The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time
These are the voices that continue to touch, console, inspire, and empower us
It’s been observed that pop-culture writers have a penchant for ranking anything and everything. We’re cited for spending countless hours trying to assess, sort, and file that which seems patently subjective or, far more damning, so beautiful, transcendent, or numinous as to be above slotting on a mere list. Admittedly, we can often be found guilty of peddling our opinions as objective fact. But I can’t cop to the latter charge quite so quickly. If you read through the entries to come, I guarantee you’ll find the appropriate sense of gratitude and awe as my colleagues and I struggle to, as Nick Hornby once put it, “make the ineffable effing effable.” That is, try to explain why these singers move us as they do.
No task as daunting as ranking the greatest singers of all time comes easily. Rubrics were made, remade, and subsequently trashed. Compromises were struck, concessions made, hearts broken, lifelong friendships terminated – the usual. And that age-old question reared its ugly head once more: Can a person with a terrible voice by traditional standards still be a great singer? (Big surprise, the jury’s still out among us.) Even with science weighing in and telling us that Freddie and Whitney are no-brainers, we agreed that science can’t account for everything just yet. Instead, we went with our guts, hoping, as always, that our guts don’t have shit for brains. I think Nick Hornby may have said that, too.
So, here are the 100 greatest singers of all time. Read on, and you’ll find kings and queens, divas and introverts, dancers and wallflowers, belters and growlers, storytellers and testifiers, seducers and wingmen, Simon and, well, maybe just Simon. However you’ve come to define “great,” these are the voices that continue to touch, console, inspire, and empower us. Feel free to tell us who we missed or how we blew it in the comments section, but even more importantly, find a singer on this list that you love and share the gift of their voice with someone in your life. As 2016 has shown us time and time again, the artists we lean upon won’t be with us forever. Let’s make sure their music sticks around.
Rest in peace, Mr. Cohen.
100 - Lou Reed
99 - Bonnie Raitt
98 - Justin Vernon
97 - Jim Morrison
96 - Annie Lennox
95 - Iggy Pop
94 - Steven Tyler
93 - Patti Smith
92 - Maynard James Keenan
91 - Glen Danzig
90 - Madonna
89 - Ronnie James Dio
88 - Ian Curtis
87 - Van Morrison
86 - Ann Wilson
85 - Joe Strummer
84 - Joanna Newsom
83 - Paul Simon
82 - Leonard Cohen
81 - Joe Cocker
80 - John Lennon
79 - Patti Labelle
78 - Karen Carpenter
77 - Willie Nelson
76 - Alicia Keys
75 - Joni Mitchell
74 - Michael Stipe
73 - Robert Smith
72 - Florence Welch
71 - Thom Yorke
70 - Sting
69 - Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)
68 - Lauryn Hill
67 - Ozzy Osbourne
66 - Gladys Knight
65 - Elliott Smith
64 - Paul McCartney
63 - Emmylou Harris
62 - Fiona Apple
61 - Phil Collins
60 - David Byrne
59 - Sly Stone
58 - Anohni
57 - Curtis Mayfield
56 - Dolly Parton
55 - Nick Cave
54 - Christina Aguilera
53 - Prince
52 - Dusty Springfield
51 - Bob Dylan
50 - Bruce Springsteen
49 - Donna Summer
48 - Solomon Burke
47 - Jonsi
46 - Patsy Cline
45 - Elvis Presley
44 - Mary J. Blige
43 - Louis Armstrong
42 - Smokey Robinson
41 - Franki Valli
40 - Elton John
39 - Karen O
38 - Mike Patton
37 - Janis Joplin
36 - Little Richard
35 - Morrissey
34 - Adele
33 - Etta James
32 - Bono
31 - Ray Charles
30 - Beyonce
29 - Axl Rose
28 - Al Green
27 - Tina Turner
26 - Jeff Buckley
25 - Kate Bush
24 - Otis Redding
23 - Tom Waits
22 - Johnny Cash
21 - Diana Ross
20 - Roger Daltrey
19 - Mariah Carey
18 - Stevie Nicks
17 - Frank Sinatra
16 - Stevie Wonder
15 - David Bowie
14 - Ella Fitzgerald
13 - Marvin Gaye
12 - Sam Cooke
11 - Nina Simone
10 - Bjork
09 - Robert Plant
08 - Amy Winehouse
07 - Roy Orbison
06 - Whitney Houston
05 - James Brown
04 - Aretha Franklin
03 - Freddie Mercury
02 - Billie Holiday
01 - Michael Jackson
Have you ever watched Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker? Odds are if you were born between 1975 and 1985, the VHS tape sat somewhere next to your equally worn copies of Back to the Future, E.T., and Star Wars. Anyways, if you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and find it somewhere on YouTube as it’s worth a watch, if only for the captivating videos and the way it more or less bottles up the timeless magic and appeal of the King of Pop. The reason I’m bringing it up now is specifically for its opening segment, which captures Jackson singing “Man in the Mirror” during his colossal Bad Tour across Europe. For a good three or four minutes, you can watch everyone lose their shit as he triumphantly lifts up their spirits with arguably one of the greatest songs ever. But look closer: It’s people of all nationalities, united and feeling it together.
That was ultimately the power of Michael Jackson; he had the ability of stopping everyone in their tracks, both in life and death. Some might credit this to his unprecedented dance moves, and they’d be right. Some might say it was his masterful production, and they’d be right. Some might point to the archive of hooks that fueled each of his songs, and they’d be right. And some might say it was his voice … and they’d be right. He was the full package in a way we haven’t and probably never will see again — the greatest performer who ever lived. So, yes, you could sit here and make cogent arguments for any of the multifaceted reasons behind his undying legend, but really it starts and ends with his voice. It’s his voice that connected the world together, and it’s his voice that never wavered as he slid into every kind of genre imaginable, from disco to rock to pop to hip-hop to R&B.
What’s more, it’s his voice that keeps on giving: Name any groundbreaking artist of the last 30 years and they’ll all point to him as a major influence, whether it’s his work fronting The Jackson Five, his salad days in Motown, or the decade and a half he turned his music into both a lifestyle and a brand — doesn’t matter, it’s all in regular rotation. Even now, after all the dark and disturbing controversies that have surfaced over the last two decades, he remains an unstoppable, influential enigma. “One of the first times I ever performed in front of a big group of people was at my kindergarten graduation,” Chance the Rapper, then 20 years old, told XXL. “I did, like, a Michael Jackson impersonation as, like, a five-year-old. I had the suit and blazer, the glove and the fedora, and I just performed a whole Michael Jackson song. I’m sure it was ‘Smooth Criminal’.” Shit’s off the wall.
–Michael Roffman
Source: http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/11/the-...of-all-time/11/
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nei primi cinque posti ci sono Freddie, Michael, Aretha, Billie e Whitney.. in questo ordine. Diana Ross, Patti Labelle, Dusty Springfield e Donna Summer le collocherei nella rosa dei primi quindici (magari a pari merito con qualcuno già presente nella lista).. ovviamente queste scelte sono molto personali dettate da una questione di gusti musicali e non certo da "maestrina".. 
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