Ooh! This thread keeps delivering treasures. She’s Dutch?
And K’s choice, whose singer Sarah Bettens comes from Belgium. She has the most deliciously husky dramatic voice.
Emmylou Harris…gawd, I’ve been in love with the woman & the voice for 30 years or more.
Bonnie Raitt…not a classically beautiful voice, but a perfect blues voice
Ian Tyson…Canadian folk singer, of Welsh descent with a classical Welsh baritone before illness damaged his vocal cords
George Donaldson…The Scottish lead singer for Celtic Thunder
This post with links better fits this thread. Seriously, I know people are tired of me not shutting up about her, but I can’t, I just can’t. It’s hard to get a voice much more perfect and beautiful. And her music is interesting and original And her lyrics are thoughtful and phychological and fascinating (certainly to me) AND she’s an amazing person with an interesting backstory. And she’s one of the most decent, nicest people I’ve ever known. So, forgive me please, but it must be done.
Yep, former lead singer for The Gathering, now with her own band, Agua de Annique. For a real treat, track down The Gathering’s album, “Sleepy Buildings”, it really highlights Anneke’s voice.
Gotta add Brian (in his prime) and Carl Wilson, and Justin Hayward
Hmm, think I’ll nominate Guy Garvey of Elbow.
That’s probably true, but when he was good, he was damn good.
I wasn’t deliberately going for a Who connection. The only bits of her The Who Sell Out I’ve heard have been live clips on youtube. I love her voice on the studio recordings; not powerful or overly processed, just warm and clear and very human sounding.
a cappella covers can really bring out a voice sometimes. Ever hear The Bobs cover of White Room back when Janie Bob sang lead on it? In person, she could belt out that song and lay waste to entire villages.
I think Marilyn McCoo has a perfect voice.
Eva Cassidy had a great voice.
Some of you know that the OP is asking for perfect/beautiful voices, not your favourite singers, right?
I am becoming very impressed with Adele - I’m thinking about looking into a whole album by her. I’d also have to second k.d. lang - I can’t think of anyone who has a smoother voice than she has.
Darryl Hall back in the day was a phenomenal singer.
Another vote for Annie Lennox. “Into the West” (the closing song from “Return of the King”) came up on my iPhone earlier today. That song, and her performance, can bring tears to my eyes.
Too many choices to narrow it down.
female voices would be Patsy Cline, Sinead O’Connor, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand. Male voice would be Roy Orbison, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, and Otis Redding.
Trying to think of people who could sing without any background music and sound good.
Okay, I’m trying to stick to the OP here as best I can, so here are some who I think have perfect voices as opposed to voices I like because of other reasons (so that’s Madonna and Neil Tennant out). Note that these people don’t always sing like angels (Michael Jackson and George Michael especially can do both “pure” and “dirty” singing really well).
George Michael (perhaps my favourite male voice, check out his incredible cover of Stevie Wonder’s ‘They Won’t Go When I Go’)
Boy George
Michael Jackson
Annie Lennox
Kate Bush
Björk (when she’s not singing all throaty and gravelly on purpose that is)
Mariah Carey (in the early years)
Agnetha & Frida from ABBA
kd lang sang Hallelujah on a pokey awards night thing that was telecast here a year or so back. I got goosebumps, then tears. I figured I was just tired. Saw it replayed the following morning, in the cold harsh light of day. More goosebumps, more tears. What an incredible beautiful and perfect voice.
What no Johnny Cash?
Left out Melissa Etheridge in my choices. I’d rate Sinead O’connor the most pleasing voice of any of them though.
Minnie Riperton had range.
Why no pre-Bobby Whitney Houston? Remember “I Will Always Love You”?
If you want to include folk singers, how about Jean Redpath?
Oh, come on! I admire Bowie as a songwriter, as a performer, as a cultural entrepreneur, and even as a (sometimes) expressive and creative vocal stylist (and no doubt this list of his talents could be extended), but a “beautiful/perfect voice”? You’ve got to be kidding!!
Somebody also mentioned Van Morisson, who is is 1,000 times the vocalist that Bowie is. But again, his genius is in the expressiveness and range of expressiveness of his voice (and the control he has over it). Its sound in itself it is very far from beautiful or perfect (although he does beautiful things with it).