duplicate her vocals live.

Mariah just lacks stage presence and she cannot communicate with large audiences. I cannot imagine her ever doing stadiums the way Madonna did (Madonna isn't a great singer but she used to know how to captivate large audiences). Miariah can do more intimate settings well as her music video for Hero demonstrates plus her MTV Unplugged performance.

Mariah Carey is the biggest fraud in music history.

pure talent. Better than Chaka Khan.

LOL at r287. Those are JLo quality vocals.

I think J lo sounds better nowadays than Muriah

Mariah has turned into a total shit for brains loser these days. The perfect idol for most DLers. Jus sayin. I once knew a girl who worked w Mariah for a bit and said she always smelled like sweat, shit, and menstrual blood. Clearly our Mariah was a heavy flow girl who loved to fill every room with her magical releases.

Jump right to 2:47. Mimi could NEVER. Chaka Khan sang right on top of those girls with total assurance. Her vocals were LIVE and not AUTO-TUNED. She didn't clutch her ear, point to the sky and pray that the sound she wanted would actually come out of her mouth.

Several popular, gifted female soul singers were Chaka's background vocalists at some point -- Vesta Williams, Miki Howard, Meli'sa Morgan, Lisa Fischer, Penny Ford, Audrey Wheeler, Sandra St. Victor -- because they wanted to learn from the best. Chaka has never been intimidated by her background vocalists.

Mimi, on the other hand....

On Mariah's worst day, that JLo creature can't hope to come close.

R291 I think how she sings "each time...." sounds amazing and as opposed to the audience, I like it more than the high note after that.

Glad she wasn't challenging Aretha as #1.

Chaka sends out an unnecessary apology

The toothpaste is out of the tube Chaka. That apology aint doin' nothin'.

We need Chaka to school these youngsters. I miss Aretha and her shade. I hope Chaka takes over. But unlike Aretha, Chaka is a lot more fun and is more self-aware than Aretha.

[quote] I cannot imagine her ever doing stadiums the way Madonna did

Well despite your lack of imagination, she in fact did play stadiums, worldwide.

R298 no, not the way Madonna did. Not even close.

Love this Scavullo photo of Chaka. I always thought she was pretty. My uncle was seriously in lust with her when she sang with Rufus.

Most people today would think the 69 year old Chaka is prettier than the 64 year old Madonna

R301 I know that I do…

My grandma’s worm eaten corpse six feet under looks better than 64 year old Madonna.

[quote] Judy had talent equal to or greater that Whitney but she was also a great artist

This is fucking delusional. You must be on more drugs than Whitney and Judy combined R116

Judy was a better actress than Whitney….but by the time she made THE PREACHERS WIFE, Whitney had improved. Then she went off the rails…

Whitney took an old Dolly Parton song and turned it into one of the greatest and most memorable ballads of all time, imagine what she could've done with Judy's material? Peak Judy is not touching peak Whitney before the drugs took over. And Whitney's peak voice outlasted Judy's by a decade. As far as acting goes....ehh I wasnt impressed by either woman and neither was the academy.

Comparing Judy Garland and Whitney Houston is ridiculously silly. They are from completely different eras, and are both the best female vocalists of their respective generations.

Whitney had nowhere near the talent of Judy and she was a wooden, shit actress. The Whitney delusions are epic.

Chaka called out what many know about Mariah- she’s all payola and always has been. There are tons of reporting on it.

It’s very mean and nasty to call out your peer’s, in their opinion, lack of talent. Chaka sounds like a fucking nightmare to be around. She sounds like a very unpleasant person even though I loved she “went there” with some people most would never touch like Adele or Joan Baez and calling out Mariah’s payola and her overrated vocals. I love she called it out but shouldn’t be called out. It’s very mean spirited. It’s unseemly.

Singers like Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and even Ariana Grande may be technically amazing and have lovely tones to their voices, but they don’t truly EMOTE in their performances, which is the secret sauce to being a great singer.

Chaka Khan, emotes., which is probably why she was the absolute favorite of Aretha Franklin, who also did. Whitney, at her best, emoted. So did Judy Garland. Teena Marie comes to mind as a criminally underrated white remake soul singer who emoted unlike the three aforementioned ones.

Don’t know why autocorrect changed “female” to “remake” above.

Also, jeez, no one is saying Whitney Houston was some great actress but to deny the remarkable once-in-a-generation quality of her voice is just ignorant

I....am....not....shot....it's....MY BODYGUARD!

Mariah Carey only won ONE Grammy for singing. That speaks volumes. Sheryl fucking Crow won multiple for singing and she’s very mediocre.

R311, while I agree that someone like Beyonce having more Grammys than Whitney Houston is bullshit, Sheryl and Mariah are two different genres, no? Were they both nominated in the pop category? Sheryl is technically country. Did Sheryl actually beat her for an award?

R312 Sheryl won for pop a few times.

Whitney didn’t deserve 30 Grammys either. Though she has only a few wins herself for vocals. Hmmmm

R308, Celine‘s problem when it comes to these sorts of lists is that her lane (especially in English) was terminally uncool adult contempo music. But I can’t imagine anyone making the claim that Celine’s major failing as a performer is a lack of emoting. If anything she is so earnestly emotional as a performer that it frequently ticked over into seeming kind of dorky.

Celine’s best emotive vocal was the Titanic song. The reason? She was so nervous she said she held back because her voice was quivering. She should do that more. I can’t take her over singing.

Agree r315. Celine was/is definitely an emoter. I also think a singer can emote, be technically good, yet still lack soul. Beyonce is a perfect example.

[quote]. Whitney sang mostly pop- mediocre pop. She never recorded the great composers and writers-except here and there in performance.

Remarks like this are always irritating. A major pop star at the height of their career would never be allowed to record a standards album by their record companies. If Whitney Houston had said to Clive Davis "my next album is going to be a standards album," Clive would've replied "the fuck it is. You're doing a pop album. That's where the money is. Standards don't sell at the level of pop."

Pop singers who eventually did record standards albums did so when they were older and no longer major Top 40 artists, like Carly Simon and Rod Stewart. Even Linda Ronstadt's career had cooled a little when she did her standards album.

R318 She could have if she had a fucking backbone or strength. She was a weak, weak woman. I don’t respect her for that.

Well put R315. I'm a fan of Celine and her music, but I agree she does have sort of a dorky, campy vibe that might keep her off of lists like this.

The gayx were never Celine's target audience. She was paid by fraus and the poor guys the fraus dragged to her awful screamfests aka "concerts". Romantic girls whose chosen hero was Ariel who found her perfect prince in the water are Celine's bread and buttah.

I don't think just because Celine's singing and musical style is "emotional" that she actually emotes. I think she delivers a theatrical "performance" of emoting and her vocals are warm and powerful, but it ultimately feels mostly technical, like an exercise in appearing/sounding emotional, which is why many consider it campy, and why many of her performances of any particular song are quite similar.

[quote]Whitney, at her best, emoted. So did Judy Garland.

Judy Garland E-M-0-T-E-D every syllable, every vowel, every consonant, every silent note.

That's why it's so tedious to hear her sing, she was such a ham, full of tics, gimmicks, and hand gestures. Just exhausting.

r319 you have no understanding of the music business

[quote]Chaka called out what many know about Mariah- she’s all payola and always has been. There are tons of reporting on it.

This is so stupid. Payola only affects radio play.

The list was about SINGING. Payola doesn't make someone have a great voice or have people think they have a great voice.

Moron.

I love Chaka Khan. Of all the singers being discussed on this thread, she is far and away my favorite.

Having said that, I don't give two shits what she thinks about Joan Baez, or Mariah Carey, or Adele, or Mary J. Blige, or whomever else.

I mean, it's interesting to hear her opinions, but I'm not going to get all offended on Joan Baez's behalf, or Adele's, or anybody else's. And vice-versa...if Joan Baez suddenly wants to start popping off about some other singers, well, be my guest. I don't really care, though...I have my own set of ears, my own criteria regarding what I like and dislike, and I'm not going to change my mind based on her opinion.

I'm not sure why so many people here seem to take this shit so seriously, and feel the need to turn every thread into a cunt fight.

People need to come to grips with these awards and understanding how ridiculous they are.

They might as well as give out critic Grammy awards, awards for critics of music because that’s all the Grammys and Oscars are and the industry pays for them. None of it is scientifically based. It’s just a popularity contest and most of it is political.

Chaka does look great.

Those lists are MEANT to piss people off. That is the whole point.

That is how they trend on social media and get clicks back for ads.

People are so gullible to take them seriously.

322, to my mind Beyoncé is a much better example of someone whose emoting is an extension of a “hit every mark” show pony ethic than genuine emotional connection as a signer.

R325 You’re a class A moron if you think artists and record companies don’t pay to put artists on these lists and pay for glowing narratives in the press. Mariah Carey is the payola Queen.

[Quote] Whitney took an old Dolly Parton song and turned it into one of the greatest and most memorable ballads of all time, imagine what she could've done with Judy's material?

We have example of Whitney singing standards. She did not excel. Neither did Dionne.

R307 the topic isn't about singers turned actresses dumb cunt. That's not what Chaka is talking about nor what most people here are. Leave it to a dumb bitch like you to not stay on topic.

[Quote] If Whitney Houston had said to Clive Davis "my next album is going to be a standards album," Clive would've replied "the fuck it is. You're doing a pop album. That's where the money is. Standards don't sell at the level of pop."

And yet she went almost a decade without recording a pop album... And one of her stop gap release was a soundtrack almost entirely of Gospel music.

Aretha's "Soul '69," despite its title, is basically a Big Band album. Harry Nilsson followed his commercial breakthrough with a Standards album.

[Quote] That's why it's so tedious to hear her sing, she was such a ham, full of tics, gimmicks, and hand gestures. Just exhausting.

One need only listen to "Do It Again" from Judy At Carnegie Hall, to prove your comment to be absolute bullshit.

R337 its not bullshit Judy hag. Not sure you cunts are trying to elevate that pill popping whore above anyone else. Missing a like the tinman I guess.

[quote] Mariah Carey only won ONE Grammy for singing. That speaks volumes. Sheryl fucking Crow won multiple for singing and she’s very mediocre.

Yes, those in the industry know who's real and who's fake. NARAS is not going to award a 'singer' who does not dance or perform but sings to a pre-recorded vocal in every live appearance. A singer whose recordings are a patchwork of the best 43 takes of a single song. Mariah has fooled her lambs but no one else.

R334 Whitneybot is triggered.

And yet Lauryn Hill appeared to fool the Grammy committee, even though she was sued by her collaborators for proper credit and she never produced a follow up album...

[quote] [R318] She could have if she had a fucking backbone or strength. She was a weak, weak woman. I don’t respect her for that.

You're nuts! Whitney was an enterprise. Her commercial success was keeping thousands of people fed, clothed and employed. Why the f*ck would the singer who recorded the biggest selling single of all time take a break at the height of her fame to record Harold Arlen songs?! What is the approximate monetary value of your "respect"?

R342 It’s not the biggest selling single. Of all time nut job. JFC Whitneybot is delusional. She was weak. She’d have been nothing without Clive pulling the strings. She was a weak, controlled woman.

Whitney followed up the "My Love Is Your Love" album with "Just Whitney"... There are many decisions in her career that made little sense.

Whitney followed up My Love Is Your Love by getting high as much as she could.

I think Celine did a very good job on Immortality w/the Bee Gees. This song brings a tear to my eye, sometimes.

Mariah used to have only men as background singers. If she ever does have women background singer, they are waaaay in the background, almost unseen. She's so insecure.

Stop singin' my part now, baby.

R340= Judybot and is obviously a delusional pill popping whore like her idol.

R349 Whitneybot can’t take any criticism of her. You must always go overtop positive when discussing this drugged out closet case weak whore.

I told myself years ago that I was going to stop getting worked up about Rolling Stone's dumb lists, but I sure am glad Chaka did, this is hilarious.

[quote]Her mastery of melisma birthed countless Pop and R&B divas from Brandy, Beyonce, and Christina in the 90s through to Ariana today.

That is not a point in her favor.

R351 No, no it’s not.

I remember this list now, Ann Wilson wasn't even on it, and Jackie Wilson was way down the list.

R350 Goodbye Judybot. Nobody in this century even mentions that ancient whore anymore. You're just as old and crusty as that bitches' corpse.

[quote] That is not a point in her favor.

Please, gurl. The editors of Rolling Stone are as familiar with music and artistry as I am with a woman's anatomy.

[quote] Please, gurl.

Hey honayyyyy

How could they ignore Patti Austin? She could sing in just about every genre of music. A technically sound, crystal clear voice.

The only thing upsetting about this list is that Beyonce is #8. Her voice is like nails on a chalkboard.

I don't wanna scroll through that list again - but is there no Annie Lennox? Streisand? Rickie Lee Jones?

An odd remark about Joan Baez being a bad singer but good writer. She wasn’t known for her writing. She did have some good moments (Diamonds and Rust; Love Song To A Stranger) but the one time she tried to write an album (Gulf Winds) she fell flat on her face.

Rolling Stone should stick to ROCK music and maybe blues. That has traditionally been its strong point.

I'm surprised that Ann Wilson of Heart, a ROCK singer renown for her singing chops, is not on that list. That is fucking ridiculous. That whole list is suspect for leaving out Ann Wilson.

Putting Taylor Swift and Rihanna in there was ridiculous beyond belief when you see who they left off including Ann, Celine, even Madonna. Yes, Madonna, by their criteria, deserved a spot. She has an emotive voice, she has successfully sung all genres, successfully sung Sondheim (even to his satisfaction), and Evita.

Was Pat Benetar on there? Her voice is phenomenal and easily one of the best of all time. Powerful, crystal clear, emotive, she doesn’t over sing, wide range. Beyoncé top ten? No.

R361, that is a travesty. Ann is as a renowned a rock singer as Aretha is a soul singer. It's BS.

She was so corrupt to blast Mariah Carey. Wonderful.

Natalie Maines should have been on this list. Yes, I am the Natalie Maines troll.

[R38] I have to agree. I enjoy some of Aretha Franklin’s songs but have never understood the worship. I do understand that such a sentiment is regarded as sacrilege of the highest order.

Chaka, Aretha and Anita were never charitable to many of their peers…

R363 PREACH.

Ann & Heart should be in for ‘Barracuda’ if nothing else. Rock for women artists and listeners changed in that moment it hit the airwaves.

R368, 10000%. She is to rock what Aretha was to soul and what Whitney and Mariah are to pop. It's blasphemy to keep her off that list.

[quote] Whitney went almost a decade without recording a pop album... And one of her stop gap release was a soundtrack almost entirely of Gospel music.

Team Jesus! Team Soldiers for ChrisT! *That’s* the team I’m on—that’s the one.

And if anyone has an issue with it? They can kiss. Whitney’s. ASS!

[quote] Natalie Maines should have been on this list. Yes, I am the Natalie Maines troll.

Who?! Sorry, darling. There is no such person, you don't exist.

[quote] She has an emotive voice, she has successfully sung all genres, successfully sung Sondheim (even to his satisfaction), and Evita.

Apparently the term "successfully" doesn't mean what you think it means.

.......

R372 Cry harder

How many people on the list were not solo artists?

r371 = Adrian Pasdar

We all know that Vadgestan would be singing a different tune in this thread had Chaka come after Madonna. He'd be calling her all kinds of crackheads and using racist language as he often does for any singer that's non-white.

R377 Silly twat, the DL hates everyone regardless of their color.

[quote] Silly twat, the DL hates everyone regardless of their color.

Ignorant cunt/R378: That's bullshit. But keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.

R333, bs Dionne was superb on "Trust Your Heart', her Sammy Cahn album and an excellent job on her Broadway album of the late 60's.

[quote] Whitney had nowhere near the talent of Judy and she was a wooden, shit actress. The Whitney delusions are epic.

You dumb old crusty queen. Get your hearing aids checked. Peak Whitney blew miss wizard of oz out of the water the water there's absolutely no question. But really we're talking about two very different generations. What century is this again? Judy died in 1969 over 50 years ago. She was a barely capable child actor and like most of them had a hard time being taken seriously as an adult. All this talk about her acting which really wasn't that great and never was. Even Elizabeth Taylor was taken more seriously. The academy really made a statement by awarding model/ice queen Grace Kelly instead of the pill popping chronically depressed Garland. Get over it fangurl R307

You're criticising Judy Garland's acting abilities in defense of Whitney Houston... It is to laugh.

R382 I'm not defending her acting I'm defending her singing dummy. Singing and singers are what this thread is about. Chaka Khan did not once discuss acting she's critiquing singers. The only ones bringing up acting are bitter judybot queens because they know realistically they can't shit on young Whitney Houston's voice.

Yes, and you're trying to undermine Judy by dismissing her acting... all in defense of Whitney Houst. Ha ha ha.

[Quote] they can't shit on young Whitney Houston's voice.

What's a voice if it's not well applied. Whitney sang mostly schlock. And she was no great interpreter of lyric. Money notes, money notes, money notes. Yeah, we get it. Explosions in movies get old after a while...

[quote] What's a voice if it's not well applied. Whitney sang mostly schlock. And she was no great interpreter of lyric.

And what was Judy known for singing? "Somewhere over the rainbow" and gay ass outdated showtunes? Did the bitch even write her own lyrics? Her biggest "classics" are from films not pop albums. You queens are really trolls looking to contradict all of Whitney's accomplishments. But the only ones who remember and revere Garland are old fossils like R384 and R385 with one foot in the grave.

r385 most people would agree that the songs given to Whitney were schlock; that just further proves how exceptional her vocal ability was. She made those otherwise dead songs come to life and made them memorable solely because of her voice.

From a music industry standpoint, most artists who didn't write or compose didn't have a lot of control over what songs they sang. The songs are sold and bought and shopped around.

R386, = another dumb ass Gen Z loser. Writing her own lyrics??? You fucking fool she singing from the greatest American lyricists of the time. Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, you know the people who wrote The Great American Songbook? Take your dumbass back to TikTok.

Harold Arlen and Jerome Kern weren't lyricists, dumbass.

R388= The rantings of a crusty old queen who can't accept that the world left Esther Blodgett behind last century and that his old ass is one foot in the grave his damn self. You sound cranky. It's time for a suppository and a diaper change for your crybaby ass. To try and diminish Whitney Houston who was literally known as "The Voice" and no other singer could match her and try to compare her to an older star who was not only at least two generations older but sang completely different styles in completely different voices is pure ignorance and idiocy. The acting thing is completely stupid to keep bringing up as Whitney wasn't known as an actress but a singer who occasionally acted. Judy was a child actress brought up in the studio system and bred to perform, again we're talking about two completely different backgrounds. It really is a subjective matter of taste but you've got sour grapes in your mouth and that's never a good look on anyone. Go to bed gramps.

Judy and Whitney were both tragic figures, eaten up by showbiz. They pretty much both pulled the trigger, but the things that drove them to that point...both women were talented IMO.

[quote] And she was no great interpreter of lyric.

Look no farther than "I Will Always Love You" for proof of this. The song shouldn't be yodeled.

Was Gary Garland eaten up by showbiz? All of Cissy and John Houston's offspring were doing drugs while they were still children... Showbiz is not the culprit.

Whitney was a drugged out weak pathetic whore who couldn’t interpret lyrics if she got 5 rocks to do it. As was stated, all she could do it blow blow blow wail wail wail. She didn’t have “the voice” as they say that about everyone now. Whitneybot wants to deify that cunt, that closeted cunt.

r394 thank you for sharing yet another of your worthless opinions.

R394=Liza Minneilli. Too bad mommy didn’t love you as much as she loved the booze you sad cunt.

[quote] As was stated, all she could do it blow blow blow wail wail wail

What are your talents cunt? I'm sure "blow blow blow" is the only thing you know how to interpret right after looking stupid and bitter on the internet. A weak whore like yourself doesn't know how to admit they're wrong.

R390, bitch you're the crybaby, like I said take your silly dufus ass back to TikTok. And you're a dumb agist bitch, to boot. You think you can elevate Houston by trashing Garland and it won't work. I was responding your idiotic take that Garland should have wrote her own lyrics when she's singing the best of the Great American SongBook. But you don't know what that is, do you? Do you know what makes a great song? Of course not.

Whitney was a crack whore with a very good voice for a few years with shitty songs and a weak person. Nothing more nothing less. Because of this she’ll never compare to the greats.

I don't think it's been mentioned but Chaka said that she hates the song "Greatest Love of All." The lady has taste.

Whitters is remembered for one song only as it should be. She was a pathetic person otherwise.

[quote] bitch you're the crybaby

Whew! What a comback gramps! Tell another joke bitch.

[quote] You think you can elevate Houston by trashing Garland

I don't think I KNOW I can. Haven't you been paying attention? I've been trashing you and that dumb alabaster whore all throughout this thread.

[quote] Do you know what makes a great song? Of course not.

And I'm sure you do Bono. 🤣🤣🤣 Sit your old queer ass down. Preferably on a spiked fence you dumb whore .

R398, R399,R400=delusional white fags doing mental gymnastics to try and downplay superior Black talent, but 9 out of10 music critics will always contradict you.

R397, R401 is for you as well cunt.

No one can ever make me hate my Whitney. Insult her all you want, but you can’t change my mind about her. I was mad at her for falling off the rails like she did, but I prefer to remember her before the fall from grace.

I love how R162 posts video showing Mariah Carey singing live next to Ariana Grandi in a music video lipsynching over her Mariah cover, claiming how effortlessly she did it.

[quote]Aretha's "Soul '69," despite its title, is basically a Big Band album. Harry Nilsson followed his commercial breakthrough with a Standards album.

I am sure you are a lovely person, r336, but you do realize youa are giving examples of Albums from over 50 years ago? The world was a different place when such things may have been possible. That really hasn't been the case for the last 30 years. Lady Gaga put out standards that went over like a lead balloon.

I had the most random encounter with Chaka Khan. By the way, her and Nicki Minaj could be mother and daughter. I was standing on the corner in NYC waiting to cross the street when standing right next to me was Chaka Khan waiting to cross as well. She is a little thing for sure. I am not the tallest but she must be like 5'1". Anyway, JUST a week later I was visiting my mom who was living in San Francisco at the time. I was standing on the street downtown somewhere waiting to cross and Chaka Khan was standing next to me waiting to cross. It was very surreal.

One artist who absolutely fascinates me is Sade. Did she make the list? I have too many windows open to check myself.

Like Prince and Stevie Wonder, you KNOW a Sade song when it comes on. She has a very unique sound that unlike the other two mentioned, interestingly enough, no one else has come along and tried to replicate. She has always been in her own lane which makes you think she's the only one who can successfully do it. She's been around just about 40 years and pops up just about once a decade to give you what you need from her. There are no tricks, no runs, no warbling, just pure sound.

I have tried to get into Sade's debut album but her pitch leaves a lot to be desired.

Yes, R405, her could be.

Sade songs suck and she’s boring, but I know she’s very talented.

Whitneybot has lost its mind. I wonder if it has the same addiction she had?

Whew gurl. Yall are really in your feelings about this Whitney vs Judy thing. You silly homosexuals! lol

Chaka is definitely my fave vocalist from the 70s/80s era. She is an exciting singer and Arif Marden said her voice "was the instrument he could not play". It don't get no better

Chaka isn't really interested in singing the melody.

I love she called out payola Mariah! Her whole career is a one giant payola.

And Adele is overrated.

Love Mariah, but I didn't know about her challenges of singing live. She did an Unplugged episode on MTV and she sang live on SNL, so I thought that she was fine.

Mariah is a terrible performer. Always has been. It’s why she’s a poor concert draw. She just turned 54, yet she doesn’t have birthdays because she’s a fucking retarded nut job.

I am surprised that Tommy Mottola didn’t make Mariah work on her live performances.

[quote] Sade songs suck and she’s boring, but I know she’s very talented.

Sade is an acquired taste. She has limited vocal range but her fans LOVE her. Oddly, she's much more popular in the U.S. than in the UK. In the US, she can sellout huge arenas several nights in a row. She could do it without new music.

I love Chaka Khan. She is fantastic.

Chaka KONG.

She better watch out for Lady Gagodzilla.