not your favourite, but rather, who you honestly feel has superior chops.

Jackie Wilson
Stevie Wonder
Marvin Gaye
Michael Jackson
Sam Cooke
Prince

I'm not an expert on vocaling prowess (although I was a choir boy once!) but I'm looking for an interesting discussion here... so state why if you can!

Feel free to add others (of that ilk) to the list but I'm particalarly interested in the above.
[Edited 3/19/08 9:33am]

Rank


5. Jackie Wilson
3. Stevie Wonder
4. Marvin Gaye
6. Michael Jackson - most entertaining 2 watch (prior 2 1987).
1. Sam Cooke - most pure
2. Prince-most range and most diverse of all of these guys

Ah peeps, I was hoping for more than one opinion! I'm sure I've seen Prince/MJ?/Wonder threads here descend into anarchy over who is a better singer....

Graycap23 said:

Hmmmm.... I'm nearly certain that Prince's vocal range cannot compete with MJ and Stevie!

kinaldo said:

(and I say that as a diehard Prince fan / very passive MJ fan)

kinaldo said:

MJ and Stevie can sing in 5 octives?

1.Michael Jackson - From childhood to his adult age he was AMAZING!
2. Stevie Wonder - He has the ability to convey such joy in his voice unlike any other artists.
3. Prince - The way he goes from Falsetto to his deep range still amazes me.
4. Marvin Gaye - His Harmonies.....perfection.
5. Sam Cooke - A voice that sounded like no one before or after him.
6. Jackie Wilson - His Falsetto was unbelievable...especially Live....while he's dancing!

1.Sam Cooke
2.Jackie Wilson
3.Michael Jackson
4.Marvin Gaye
5.Stevie Wonder
6.Prince

Graycap23 said:

I wasn't aware that Prince could sing in 5 octaves.

Thats a very hard thing to do..lol...especially 4 such a deep voice as his. I've never heard him sing in that Pure Tenor range that Michael Jackson could sing. Let's take "Thriller" for example. Prince could NOT sing that song unless going into his falsetto range. Michael sang that effortless in his pure Tenor range.

1.) Sam Cooke: he's the MASTER of soul singing...PERIOD!
2.) Jackie Wilson: no one sung the way he did from low to very fucking high! Genius!
3.) Marvin Gaye: harmonies, melodies, and him going from smooth tenor to a bluesy growl and falsetto in the middle of it? PERFECTION!
4.) Stevie Wonder: his vocal runs are just fucking crazy. I just learned how to sing the fast line he sung at the end of "Master Blaster Jammin'".
5.) Michael Jackson: he's the mixture of Jackie, Marvin and Stevie IMHO with a bit of James and Mavis added to it when he's at his most soulful and funky.
6.) Prince: the guy is a very DIVERSE vocalist. This kid singing funk, new wave, rock & roll, soul/R&B, etc.? I've always loved his vocals too. He's like Robert Plant/Bon Scott/James Brown/Jackie Wilson/Marvin Gaye/Smokey Robinson/Little Richard all rolled up into one man, lol.

I can't really choose but this is how I look at it from a historic point of view.

Timmy84 said:

Good rankings, this could have went anyway (besides the first two, those are reserved for Sam and Jack) and number 6 (sorry Prince fans)

Spots 3, 4 and 5 could go either way with Marvin, Mike and Stevie.

Graycap23 said:

Pretty much what he said up there.

If I want to hear one of the greatest male voices ever, I'll go with Sam Cooke.

If I want to experience the personification of soul, I'll choose Stevie Wonder.

And if I want to be held in astonishment, I'll side with Marvin.

They're all favorites and legends whose music catalogs I'm fortunate to mostly possess.

But if push comes to shove I'll pick Prince for the same reason I do his music -- the astonishing versatility.

Prince can write and then convincingly perform in any genre. He isn't the greatest at anything, but when you add up everything that he does do, he's the last man standing for me.

If you aren't captivated by diversity, he's definitely not your man. Much wiser to select an amazing genre talent that can totally blow Prince away.

Bishop31 said:

1st: I'm not expert by any means in diffrent octives.
2nd: There was a music magazine a few years ago that measure vocal ranges of "Pop" musicians. Prince was ranked #1 by a mile. They even listed the octives. I don't remember the mag or the year. Someone might remember that.

That said, there is no way on Earth that Stevie or Mj has the diversity of vocal range as Prince.

I am no expert so all I can say is that Mike is my favourite vocalist. I do love Prince and Stevie´s music, but I don´t like their voices that much.

1. Michael Jackson - pitch perfect, can sing very static rhythms better than anyone else, has a wider range that Pavarotti according to his vocal coach, he sounds awesome whether he's singer soft ballads or punchy upbeat funky jams.
2. Stevie Wonder - Such a great tone, very emotive. Michael owes a lot of what he learnt about singing from him.
3. Prince - Simply for his emotion and range
4. Marvin Gaye - Great innovator of the falsetto use in soul music.
5. Sam Cooke - Great tones to his voice.
6. Jackie Wilson - Good, not great.
[Edited 3/20/08 6:47am]

DarlingDiana said:

Really, where did you get that from?

dag said:

From Seth Riggs, who was Michael vocal coach on all his solo tours. Well, mainly Bad and Dangerous. He wasn't really needed for HIStory tour, lol. I'll try to track it down but it's been ages since I read it. It was just posted on an MJ forum a couple of years ago.

DarlingDiana said:

MJ forum hearsay... gotta be the truth!

FuNkeNsteiN said:

Where it comes from doesn't matter. It was a scanned interview. The interview is the source, not the forum.

DarlingDiana said:

Seth Riggs should shut his big mouth. But that's just me.

DarlingDiana said:

Seems that Seth of full of smelly things.....

I guess it's a matter of personal preference, so here goes:

Sam Cooke
Marvin Gaye
MJ
Prince
Stevie
Jackie Wilson

Graycap23 said:

I wonder what Seth thought during the HIStory tour since he practically mimed most of the concert.

Timmy84 said:

Seth is/was on Mj's payroll so we pretty much know where those comments where coming from.

1.sam cooke
2.jackie wilson
3.marvin gaye
4.stevie wonder
5.michael jackson
6.prince

i dare someone tell me that ain't the right order j/k

Graycap23 said:

Interesting. I think Mike was at his best vocally during the early months of the "Bad" tour.

checkIn04 said:

Your list is the same as mine!

checkIn04 said:

Lol.....there is no right order. I'm just glad we have such talent 2 choose from. All of these cats are 50 plus...

Imagine the "talent" the kids of 2day have 2 choose from.....yikes.

Timmy84 said:

lmao i jus't went and looked back it is ,well i can't argue with you on ur chosen list

Graycap23 said:

yea
oldies for goodies
yea these karaoke singers can't sing