Rolling Stone Top 200 Singers of All Time

[Auggie]

Mariah Carey, at her vocal peak, is absolutely one of the best vocalists of all time. Beyoncé definitely deserves to be on the list as well

Some of this list is fine, but most of it is bananas. Kelly Clarkson basically sings the phone book daily on her talk show with those clips that are always going viral and she's in the 190s? Celine Dion not even on the list?

Sorry but Mariah Carey is not one of the best vocalists of all time. Yes she does have a range but she cannot control it which basically makes it worthless, to cover her tone issues she does these vocal acrobatics that are annoying when heard over and over. She is basically a creation of a PR team that constantly has her doing stupid gigs too like her ill fated NY Eve bit which really showed her limitations.

 

[clarkgriswold]

Sorry but Mariah Carey is not one of the best vocalists of all time. Yes she does have a range but she cannot control it which basically makes it worthless, to cover her tone issues she does these vocal acrobatics that are annoying when heard over and over. She is basically a creation of a PR team that constantly has her doing stupid gigs too like her ill fated NY Eve bit which really showed her limitations.

Agreed. She's for all intents and purposes a vocal gymnast, not a great, let alone top 10, singer.

 

[Auggie]

At least RS got a couple of the more subtle masters in the top 20, Billie Holiday & Patsy Cline. Both had limited octave range but more than made up for it with their tone and phrasing.

Billie Holiday famously had only a 2 octave range but was considered a master when it came to phrasing and annunciation to convey emotion in her vocal instrument. Many tried to duplicate it but few could master it unless copying note for note:

Patsy Cline had more range but really felt most comfortable in the alto space with a crystal clear tone that came across particularly strong in sad songs. There was no flash to her style which made it easy to sing along to and was one of the driving forces of her popularity:

 

[Foster]

My list would include:
Grace Slick
Marty Balin
Frankie Valli
Levi Stubbs
Olivia Newton John
Cory Wells
Chuck Negron
Meatloaf
Dionne Warwick

 

[clarkgriswold]

This is going to make me sound very old, and some may think I am joking (which I am not), but......Dean Martin. Listen to some of the stuff in his prime. What a set of pipes that guy had.

 

[Upside]

My list would include:
Grace Slick
Marty Balin
Frankie Valli
Levi Stubbs
Olivia Newton John
Cory Wells
Chuck Negron
Meatloaf
Dionne Warwick

Three Dog Night could flat out sing. Grace Slick let it rip on "Somebody to Love."

 

[Upside]

This is going to make me sound very old, and some may think I am joking (which I am not), but......Dean Martin. Listen to some of the stuff in his prime. What a set of pipes that guy had.

The more bourbon he drank the smoother he sang.

 

[cabezadecaballo]

Seems like a list where there is alot of personal bias. What are they looking for? Great voices? Popular songs? How they would sing a random sing?

Fun to make a list like this but probably never will be a consensus.

I think if we agreed on a musical genre, and asked for an unranked top 10, there would be five that would be on everybody’s list.

Well, that’s how my point “on the spectrum” looks at it, anyhoo….

if we’re talking my favorite genre, hard rock, I can’t even consider everyone as just a singer.

I don’t think I could pick a favorite vocalist even narrowed down to just Chris Cornell and Freddie Mercury.

I think the best lead singer is Roger Daltrey, but I enjoy Robert Plant with Zeppelin more as a total music experience than I do the Who.

My favorite front man was Bon Scott.

Bob Dylan is the best singer songwriter of all time, but if someone called him a vocalist I’d have to fight the urge to slap the person.

It’s complicated

 

[Johnstown Benny]

Their criteria pretty much made it a popularity contest. Still, Elvis at 17 is ridiculous. Mercury at 11. Roy Orbison not even in the Top 20. List is a joke lol

A top 200 Singers List that has Roy Orbison ranked # 71 is suspect as valid in my opinion !

The Woke movement appears to be a strong driver in the overall RS rankings, but it's their
list and we are all free to come up with our own rankings. Makes for some interesting discussions
if nothing else.


JB

 

[Upside]

On the topic but not on the list, Rickey Medlocke. Front man for Blackfoot and now Lynyrd Skynyrd. I was always impressed by his voice on studio albums but was absolutely wowed by him when I saw Blackfoot live a long time ago. Also, was Paul Rodgers on the list?

 

[gneiss rocks]

On the topic but not on the list, Rickey Medlocke. Front man for Blackfoot and now Lynyrd Skynyrd. I was always impressed by his voice on studio albums but was absolutely wowed by him when I saw Blackfoot live a long time ago. Also, was Paul Rodgers on the list?

I looked through very quick and did not see Paul Rodgers, I have seen him in concert with the Firm and was wondering what spot he was in. Another odd omission was Allison Krauss. I think some of these goofy list intentionally get more publicity from leaving off certain people??? enjoy a couple, that are obviously just not good enough to make the silly snob list?

In his 70's and live ...still not good enough?