Favorite vocalist and why?

Thought the time was ripe for a music thread.

If you had to pick one vocalist as your favorite, who would it be?

Note: this thread is asking about vocals in particular.

I would go with Sia, a singer from Australia.

So lovely. I love her unique phrasing (she pronounces words in such a delightfully strange way; for instance, the way she pronounces "love" and "red flags" in the third video) and her unbridled emotion.

Regina Spektor: beautiful voice, clean pronunciation. Not necessarily my favorite, but first name that came to mind.

I would say the most talented vocalist I have ever seen is definitely Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth.

The thing with him is he not only has an AMAZING clean singing voice, but he can also death growl amazingly well.

Other greats IMO are Matt Bellamy and Chester Bennington.

Chris Cornell from Soundgarden/Audioslave/Temple of the Dog. Because listen:

Tim Mcllrath front man for rise against because his voice is awesome. He's got the power in his voice that makes so many of rise against songs great

Can't pick one. Boris Christoff, Cesare Siepi, Ezio Pinza, and Jerry Hadley jump to mind immediately.

I really like Mirus. He contributed to Katalepsy and 7. H Target. His vocals are very meaty, alien-like at likes, and hilariously rhythmic.

Michael Poulsen - Volbeat

Unique voice and awesome live...

I'll second this.

As a singer/songwriter, Adam "Nergal" Darski from Behemoth is an easy choice for me.

But James Dorton of Black Crown Initiate is quickly becoming a huge favourite of mine. They are currently recording their first studio album and I got to see them live playing their EP start to finish. My god was it near-perfect to the recording.

I second Spektor for aforementioned reasons.

Ian Kenny from Karnivool and Mariusz Duda from Riverside are my favorite 2 vocalists. I'm a big progessive rock fan.

Ian Kenny

Mariusz Duda

Mariusz Duda

Jonny Hawkins (Nothing More) is probably one of my favs currently

I vote for Bob Dylan, because he just doesn't give a ****.

I prefer sopranoes

A few of mine:

Sahaj Ticotin from the band 'Ra' (in 2006 he broke the record for longest note held by a male vocalist in a live recording...it was a high B at like 27 seconds...that's sick)

Steve Perry from Journey

Brad Delp from Boston

Lou Gramm from Foreigner

Bon Scott from AC/DC.

Which you misspelled.

Good songwriter, sure, but really? He isn't a very good singer.

Oh I think he does....but as far as a good vocalist...he just doesn't have the talent.

Björk, because she has a really unique voice and she sounds raw and unpolished.

Ian gillan, Bruce Dickinson, Roger Waters and Rob Halford.

Check mate mofo.

Spektor.

@TheFlush: @TheFlush: Ya must like Of Monsters and Men? I love em. Anticipating the second album.

Shakira she sings like a goat I love it

Nothing beats the father of modern jazz, Louis Armstrong. Voice both warm and raspy.

Hell, don't get me wrong, i freaking love the guy's songs. But even when we're talking about lyrics, there have been plenty of times when I thought he just didn't give a **** and was singing random meaningless shit just because he's freaking Bob Dylan and he can get away with that.

To clarify...I'm not saying that he ALWAYS doesn't give a ****. But I suspect that he never gave a shit a shit about his vocal talent. I suspect that he knows he's good enough that he can selectively not give a shit about whatever he doesn't feel like giving a shit about and he's always still gonna come out looking good because he's somehow awesome even when he's totally not giving a ****.

Point being...most performers start sucking when they stop giving a ****. Bob Dylan can totally not give a ****, people can know that he's not giving a ****, and somehow he's still awesome. I don't know a hell of a lot of artists who can lay claim to that.

Bruce Dickinson. He can sing more than just metal and he does a lot of things on the side, like being a pilot for his band and flying them around for tours.

Janis Joplin: really powerful voice, great delivery, emotional

David Gilmour: very beautiful timbre, smooth delivery and just an overall amazing vocalist. Case in point - Saucerful of Secrets at Pompeii

Layne Staley, Billy Corgan: basically pretty much the same reason, amazingly emotional vocalists, really drags you down into the melancholic hell-holes that the music conveys

Joan Baez: very beautiful voice, really soothing but can be painful if she wants to

Tom Waits: the king of the beat-down, back-alley drunkard voice, also on the first album has a very haunting more regular vocal style

Eddie Vedder: like Janis Joplin and Jim Morrisons child, only pissed off

Mikael Akerfeldt: great clean vocals, very warm timbre, also great deep but defined growls

Barney Greenway: probably my favorite growler, sounds like a damn animal

Hmm. I feel like most of the singers I like are "good enough". I enjoy the band they sing in, but they aren't crazy talented, or trained vocalists. They are better songwriters than singers. My honest opinion is Tom Chaplin from Keane. Sings like an angel. He has beautiful tone in every part of his voice, whether it be chest, head, falsetto, ect.

You would probably accuse Keane of being a sissy band, but Tom Chaplin is really great.

Well, the best vocalist is Axl Rose, because he has one of the largest (if not the largest) vocal ranges known. However, I really, really do not like Guns N' Roses in general.

My favorite vocalist....is Maynard James Keenan.

Chuck Schuldiner. Alana Miles has a cool voice to throw a female choice down.

This is my favourite song....If anyone can actually be bothered to watch the video you can see just how effortless singing beautifully is for this guy.

ive been addicted to Titanium and She Wolf. both songs are by David Guetta but Sia is the only vocals in them. love her voice. also like how she pronounces some words.

but as for my favorite, thats gotta be Carrie Underwood. amazing voice.

Probably Kurt Cobain, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, or Rob Halford. Their singing doesn't clash with the actual music (except maybe Halford at times) and that's really all I care about/look for in a singer.