The Voices

I started thinking about who my five favourite voices were, and it inevitably turned into a list of 100 voices. What can you do?

Whether we like a singer is one of the most subjective things imaginable and also pretty much a sine qua non for fandom. The voice just stops a lot of us at the door of certain artists. A lot of people find that with Bob Dylan, I'm led to believe. I feel the same way about Bono and Mariah Carey. I can't imagine deriving pleasure from listening to them sing, even if they're, in the former case, emoting their head off in front of a highly proficient band with some perfectly well-written songs, or in the latter case, very technically accomplished.

Still, there are some singers who take the scope for subjectivity away a little - not many people don't like to listen to Marvin Gaye or Aretha Franklin sing. Some voices are just great.

So, I'm making a list, vaguely along the lines of voices of the last century, people with unique and influential voices, unforgettable, powerful, definitive, expressive, unmistakeable.

These are all voices I love (sometimes more than I love their music), apart, perhaps from Elvis Presley, but really it would just be silly not to have him in this list.

In some cases, these are combined voices.

It turns out the list doesn't contain many of my favourite artists, eg Stuart Murdoch, Gruff Rhys, just because it's not necessarily the singing that elevates what they do, they make the voice work beautifully to deliver their songs, but it's not as such the voice that stops you in your tracks. Also, no Joanna Newsom, not quite, even though her voice does stop you in your tracks.

The list isn't in order of how much I like them, but vaguely chronological - I suppose you can trace the history of how popular songs have been delivered through this list of voices. It's ended up being pretty old-timerish and rolling-stoney, hasn't it?

1. Paul Robeson
2. Billie Holiday
3. Louis Armstrong
4. Ella Fitzgerald
5. Hank Williams
6. Odetta
7. Judy Garland
8. Frank Sinatra
9. Julie Andrews
10. Johnny Cash
11. Nat King Cole
12. Elvis Presley
13. Jackie Wilson
14. Roy Orbison
15. Joan Baez
16. Sam Cooke
17. Bob Dylan
18. Ronnie Spector
19. Diana Ross
20. The Beach Boys
21. Marvin Gaye
22. John Lennon
23. Aretha Franklin
24. Van Morrison
25. Steve Winwood
26. Simon and Garfunkel
27. Steve Marriott
28. The Temptations
29. Tina Turner
30. Dionne Warwick
31. Dusty Springfield
32. Merle Haggard
33. Nina Simone
34. Joni Mitchell
35. Crosby Stills and Nash
36. Janis Joplin
37. Levon Helm
38. Mavis Staples
39. John Fogerty
40. Stevie Wonder
41. Barbra Streisand
42. Glen Campbell
43. Scott Walker
44. Al Green
45. Sandy Denny
46. Jimmy Cliff
47. Michael Jackson
48. David Bowie
49. Tom Waits
50. Minnie Ripperton
51. Bob Marley
52. Roberta Flack
53. Bill Withers
54. Freddie Mercury
55. Karen Carpenter
56. Emmylou Harris (and Gram Parsons)
57. Debbie Harry
58. Joe Strummer
59. Annie Lennox
60. The Proclaimers
61. Kevin Rowland
62. Jon Bon Jovi
63. Michael Stipe
64. Morrissey
65. Whitney Houston
66. Paul Westerberg
67. Axl Rose
68. Frank Black
69. Chuck D
70. KD Lang
71. James Dean Bradfield
72. Kurt Cobain
73. Eddie Vedder
74. Jeff Buckley
75. Beth Gibbons
76. Lauryn Hill
77. Liam Gallagher
78. Snoop Dogg
79. Thom Yorke
80. Ghostface Killah
81. David McAlmont
82. Eminem
83. Jeff Tweedy
84. Lucinda Williams
85. Beyonce
86. Ryan Adams
87. Robyn
88. Andre 3000
89. Guy Garvey
90. Jenny Lewis
91. Karen O
92. Martha Wainwright
93. Jim James
94. Neko Case
95. Hamilton Leithauser
96. Amy Winehouse
97. Ben Bridwell
98. First Aid Kit
99. Laura Marling
100. Kendrick Lamar