# Favorite vocal performance. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 30, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vocal-performance/583765 "2011-05-30T16:28:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vocal-performance/583765/21 "2011-05-31T02:08:37Z")
Thinking of this thread on the drive home tonight I was wondering which Beatles tune might qualify. I’m more a Lennon fan than a McCartney fan, but Paul really sings his heart out on “[Oh Darling](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8-29i_Thp8).” Yeah, I know it ain’t Pavarotti, but it’s pretty impressive. Hey, listen to “[This Boy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY-BzepTXkA).” Wow. These guys were great. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vocal-performance/583765/22 "2011-05-31T02:19:08Z")
I know this goes in the opposite direction as most of the other posts here, but when I think of great vocals, I think of Burton Cummings. Specifically, [Star Baby.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYKbTkmzRCg&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vocal-performance/583765/23 "2011-05-31T02:27:38Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I’ll see your tenor and raise you two by La Stupenda. > > [Bel Raggio Lusinghier](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3uL7N301fU), from Semiramide. This one is recorded live at La Scala in 1962. It is literally (and I mean that literally) breathtaking. At one point I actually forgot to breathe. (This is a bit long, if you want to skip the instrumental and chorus work, her part starts at about 3:12). > > [The Prayer Scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXaSlKI6hHY) from Maria Stuarda. She holds one note way past the time when anyone else’s wind would have run out, then she goes up a few notes and continues on for a while. Total 21 seconds on one breath, by my count. Ms. Sutherland was pretty freakin’ awesome, I can’t argue. I’m a baritone, and just good enough to be able to appreciate how phenomenal these performances are - how difficult, how exhausting it is to produce these sounds just standing still. Add in having to act and move around the stage, and it is completely mind-boggling. I ran across [this recording](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvuKxL4LOqc) of Diana Damrau singing the “Queen of the Night” aria from Mozart’s Magic Flute. Not necessarily a favorite performance, but a truly brilliant one - she is clearly pushing the upper limits not only of her voice, but of the human voice in general, while at the same time singing with fantastic precision. Remarkable. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vocal-performance/583765/24 "2011-05-31T03:58:12Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Ms. Sutherland was pretty freakin’ awesome, I can’t argue. > > I’m a baritone, and just good enough to be able to appreciate how phenomenal these performances are - how difficult, how exhausting it is to produce these sounds just standing still. Add in having to act and move around the stage, and it is completely mind-boggling. > > I ran across [this recording](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvuKxL4LOqc) of Diana Damrau singing the “Queen of the Night” aria from Mozart’s Magic Flute. Not necessarily a favorite performance, but a truly brilliant one - she is clearly pushing the upper limits not only of her voice, but of the human voice in general, while at the same time singing with fantastic precision. Remarkable. Wow. That is magnificent. I’ve heard a lot of good Queens of the Night, but I don’t think I’ve seen it performed that often, and her acting was right up there with her singing. In spite of the great singing and acting, though, I couldn’t get away from this thought: what a great drag outfit that would make! Talk about your queens of the night! Roddy ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vocal-performance/583765/25 "2011-05-31T10:57:40Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > In spite of the great singing and acting, though, I couldn’t get away from this thought: what a great drag outfit that would make! Talk about your queens of the night! > Roddy _wipes keyboard_ ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vocal-performance/583765/26 "2011-05-31T12:12:49Z")
**Marvin Gaye** - Heard it Through the Grapevine **Aretha Franklin** - do I have to pick? Natural Woman? Rock Steady? Till You Come Back to Me? This is the House that Jack Built? They move me. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vocal-performance/583765/27 "2011-05-31T13:00:03Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > I’m tempted to try to find a YouTube clip of a Sinatra tune, but the first thing that popped in mind on reading the title was [Ricky Skaggs - Talk About Suffering](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMGbCUXqWN0) and I’m not all that big a fan of the genre. But perfection in singing can’t be far from this one! Ha! The first thing that popped into my head was a Frank Sinatra recording – “Prisoner of Love” off of the album _Sinatra & Strings_. It may not be my favorite vocal performance, ever, across the board (I don’t know what is), but it is my favorite Sinatra performance, hands down. He put his soul into that song. ---
**Author:** ![Dietrich\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@Dietrich\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dietrich_K)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vocal-performance/583765/28 "2011-05-31T13:07:06Z")
For sheer emotional impact, it would have to, for me, be one of these three: **Jennifer Holliday** - [“And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtnKI3ztz9w) **Kate Bush** - [“This Woman’s Work”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TupvVpxY_U) **Johnny Cash** - [“Hurt”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o22eIJDtKho) But probably the single greatest vocal performance I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing, based on pure vocal prowess and technique, is Steve Marriott’s in **Humble Pie** ’s [“Black Coffee”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqsMKvkzdwc). ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vocal-performance/583765/29 "2011-05-31T15:44:47Z")
In the blues realm: Ruby Wilson (The Queen of Beale Street) singing almost anything, but [A Song For You](http://free.napster.com/ruby-wilson-music/album/a-song-for-you/13224944) (scroll down to #3) and _A Change is Gonna Come_ really show what she is capable of. Nina Simone singing [Feeling Good](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8tuTSi6Sck). ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vocal-performance/583765/30 "2011-05-31T16:03:05Z")
[Cactus Cuties singing the Star-Spangled Banner.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKCVS57j284) I dare 5 other people to sing any country’s anthem better…I double dare ya! ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vocal-performance/583765/31 "2011-05-31T16:18:01Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > **Marvin Gaye** - Heard it Through the Grapevine > **Aretha Franklin** - do I have to pick? Natural Woman? Rock Steady? Till You Come Back to Me? This is the House that Jack Built? > > They move me. My pick, too. My favorite was when she filled in last minute for Pavarotti on some awards show (Grammies?) and sang the living crap out of Nessun Dorma. Don’t know if opera buffs approved, but I loved it. Also, Patty Griffin’s Up to the Mountain, k.d.lang’s live performance of [Hallelujah](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_NpxTWbovE), Stevie Winwood’s Pearly Queen, Leon Russell’s Song to You and Merry Clayton’s bit in Gimme Shelter. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vocal-performance/583765/32 "2011-05-31T17:19:42Z")
Torch songs: [All The Way](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFLL26aKr5w), done by Jimmy Scott. ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vocal-performance/583765/33 "2011-05-31T22:10:57Z")
With a little time I might think of something different, but the first thing I thought of was this spontaneous rendition of [“Come And Go Blues”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T75YklbUXj8). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vocal-performance/583765.md?page=1)