I was listening to NPR the other day, and they interviewed a singer who preformed in the sixties. She’s just put a new album out. She’s got a lovely cracked and smoky voice, but she used to have a voice that was clear as a bell. NPR played just a snippet of her old music, and that was all.
I got bored and swung the dial. Passed a few hip hop stations and disturbingly many religious programs before stopping at classic rock. Led Zeppelin was shrieking Whole Lotta Love, and, since there wasn’t anything else on, I listened to Plant go on about wanting to knock boots with some random woman.
It occurred to me, slowly, that I never hear women sing on the classic rock channels. Except for Janis Joplin, of course, although she’s only sung one song in her entire career, apparently. I began to toss around the idea of maybe listening to the classic rock channel for an entire 24 hours and writing down every song sung by a woman. I would then put together all of this evidence and write someone a strongly worded letter. Not wanting to torture myself, I discarded the idea.
So then I decided that I wanted to listen to all these voices that are now silent. That’s where you guys come in. I don’t know where to start, and I don’t have a lot of money to kick around. Are there any compilations that I can listen to? Any samples on the web? Give me singer names, and band names, and tell me what it sounds like to you.
It’s not really clear what you’re looking for. Do you want classic rock bands with female singers? Do you want just anything you’re not hearing on the radio?
Jefferson Airplane
Fairport Convention (Sandy Denny did harmony vocals on Battle of Evermore)
Half of Motown!
the aforesaid Marianne Faithfull
Dusty Springfield
Linda Ronstadt
Joni Mitchell
The Go-Gos
Bananarama
Well, the thing I like about a lot of female artists is the way they they’re not so easily pigeonholed. They take elements from all styles and put them together quite nicely. So, these might not all be “rock” per se, but they all have elements of rock in their music.
Anyway:
Joni Mitchell
Kate Bush
Blondie
Pat Benatar
Laurie Anderson
Heart
Jefferson Starship
Jane Siberry
Cher :eek:
Sugarcubes (Bjork’s old band)
Tom Tom Club
Just occurred to me to check my iPod. In addition to the previous two (and ones mentioned by others):
Ann & Nancy Wilson
Belinda Carlyle
Bonnie Tyler
Captain & Tennille
Carla Thomas
Carol & Cheryl
The Chiffons
Crystal Gayle
The Crystals
Cyndi Lauper
Darlene Love
Debbie Gibson
Debby Boone
The Delicates / Bernadette Carroll
Diana Ross / Supremes
Dionne Warwick
Dodie Stevens
Donna Summer
Eartha Kitt
The Elegants
The Emotions
The Exciters
Gloria Estefan
Gloria Gaynor
Jo Ann Campbell
Juice Newton
Katrina & The Waves
Kim Wilde
Laura Branigan
Madonna
The Manhattan Transfer
Marilyn McCoo
Martha & The Vandellas
The Marvelettes
Melissa Manchester
Olivia Newton-John
Patti Austin
Phranc
Rose Royce
The Shangri-Las
Sheena Easton
The Shirelles
Thelma Houston
Toni Basil
The Trammps
Vicki Sue Robinson
Whitney Houston
Wilson Phillips
Yvonne Ellman