A few of my favorite Divas: Diana Ross, Adele, Gloria Estefan, Patsy Cline, Rihanna. I Love them all.
Who are your favortie Divas?
PS- Here is Linda ROnstadt in her early Diva life:
Jackie Evancho
Eleftheria Arvanitaki
Georgia Dagaki
And many more.
Natalie Merchant
::holds up microphone, horizontally::
Aretha Franklin
::drops microphone::
Niki Minaj, Beyonce
Pink. I love her so.
To me, '“diva” is a subset of talented female musicians that would not include Kesha and Natalie Merchant (thought I think they are both talented).
My favorites that fit my idea of diva would be Pat Benatar, Ann Wilson and maybe Taylor Swift.
All time favorite who I would not consider a diva: Chrissie Hynde (Pretenders).
My Diva is Gloria Estefan. A veteran artist that legend forever…
Oh, where to begin? Diana Ross (first and foremost, I love her music), Donna Summer, Stephanie Mills, Dottie West, Whitney Houston, Ethel Waters, Josephine Baker, Brenda Lee! I also like some of the pop and R&B divas whose voices may not quite measure up to the aforementioned, but are still great entertainers: Madonna, Rihanna, Ciara, Jody Watley, etc.
Luke, if you like Patsy Cline, you should check out Dottie West. She was a 60s country singer and friend of Patsy Cline that had a Bob Mackie diva makeover in the late 1970s and came back with a lot of verve and gusto. She also died tragically like Patsy. One of her best songs is “Are You Happy, Baby?”
Not a diva, but I can’t think of a more talented female musician than Joni Mitchell.
Somebody who has genuine talent underneath all the hype: Christina Aguilera.
Anne Lennox.
The late and great Teena Marie
My favorite female rockstars are Wendy and Lisa. A lot of people don’t know that they have accomplished a lot completely independent of Prince. I love their music.
I was thinking of Kathleen Battle, or Kiri Te Kanawa, both for their stupendous vocal talent and their reputed difficult behavior backstage.
I agree with Annie Lennox. Incredible voice. I love Roberta Flack and Carole King.
Agreed. I’m not sure the OP meant to imply that “talented female musician” was synonymous with"diva," but I’m glad you made it specific.
The term “diva” originally applied to female opera stars, and I still think of a diva as someone who has a sort of operatic quality to her performance (i.e. she can really belt out a song; she has a great vocal “instrument” and masterful control over it).
If the Wikipedia article is to be believed, the modern usage of the term “diva” owes a lot to Annie Lennox using the word as an album title.
This. The word “diva” conjures up a mode of behavior, not merely a level of talent/accomplishment.
I think “diva” implies a certain confidence (perhaps even arrogance) stage presence, and an ability to always be the center of focus, but doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with off-stage behavior. If Kathy Battle or Dame Kiri are divas, it’s because of their domination of the spotlight in performance, not any extra curriculars. Plenty of perfectly pleasant divas out there too.