Whitney houston in her prime years!

Jah Wobble....my daughter also says all the members of the Clash because they weren't afraid to be themselves.
Johnny Cash
lead singer of Phantom Planet
Mike Skinner

Dewrede said:

that answer is the right answer.

He has the best voice
love the guy

Before people answer they should consider whether they'd like to hear the singer's voice without music. Rick James, Billie Holliday, Bjork, Bono, etc. are not good vocalists by any account and shouldn't be mentioned in this discussion I'm afraid. There's a difference when there is musical accompaniment because certain types of voices work better with certain types of music. One's musical preferences can thus influence this choice.

My favorite (famous) voices are probably Donnie Hathaway's and Deniece Williams with or without the music.

whodknee said:

You hit it right on the money with the late great King Of Ballads & Punk Funk Rick James. I also have to add him to my list b/c there are not too many vocalist around who can interepret a ballad in the soulful opera type fashion that he does. R.I.P Rick.
[Edited 11/29/04 2:19am]

Robin Gibb ??

Seal

ETHERSPIN said:

Glenn Goins for me 1954-1978 Rest in Peace.

Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. His falsetto is irreplacable, it's so innocent and pure on his earlier recordings.

I guess for me it is between Prince and Bono because they are so consistent. It is like they have always been singing to me or something like that. I think Prince's voice is great but Bono has a great voice. Hard question to answer I know. But now I'm going to check out a Donnie Hathaway cd. Thanks!

A couple more to add to my list:

Norah Jones - voice like butta
Karen Carpenter - such a beautiful voice. Pure and simple.

Leonard Nemoy

sade...prince...smokie robinson...maynard james kennan...freddie mercury...sananda (aka TTD)...

0V3RF13ND said:

so the one in bold is the one you think has the best voice.

another person who mentioned F.M awesome.

ETHERSPIN said:

Indeed. Much overlooked vocalist and a very unique voice.

Serious said:

I'm also voting for Sananda Maitreya, he's got the greatest voice I've ever heard. Prince and David Bowie do have great voices and especcially Freddie Mercury does but Sananda ... WOW what he can do with his voice ... low ... high and it all sounds soooo great. My girlfriend always says he makes music with his voice and that's so true.

Musically Prince stays number 1 closely followed by Sananda, David Bowie, Queen, Radiohead, MUSE, Heather Nova, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young.

pkidwell said:

Just visit his website www.sanandamaitreya.com and listen to his music. He's still great.

My top 5 are...

Male:

Prince
Elvis
Barry Gibb (The Bee Gees)
Michael Hutchence (INXS)
George Michael

Female:

Harriet Wheeler (The Sundays)
Darlene Zschech (Hillsong Music)
Vanessa Williams
Alanis Morrissette
Sarah McLachlan


_
[Edited 11/30/04 16:07pm]

TheBatman said:

Sorry , but i LOATHE Alanis Morrisette's voice
so annoying especially when she shouts

Sarah McLachlan however is cool (don't know the first 2)
[Edited 11/30/04 18:17pm]

Dewrede said:

Are you kidding???

That woman has a powerful range, and is a natural born singer. If you don't like her music, or the sound of her voice, that's one thing.

Otherwise, there aren't too many women that can do what she does.

You ought to check out The Sundays... Harriet has the voice of an Angel, and no other woman can touch it. It's too bad someone limited her group to 3 albums.

Otherwise, check out Darlene Zschech here: www.darlenezschech.com