According to Rolling Stone:
The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time
1 | Aretha Franklin
2 | Ray Charles
3 | Elvis Presley
4 | Sam Cooke
5 | John Lennon
6 | Marvin Gaye
7 | Bob Dylan
8 | Otis Redding
9 | Stevie Wonder
10 | James Brown
I was pleasantly surprised to find lots of people on the list whom I suspected might be overlooked, for example, Solomon Burke, Etta James, Patsy Cline, Dion, Donny Hathaway, and Ronnie Spector. Of course it is easy to point out the silly numerical order: B.B. King @ 96 and Bob Dylan @ 7 (and I’m even a huge Dylan fan)- But I want to mention two glaring omissions:
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick (born Marie Dionne Warrick on December 12, 1940), is a five-time Grammy Award-winning singer… She is best known for her partnership with songwriters and producers Burt Bacharach and Hal David. According to Billboard magazine, Dionne Warwick is second only to Aretha Franklin as the female vocalist with the most Billboard Hot 100 chart hits during the rock era (1955-1999). Warwick charted a total of 56 hits in the Billboard Hot 100.[1]. The artist scored crossover hits on the Rhythm & Blues charts and the Adult Contemporary charts. Joel Whitburn’s tome on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts entitled “Top Pop Singles 1955-1999″ ranked Dionne Warwick as the 20th most popular of the top 200 artists of the rock era based upon the Billboard Pop Singles Charts. (from Wikipedia)
Barbra Streisand
She is one of the most commercially and critically successful female entertainers in modern entertainment history and one of the best selling solo recording artists in the US, with RIAA-certified shipments of over 71 million albums. She is the highest ranking female artist on the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) Top Selling Artists list.[1]
Streisand is a member of the short list of entertainers with the distinction of having won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony award. She has been named a Kennedy Center Honoree for 2008. (Wikipedia)
Now I must admit that Barbra Streisand isn’t my cup of tea in terms of musical taste, but I don’t see how these two singers didn’t make the RS list.
WHERE’S WHITNEY HOUSTON AND CHRISTINA AGUILERA? You simply cannot make a list without putting them on it they have amazing vioces with incredible range.
The omission of Barbra Streisand is shocking. Interestingly she set the precedent for Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce Knowles… and most of these women as well as many others credit Streisand for being their inspiration. Of all these great voices, Barbra Streisand’s has the lushest and most beautiful of musical sounds.
Barbra Streisand is the best female singer of all time, the nearest contender to her is the late great fabulous Karen carpenter. Both have simply voices of angels, never to this day have I ever heard them sing poor live such as Whitney Houston and the likes. If people haven’t sat down and listened to Barbra Streisand then go out and buy her greatest hits or even her live CDs, and my personal favourite album ‘guilty’ with barry gibb, just be prepared to be blown away with the most powerful sweetest voice in music