Favorite Female Rock (or other) voices
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My favorite female artist is probably Bjork. I think her voice is amazing and unique. There’s no one else quite like her.
Also, it’s selling her waaaaaay short to relegate her to just being a vocalist. She’s a bona fide artist – one of the best of her generation, regardless of gender. Also, she has always been an extremely underrated lyricist.
My favorite line from this song is this:
“I tiptoe down to the shore..and stare at the ocean.
I make it roar at me...and I roar back!”
That perfectly captures her indomitable spirit and I absolutely love that!
I just think she was so experimental and so willing to try new things and I really respect that about her. That is not easy to do well and she has done it for decades. From her early work with the Sugarcubes as a teenager from Iceland to her more mature solo stuff, she was always interesting and occasionally remarkable.
Bjork would definitely be on my shortlist for the most talented female vocalists I’ve ever heard.
Also, it’s selling her waaaaaay short to relegate her to just being a vocalist. She’s a bona fide artist – one of the best of her generation, regardless of gender. Also, she has always been an extremely underrated lyricist.
My favorite line from this song is this:
“I tiptoe down to the shore..and stare at the ocean.
I make it roar at me...and I roar back!”
That perfectly captures her indomitable spirit and I absolutely love that!
I just think she was so experimental and so willing to try new things and I really respect that about her. That is not easy to do well and she has done it for decades. From her early work with the Sugarcubes as a teenager from Iceland to her more mature solo stuff, she was always interesting and occasionally remarkable.
Bjork would definitely be on my shortlist for the most talented female vocalists I’ve ever heard.
In the category of Best Female Rock Singer, Ann Wilson of Heart. Everyone else is competing for 2nd place.
I've got no disagreements.
My favorite is Chrissie Hynde but I have no problem calling Anne Wilson the best.
I just wish that Heart hadn't switched to Capitol Records in the 80's who made them an embarrassment. Alone is not a terrible song, but that's about it.
I see this as her personal highlight vocally ... she just kept getting better and bettter.
IMO, As a rocker, I ignored the Wilson's for awhile and finally witnessed the greatness of Heart To this day,. Attend a show . Rock is always about brilliant musicians, voice, and rebellion. Heart was good.
I go back and watch that every so often because it is so good.
Someone else mentioned Lzzy Hale and I'll second that one. I'll also mention Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil and for someone who doesn't perhaps have a great voice but who pours every bit of herself into a song, Maria Brink of In This Moment singing the song Whore does it for me.
The two that immediately popped into my head were Christina Aguilera and Pink. Mostly because I didn't think they would be mentioned and feel they are so underrated. I'm not even a fan of their music, but they have outstanding voices. Pink can sing just about anything.
Some favorite voices for me...
Rock- Jett and Nicks
Pop- Lauper (specifically her acoustic live performances of True Colors) and VanderWaal (thanks to my young daughter being a huge fan)
R&B- Franklin and Keys
Country - Maines
Rock- Jett and Nicks
Pop- Lauper (specifically her acoustic live performances of True Colors) and VanderWaal (thanks to my young daughter being a huge fan)
R&B- Franklin and Keys
Country - Maines
Yeah, definitely made the switch from seriously hard rocking group led by a couple of chicks to Whitney Houston with a backing band.
Definitely the "Neil Young" of this group. Unique voice, but fantastic song writer and great songs!!!
Edit, oh wait...you are talking Patty Smyth of Scandal fame or Patti Smith of like CBGB fame?
If you were likening Patty Smyth to Neil Young, I would have termed such a comparison scandalous and I would say "You've got to be kidding me!" and "goodbye to you."
Exactly which is why i was trying to clarify which one. Cause this one ain't much to look at, but she is a fantastic rock star. By the way, this just might be favorite Springsteen penned song.
Lots of very talented ladies in here, so I'll just add two more: Neko Case (amazing on "Crash Years" which might as well be an anthem for my generation at this point) and Chan Marshall of Cat Power (especially on "Metal Heart").
And to you old timers, if you are going old school.....Joni has to be at the top.
If we are going to include pop in the discussion, then Karen Carpenter would win hands down. She may have the best voice of all time. But in today’s pop, you brought up Sia the other day, and I don’t know who has a better voice between her and Aguilera. I do happen to like Sia better though.
Just ones I don't think have been mentioned:
k d lang has what I think is the best female voice. I just try to avoid looking at her.
Annie Lennox
Joan Osborne
Gladys Knight (not rock, but I've heard her sing the blues rather than pop and she was fantastic)
k d lang has what I think is the best female voice. I just try to avoid looking at her.
Annie Lennox
Joan Osborne
Gladys Knight (not rock, but I've heard her sing the blues rather than pop and she was fantastic)
Oh, these are also good choices. Cat Power is criminally underrated in my opinion.
The second video really grabs me because I have a good friend who owned a bar for many years – he took over for his dad, who owned it for 50 years prior.
Anyway, my buddy died a few years ago of complications from alcoholism.
I realized at his funeral that I hadn’t been in his bar in years and that was so strange because it’s basically where I spent my 20s. It was almost like a real life “Everything’s Sunny in Philadelphia.” We had so much fun there and did so many crazy things there. I don’t know exactly when I stopped going there but it had to have been sometime in my early 30s after I got married and settled down.
I used to see church as a very sad place and bars — particularly that bar — as a very happy place. In time, I came to realize that I had it backwards.
I’m not telling anyone not to go to a bar or to drink or anything like that. Anything in moderation can be a lot of fun.
However, my buddy, Mike, did not live his life in moderation in anything and it ruined his whole life – and his family’s too.
I have always felt some measure of guilt that I wasn’t there to help him recover but I also believe that nothing I could’ve said or done would’ve made a difference.
Anyway, there is something about that song and video that really speaks to me in that regard and I think her voice is absolutely incredible. There are lots of poignant lines in that song including:
“There's nothing like living in a bottle
And nothing like ending it all for the world
We're so glad you have come back
Every living lion will lay in your lap.”
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Smyth. She was easy on the eyes too.Absolutley smoking at one time.Has anyone mentioned Pat Benatar yet?
seeing Chvrches at Thrival at Carrie Furnace was fantastic. took off just after the Chainsmokers took the stage which was a genius move as logistically, that was a poor setup.
Great topic though. Off the top of my head, i'm not sure who my favorite is, but my newest favorite female singer would be Aimee Interrupter.
Great topic though. Off the top of my head, i'm not sure who my favorite is, but my newest favorite female singer would be Aimee Interrupter.
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Florence Welch and Paloma Faith would be on my list if we are talking about all genres.
Right ... that was my “you’ve got to be kidding me” reference above!
I really dig Courtney Barnett and her heavy English accent. Great songwriter also and backed up by the most effed up looking (I mean eclectic) band since the Cantina band in Star Wars.
I had that album at one time. For some reason, my dad sold a bunch of my albums to a record shop while I was at school. He assumed I no longer wanted them. I missed that one, but at least now I can find pictures of the cover online.
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