ok... i wanted to start a poll, but it just wasn't going to happen... i tried really hard and looked every where

OK, who do you like/has the best voice... feel free to put your favourite in order of preference

Mariah
Whitney
Christina
Celine
Beyonce

who else do you think should be on this list? This is really YOUR poll... i just want to hear what you have to say

Thank you

Jtine

How about Madonna ? Is she played out ?

I must be too old for this poll ...

Tarja Turunen from Nightwish... She's a lied singer from finland who plays (or played, I guess, she was recently kicked out) with a metal band. Or Floor Jansen, another classically trained singer who is in a metal band.

They have to be rock singers? Actually I've always been impressed with classically trained singers who sing with rock bands, although I don't quite understand how they lose that "polished" sound and make themselves sound a bit "rock-ier" if you know what I mean. Classically trained singers spend so much time on pronounciation and also use head voice so much, I wonder how it sounds - I know when I try to sing rock music it usually sounds like . . . a classical singer trying to sing rock music!

I always liked Amy Lee from Evanescence. You could tell she'd had training from her use of head voice and the way she pronounced words (I did "My Immortal" for one of my AS level recital songs last year!).

Got to be honest, I'm not that keen on Mariah, Celine or Whitney - I know this is probably heresy but I find them all too "shouty". That version of "I will always love you" that Whitney does - it gives me a headache! Its like "Yes you have a big voice! We KNOW you have a big voice! But Whitney, darling, less is sometimes more!!!" I'd rather hear a simple folk song, sung quietly, gently and beautifully than a belting diva murdering what was originally quite a sweet little Country song by trying to turn it into some type of Wagnerian aria!

Its like someone I once knew said about BB King. He only has to play one note and you know its BB King. He doesn't need to play really fast or really loud, he just plays well. . .

If you like evanescence who are really towards the low end of female fronted metal bands, you might like Nightwish, Within Temptation, After Forever, or the Gathering (or any number of other bands in that genre). If you're interested, pm me.

I wouldn't class Nightwish and Evanescence as metal, they are more a rock or gothic sort of thing, really light compared to metal. There are some women singers in death metal (Angela Gossow being an example) who really do make me look at them weirdly , How they sing like that does astound me and how they still have their voices does too

Out of the choices given on the 1st post I would say Christina Aguilera, Though overall I am not too sure

Exactly!

I agree about Amy Lee, the little I have heard she seems to have a very pure sounding voice but still has enormous volume and expression available to her without it sounding forced.

I like Dido too.

Classical singers, I haven't heard enough of to really know whose voices I prefer, quite a few of them I have only heard sing one song and it isn't really enough to form an impression. I think Renee Fleming (what I have heard of her) sounds beautiful when she's singing stuff that really suits her (I listened to a snippet of the Pie Jesu from her Sacred Songs album and wondered what she was playing at, she seemed to be swooping all over the place and I didn't like it at all for the Faure), and Cecilia Bartoli is quite incredible in her precision and vocal though I'm undecided as yet whether I actually LIKE it or not. It's very impressive though!

Indeed, Bartoli is pretty amazing. Sometimes her singing is just a little to acrobatic to be human.
On the other hand, she doesn't lack of expression skills, but tragedy is not her specialty; I think she's at her best in light-mooded, joyful music. That's why she's not really a deeply-affecting singer.

I've never met anyone who said Nightwish weren't metal. You're crazy. Goth metal is still metal, although I would consider Nightwish more power metal (any in terms of heaviness, they're pretty much on par with other bands in that genre). Unless you think The Gathering or Theatre of Tragedy aren't metal either. I guess evanescence are too, although I don't really listen to them enough to make a good judgement. And yeah, Angela Gossow is nuts. She's a little scary really. I couldn't believe it was a woman at first.

Gosh, what a question! In the world of rock and pop, my knowlege is limited, though I like Dido - I think she has a fantastic 'natural' sounding voice. In the classical world, I still have a lot of admiration for Emma Kirky's singing, though I think she has lost popularity over recent years.

David

Barbara Bonney, although I still love listening to recording of Dame Joan Sutherland.

Nobody'e mentioned any men, and Andreas Scholl's voice is amazing.

I have seen her live, and she is equally as good if not better in a live setting. She makes everything she sings sound really easy and natural. Really good

Ditto to these two, and to Andreas Scholl. Also Thomas Allen.

Coming from yet a different genre, does anyone else like Kate Rusby?

Only recently I've discovered Joni Mitchell. Not bad at all !

I guess I've gotten so used to REALLY HEAVY stuff that what I used to listen to is really... not metal sounding anymore.. Power Metal bands I would think of Hammerfall and Dragonforce straight off, the distortion in he guitars are similar though Nightwish are quite slow compared to some of the stuff the 2 other bands release.. unless theres a few songs I haven't heard. I was the same, I heard a song liked it then I saw the music video and said to myself somethings a bit wrong here... Though I have grown to love her

What do you listen to? I listen mostly to female fronted metal (Nightwish, Within Temptation, After Forever, The Gathering, etc). I'm guessing you like death/black/thrash from the "they're not heavy enough" comment. Which, relative to the other kinds of metal I listed is true - they're really not that heavy compared to, say, Arch Enemy. How much Nightwish have you heard? Once is a lot less metal than Oceanborn or Century Child, which are really their "heaviest" albums (although IMO Wishmaster is their masterpiece, with CC just behind it).
I'm not really that into Arch Enemy or Angela Gossow (or death metal in general, to be honest), but from interviews I've read she sounds like the absolute coolest woman ever.

Oh and the best Folk-rock singer by a mile is Maddy Prior.

I don't tend to like the sounds of the modern pop singer they lack substance.

Joni Mitchell is great, as is Dolly Parton and Bette Midler. I like Elaine Paige, and having seen Bonnie Langford live, the part of Roxie Hart in Chigago she's about to take on is perfect for her.

Madonna's portrayal of Eva Peron in Evita was awesome.

About contemporain jazz voices : Diana Krall and Judy Niemack !

I'm pretty partial to Norwegian folk music. You should check out Kari Rueslatten (it's not spelled quite like that, there's one of those little circle accents over the "a" that I don't know how to make). Her voice is beautiful, so clear and lovely.