OK, that is unusual. Like a young Kate Bush, maybe a little more technical.
Earths Kitt and Blossom Dearie have been taken, so I’m submitting Billie Holiday.
Also Bon Scott, from ACNDC, because my musical awareness doesn’t stop at 1964.
Joe Cocker.
And along the same line, Louis Armstrong.
One of the first, Vaughn Monroe. In the 30s, quite a few dance band leaders did their own vocals, irrespective of their singing voice quality.
Also, Rod Stewart
Man, I dunno what you win, but Doc wins on lyrical content. I don’t know who else can combine world politics, genocide, romantic betrayal and baseball in one song.
No, you can’t see the game
Spoilered because the video can be quite disturbing without the lyrical/vocal content.
from the Concession Stand
In a similar vein of unusual vocalization and content, I’ll nominate Hasil Adkins. No More Hot Dogs, for example. Not many people would cackle through most of a song. I doubt you can come up with a song done by Hasil that isn’t instantly recognizable as Hasil.
40 posts in and I don’t see the name of Annie Lennox?
I must be missing it …
Bonnie Tyler
Karen Carpenter (RIP)
Stevie Nicks
I was going to mention Stevie Nicks, and I would have, too, if wasn’t for that meddling Shagnastywho beat me to it.( And by “unusual” I mean sounds like a braying ass.)
How about Regina Spektor? I know lots of women seemed to adopt that kind of “little girl” whispery affectation but she’s the first one I can remember doing it (where it didn’t annoy me).
Tori Amos can make her voice do some interesting things.
And finally, my girl, Chrissie Hynde. I don’t know if her voice is even *technically *that good but she brings it like a boss (sorry, I hate that phrase but it fits her so well).
Alfalfa from the Little Rascals. He must have been pretty good, because he always won the singing contests.
Karen Carpenter?
I think in the 10,000 Maniacs days, she was using autotune, when it was a new technology.
I’ll nominate Ferron, often called the female Bob Dylan. Rough voice, rambling vocals, with something mesmerizing that keeps you listening. Real talent for a turn of phrase, and great guitar skills.
What about Karen Carpenter? Her voice isn’t unusual, exactly, but it’s singular, somehow. Uniquely soul-grabbing, and it’s what let her make hits out of horrible songs like “Close to You.” It’s also in a lower range than you’d guess from looking at her. You think she’d be one of those waif-sopranos (well, maybe not in 1970, but soprano, anyway), and she’s not.
Sure, if by unusual one means over enunciating and soulless (sorry, all you KC fans :o)
I find her dull but her voice *is *instantly recognizable.
Michael Crawford had a very unusual singing voice. Perfect for the Phantom.
Since the OP did not specify a “pleasant” singing voice…
James “Jim Dandy” Mangrum of Black Oak Arkansas.
An unusual voice always seems to be a polarizing, love-it-or-hate-it kind of thing. For me, Tom Petty and Geddy Lee are examples of the “love it” category, while Macy Gray, Bob Dylan and a few who I don’t think have been mentioned yet or just missed, like John Fogerty, Mick Jagger, and the Violent Femmes guy, are… not.
More of a question than a nomination for the thread, but do people think Dennis DeYoung of Styx has a weird voice? (He sang “Come Sail Away,” “The Best of Times,” and others- just specifying because he wasn’t their only lead singer.) I’ve been very surprised to hear people in a couple of past SDMB threads say that they can’t stand his singing. Now, while Styx was my favorite band in high school, I can certainly agree with some of the (large amounts of) criticism leveled at them, and I can see a variety of reasons people might not have ever liked them. It just never occurred to me that “Dennis DeYoung can’t sing” would be one of them, though, and it made me wonder if the love-it-or-hate-it dynamic I mentioned was at play here. I always thought that his voice was great and not weird at all. Maybe some do, though?
Maybe they mean something more along the lines of him not having a typical rocker’s voice. He’s got a voice suited more for musical theater. In fact, wasn’t the cause of the rift in the band that he wanted to go in a more theatrical direction?Anyone who says “he can’t sing” doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
If “unusual” can mean “singular”:
Steve Perry and Tina Turner
That guy from Canned Heat who sounds like Kermit the Frog. ::shudder::