I’ll go with Elvis, Freddie Mercury, and Steve Perry as male vocalists I think were fantastic. Power, finesse, range, feeling – the complete package.
For the ladies, K.D. Lang is sensational. There’s a woman who could sing the phonebook and make it sound like the greatest song ever. I also get goosebumps from young, drug-free Whitney Houston, and I’ll add Celine Dion into the mix as well – as she’s gotten older she has gone more and more towards oversinging everything, but in her younger days she had great touch to go with the power and her tone just really works for me (too bad most of her song choices are such crap).
Celine’s versions of ‘The Power Of Love’ and ‘It’s All Coming Back To Me Now’ are two of my all-time favourite vocal performances. I still like her more recent stuff but vocally I think she peaked with those songs.
I’ll add a hometown cheer for Kelly Hogan, who fronted the Jody Grind. Amazing pipes on that broad. And another wonderful singer very few people will know: Dave Marr of a little-known, now-defunct band called the Star Room Boys. If you love Johnny Cash/Conway Twitty/etc, check them out.
It really bugs me how much I like “The Power of Love” as well. That song is so over-the-top hokey, it really has no business putting a lump in my throat – but Celine’s vocal turns a mediocre Air Supply single into a tour de force.
My favourite song of Celine’s is “With This Tear” from her self-titled second english album. The song was written by Prince and is poignant, tragic, and perfectly performed, with just the right amount of emotion and finesse.
This is who I came in to mention, her voice is hauntingly beautiful. Honorable mention goes to 1990’s Tori Amos, though hers is a much different kind of beautiful.
For the guys, I have to second Otis Redding and Roy Orbison. Honorable mention goes to Damien Rice.
Wait… just because Joni Mitchell is one of the greatest songwriters who ever lived, as well as one of the greatest musicians, that’s no reason to deny her the credit she deserves for having (at one time, before the smoking finally killed it) one of the most perfect, exquisite, pure voices that pop music has ever seen. (Not to mention the range! Is there a term for an alto soprano?!)
And Grace Slick is shit. Watch the rest of that Cavett show that Joni was on with CSNY and JA - compare her to Joni. JA starts around 7 minutes.