Best Male Singers of the 20th Century


There is an interesting current discussion about the best female vocalists on CD. I have my own ideas about the best male singers (any category) of the 20th Century, but would like to hear other opinions.
sdcampbell

Showing 2 responses by prs123

While jazz,opera, blues have been adequately covered here, I beg to differ with those who feel that rock means you don't have a voice. Au contraire. and folk has some great pipes as well.
I have heard Marty Balin of Jefferson Starship and Gordon Lightfoot up close and in person, and they were incredible.
(And yes, I love all genres and have a good basis for comparison.) And let's not forget the great voices of Broadway, like Larry Kert(the original Tony in West Side Story, or Gordon McRae(Carousel) or Jerry Orbach(Carnival).
Of these Mcrae was the strongest voice, actually holding his own with Shirley Jones in her prime. Oh, yeah, back to rock- how about Jon Anderson of Yes or Sting? Or Bob Weir's
vocal magic for the Dead or later Ace? (Jerry being better instrumentally). Jackson Browne has a quality voice,
as does Greg Lake, John Mellencamp, and let's not forget one of the best set of lungs out there - the Boss.
Marvin Gaye had one of my all time favorite sounds, as does
Al Green(for a crooner.) Peabo Bryson and James Ingram have
major chords.

As a classically trained pianist, guitarist, etc. I still think almost any genre has some great singers in it.
Sure, there are about 20 on my Lengendary Opera Tenors CD,
but Iglesias(the father not the son) doesn't exactly suck .
Jayboard, I stand appended, as it were. Randy Travis, Waylon Jennings and countless other C & W artists can lay claim to awesome voices - it is hard to fake it in C & W without the pipes. Note: Dylan's vocal work on Nashville Skyline/Blood On The Tracks or Desire show off a voice better than you would guess otherwise.