Michael McDonald of the Doobies.
[channelling Otto]Oh like *you * had a chance! [/channelling Otto]
You know that treacly 70s hit, “Loving You”? The one where she goes “doot n’ doo-doo-dee-dooo” and then jumps up to a canine-torturing “OHH-OH-OH-OHHH-OHHH-OHHHH”? I’d maybe put that on the top-five list of whitest songs ever recorded, an absolutely hipless, souless, plaster-white ball of sentimental musical goop. I always figured some Olivia-Newton-John wannabe recorded it and then vanished into well-deserved obscurity*. But no! Much to my shock, I learned recently from one of those music compilation commercials that the artist was Minnie Ripperton, who also sang backup for Stevie Wonder, among other black acts. As “Loving You” is the only song I’ve knowingly heard her sing on, I nominate her for that one, though she must have been able to sound a lot different to back up someone like Wonder in the 70s.
*Sadly, she died very young of breast cancer.
Minnie Ripperton was also the mother of Saturday Night Live’s Maya Rudolph.
Tasmin Archer sounds pretty white.
How about 11 year old Bianca Ryan?
astro, you stole mine!
I happened upon her album “Great Expectations” at a Goodwill and fell in love with it after one play. I decided I’d google her name to see her other albums, and whatdoyouknow? I discovered she’s a sista.
I’d have to say the blackest white woman is definitely Teena Marie.
Whitest black singer…Darius Rucker.
Joss Stone sounds like a middle-class English white girl to me.
Oh yeah, I forgot about her. She even said herself on America’s Got Talent that it sounds like there’s a grown-up black woman trapped inside her body.
Blackest sounding white, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.
Whitest sounding black, Kathleen Battle
Dr. John;
Second vote for Hootie.
Flipping the calculus to “who sounds White?” is difficult. Seriously, y’all think Darius Rucker sounds White? The music certainly sounds like the music a White band would play, but his voice to me is unmistakably bluesy and, well, Black-sounding. Same with Lenny.
When I hear a band like Blink-182, AFI, Sum 41, or Good Charlotte, I think “that’s a White band with a White sounding singer.” So someone who sounded like that would be on the list.
Listen to the song “Hey Leonardo (She Likes Me For Me)” by Blessid Union of Souls and it sounds similar to those bands… that’s what I consider a White-sounding Black singer.
Southside Johnny Lyon and Boxtops-era Alex Chilton sound pretty black to me.
True, Blink-182 and those others are what I would call “extreme white,” not to mention extremely annoying, so you may have a winner there - I haven’t heard that song.
Something about Darius Rucker’s articulation reminds me of Jimmy Buffett. And hasn’t he (Darius) admitted to being a student of Michael Stipe of REM?
When I was a teenager, the classic rock station used to play Joe Cocker’s rendition of “With a Little Help From My Friends”. That was the only song I ever heard sung by him. I was quite surprised years later to learn that he was 1) white, and 2) English. So surprised, in fact, that I’m surprised he hasn’t been mentioned in this thread yet. Did he do other songs where he sounds more white?
Johnny Winter sounds pretty black. And, of course, he’s the polar opposite (heh, heh). For those of you under 50, he and his brother Edgar are albinos.
You win. I simply cannot reconcile myself to this voice coming from this guy. Nope, someone clearly has made a gargantuan mistake.
Given that I just learned Sheldon was white this very moment, I’ve gotta agree. Never would I have imagined he wasn’t black.
Um, yeah, if by “Jack Sheldon” you mean “Bob Dorough.”
No, Jack Sheldon is correct. Dorough (“3 is a Magic Number”, “Lucky Seven Samson”) has a much softer voice. You can hear them singing together on “The Body Machine” number, and the difference is pretty obvious.