Lets see here:

1. Regina Spektor:
Absolutely amazing, range is impeccable
2. Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons)
Another obvious choice, gives me chills every time.
3. Will Sheff (Okkervil River, Shearwater)
Great singer, a real tortured sounding voice, doesn't hurt that he writes amazing songs either...
4. Imogen Heap
"Hide and Seek" was a life changing song for me, vocal perfection
5. Cee-Lo (Gnarls Barkley, solo stuff)
Amazing soul voice and a great stage presence
6. Ted Leo
Doesn't sound terrible unique on his recorded material, but he is amazing live. Able to still hit those notes whilst flying around the stage and attacking the guitar.
7. Jenny Lewis
Loved her solo album and love Rilo Kiley (only when she sings though), very versitile can sing both pop/rock and country.
8. Neko Case
A bunch of other people have said why.
9. Leonard Cohen
Powerful, rich voice. Vocals perfectly illustrate the wise man who he is.
10. M. Ward
Very unique voice that sounds both very old and very modern...

Thom Yorke, Mike Patton, Matthew Bellamy, Bruce Dickinson, Geoff Tate.

1.Beck
2.Rufus Wainwright
3.Thom Yorke
4.Maynard James Keenan
5.Bjork
6.Nellie McKay
7.Ben Gibbard
8.Perry Como
9.John Lennon
10.Isaac Brock

Meat Loaf has one of the best voices around in terms of power, range and ability. He has a very operatic voice, that evokes so much emotion.

I also love Jeff Buckley's voice.

Nick Drake may not hav ethe greatest technical voice, but it makes me shiver.

Eva Cassidy too has a stunnign and beautiful voice.

Elaine Page has a great voice too (looks embarrased) not that I own any of her stuff.. COUGH..

Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye anyone? They both have amazing voices.

Rod stewart too has a timeless voice, I love that harsh, low rasp o fhis and Bonnie Tylers..

Keely Smith
Diana Krall

a couple anyway...

quote:

Originally posted by rockthief:
Keely Smith
Diana Krall

a couple anyway...

Diana Krall

Peel Me A Grape
Let's Fall in Love
Cry Me A River

Online streaming music of Diana Krall and more pictures

Thom Yorke- you know
Robert Plant- simply classic
Cee-Lo- doesn't get the respect he deserves
Bob Dylan- that's right... somehow I'm convinced the lyrics wouldn't be nearly as powerful coming out of "better" vocal cords; his voice is perfect for what it needs to be... "I wouldn't want it any other way"
Jack White- anyone who can't see his value is just hating
Jim James- If I allow myself to disregard "Evil Urges"

Plenty other, but it's late right now and I don't want to think too hard...

Thom Yorke (Radiohead), Bjork, Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Davey Havock (AFI), Kaki King, Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo (Ladytron), Pelle Almqvist (The Hives), Paul Banks (Interpol), Les Claypool (Primus), Gerald Love (Teenage Fanclub), John Darnielle (Mountain Goats), Markus Acher (The Notwist)....

wow, thats a pretty mainstream list

I wrote this guy's name before, but didn't go into much detail.

Mike Patton is probably my favourite vocalist. Endlessly inventive and versatile. The majority of his back catalogue is an impressive body of work, showcasing virtually everything that can be done with the human voice - throat singing, FX manipulation, screaming, death metal, R&B, rap, jazz, experimental, pop/rock, gargling, belching, human beatboxing, contemporay/classical, soundscapes, different languages, cultural crossovers, folk music, humour, harmonising, laughter, looping, male/female inflections, spoken word, chanting, singing through a gas mask etc, etc, etc...

The list is endless.

If you haven't seen him live, make sure you witness him at least once. The unique thing about Patton's live peformances is that he often attempts to repulse his audience. As his performance becomes more challenging, so the gig becomes more entertaining. It's a complete paradox and something you just have to experience.

Morrisey

Liam Ghallagher

Chris Cornell

Sade

wowowowoowowow. I cannot believe that there has not been one mention for Richard Manuel yet. I don't think anyone in music has as much emotion in their voice alone as Manuel does. Few could pull off the falsetto he did either. Rick Danko said that Richard had a tear in his voice, and I don't think there's a better way to describe him.

Also have to go with the Gram Parsons/Emmylou Harris combo, best male/female combo of all time.

Also:
Neko Case
Chris Bell
Alex Chilton
Matt Berninger
Stevie Nicks
Craig Finn
Bob Mould

One of a kind, all of them

Sufjan - very comforting
John Fogerty - reminds me of childhood
Bon Iver - soulful
Mark Kozelek - soothing
Beck - just 'cause he's awesome

Hmm, I love Sufjan, but I've always considered his voice not all that good. I'm sort of neutral on Kozelek. I do like Beck's voice quite a bit, though I don't think I'd list him as among my favorites. I remember Tiny Mix Tapes talked about Beck's voice a lot on their review of Sea Change.

Robin Peckold (Fleet Foxes) - Watching him sing "Oliver James" live by himself gave me chills.
Tom Chaplin (Keane)
Feist
Teddy Thompson - Nice tenor
Sam Beam (Iron & Wine) - What a soothing voice.
Antony Hegarty - Enough said.

...well I forgot my favourite of them all...

How could I?

Easily Sam Roberts. Just a great voice, period.

I don't count myself to be an expert on vocal dynamic range and delivery. If I rated vocalists based on sure vocal talent I would say the top of my list would be Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond.

However, I prefer even flawed vocalists when their voice fits their music. I mean, I grew up listening to Billy Corgan, so that shows you how picky I amn't.

Top vocalists whose voice fits their music:
Stephan Malkmus - completely unpretentious vocal delivery, for a band that birthed an era of unpretentious music. Sometimes he sounds like he just singing to himself in the shower, but it works so well that it empowers you to sing along, and maybe even start a band of your own someday.

Sufjan Stevens - Brittle, fragile, and as others have pointed out, soothing. There is nothing about his voice that makes you think that this guy could ever possibly hurt you.

However, Spencer Krug and Will Sheff deserve recognition for the exact oposite reason. They have the same lilting, shakey, pressed to the sky voice, but with an undercurrent of uneasiness. Sortof a twilight terror quality to their voice that helps transform their songs into mysterious dreams. Unlike Sufjan, these guys sound like they could possibly hurt you.

I don't see a lot of credit going to hip-hop artists or rappers in this thread, but I have to give credit to the man that first got me interested in Hip-Hop, Adam Drucker (AKA DoseOne). The man has an ability to control his voice like a master instrumentalist. His machine gun vocals bathes his tracks in a aura of confusion and puts the listener on the defensive, which is the entire point of his music in general.

These are my favorites. I agree with ANinBC about Sam Roberts also. He's a recent discovery, and he's easily my favorite new artist this year.

I agree with Sufjan, definitely.
Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy is a big favourite of mine.
The Notwist singer is one of my favourites too- his voice just sounds so nice and almost fragile-like.
and maybe also Emil, the Loney Dear singer, although maybe it's the whole sound of the songs with the singing as well for that.

Kate Bush (How can SO MANY people miss her?)
Antony Hegarty
Björk
David Bowie
Robert Smith
Thom Yorke
Jack White
Prince

All of them have very distinctive voices.

Antony.
Rufus Wainwright.
Lou Reed.
Elton John.
George Michael.

Sense a theme?

quote:

Originally posted by BAfé:
Kate Bush (How can SO MANY people miss her?)

I don't miss her.