Your question is, of course, very subjective. I don’t think I would have listed any of the above, with the possible exception of Wilson.
There’s a whole bevy of Mo-Town singers (check out the box set), plus Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, the various great lead singers that passed through The Drifters, Elvis Presley, Jerry Butler, Tommy Roe…and more.
I’m not sure whether the OP meant to include soul, John Carter, since he specificially mentions rock’n’roll singers. Though he does have a couple of folkie ringers on his list (has anyone ever considered Joan Baez a “rock’n’roll singer?”)
Making a list is very easy if you include soul, very difficult (especially for the women) if you don’t. One guy who clearly belongs, though, is Van Morrison, who did everything from straight rock’n’roll to blues to folk-rock to jazz-rock before the decade’s end.
An earlier post became hamster chow – sigh. This means Diogenes beats me to the first mention of Janis.
With further reflection, I’ll suggest the following (order strictly alpahabetical):
Joe Cocker
Mama Cass Eliot
Mick Jagger
Janis Joplin
Van Morrison
Grace Slick
Elvis – a legitimate contender as a great rock vocalist – had peaked by the time the '60s began, so I’m excluding him chronologically. Ditto for Greg Allman, albeit on the other end of the decade. Ray Charles was soul, not rock. Steve Winwood – one of my all-time faves, but too wifty to be rock great. (IOW, I’m agreeing with Art Vandalay that we’re talking belters.) I have a personal fondness for Clapton’s voice, but can’t put it as one of the great rock voices ever, and definitely not for the '60s.
Elvis’ most ambitious recordings weren’t made until the '60s. “It’s Now or Never” and “Surrender”–two performances that show Elvis at his Mario Lanza best–were made in the '60s, so he shouldn’t be written off.
I see we have a varied opinion of what constitutes a rock ‘n’ roll singer. By what measuring stick would anyone classify Elvis as R&R and Ray Charles as Soul? Are Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis Country rather than R&R?
In this very forum, there have been lengthy discussions about what was the first R&R song. The consensus settled on either the Ike Turner group’s “Rocket 88” or the Domino’s “Sixty Minute Man”. By some of your definitions, this could not be because they weren’t R&R songs.
Mo-Town is certainly a type of R&R. I’d think that if a singer’s work was listed on the rock top 40 charts, the song is R&R. YMMV.
Richard Manuel of The Band, and of course Dylan, yes Dylan, would be on my list. I believe it was Dave Marsh who said of Dylan, and I’m paraphrasing, “he doesn’t have a great voice, but he has a great rock and roll voice.”
Some trivia, John Carter–During the 60s there was nothing like a “rock top 40 chart.” There was just the Top 40, derived from Billboard’s Top 100. Just like today, the Top 100 listed the most popular tracks from all genres, whether it be rock, r&b, country, or what-have-you. So if appearing in the Top 100 or the Top 40 is your criterion for a R&R singer, well then Frank Sinatra was a 60s rock singer.
“So if appearing in the Top 100 or the Top 40 is your criterion for a R&R singer, well then Frank Sinatra was a 60s rock singer.”
Frank Sinatra? Now THERE’s a horrible thought! Just curious: What distinguishes a rocker then? Belting it out? Then how could anyone say that James Brown & Ray Charles were not R&R singers? Popularity with young listeners? Why then aren’t The Drifters & Temptations R&R groups? Marty Robbins and Johnny Cash were drawing pretty much the same people to their appearances that Elvis was. Were they rock?
