Some guidelines and rules...
Rules
Singers must have started their recording careers no earlier than 1953, and no later than 1993.
What is POP music?
That umbrella including folk, rock, r&b, black, white, soft, loud, all the latter day sub genres of those disciplines. In other words, every kind of popular music, from Leslie Gore to Lou Reed.
Singers must have some relevance to the popular culture.They must have either been played on the radio, worked professionally, discussed in media during their own lifetimes, achieved some notoriety so that their name was, is known among musicians and/or the population at large.
Some scenarios..
Robert Johnson is a good example. If no one really heard of him during his lifetime, if his work was not re-recorded and he was not played on radio or performed regularly in public, if he was not heard during his lifetime, he did not influence the music that evolved after him. If he was discovered forty years later, and imitated, then the case can be made that he directly influenced music, as long as the imitation is obvious. If the imitation is not direct, it is a case of inspiration, and this is not what we are calculating here.
Billie Holiday is another example. She has been imitated by a very successful young singer. Perhaps the case could be made, if one argued that this popular singer has been influential herself for over fifteen years, that Billie Holiday is directly influential on pop music today. ) Again, I am looking more for the influences started with the discovery, more or less, of rock n roll, as I personally think Sinatra is the King, but he will not be on my list, since his career begins long before 1953. )
If JJ Kingbaum taught Bob Dylan how to write poems, JJ Kingbaum did not influence music, Dylan did. We do not know JJ, he did not record, and he is not who we listened to. In this context, we are looking for the names of people you think had an influence on the way songs are sung, the way people listen, they way writers write. The obscure singers guide may be another sporting event... we shall see.
Guidelines
No more than three sentences to explain your choice. Give us the list, just a bit of background.
Here are some guidelines to use when thinking this through...remembering that all singers are derived from what came before them, and that this list is not a list of best or better, but a calculation, a summation of your view of which voices seem to have influenced waves of other voices, what tones or vowels has history has brought forward, what are the threads each new generation uses to weave its tapestry of sound?
When you do this work you may be surprised who you come up with. Youngsters may not even know that they have taken the tone of Buddy Holly, or Aretha Franklin, may not know their names. It is for you to correctly gage history, our musical history.
So much music journalism, under the influence of publicists, products, under pressure to conform, impress, deliver, or, simply due to lack of knowledge, rewrite history from a vantage point that does not recognized the truth, ignores unpopular names and opts for the more cooler version. You write it now, and remember, this is not your favorite list, this is the list of whose voice has affected pop music? Is Madonna on your list? How bout buffy St Marie? Why? In three sentences. Use your before, during and after. Our history is our culture. Let’s write it for ourselves.
Before, During, and After
Did their style exist before they appeared?
If so, how did they impact it? If not, how many people today sing, in some manner, like this singer?
Did they have an impact on their own time? Where they impactful during?
Do you hear elements of their style now? What elements are unique to them? (The elements that make your artist unique... even though they have been taken up by somany singers, or so much of the culture.)
Dylan first two words of a sentence use two notes, half spoken, it’s his trademark. How is this heard today? Do you hear it? Has it been edified so much that it is a new thing entirely?
If your singers style is unique, yet they seem to bare some resemblance to an older singer, one not as clearly impactful on the POP music of today, mention the mentor. It is a chance to show how even the most unique have roots in others. This is good. (For instance, say you voted for Tom Waits, but noted his voice bore some resemblance to Louis Armstrong. You would note this after his name).
Copyright © 2011 Double D in LA.
46 comments:
Regarding two lyricists who have had an impact on pop music in so far that they've added comedy and irony to their work, and have influenced others to do the same,
I'd like to mention Mose Allison and Tom Waits. In Allison's song Average Middle Class White Boy, this line always brings a smile to my face: "And when I'm on my motorbike, I'm like Atilla the Hun." Waits cleverly uses this line to throw a curve ball at all the believers out there in Come On Up to The House: "Get down off that cross, we can use the wood."
I think that little-known Jane Siberry (now Issa) is one of the most original and experimental singers in pop music today. Her ever-evolving repertoire and unique style has moved (not unlike RLJ) in so many different directions. Her vision and voice are both wonderfully clear and pure.
Another is Kate Bush, who has always pushed boundaries with her beautiful song writing and wonderful voice. She does not compromise, (has only toured once in her life) and still manages to sell millions of albums.
Jane, Kate and Rickie have all had their imitators, but they remain the true original lights.
This might be a shoe-in: Joni Mitchell
Clearly a student of folk music, she made the personal poetic and helped define the late 60s and early 70s. Her early lyrics inspired legions of singer-songwriters in subsequent decades. I wasn't alive then, but I believe that she was technically very innovative, with "Court and Spark" challenging some of the structural and harmonic parameters of pop. Oh, I'm failing this assignment.
Oh, and of course, Rickie Lee Jones, who I vote for as poet laureate of the universe.
Ah, I have never been one who could stick to the rules, and so I defy them to address some earlier and, I believe, deeply influential artists.
Louis Prima. A voice like a raspy saw, but a heart filled with musical poetry. His voical range was limited, but his trumpet lifted those notes to the stratosphere. He was brash and brilliant, and wrote music at a time when pop was synonomous with swing and fun and energetic appeal. Hard to hear him without tapping, rapping, wiggling, or just singing along, he can lift the most melancholy of spirits on the darkest of days. While Louis Armstrong, another giant of the swing band, brought black jazz to a wider public, Prima enhanced his sound with an Italian sensibility, yet was a pioneer in advocating for racial equality in the arts. His work, his vocal stylings as direct as his trumpet and as clear as a bell, even his songs continued to get play and cover. His stage act with Keely Smith, one part banter to two parts musical genius, have been copied by married musical teams including Sonny and Cher. Too sad that so many now believe the brilliant and funny "Just a Gigalo" could have been written by David Lee Roth, who couldn't improve upon the song, only cover it. That beautiful and direct approach to a note he used, charging each tone like an enemy position, reminds me of early Rickie stylings, when her voice was a bright and brilliant as a newly-minted copper penny.
My second: Again, too early but still influential, I point to the incomparable Miss Peggy Lee. Her detractors only see another Doris Day, only with more sultry and less of a public image, but she was more, so much more. When women didn't write the songs they performed, Peggy Lee did. She was instrumental in composing so much of the work she recorded, and in arranging those pieces she did not. At a time when no one would include spoken lyrics within a written song, Peggy Lee recorded "Is That All There Is", among the most moving and melancholy songs of the sixties, capturing an era as it closed, reflecting and regretting. Yet when necessary, she could call on her inner vamp and slide her way through "Fever", using her voice like a flexible hammer to hit those high notes. Her artistic heirs are too many to list, but I hear Carole King and Aretha Franklin in her; she set the stage for women to be sexy and sultry, but never ever any man's fool.
Finally, I present Dionne Warwick. Some nights, I sit with a son, who squalls through his own infant dark night of the soul -- mournful, longing, empty -- and rock with him and with the music of Dionne as written by Bachrach. My rocking chair drums out a rhythm as soothing as a stroll down an empty street, and I sing "Message to Michael" while I stroke his back. By the end of the first verse, he is silent, wondering, listening, calm, the order of his world restored. That is the beauty of a truly perfect song; that it can take us through pain and sorrow to a place of peace and contentment, and Dionne's music reflects it. The music and words were not her own, but then again, they were. Only she could open them, express them, inhabit the song in a way that no one else can really surpass. Her voice could slide expertly down a glissando or brush a note in passing with such grace and tenderness. While she never tended toward the more rebellious musical expressions of the sixties toward the war in Vietnam, that pain has a place in her music as well; "Windows of the World" and "Say a Little Prayer" are more personal reflections of separation, loss, agony, and pain than the pyrotechnical work of the Woodstock generation, but no less moving for that. Her spiritual decendents are also legion, emcompassing everyone from Sarach McLaughlin and Joni Mitchell to the women who populate the Lilith Fair every year.
Ah, I have never been one who could stick to the rules, and so I defy them to address some earlier and, I believe, deeply influential artists.
Louis Prima. A voice like a raspy saw, but a heart filled with musical poetry. His voical range was limited, but his trumpet lifted those notes to the stratosphere. He was brash and brilliant, and wrote music at a time when pop was synonomous with swing and fun and energetic appeal. Hard to hear him without tapping, rapping, wiggling, or just singing along, he can lift the most melancholy of spirits on the darkest of days. While Louis Armstrong, another giant of the swing band, brought black jazz to a wider public, Prima enhanced his sound with an Italian sensibility, yet was a pioneer in advocating for racial equality in the arts. His work, his vocal stylings as direct as his trumpet and as clear as a bell, even his songs continued to get play and cover. His stage act with Keely Smith, one part banter to two parts musical genius, have been copied by married musical teams including Sonny and Cher. Too sad that so many now believe the brilliant and funny "Just a Gigalo" could have been written by David Lee Roth, who couldn't improve upon the song, only cover it. That beautiful and direct approach to a note he used, charging each tone like an enemy position, reminds me of early Rickie stylings, when her voice was a bright and brilliant as a newly-minted copper penny.
My second: Again, too early but still influential, I point to the incomparable Miss Peggy Lee. Her detractors only see another Doris Day, only with more sultry and less of a public image, but she was more, so much more. When women didn't write the songs they performed, Peggy Lee did. She was instrumental in composing so much of the work she recorded, and in arranging those pieces she did not. At a time when no one would include spoken lyrics within a written song, Peggy Lee recorded "Is That All There Is", among the most moving and melancholy songs of the sixties, capturing an era as it closed, reflecting and regretting. Yet when necessary, she could call on her inner vamp and slide her way through "Fever", using her voice like a flexible hammer to hit those high notes. Her artistic heirs are too many to list, but I hear Carole King and Aretha Franklin in her; she set the stage for women to be sexy and sultry, but never ever any man's fool.
Finally, I present Dionne Warwick. Some nights, I sit with a son, who squalls through his own infant dark night of the soul -- mournful, longing, empty -- and rock with him and with the music of Dionne as written by Bachrach. My rocking chair drums out a rhythm as soothing as a stroll down an empty street, and I sing "Message to Michael" while I stroke his back. By the end of the first verse, he is silent, wondering, listening, calm, the order of his world restored. That is the beauty of a truly perfect song; that it can take us through pain and sorrow to a place of peace and contentment, and Dionne's music reflects it. The music and words were not her own, but then again, they were. Only she could open them, express them, inhabit the song in a way that no one else can really surpass. Her voice could slide expertly down a glissando or brush a note in passing with such grace and tenderness. While she never tended toward the more rebellious musical expressions of the sixties toward the war in Vietnam, that pain has a place in her music as well; "Windows of the World" and "Say a Little Prayer" are more personal reflections of separation, loss, agony, and pain than the pyrotechnical work of the Woodstock generation, but no less moving for that. Her spiritual decendents are also legion, emcompassing everyone from Sarach McLaughlin and Joni Mitchell to the women who populate the Lilith Fair every year.
Bobby Darin (he put the smack in mack the knife -- his cover of Hey Jude will make you sigh, and ended his career singing Dylan) (M. Bubble is just a pretender, though he tries.)
Ann & Nancy Wilson (maybe they are catty corner to Joplin meets Slick -- but they are there own singers)
Pat Benatar
Cyndi Lauper
Gladys Knight (that woman blew me out of my seat three years ago, had it before Grapevine and still has it.}
Dusty Springfield
Frankie Valli
Nina Simone
Sam Cooke (has there been or will there me anyone smoother?)
Paul McCartney
Tom Jones (I think there's something in the water in Wales, that make voices of power and resonance)
Elvis Costello (So he sings a hair off, but he's on when he does it. That doesn't mean all those that follow him, get away with it. They don't. I hear them, but their names escape me now.)
Barry White (who coulda thunk him up? Don't think, just lay back and go with the flow)
Elvis
David Byrne
Kate Bush
Chaka Khan
Bob Dylan
Pete Townshend
Chrissy Hynde
Etta James
Stevie Nicks
Neil Young
Tom Waitts
Rickie Lee Jones (Last but not least. I hear Laura Nyro and Nina Simone and others in her past, but she is herself, though Shawn Colvin, Feist, and many others have leaned to her key.)
Actually, the above I realize is a wish list of influencers.
Can't follow rules well either, here are a few..In no particular order
Bonnie Raitt
That Slide Guitar, That Voice
The Subdudes
Motown meets N.O. Town
Joni Mitchell
Revolutionary....Still........
Tom Rush
One of a kind, first recorder of Joni's Circle game?
Satchmo
"Oh what a wonderful woild"
Van Morrison
VAN THE MAN, "Into the Mystic" and EVERYTHING ELSE
Not to be partial, but Rickie Lee, Rickie Lee
"Do you like it like that? I Do." Nuff Said.
Keb Mo' for sho.....
No jumping through hoops here to get make the point ...
Nina Simone is (still) this year's black. Add her.
Joni Mitchell. She wrote "Both Sides Now". Geez, did a human being actually write that song?? For that alone--add her.
"Sunshine On My Shoulders" by John Denver still one the most universally despised songs by every fine-tuned ear. Add him in spite of the status quo.
Michael Jackson. Freak. Turn on the t.v. or the radio. He's still here. "Human Nature"--still lovely ... add him.
Van Morrison growling on "Listen to the Lions".
Of course. No one like him, before or after. Add that.
Aimee Mann's barbed alto complaints like some jilted Karen Carpenter. Had she'd not been so cloudy, she'd have a "Greatest Hits" collection as sunny, consistent and impressive as Sheryl Crow's. Scratch or add? Can't decide.
Prefab Sprout's "Dublin" and "Appetite" (a genius songwriter's version of "Papa Don't Preach"). Very influential band. Add them.
U2, very influential, has yet to write a standard. Scratch that. No wait! Ever band's singer cops Bono's phrasing. Every guitarist cops Edge's chiming guitar riffs. Add them.
Annie Lennox. Always classy and accessible. For at least two decades now. Add her.
Cyndi Lauper--culture seems to be moving her into the "Legend" column. Why? "Time After Time"--one of the greats. I don't know if I agree. Let me think about it.
Martin Bernard's soulful tenor and Thom Yorke's golden little lost boy voice ... Radiohead--very influential--add them.
Sorry, but that's all I could think of. I'm going to go take 2 aspirin and put on Yma Sumac.
Okay, gonna try and follow the format here but start with "AFTER "first ! :
JOHN MARTYN has never gotten the attention and accolades that Nick Drake has, but has quietly influenced a whole generation of gifted English & Irish artists ;beth orton, gemma hayes,paul weller, mark hollis,portishead, eric clapton ...even Beck has covered a track and his Sea Change album was definitely a nod to John.I have been surprised at just how many great artists have name checked him over the years, it's really reassuring !
BEFORE JOHN : english folk music in the sixties was very traditional,austere, serious and bore no resemblance to what could be called pop.
DURING:John literally turned "folk" on it's ear,adding dub effects,jazz phrasing,singing in a bluesy and soulful growl and adding a lot of melody...basically creating his "own" sound which has yet to be really duplicated.
SCOTT WALKER too has influenced a ton of people over the years yet only started getting acclaim for it recently.He is namechecked and worshipped by everyone from Duffy( she said he was her favorite singer), to Ian McCulloch of Echo and the Bunnymen,to Nick Cave . He has a really beautiful,dramatic and rainswept voice ! And his influence on these guys extends not only to the vocals but but to the over the top 60's style production on some of their tracks...and of course Ian McCulloch of Echo and the B's vocal style was a huge influence on Coldplay's Chris Martin, though I am pretty sure a lot of Coldplay fans don't realize ! Amazing to think that Scott's influence has colored some million-sellers yet he himself is not necessarily world famous.And want to add that Sandy Denny, Chaka, Laura and RICKIE (of course !)are my faves of all time .
I was born in 1957...the singers who have been most influential to my ears are (in no particular order): Robert Plant, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, Emmylou Harris, and RICKIE LEE JONES. No explanation necessary!
Using his voice like an instrument, placing it in the front of the song and laying in a musical hammock whether it be reminiscent of meditating on sesame street, or sitting next to a coney island haunted house on a bus, Harry Neilson influenced none other than the Beatles during the peak of their creative cycle as a band. Many singers such as Mike Patton and Rahzel pay tribute to him by leading their own form of pop into the realm of endless song creation by way of tackling just a certain texture in their voice and than creating a song around it. All groups who create music for music sake and have ended up on the radio one way or another owe a thank you to him for breaking open the ears of the public and making the consensus view of the general public more broad. People like, The Beatles, Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt, Radio Head, Rage Against the Machine, Frank Zappa, King Crimson, and Geddy Lee.
I am very hard of hearing these days, but there are a few voices who still lift the hair on the back of my neck: Sam Cooke, Art Garfunkel, Marvin Gaye. A little known singer from 60s an 70s: Judy Mayhan. Rickie Lee Jones' plaintive tone always makes me want to invite someone to sit in my lap for a hug.
What about Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan? Wholely original, influential across genres, utterly unimitable.
Van Morrison
The soulfulness, the improvisation, the repetition, the tenderness and just the full human banquet be delivers...Thom Yorke, Sinead O'Connor, Rickie Lee Jones: many I believe influenced under the star of Van Morrison. He's all over the place exploring genres from pop to blues to folk to r and b and it all works in my book. Opens him up to more people. Not afraid to delve into the spiritual. Veedon Fleece, Astral Weeks yes and the prolific output just continues.
Laura Nyro
Yeah I just think she created this new map that opened up all kinds of avenues, not following any formula but her own muse, her own inutition and passion (Tom Cat Goodbye); her ability to tap into Gospel and torch song within one album is such a gift and I hear her celebrations and her sadness everywhere, on the radio, on the streets.
Nina Simone
I have to put Nina on the 3 top influential singers because she did it all, the funky, the sassy, the dramatic, the spiritual, the percussive (See Lime Woman...See Lime!); the sexy, the jazz and all from her incredibly real and present voice. I am a huge Meshell Nedegeocello fan and I see links here. Unafraid to hit those low notes, to sing that witty remark. Rickie Lee Jones, MeShell Negeocello, NIna Simone...a trinity of glorious, beautiful, cosmic and eternal musics.
Add John Gorka to the list, gotta be one of the best ,wittiest, turn of the phrase folk/acoustic genius musicians out there. Just check out "What was That?", "I'm from New Jersey", "Blue Chalk", "Love is our Cross to Bear" to name a few. It'll make you want to really see where this guy is at. No Doubt one of the BEST modern day troubadors around.
How about BB and Lucille too, no before, during or after necessary.
Otis Redding
(who was even a vocal influence on reggae, through Toots Hibbert)
I would like to know when a concert in Portugal?
Last summer it was possible for people of the north the pleasure of see Rickie Lee Jones live.
and the south?
Please, please, please.......
You are one of my favorite's singer's ;-)
Bob Dylan
Before
In the early 60s music was getting slicker and slicker with strings and choirs becoming common additions to commercial music.Folk/ Folk Blues was very much underground and certainly not on major labels. Bob came out on Sony. Bob is a musical magpie and probably stole his style of singing, although bob being bob he probably still sounded more like himself anyway. Whatever why you look at it no-one you've ever heard of sounded like him before not appalachian hillbillys nor delta blues men nogt even travelling man woody guthrie.
During
Bob has changed his voice many times through his career while still holding enough of himself to believe it's still him. I think he sang best in his early acoustic days though I'm still a fan to this day. Many people copied his phrasing and singing style ( Lennon and more obviuosly Donovan,Barry Mcguires Eve of Distruction etc. Most though just played his songs outr, ight. ( too many to mention Byrds Stevie Wonder etc)
After
Though still going after all these years his voice is strong and rough and ready.I think his endless touring has given him the blues break up in his voice. Modern singers influenced include David Gray,paul kelly.
RLJ...obviously, if we are reading this we are fans, but no list is complete without you. "Chuck E.'s in Love" changed pop music. I remember when I heard it on the radio, I thought, "Who is this crazy chick and how did she ever get (much deserved) radio time?!? A true classic. "Young Blood"'s line, "You never know when you're making a memory" is, ironically, unforgettable.
I see someone mentioned Art Garfunkel's voice...I agree it is amazing. However, Paul Simon's lyrics are iconic and somehow no one has mentioned him. Big props to Rhymin' Simon.
Lastly, and sadly often overlooked, is Karla Bonoff. Most people know her music but don't know her. She wrote "All My Life" and "Someone to Lay Down Beside Me". Her cover of Paul Kelly's "Personally" is to me the epitome of pop music..just try and not like it:
"I've been writing letters everyday now
since you've been gone
Talking to you on the telephone
For what seems like a whole life long
I've got something to give you
That the mailman can't deliver
I can't mail it in
I can't phone it in
I can't send it in
Even by your closest kin
I'm bringing it to you personally"
Finally...Rickie if you are ever here in Louisville, KY again, I want you stay here at my bnb...I simply won't take no for an answer...you can reach me through here!!!
Roy Orbison: Gosh that man had a tragic life! There is at least one artist that was directly inspired by him that is still successful, Chris Isaak.
I hear Etta James in Christina Aguliera, some of the trippin on the scales...but the deep husky quality no one has.
I hear the phrasing of Billie Holiday in Sinatra. the thin, then thick quality of her voice,in Rickie, that tears at your heart
I always thought Bruce Springsteen was very influenced by Tom Waits' vocals.
I'm not a student of pop music enough to do a before, during , and after!
But I know what can make me cry ...
Rickie Lee Jones, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Dusty Springfield, Tom Waits, John Lennon, Al Green, Cyndi Lauper . . . each of these people had influences and predecessors and yet seemed like something fresh, sometimes perhaps so fresh or out of the box to some that there may have even been responses like "that isn't really singing", when what it was was, in a very real, deep, true, expressive sense, close to the core of singing, just maybe a bit out of some accustomed preconceptions . . . perhaps more expression than performance in the sense of trying to honor and do something beyond just hitting notes that can be played on a piano and phrasing and accenting in ways that don't immediately annotate on sheet music. Not that being able to obsessively and inerrantly intonate like a digital tuner and be able to read music is wrong or a punishable offense.
For a long time, I couldn't figure out if Dusty Springfield "could sing" but then I reached this point of "who cares?" Thomas a Kempis once said he would rather have something than be able to define it, and Dusty made me blush, get goosebumps, smile, fly, spiral . . . I don't need to figure out whether it was "singing."
And I also definitely agree with the inclusion of Ronnie Spector. There is this big, wow, "what's that." And she and both Bonnie Raitt definitely get across that "o" is something much more than just a letter of the alphabet, it is actually a whole language.
I mentioned Johnny Cash but really there were a number of influential people who were first recorded or almost first recorded by Sam Phillips in Memphis at Sun Records or at its predecessor, people like Howlin' Wolf, Elvis, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and they all something that sounded new . . . and there were others as well, but these were some of the big ones. Often something that seemed on the one hand larger than life [and not just because of reverb etc] and at the same time very human yet transcending previous boundaries . . .
it's christmas...
imagine midnight mass saint
patrick's cathedral, ricki sings naked songs. simply the most beautiful music in the world.
Well in my opinion
1. Prince - one of the strangest and most talented people on the planet, vocally he can do most anything. "Do Me Baby" says it all. Just as strong live as in the studio.
2. Rickie Lee Jones - she is my favorite female vocalist by far, she can sing with a range like Mariah Carey and much deeper, she is unafraid to sound produced or totally raw. A muse to all musicians and vocalists. Just as strong live as in the studio.
3. Mariah Carey - when it comes to studio recording I can't think of anyone more talented. I call her voice "God" in the studio. Live performances I think Mariah gets nervous but in the studio she absolute tops, her songs are infectious, and pop productions unequalled.
4. Michael Jackson - you can say what you want about Michael, but when it comes to executing a vocal on a track he is by far the most exacting and memorable. "Remember The Time" is a classic example, especially the remixes.
5. Whitney Houston - This woman is a champion live, she captures a room like no one and won't let go. Her strength is live, she puts out a powerful record but live she is unstoppable.
6. Aretha Franklin - the Queen of Soul, you know her voice the minute you hear it. Her music is heartfelt and full of soul. Nothing like her.
7. George Michael - for pop songs and funky R&B, he may be commercial but he can sing. He hasn't put out that much lately but what he has put out has been classic. He is one of the best singers of our time.
8. James Brown - he may have not been the best vocalists, but he sure wasn't the worst and is definitely one of the most influential. When he screams, snorts, snarls and grunts, you feel his power, there is no one funkier.
9. Mary J. Blige - Quuen of Hip Hop Soul - she has come from the street and kept that energy even as she enlightened herself into a whole new life, her vocals sound smokey, with more emotion than anyone.
10. Shania Twain - well she isn't really pop, although her last "Up" release got pretty close. She sings very strong and her voice is great to listen to. Live she kicks.
11. Rod Stewart - his voice is classic, like no ones and he seems to write great songs or remake ones that fit his voice perfectly. He's been with us so long - he's a marvel.
12. Paul McCartney - I don't particularly find him one of my favorites but he is definitely one of the most influential. He's written so many hits we take for granted, and the ones that we do remember are fascinating. "Live and Let Die", "Band On The Run."
13. Chaka Khan - who can scream like Chaka - no one. When Chaka belts it out, you just KNOW.
14. Frank Sinatra - he is one of the best, he is a classic.
15. Barbara Striesand - she is one of the best, she is a classic.
after this I will just name other voices I think are most influential
Robert Plant
Elvis Presley
Bee Gees
Etta James
Beyonce
Mick Jagger
Erykah Badu
Rick James
The Eagles (Don Henley)
Peter Gabriel
I may have forgotten some important ones, but
In previously listing Frank Sinatra, I forgot there was a rule about post-1953.
However, all though it is not quite so simply demarcated as this, it is like there were three main post-Dorsey Sinatras, a sort of curly-haired, somewhat soft, almost androgynous one, often in a sweater, who recorded for Columbia Records, frequently with strings or vocal chorus and heavenly chimes . . . this is, of course, generalizing . . . then there is the Capitol Records Sinatra, in a suit and fedora, under a lamppost or at a deserted table with a cigarette, almost manic-depressively alternating between brash ecstasy beating down the gates of Heaven in Nelson Riddle [and to a lesser extent, Billy May] arrangements or tailspun into deep melancholy in brass-free Gordon Jenkins arrangements . . .
and then finally the Reprise Sinatra, the talent is by no means gone but there is more hardness, often less nuance, maybe sometimes he is coasting or is a self-parody, and there are accusations that he has gone from a crooner to a croaker. He is still capable of surprises, though . . . wondrous surprises . . .
There isn't much that can be said about Sinatra without arousing possible controversy.
However, I believe Sinatra came most into his own while with Capitol. In 1952, he was a bit of a has-been, dropped by his record company. In 1953, he was Maggio in "From Here to Eternity" and signed with Capitol Records. It wasn't just that he was given a second chance . . . he was re-invented and was re-inventing himself . . . he had this perspective of coming back from a bit of an abyss . . . he was hungry . . . so I think you really can say there was a Frank Sinatra who showed up in or about 1953 . . .
Wow, great topic!
Kate Bush, for what she did for music, but I can't think of anyone influenced by her caberet style -- ?? Still, highly influential as an artist. Love her work and her vision.
Mariah Carey -- I wish she'd do something more with her voice, but she's unquestionably influenced the generations of singers after her, with those octave swoops.
RLJ--No question, the most influential female singer to come up in the 70's. I'm old enough to remember what a huge impression she made when she hit the scene. There was (and is) no one quite like her. sigh ....
Tennessee Ernie Ford-- I threw this in 'cause I'm listening to 16 tons and I feel like that miner right now :) Whatever happened to bass-range singers? Hey, RL, why don't you record a version of this song? I can't imagine how it would come out!
Wow, great topic!
Kate Bush, for what she did for music, but I can't think of anyone influenced by her caberet style -- ?? Still, highly influential as an artist. Love her work and her vision.
Mariah Carey -- I wish she'd do something more with her voice, but she's unquestionably influenced the generations of singers after her, with those octave swoops.
RLJ--No question, the most influential female singer to come up in the 70's. I'm old enough to remember what a huge impression she made when she hit the scene. There was (and is) no one quite like her. I really relate to "Girl at her Volcano" -- the definitive version of walk away, rene...
Tennessee Ernie Ford-- I threw this in 'cause I'm listening to 16 tons and I feel like that miner right now :) Whatever happened to bass-range singers? Hey, RL, why don't you record a version of this song? I can't imagine how it would come out!
1. My first choice is, of course, Ms. Jones herself. She simultaniously desplays imfluences from the past and present in her music, which in turn influences the present and future works of her peers. And all so subtly.
2. The influence that Linda Ronstadt has had on my music sensibilities can't be easily measured. She's often dismissed as being 'fluff', but when you look at the range of styles that she's covered, and the firmness she has in her ideas about what she wants to do, you'll see what I consider to be the ideal pop artist. Because of her, I've been introduced to songwriters such as Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Karla Bonoff, JD Souther, Dolly Parton and Eric Kaz, just to name a few.
3. Paul Simon is the greatest living songwriter in the world (sorry, Rickie). I was told by someone I used to know that a good melody creates an unspoken emotional response, and when coupled with lyrics that touch that same emotional chord, it's like being spoken to by the angels. This is what Simon does more accurately and constistantly than anyone else I've ever heard. I think that every great songwriter does this (right now I'm thinking of 'Company' and 'Stewart's Coat' as good examples from Rickie's catalog, but there are many, many others)
4. Mary Chapin Carpenter transcends the country music niche that she's put into. She's a good interpreter of other songwriters, and some of her songs are right up there with Rickie's and Simons (listen to 'Come On, Come On' and 'John Doe #24').
5. and 6. Jane Siberry (Issa) and Kate Bush covered these two in his post very well. I adore Issa for her poetic lyricism, and Bush for the intricacies of her compositions. Both of these women have been shamelessly copied by others (most notably the way Tori Amos says that she isn't trying to be like Kate Bush. Yikes!)
And now just a list (because I'm tired).
7. Harry Nilsson
8. Dave Edmunds
9. Tom Waits
10. David Bowie
11. Chrissie Hynde
12. Prince
13. Suzanne Vega
14. Ian Anderson
15. Artha Franklin
16. Tina Turner
17. Madonna
18. Joni Mitchell
19. Van Morrison
20. John Lennon
21. Paul McCartney
22. George Harrison
23. Randy Newman
24. Jackson Browne
25. Martha Reeves
Laura Nyro possessed one of the most powerful voices in popular music. Blessed with an operatic range (over three octaves), a remarkable sense of diction, flights of fancy between registral and dynamic extremes, surprising rhythmic gestures, and a flexibility that dwarfs Joni Mitchell and Maria Callas, Nyro challenged the conventions of what it mean to be a "female singer" by infusing a gritty sense of New York soul with the structural sense of Tin Pan Alley/Brill Building/Broadway, and the emotive power of opera.
Rickie Lee...too many damn rules!
In no particular order: Chrissie Hynde, Thom Yorke, Pj Harvey, Michael Stipe, Diamanda Galas, Rufus Wainwright, RLJ, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Annie Lennox, Prince, Joni Mitchell, Dylan, Steve Malkmus, Corrin Tucker, Stevie Wonder, Jim James, Aretha, Sinead, Van the Man, Kurt Cobain, Neil Young, Joe Strummer, Emmylou, Elliott Smith, Elliott Smith (not a typo)
Over and out (love you to death),
elevensbest@yahoo.com
Portland, OR
Rickie Lee...too many damn rules!
In no particular order: Chrissie Hynde, Thom Yorke, Pj Harvey, Michael Stipe, Diamanda Galas, Rufus Wainwright, RLJ, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Annie Lennox, Prince, Joni Mitchell, Dylan, Steve Malkmus, Corrin Tucker, Stevie Wonder, Jim James, Aretha, Sinead, Van the Man, Kurt Cobain, Neil Young, Joe Strummer, Emmylou, Elliott Smith, Elliott Smith (not a typo)
Over and out (love you to death),
elevensbest@yahoo.com
Portland, OR
I did my best to stay within the rules, but my first influencer started in the ‘40s and really needs to be included: T-Bone Walker. If no other reason, he was a huge influence on Chuck Berry who has later influenced nearly every band ever since. If you listen to nearly any T-Bone side, you can hear the genesis of Johnny B. Goode and Maybelline.
Otis Redding / Sam Cooke. Two of the greats. They were both very powerful and emotive singers.
Beach Boys. Created the California Sound and took harmonies to the next level.
The Beatles. Besides the musical influences which are well documented. They influenced fashion, politics and introduced the marriage of music with the video.
Carole King. Whether singing or providing material for others, Carole and the Brill Building team were a huge influence in pop music and culture.
Donna Summer. She took disco from the nightclubs, added substantive lyrics and brought into the mainstream. Her sounds are heard in nearly every dance record ever since.
Bob Marley. Took the Jamaican Rocksteady sound and brought it to the world. Voice for a nation. Hero to millions. His legacy continues through his wife Rita and sons. Most notably Ziggy and Damien.
Ramones. Punk pioneers who influenced every punk rock band. The pop cross-over hit its’ peak when their songs started to show up in car commercials.
Instrumental Honorable Mention: The Funk Brothers. They were the players on nearly every Motown hit. If not for them, there’d be no Motown as we know it today. The opening baseline for “My Girl” is perhaps the best-known and beloved opening baseline in music history
I just want to say check out The Fans of Ricky Lee Jones group on Facebook.
I agree with most all that have been mentioned and would add Taj Mahal - one of the great vocalists of our time and also Tony Bennett.
Joni Mitchell. The mix of harmonies and lyrics and feelings and images in her songs makes me feel like I am actually there with her witnessing something . Its almost like an artform in itself, like it takes you out of your ordinary everyday and somehow helps you see better. It's not just songwriting and singing like so many good artists. She is out on her own way above and beyond Dylan or any of the others. That doesnt mean she is better than just that she is completely different from. I think her honesty set a fire among women and some men too and loads have caught that flame but none have outshone it and because she is so unique nobody ever will.I think she is immensely underrated and deliberately so by the big boyz who run the show as are all great women artists and she'd be the first to agree I'm sure.It's the finest example of the jealousy guys have of women who are so obviously so much more creative than them even at their utmost best. I think if ever their was a real showdown- if men were brave enough to have one Dylan would be toppled in a trice!! And then all the others would fall naturally into place with women filling their places time after time!
Laura Nyro for her wild voice and ability to take us on a journey like some drug. Brilliant with real hints of what was to come in RLJ.I hear her music in a some other artists when they get quiet and those little bells jingle and jangle and something utterly religous takes place. Vocally I think Streisand must have listened to Laura a lot.
Leonard Cohen. His almost gruff talking sort of sensitivity and sensuality. Although I dont listen to him much I do to Nick Cave who was obviously influenced by him. Its the man singing poetry. A man sharinfg his feelings. Not a lot of them are so in touch with their own inner female.
Hi Ricky
It was great meeting you in Minneapolis :-)
I was wondering if you wanted those items shipped to you?
Sincerely
Scott
612 339 4977
www.odaycache.com
Descriptions are unnecessary. Just listen to the voices:
Billy Holiday
Peggy Lee
Stevie Wonder
Etta James
Tina Turner
Joni Mitchell
Rickie Lee Jones
Aretha Franklin
Gladys Knight
Paul McCartney
Emmylou Harris
Edith Piaf
Chaka Khan
Steven Tyler
Robert Plant
Robert Fleischman
Neil Young
James Taylor
Van Morrison
Diana Krall
Not being an aficionado I went to the Grammy web site and reviewed winners between 1953-1993. To me it seemed that this is where the song "interpreter" died and was born the singer-songwriter. Previously the voice was all important as often we had heard the songs before. Then we came to appreciate a voice for the songs it brought us. Many mediocre and down-right bad singers prospered. This certainly expanded the tolerances for bad singing and unusual voices. Bob Dylan certainly takes the cake here. In terms of influence, maybe artists ought to be asked rather than consumers, although we have the final say. This period was also the heyday of "groups" from the Everly Brothers, Righteous Brothers, Beatles, Lovin' Spoonful, Mamas and Papas, Peter, Paul and Mary, etc. It's hard to know how that all falls out. Most outstanding voices had predecessors so they just become popularizers. Janis Joplin comes closest to being a great influence among non-songwriters along with Elvis who was more of an entertainer. After 1993 I think music became more political or anti-political and voice really disappeared from the equation. Wherefore ART?
Rules can't allow the exclusion of Judy Garland.
It,s ELVIS by a mile, and all those who say otherwise, don't understand the historical, cultural and social impact of Elvis in 1956. That was the big bang of popular music as we know it today.
There are also some who don't appreciate what a great singer he was and what a versitile voice he had.
Suffice to say that he is the only artist who is the the blues,rock,country and gospal hall of fame.
And Dame Kiri Te Kanawa to UK talk show host Michael Parkinson asked her to name the person she felt was the greatest singer that ever lived. She replied: “The young Elvis Presley, without any doubt.”
this stuff irks me,like these people decided or had any say in what they were to become..??..
i just love it when im moved by anyone in song,,and there are so many that do it for me......kermit for one..
a few influential artists not yet mentioned;
Jim Morrison
Janis Joplin
Ray Charles
Country Joe MacDonald
Meatloaf
Joe Cocker
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