Luther Vandross - his album of nothing but cover songs is one of my favorite
Allison Krauss - she has a beautiful, clear voice and she resists doing vocal acrobatics, which I really appreciate
Elvis Presley - He could soften it up or belt it out, all with a great bluesy feel. No one else on the planet could have pulled off “In the Ghetto” without making it sound glurgy. But he could.
I do love Shelleyan Orphan.
Women:
Patsy Cline
Annie Lennox
Alison Krauss
Men:
Nat Cole
Neil Young (yeah. well, I like him, what can I say)
Aaron Neville
…also the This Mortal Coil songs she did, especially the Syd Barret “Late Night”.
Ella Fitzgerald
Nat “King” Cole
(early) Barbra Streisand
Nate King Cole
Annie Haslam - Lead singer for Renaissance a very pure voice but not so pure as to be as sterile as Joan Baez - who is also a singer I admire.
Sandy Denny - For those in the know, she worked extensively with Richard Thompson with Fairport Convention and Fotheringay - the following is well worth a listen. This is a thing of great beauty.
You’ll notice that all these vocalists could do it live, with no effects, overdubs, echo or any other form of enhancement.
I would have liked to include Dinah Washington, Maggie Reilly, Pet Clark, Matt Monroe, but since we only get three…
oh, by the way, if you copy and paste the following at the end of a music youtube link you often get a getter sound &fmt=18’at
Excellent nominations. I have to do a :smack: for not coming up with these immediately myself-so totally obvious and deserving. Great tip to get HQ sound as well.
Joni Mitchell
Joan Armatrading
Freddy Mercury
Theres more (I do love Nat King Cole) but those were the 1st 3 that popped in my head!
Chrissie Hynde
Art Garfunkel
Steve Perry
Britt Daniels of Spoon - The Underdog
Ryan Adams - The Hardest Part * I wish I could find a better quality version of this
Justin Vernon of Bon Iver - Skinny Love
Technically, these guys may be no great shakes. But they always sound genuine and heartfelt to me, and that’s what I really get into.
Robin Zander
Ian Gillen
Robin Zander
Nice to see Alison Krauss mentioned a few times…she is great.Art Garfunkel also,he was born to sing.
The first three that popped into my mind were:
Jim Morrison - Yeah, I know he doesn’t have much range but his voice is quite haunting and he can primal scream with the best of them.
Carole King - Something soothing and mellow about her, especially on the Tapestry album.
Roger Daltry - Great, great rock and roll energy and compassion.
I understood the OP to be asking about pure vocals because if the question were about my favorite recording artists, my answers would be completely different. Why early? What changed and what was the demarcation point? Tony Bennett, I think, once said something along the lines, that if you can’t sing when you get older then you never could sing, you were just a stylist. I agree with him, if you can sing, you can sing.
Barbra Streisand’s style has changed dramatically over the years. When she was young, she sang with a more jazz-oriented inflection, with a much stronger tone, and–most importantly–with a sense of humor. For the last 20 years or so, she’s sung like a tired, old, bored woman–she sounds like someone who’s never heard of jazz. HUGE difference. Her first couple of albums are very entertaining, distinctly classics; everything else she’s ever done is insipid and boring.
Phonebook singers:
Aretha Franklin-From her earlier days with Bridge Over Trouble Water to Nessun Dorma (let’s forget about the inauguration performance though)
Tom Waits- Train Song is his most superb piece with his heartwrench vocals. His songwriting is amazing, but his voice seals the deal.
Angela McCluskey-She’s got a bit of Bille Holiday’s squeaky trumpet voice but she’s able to do the happy. Here’s “It’s Been Done”
Strictly singing?
Elvis
Lyle Lovett
Bruce Springsteen
Luke Kelly - world class, like stpauler says a phonebook singer. Deeply passionate voice that few can match. Realised just how magnificent he is when hearing Sinead O’Connor covering some of his songs. Sinead has the voice of an angel, but she’s no Luke Kelly. - the voice of God.
Will Oldham - other end of the spectrum, not a class voice by any means but uniquely moving and beautiful. His songwriting and performances are clearly top drawer, but it’s his underrated voice that really makes it. Good to listen to his early stuff versus his later works and see how his singing has improved - some very raw attempts early on in his career (which I think I still prefer).
Mark E. Smith - different spectrum entirely, ie not a singing one. One of the most distinctive and enduring voices in modern music, could probably be recognised from a single syllable, and The Fall’s last album doesn’t sound too dissimilar from their first of nearly 30 years ago. He is not appreciated.
WRT Elton John:
Over the years his voice has taken a lot of abuse. He performed innumerable concerts, and I understand he always gave folks their money’s worth in terms of length and energy. Remember that he was incredibly popular in the mid-70’s. There was no such thing as too many Elton John concerts - no matter how many he performed, they’d sell out. Years of cocaine abuse probably didn’t help matters. Elton had an AMAZING voice. Unfortunately, it’s rare that a singer can perform for decades without adverse effect. I suppose (not being a trained singer myself) that a skilled, trained, healthy, and lucky singer can retain there voice longer, and continue to use whatever voice they retain to good effect.
Watching older Youtube vids of Elton, and comparing them to newer ones, it’s easy to see his voice has changed. Wikipediasay’s he’s gone from a tenor to a baritone. It’s good to see that he still puts forth a strong effort, and his performances are still quite enjoyable - they’re just not the same. I would hazard a guess that the demarcation point for Elton’s vocal changes would be in the mid 1980’s, as he had polyps removed from his vocal cords in 1986. He was still in fine voice in 1982 when he performed “Empty Garden” on Saturday Night Live.
Empty Garden Video (SNL footage unavailable)
Respect to Mr. Bennett’s ability and longevity(I’m a fan as well), but his voice has also changed somewhat. He just wears it *exceptionally *well. 
Elton, younger:
Elton, older:
Neil Diamond. Dude could definitely sing when he was young, but his voice is now shot.
Neil, younger:
Neil, older:
Sure, both Elton and Neil can still sing, but clearly, they don’t sound the same as they did 20-30 years ago.
Karen Carpenter
John Denver
Alison Krauss