Greatest singers

Tonight I looked at the top 100. No arguments on #1 but there are some surprises, some who should of been higher up and oddly some I’ve never heard of. Also some missing who should be in the top 100. We’ll see who’s in the bottom 100 tomorrow 

As usual, RS never fails to disappoint!  😂 

The biggest criticism that I read about was the oversight of Celine Dion, clearly one of the greatest pop singers of all time. They caught a lot of flack on social media, and rightfully so.

The problem with lists like these is how does one determine who gets in and who gets eliminated, and why. I probably agree with about 50 - 60% of the list, because there are some really great singers across all genres represented.

But apparently, it’s not about vocal ability because there are too many missing amazing vocalists that didn’t make the list. I mean, some of these people are like nails on a chalkboard to me, but are/were very popular and sold lots and lots of records, so that must have been a factor. At least, that’s the way the intro reads. It’s funny that #14 is Freddie Mercury, and #15 is Bob Dylan. How does that work? 😂

MIA for me: Ian Gillan, Jim Morrison, Carly Simon, Annie Lennox, Ricky Nelson, Dean Martin, along with Celine Dion, come to mind.

Finished the bottom 100. As usual, there are many artists that I never heard of as well as many who didn’t deserve to be on this list. Agree on the omission of Celine Dion- that’s a crime to leave her off but here are my list of omissions that have me 

SMH-

George Harrison (Really what were they thinking)

Lindsey Buckingham

Christine McVie

Not ONE Moody Blue- Justin, John, Ray

AGAIN What were they thinking??

Merilee Rush

Good thing I don’t work for RS!!

What I am struggling with was the ranking of people. How could Joan Baez, Bonnie Raitt be ranked lower than Alicia Keys? Donny Hathaway ranked low? A voice that is timeless and often imitated. Same with Marvin Gaye. No Angie Bofill, Phyllis Hyman, Karen Clark Sheard, Barbara Streisand, Mel Torme, Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland, Sarah Vaughn or Dinah Washington. Little Jimmy Scott, Daryl Coley, Dianne Reeves?

One of my overlooked favorites El Debarge is on the list. Wish he did more work that could be heard.

Beyonce ranked at 8 and not lower?  Martha Reeves on the list at all? Gotta be kidding! These listings seemed to be based who is popular as opposed to technical abilities.

At least this list had "you betta haves" for me: Luther, Martha Wash, Donny, Steve Perry, Mahalia, Stevie, Patsy, Smokey, Frank yet it missed others. 

Let's not get started with opera.

Perhaps Rolling Stone should have called this list the greatest 200 popular, Rock n Roll and World Music artists of all time. Like the Grammys, opera, jazz and gospel are left out or shifted to the non televised awards.

Not surprised at all.

Not high enough - Stevie Nicks

Too high - Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan (great songwriter but lousy voice), Chrissie Hynde, Louis Armstrong, John Lennon

How were they left out? - Paul Rogers, Alison Krauss

@Raynyky 

I think that no top 200 list can ever cover the best of the best and please everyone. There are some great choices listed by the posts below. It's all a matter of taste. Sinatra, Roger Whittaker, Karen Carpenter, BJ Thomas, Jim Morrison, Rob Grill, David Gates, Olivia Newton-John, Linda Ronstadt, Michael Jackson, and Peter Cetera are some that would definitely be part of my top 200 list. 

Thought it might be interesting to look at the 2008 list of RS 100 best singers. Many of those mentioned here were on this list, and rankings differ on a number of them. The only consistency is who is ranked #1 on both lists.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-singers-of-all-time-147019/thom-yorke-43909/

I can't believe Dinah Washington, Nancy Wilson, Natalie Cole and Celine Dion were left off.

One notable (possibly colossal) oversight - Marian Anderson.

She had a voice so beautiful and a range so vast that she often brought audiences to tears.