Where in tarnation is Levi Stubbs?
Lists are an inane waste of time and perhaps the most obvious piece of evidence that someone doesn’t have anything new to say, but I can’t help it — I love them. Rolling Stone, having recently downsized its format to better look exactly like Blender, just named their “100 Greatest Singers of All Time” and in response, I’m just dying to weigh in with my own thoughts.…
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— go to most recent comments26 - Glenn Contrarian
I agree with #1 -
IMO Karen Carpenter should be in the top ten, and so should Barbara Streisand...and maybe Alanis Morrisette, too.
Why? Because they - like Aretha, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Cash, and John Cougar Mellencamp - all sang with their hearts. The most tone-deaf voices in Creation become wonders when the heart becomes one with the voice.
27 - zingzing
oh, glenn...
28 - Crystal Bloom
I blogged about this very subject...you bring up better points than me. LOL! But the message is the same...STOP WITH THE LISTS!!!!!!!
29 - Vince Wilson
This list is surely a 'B' list to any real list.
There are a lot of great artists on this list but also a lot of pretenders those people that Rolling Stone need to pander to for future subscriptions. Anyone happy to be on this list has to ask why for example truly great singers that even they respect like Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Scott Walker, Chaka Khan, Bette Midler, Mel Tormè, Tony Bennett, Shirley Bassey, Dionne Warwick and Sarah Vaughan are missing?
30 - awesome-o
Rolling Stone as a magazine originated with the rise of rock and roll, which can be said to have started with Elvis. So of course they wouldn't include Enrico Caruso-- he's out of their framework. Likewise, I'm sure there are fabulous 19th century opera stars who you wouldn't consider for your list.
31 - Portica Harris
Where is Barry White and Teddy Pentergrass. They were some of the best singers in the 80's.
32 - Derek
Where the fuck is Tom Petty? God, the Rolling Stone magazine never gives the man the credit he deserves. Fuck 'em.
33 - stuart
you know scott weiland is still selling records 36 million to be exact
34 - awlick
how did he leave off tom petty, trey anastasio (phish), dave matthews, john mayer, zach de la rocha (rage against the machine), jerry garcia (the dead), and LOUIS ARMSTRONG...? this is just a dumb thing to do.. name the top 100 singers of all time without mentioning some sort of criteria on how they graded them..
35 - Life_sucks_in_tv
The list is really non-sense! How they can put people such as Christina Aguilera, Bono (for good sake that guy is *beep*), Bob Dylan and many more and forget about Frank Sinatra (that is really a crime against music), Morten Harket (The guy from A-HA [famous for songs such as Take On Me ( the guy can hang over a high pitch for 22 seconds in two ocasions and that is incredible for a male voice !), The Living Daylights, Hunting high and low, The Sun Always Shines on TV, Celice, White Canvas, You are the one and many more], Chaka Khan, Louis Armstrong, Mel Tormè...
Honestly the list seems to be made by a stupid 13 year old teenager...
36 - Duke Winnemucca
Come on Rolling Stone!...or the panel that put the list together for the magazine. How could Sinatra not be in the top 10??? Where is Linda Ronstadt, one of the greatest voices ever? Nat King Cole, Tom Petty, Barry White, Teddy Pentergrass, Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Carl Wilson, Dean Martin, Aaron Neville,David Lee Roth, Levi Stubbs, Lou Rawls, Peter Cetera . Karen Carpenter is much higher. Rod Stewart, Dion both higher. Eva Cassidy had the voice of an angel. But they should all be deported for leaving Sinatra off the list, let alone out of the Top 10.
37 - Paul
I have to say that Dylan, Springsteen, and Young are among my very favorite performers, but none of them can sing a lick. Dylan is unintelligible most of the time. He doesn't sing like that to be expressive - he sings like that because he can't do any better. Young actually sings with the melody, but his voice is incredibly thin and shaky. There's a reason Richie Furay sang Neil's songs on the first Buffalo Springfield album. (I'm not a big Richie Furay fan, but he had a great voice.) Springsteen's a better singer than Dylan or Young, but his voice is very limited. These three guys are probably among the top ten rock songwriters, and generally have terrific backing bands. Personnally, I'll take great songwriting over great singing anytime, but these guys are not even close to great singers. Linda Ronstadt may be the biggest exception to the rule, absolutely incredible singer. I would put Rondstadt in the top ten, or at least 20.
38 - Paul
Any time Rod Stewart is praised, he should be refered to as "English" Rod Stewart, to distinguish him from that awful American pop idol who moved here around 1974. I always thought that "sellout" was a word critics made up so that they would have something to talk about, but the difference between English Rod Stewart and American Idol Rod Stewart is night and day. Prior to 1974, Stewart might rank in the top ten or twenty. After 1974, he's almost unlistenable.
I can't listen to Journey either - but Steve Perry does has a great voice - just not in my house.
I love Waylon & Willie, but would have picked Waylon well ahead of Willie. In fact, I'd have picked Waylon up near the top. Fantastic voice and an underappreciated guitar player.
I'd have picked Don Henley much higher.
My favorite singers are McCartney, Lennon, Gene Clark, Ronstadt, Presley, Bing Crosby, Elton John, Billie Holliday, Sinatra, Daltrey, Jennings, Plant, Henley, Nelson, Helm, Wonder, English Rod Stewart, James Taylor, Sly Stone & BB King. I love to hear Louis Armstrong sing for the joy/sadness in his voice, but I wouldn't say he had a great voice. Dylan, Neil Young, and Springsteen are great to listen to, despite their voices. Clapton & Hendrix too.
39 - Jonah
THe reason people like Frank Sinatra,Louis Armstrong and Tony Bennet aren't on here are becaue this is a rock and roll singer list. I think Aretha Franklin or Elvis are both good choices for number 1. and I think that Ray Charles and James brown should switch places. I don't see what's so great about Ray CHarles , I mean he's good , but James Brown is a much more soulful singer ( maybe I should listen to more Ray Charles) . Also How did Bob Dylan make it in the top 10? He didn't event singing with a growl in your voice . Many people like Louis Armstrong and Little Richard before him used growls in their voices. and even a diehard Beatle fan like me , thinks that maybe John Lennon should be at 12 and Little Richard could move up to the top , where is Paul Simon , and Why is Garfunkel so low. my top 10 list would be like
1 Aretha Franklin
2. Elvis Presley
3. James Brown
4. Sam Cooke
5 .Freddie Mercury
6 . Ray CHarles
7. Little RIchard
8. Stevie Wonder
9. Robert Plant
10. Ray Charles
11. John Lennon
40 - Dexter
In reality, there is no way to list "the greatest" because it is usually a matter of opinion. Even if one attempts to be unbiased, there is no way around it. Whitney should have been at the top of that list above Aretha. Elvis was not a great singer. Steve Perry of Journey should have been in the top 10. Shirley Bassey should have been in the top 10. John Lennon had a decent voice but he is no great singer. But that's just MY opinion. I also notice that there is only 1 woman in the top 10....interesting no? There is clearly a preference for male voices here. Lists....all of them....are subjective and biased. Like people mags 50 most beautiful.....I can predict every year that most of them will be white. lol. But of course it is a white magazine run by white people. Wonder how the list would look if the members of the board where comprised of many backgrounds of people. hmmmmmm?
41 - ibobenn
I'm not sure if I missed her, but I think Ann Wilson should be on there...... Her control stunned me when I saw her in concert, and she was wailing(in a good way).
42 - Ali
i just think mariah carey should have been placed in a much higher rate! she hit the highest note ever recorded according to guinness book of world records not to mention her 8 octave range, and so does mary j blige and michael jackson deserve to have a higher rate on the list. I felt as though the list was more as a tribute to legends in the music industry then great singers because vocally there are a lot of great singers today that are greatest singers who deserve this distinction such as jennifer hudson, robin thicke, amy winhouse, alicia keys and carrie underwood.
43 - Violin Cello
Two things that bother me more than anything else about the list are the omission of Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan being above Freddie Mercury, by 11 spots, mind you. Dylan should be all the way down at #100, if you ask me. Yes, being a great singer isn't ONLY about technical skill, but since this list isn't the "100 Most Emotional Singers Of All Time", technical skill actually plays a big part here, and Dylan's placement on the list, especially above others who can whisper more beautifully than Dylan sings, is a travesty, to put it mildly. Rolling Stone is bollocks.
44 - brian
I was shocked that you left off the list of all people, Linda Ronstadt! This beautiful and talented artist has sold over 50 millio-n records, has had a couple of #1 hits, and on top of everything else has acquired an i-ncredible 11 grammy awards, not to mention multiple ones in 3 straight decades! Also she graced the cover of your publication an incredible 7 times in her ''heyday'' I'd li-ke to know why she was left off the list? Could it be that she is 63, and past her prime?, or could it be that she has put on weight?, if that is it, then you have really got your nerve. I got the privilege of going to MerleFest and despite age and weight gain, that woman showed she can still belt it out just like she could in her''younger days''She should have been in the top ten, and Elvis should have been #1 Come on! yall can do better than that!
45 - Me Jr.
Here is is my top 3:
1. Dave Mustaine (Megadeth)
2. Neil Young
3. Johan Hagg (Amonamarth)
46 - Maggie B.
First and foremost, to Ali (#42): The day Carrie Underwood makes any list of Greatest Singers is the day that music has lost all respect for itself. While she has a respectable mid-range, it's nothing special, and then she ruins any song she comes in contact with by belting out notes that are too high for her voice. Also, to whomever mentioned Leonard Cohen: brilliant lyricist, a downright poet, but never really reknowned for his stellar vocals. Unique vocals, yes. Stellar, I think not.
Now that I have that off my chest, I'd like to quote what Rolling Stone posted beside their online article: "Rolling Stone asked artists--including Bruce Springsteen, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Alicia Keys and many others--along with journalists and industry insiders to name their favourite singers of the rock era. Those ballots were recorded and weighted according to methodology developed by the accounting firm of Ernst & Young, which then tabulated and verified the results for Rolling Stone."
Based on this, I can forgive the fact that Billie Holliday and Frank Sinatra were "forgotten" (although the title of this list should be changed to "100 Greatest Singers of The Rock Era, in the Opinion of Some Rather Mediocre (Though Very Famous) Modern Pop Stars and a Lot of Rolling Stone Magazine Staff Members"), but they then try to pass it off as credible because an "accounting firm" tabulated the results for them. Give me a break. What they did was have all of their panalists write down their Top 20 Favourite Vocalists (favourite, not best) from "The Rock Era", and then have this "accounting firm" figure out who got "favourited" the most. They might as well have taken a poll on Facebook (though, granted, the majority of people on Facebook have never heard of 90% of these artists, being occupied as they are by the vocal stylings of Miley Cyrus, The Jonas Brothers, Taylor Swift, and their computers).
The Rock Era lasted until about 1981, so what's Kurt Cobain doing on this list? (Not that he didn't have a great voice, but Rolling Stone really needs to get their guidelines straight. Cobain was not "Rock Era", as it's defined.) Same goes for Mariah Carey (who also has a wonderful voice when she's taking herself seriously, but who didn't release her first album until 1990).
My final verdict is that this is not a horrid list - there are in fact many phenomenal singers on this list, though I'm wondering myself where Elvis Costello disappeared to - but that it should be renamed to something that represents how it was actually conceived.
47 - MattyG
How about Brad Delp.. Lead singer for Boston. To me, top 10 greatest rock singers of all time. Not even on the RS top 100
48 - Wanderlusting
Mike Patton! HELLO?????!!!!
49 - Cody
Yet again, metal artists are left out of lists...Here are some singers that NEED to be added:
1.Eric Adams of "Manowar"-Hands down the greatest singer. He can scream like a "god" and sing like an angel.
2.Michael Sweet of "Stryper"-An amazing singer and can belt out some wicked metal screams.
3.Bruce Dickinson of "Iron Maiden"-His voice range is awesome. It could be used greatly for opera and can used be for metal and can do some pretty nice screams.
50 - Cody
Oh, Wanderlusting has a good point. Mike Patton should be on there (If that's the singer of Dream Theater).
51 - Howlin' Wolf
Umm, where the hell is Billie Holliday. She should be in the top twenty yet she's not even on the list. I have to admit that besides that glaring omission, this list is way better than their "artists" list.
52 - Jason
Between the singers that are on here that shouldn't be, the ones that aren't but should and the positions of some of the ones that are there, this list is ridiculous. It's a tough task no doubt, but you could have put a bunch of names on pieces of paper and randomly drawn better than this. If it was a better list I would at least have fun debating it, but it's so bad that it isn't even worth it.
53 - maconlists
ANN WILSON !?!
54 - Matthew
hey losers what about sinatra, dean martin, louis armstrong, sammy davis jr, bobby darin. i mean shit they are better than almost all the people on the list and more popular and have done more for the industry and they are american icons and legends and yet they arent on the list. i mean what the fuck
55 - ian
here's mine
1.steve perry
2.freddie mercury
3.paul mccartney
4.dio
5.sammy davis jr.
6.michael jackson
7.marvin gaye
8.robert plant
fuck it im done...throw in sinatra wherever
56 - oc3an_eater
NICK DRAKE (dare to say more haunting/tragic than Buckley)
Bruddah Iz (?)--the guy had acoustics (and the girth) of an opera house
Jackson Browne
Thom Yorke (did I miss him in the list?)
Warren Zevon's in the company of Waits and Dylan for the "dragged-over-gravel" vogue
Ryan Adams
NICK DRAKE...ugh. Perhaps the most hauntingly tragic voice until passed the baton to Buckley.
I can abide Lou Reed, but that model chick (Nico?)...gag me with a screwdriver
57 - Christmas
Michael Jackson is # 1 by far
I don't understand alot of the artists on here
58 - Matt
I haven't read all the comments, but why have I not seen a single mention of Tom Jones? From a technical and ability perspective he is (IMHO) the best vocalist in history. He is a showman and has been performing for 40 years. This isn't a list of the top singers, it's a list of RS favourites. Bob Dylan is a great and influential artist, but would not be in the top million as far as vocal ability goes.
It's also a very USA/British centric list. While most of the great rock acts came from these places, I wonder if singers like Michael Hutchence from INXS (yes, I'm Australian!)were considered.
Others too far down the list are Freddie, Mike Patton, Chris Cornell and Michael Jackson. Also, anyone who thinks Paul McCartney is overrated on this list, listen to 'Oh Darling'. Done in one take! Legendary!
My number one is Freddie Mercury though. I think he beats Tom Jones because of the passion he sang with and the way he could pour his soul out with a ballad over his piano one minute and the next be displaying his raw rock power while commanding 100,000 people. Died 19 years ago today and I still feel sad when I think about it.
This is the beauty of music. We all have our own opinions.
59 - Michael Joseph
Ronald Isley!!!!!!
60 - bbokl
This interpretation is hilariously populist.
61 - Geoff
Layne Staley...
62 - David Bulgarelli
When I was pressing 'next' at Number 2, I thought for sure Number 1 had to be Frank Sinatra, since he wasn't on the list yet. Nope.
I might in time be able to forgive Freddie Mercury not being in the Top 10 (or Top 5), but leaving off Frank is just incorrect.
63 - aindamais
Any list that fails to include Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald (!!!), Louis Armstrong(?!?!?), Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, Shirley-over-145-million-records-sold-Bassey (who, at 74, blasts most of the abovementioned singers off the effin stage) & so many many others is a complete waste of my time. Well at least Bowie got acknowledged, that's a step in the right direction. But seriously, people, get it right. Or was it a rock-mostly-but-hey-we'll-also-squeeze-some-other-fellows-in list? `Cause you should've named it accordingly, then, not "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".
64 - Jared
What about Madonna, Streisand, Whitney Houstoun, sinatra...some of the most successful artists of all time
65 - JustBeingReal
any body that puts Elvis Presley in the top 50 let alone #1 is kidding themselves and buying into hype and nostalgia.
Elvis Presley was a pretty good singer. That's all.
He is not, and never was a great singer.
When I think of GREAT male singers I think of people like Levi Stubbs, David Ruffin, Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandross, Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, Steve Perry, and the greatest of them all- STEVIE WONDER.
Those guys could SANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG.
Elvis could just sing.
Remove the Elvis goggles and just listen to the records and voices at face value.
Be honest with yourselves. Elvis was a good singer, not a truly mind-blowing one- like all of those guys I mentioned just above.
66 - Gary
This is not about great singing voices, if it were you would have Steve Perry, Freddie Mercury, Robert Plant, Roy Oribson in the top ten. Many on list have great songs that sold records and people liked there music. Dylan could not sing....... Jagger had his style but not a great voice. Seems to be more about popularity then actual vocal ability. On the womens side Whitney, Celine, Streisand, all great voices. Again, All had there "sound" which made them great in there own way but most did not have great voices with the power and range of those I mentioned.
67 - Pat Brown
Sting. Also, Otis Redding sung My Girl the best
68 - Fanto
Metal has been neglected. Rob Halford has one of the best vocal ranges in music, and has incredible vibrato. Also, Ronnie James Dio has a powerful, moving voice that is truly unique that no one can imitate. He's sang not just metal, but hard rock and classic rock. He sings straight from his heart. I'm sure this list is based on hits and popularity, just like anything else from Rolling Stone. They are neglecting true talents to shine the light on populars. Others that are being totally ignored:
Bruce Dickinson(Iron Maiden)
Donny VanZant(.38 Special)
Brad Delp(Boston)
Geddy Lee(Rush)
Ian Gillan(Deep Purple)
Ozzy Osbourne(from his Black Sabbath days)
69 - Ryan
King Diamond IMO should be up there. he is awesome!
70 - conner
It included one grunge singer and in my opinion it was the worst one. Scott Weiland, Eddie Vedder, Layne Staley, and Chris Cornell should all be above Kurt Cobain and none of them even made the list.
71 - Really?
What schmucks at RS made this list? These people must be 85 years old. How the hell is Robin Zander NOT on this list? Freddie Mercury NOT in the top 3? RETARDS!!!!
72 - Dr Dreadful
Wouldn't a panel of 85-year-old Rolling Stone critics, having directly witnessed a longer period of modern musical history than, say, 35-year-old Rolling Stone critics, be that much better qualified to make a judgement as to the best singers of "all time"?
73 - Catherine
Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra anyone?
74 - Aviva
Barry Gibb? Graham Nash? David Gilmour? And I don't understand how Christina Aguilera makes it at all. Definitely not great. Insane that she beats Roger Daltrey. And I agree with that other guy about Ian Gillan.
75 - BK
Who missed seeing Paul Simon on this list, me or Rolling Stone?