The best singers ever: the unofficial list
The oldest and most portable instrument in the world is the human voice. According to Wikipedia, "Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice and (augmenting) regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm."
So regardless of whether you have good tonality and rhythm, anyone with a voice can sing. For example, Bob Dylan is a singer. So are Tom Waits, Courtney Love, Yoko Ono and Bjork. You may enjoy hearing them sing (I'm still waiting for the Yoko-Bjork "Duets" album myself), but are they technically good singers? Then there are singers like Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Michael Bolton and Sarah Brightman who are legitimately great singers, but does that make you want to listen to them any more than the others?
For the purposes of this list, I have examined several criteria that include vocal skill, unique vocal style and performance. In order to avoid major controversy, hurtful statements, and threats of bodily harm (I still don't know who gave those Manilow fans my home address), the following list is in alphabetical order, and therefore all who appear have equivalent merit for the purposes of the discussion that will inevitably follow.
Mariah Carey: If she would just shut up and sing... If not for the moronic blogs, dreadfully bizarre interviews, drunken speeches and unnecessary vocal acrobatics at every point in every song, she could just be the greatest pop singer ever. Vocally, her range is hard to top (sorry Whitney) but just once, I would like to hear her sing a melody as it was written. It will probably never happen, but thankfully at least she has the voice to make it more than bearable. (excerpt from Metro Canada - Toronto)
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