For me - female singers...
1) Aretha
2) Gladys
3) Whitney
4) Dusty
5) Nina

and I'd praise to the skies - Kate, Annie, Dolly, Billie, Diana, Tammi, Janis, Ella, Erma, Lorraine...

Not there in my opinion... Amy, Adele (yet), Donna, Loreatta...

But here's one HUGELY under rated who was terrific...

HELEN.

Your votes please!

Dusty will always be No 1 for me - but can't knock your Top 5.

Donna? Also ran (good producers !)

I thought Donna Summer's voice was up there, and I think Adele's is already up there too.

An interesting thread. Here's a mini essay from me. Please read because I really believe what I say, and as a music board this was the first place I came to post.

For me, it is a big mistake to think of Donna Summer as someone who just got lucky with good producers. She was an intelligent woman who had a pretty big say in what she did and where her career went (even if she regretted bits of it later).

Moroder-Bellotte-Summer were a superb combination of talents which combined to produce a very rich body of work, something probably more evident to people in the US,or those who have a more than passing acquaintance with her work.

Summer was an unusually prolific artist, at one stage producing 4 albums (3 of them double albums)in just under 2 years. They contained a richness and range of styles which is quite mind boggling. Bad Girls went from rock through to ballads and almost country to electro in four sides of vinyl. Once Upon a Time was a double concept album whose story was very much in her hands, tackling some pretty dark issues in a head-on way whilst, again,using a range of very different vocal and musical styles in a very coherent way.

Summer was also most actively involved in the songwriting side, cowriting many of her hits and writing a few of them on her own.

Vocally she had a voice which was multi-layered, frequently switching vocal styles several times in the space of one album. A friend of mine saw her a couple of years ago in a rare European concert in Berlin and said her voice had an effortless power and purity. Pete Waterman said she was known as 'one-take Donna' as she could nail a song instantly. I think it's good that her vocal ability is being mentioned in so many industry tributes. That's something that someone who only knows I Feel Love and Love To Love You, great as they were, would not necessarily be aware of.

Maybe the fact that she varied her vocal style so much(unlike Dusty or Whitney) means that in the UK she is not seen as having an instantly recognisable voice, but that's not a minus point in my book. It makes her a very rounded performer.

Anyway, end of essay. I'll post 3 clips and then shut up

Crayons (feat. Ziggy Marley) 2008




Macarthur Park (live 2006)



Back In Love Again (1977)
beautiful understated vocal

Good post David; thanks.

Thanks David,an interesting post

After several questioning calls and E Mails; it's Helen Shapiro I'm talking about (not Reddy!).

A truly original, deep, sensuous voice for a 14 year old.

Where is Helen today?

JK2006 wrote:
After several questioning calls and E Mails; it's Helen Shapiro I'm talking about (not Reddy!).

A truly original, deep, sensuous voice for a 14 year old.

Where is Helen today?

I quite liked Helen Reddy tho.

Helen Shapiro has been active on the Christian music circuit for many years.



www.mannamusic.co.uk/

Donna was a special and hardworking singer with a lot of talent, had some great records and huge hits, and she deserves the recognition without any question.

But not in the same league as the 5 listed JK.

Aretha, Dusty??? Cmon!

And I think I should add (having just gone all jelly relistening to her magnificent Touched By An Angel) STEVIE NICKS.

Also - CHER was a most under rated rocker.