Back to “falsetto”:
It occurred to me that all of today’s grotesquely autotuned voices could be labelled “fauxetto.” You may quote me.
Cee-Lo Green ?
Alison Krauss. Very distinctive and lovely voice.
Karen Carpenter. Quite possibly the best female vocalist of the 20th Century.
Annie Haslam. Lead singer for Renaissance, incredible range (5 octaves if I remember correctly).
I love her! You need some samples there.
Warning: Based on a certain thread here on the SDMB, this one will drive some people crazy.
Cranes
Anneli Drecker of Bel Canto (not such an unusual voice, but the way she uses it, with Bel Canto, as a solo artist, or working with Hector Zazou and Gerard Depardu)
Fibonaccis
(she sings like a little girl, but she’s SUPPOSED to be a little girl. A psychopathic murderous little girl.)
I could go on and on and on…
Anybody mention Peter Stampfel yet? I had dinner with the dude in Manhattan last night, after which we went back to his loft in SoHo so he could play me his latest stuff.
Peter, along with Steven Weber, were the original freak folk duo the Holy Modal Rounders back in 1963. Here’s their rendition of “Hesitation Blues” — Steve takes the first vocal, Peter and his weird voice come in after the fiddle break.
Additional coolness: This was the first commercial recording in which the word “psychedelic” was included in the lyric.
I know what Van Morrison’s voice sounds like, and I can honestly say that that song would not be nearly as compelling as an a capella solo. Also, that fact that we understand the words helps.
Here’s sopranist Phillip Jaroussky singing a Vivaldi aria. Listen to the difference between that and falsetto.
Morrissey made a career singing one note.
He’s distinctive, I’ll give you that. Not sure I’d call him a one-note singer at all (I find his vocals fairly melodic), but he does have a certain character to his voice that might give one that impression.
I just might in the future.
Also “fraudsetto”.
Sheesh - so many unusually-voiced vocalists in this thread, I wonder if there’s any usual ones left!
The raspy vibrato of Phil Collins*-y-lookin Family vocalist Roger Chapmandidn’t really do a lot for me.
*also late-60’s Richard Harris-lookin’
Has Larry Hooper already been mentioned?
Tymon Dogg
Stevie Nicks was the first one that sprang to mind. How can she be so sublime on one track and so horrifically awful on another? Her current voice is pretty bad, imo. She’s lost a great deal of her range.
A few others I didn’t see mentioned already:
And Axl Rose in his heyday.
Steve Tyler
And that singer for The Cranberries as a cool nasally thing going on, but otherwise not alot more going for her.
Blondie
Unusual in what way?
I dunno. Just distinctive and immediately recognizable. Maybe she was a bad choice.
From the Classic Rock Era, of course Robert Plant and I was thinking about Mick Jagger, although I think what makes his sound “unusual” is just his strange off-the-wall vocal stylings.
From the Grunge era I would pick Layne Staley and Shannon Hoon.
Sorry if he’s already been mentioned: Ian Curtis from Joy Division.
How could I forget Bossa Nova pioneer Joao Gilberto?
Teresa Brewer - Music Music Music
Would Meat Loaf and Pat Benatar count as “unusual” or is it how they use their 5 octave (I’ve read) range?
To me, Fred Turner of Bachman-Turner Overdrive had a growling style.
Two who I don’t think have been mentioned yet:
Jimmy Dale Gilmore
Jamey Johnson. He’s a great songwriter too.