5 most recognizable voices in American music?

2channel8, I love the Girl Group sound and era. The Brill Building songwriters (Doc Pomus, Mann & Weil, Goffin/King, Bacharach/David, Ellie Greenwich, Mort Shuman, Greenfield/Sedaka, and Leiber & Stoller) wrote SO many classic songs in such a short period of time. I hear that influence in Springsteen's writing on the Born To Run album.

Carnie & Wendy Wilson tell of waking up every morning to the sound of The Ronettes "Be My Baby" playing over, and over, and over again, for hours. For years that's how Brian Wilson started the day. He was obsessed with the song and Phil Spector, to the point of mental instability.

Darlene Love, one of my absolute favorite singers! Her vocal on "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" is astoundingly great!! She sang for Phil Spector, who kept all the money his label made, sending the artists out on the road to work for peanuts. That's the way the music business worked in those days, is wasn't just Phil.

Springsteen said he was trying to make his Born To Run album sound like Roy Orbison as produced by Phil Spector.

Yeah, good ones slaw---Little Richard!---(and everyone else). Ray Charles has to be the most influential of them all---Steve Winwood, Richard Manuel, Van Morrison, so many others citing Ray as their model. Big Joe Turner is a favorite of mine, as well as Howlin’ Wolf, THE blues singer. Tom Waits is about as unique a voice as I know of, and let’s not forget Otis Redding and Sam Cooke. For Rock 'n' Roll, Chuck Berry's lyrical/vocal rhythms are one of the very pillars of the music.

From the gals, Aretha Franklin is at the top of the list. So are Big Mama Thornton (Elvis copied her recording of "Hound Dog"), Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, and a favorite of mine, Tammy Wynette. In the modern era, Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders) is immediately recognizable.