The local jazz radio station (WBGO Newark) played this fantastic song yesterday, Anything Goes by Cole Porter, sung by Dakota Staton. I had to download it and listen a bunch of times yesterday and today. A couple places in the song, she bring her voice up into a sort of… musical shout… I guess it could be described as. Is that what belting is? I’d love to know if there are other singers or songs with a sound similar to this one. Listen to a short clip of the song on Amazon.
Ella Fitzgerald. Nina Simone. Abbey Lincoln.
Hm…going from that Amazon clip and some YouTubing, I wouldn’t say her style is particularly belting. A little more energy than Norah Jones or whoever, but that’s not saying much.
Amy Winehouse is probably a belter
Judy Henske definitely is
(Unless I have misunderstood the distinction, of course)
Etta James
Not really a jazz singer, but Annie Lennox has some lungs.
Cleo Laine
Interesting. Kinda bluesy. I hadn’t heard her before but she might be worth checking out.
You should definitely check out Etta James’ At Last, one of the all-time great R&B records.
More recently, Eva Cassidy can really burn it up on old jazz and gospel standards.
Hmm. I wouldn’t classify any of these as belters, really.
Betty Hutton, early Streisand, Holly Cole, Ernestine Anderson. Less jazzy but still belty are Patti Labelle, Aretha Franklin, Bette Midler, Ethel Merman, Liza Minnelli . . . I’m sure there are others.
Lena Horne could go big if she needed to.
On the male side, you’d start with Big Joe Turner - a bit bluesier, but he is the ultimate definition of a Blues Shouter. Try Shake, Rattle and Roll, but his other stuff is amazing - and vocally, he could’ve killed at opera…
Cab Callaway.
Bettye LaVette - new music out; really solid interpretations of a variety of songs.
Big Joe Turner
Ruth Brown
Ma Rainey
When Sarah Vaughan, ordinarily a subtle and intelligent singer wanted to let loose…man, Sassy could belt it.
Ethel Merman (duh)
Ruth Brown - Double DUH!! Mama, She Treats Your Daughter Mean!! 
I’m going to throw in Carmen McRae, (an underrated personal favourite) in addition to seconding just about every recommendation that’s been made here.
A lot of these singers have massive catalogues. Would anyone like to share favorite tracks or records?
For Cleo Laine, get her recording of Porgy & Bess with Ray Charles. Best version of “Summertime” ever.
Ruth Brown for sure.
For Nina Simone try Feeling Good for a mix of the Simone simmer with a dash of belting.
Shirley Bassey (of *Goldfinger * fame) could belt it out. A lot of her stuff sounds dated now, in a swingers/martini loungey kind of way, but she’s got pipes
!
For something more contemporary (and masculine) I’d go with Kurt Elling. When he started out his style was a crazy mix of vocalese, standards, scat and alot of it was loud and fast. You never were quite sure what was going to come out of his mouth! (GingerBread Boy, Hurricane). He seems to be mellowing a bit into more of a Sinatra-esque vibe, but he can still tear it up (Resolution).
Little Jimmy Scott didn’t have a necessarily powerful voice, but was able to inject a huge amount of emotion into his covers. His version of “At Last” is my favorite.
I wanted to revive this thread briefly to mention Ruby Wilson (the links at the bottom don’t work). I had to do some searching to find a CD by her, but what a voice! I think someone described her voice once as ‘a tornado in a well’, whatever that means.
Seventeen posts in and no one’s mentioned Judy Garland yet? Or did I miss it?
Get the Carnegie Hall double CD.
Yeah, I thought the same thing. Came back to go, “And, duh, I forgot to mention Judy Garland.”
Seriously, that kind of freaked me out, you mentioned Liza but not The Source Of Liza.
And speaking of which, I haven’t heard Lorna Luft sing except in Grease 2. Does she have any actual chops?