Favorite Newly Discovered Female Vocalist

@hifiguy42 Sandy Denny's story always makes me sad. Much like many of her lyrics do.

@gkelly +1 on Hurray For The Riff Raff - I fell hard for Alynda Segarra the first time I heard "Look Out Mama" and never looked back. My wife and I just saw the band last Monday in Door County, WI. Really great live.

Others: I have been a Joni obsessive for about four decades now, no sign of slowing. Roberta Flack always makes me smile. Sandy Denny, Linda Rondstadt, Iris Dement, k.d. lang, oh jeez I just realized I could go on for quite a while...

Not so much a recent discovery, but the other day I realized I have almost the entire Julie London catalog and can actually hold forth on the differences between her albums and styles as she aged. I have no idea how this happened. I don't remember how I discovered her in the first place. But I'm glad I did.

You all have listed most all my favorite female vocalists but here are a few more:

Karan Casey “Songlines” or any with Solas

Lady Blackbird “Black Acid Soul”

Valerie June “The Moon and Stars”

Thanks to everyone who has contributed toward this topic/thread I started. It has been more successful than I could imagine. Thanks to all of you and Qobuz I have many new female artists to discover. It’s amazing how many of these artists I’ve never heard of.  Via Quobuz I’ve discovered so many. 

Thanks for a great thread with some excellent new to me music.  I have a few names to offer:

Carly Simon - Listening to her now... "You Belong to Me" and "You're So Vain" and so many more... her voice is timeless.

Shirley Bassey - If you grew up watching James Bond movies you might remember her singing the theme song from "Goldfinger".

Nina Simone - listened to her CD "The Blues" yesterday and really enjoyed it.

Aretha Franklin - "The Queen of Soul". 

Bonnie Raitt - always liked her style and gravelly voice. Excellent guitarist also.

Ann and Nancy Wilson AKA the band "Heart". 

Joni Mitchell - been listening to more of her music lately. Two favorites of mine are "Raised on Robbery" and "Free Man in Paris".

Linda Ronstadt - strong vocals and a favorite since the early 70's

Zoey Noble I get to hear her live with her father Bob Noble local around here. The Nobles band.  She put her own album out "Feet This Way". Mostly her own songs. I just got her CD autographed. 

New to me is Rachelle Ferrell; Individually (Can I Be Me?). Easy to listen to and crazy dynamic range.

I just discovered Patricia Barber. I know. What took me so long?  Better late than never. 

Brazilian singer Marisa Monte

Neko Case - All her work is wonderful 

Many thanks to @jfrmusic for this awesome thread.  BTW  you are spot on with your Katie Melua comments.  About 5 years ago as I was dipping my toe (ear and credit card ) back into audio I was captivated and fell in love listening to female vocalists.  More so on the jazz side of the spectrum but its broadened from there.  Its my sweet spot and whether cooking or having a glass of wine with my wife we tend to listen to these artists.  Over the past 2 years we have heard Melody Gardot live at the Montreal Jazz festival and also Diana Krall and Samara Joy at live performances.  

This thread has given me numerous new artists to search out and listen to.  I am a bit surprised that Melody Gardot has barely been mentioned.  Lets keep this going -Its like discovering new authors with a series of fantastic books! 

Katie Melua 

Beautiful Voice, Great Original Songs, Beautifully Recorded. 

Every Album a Gem. ( Except for me The House. An outlier)

You will not be disappointed especially if you like a more soft, calm approach to songwriting and performing. 
 

Discovered a British trip hop/psychedelic band called Morcheeba in recent times...

The album "escape the chaos" is a decent intro to their sound, perhaps.

Sample Track - Bleeding Out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVS6j_Ax0FU

@larsman  thanks.  I have to say The Dreaming is a very close second and in many ways is a more interesting album.  Have been a fan since about 1985 so she is not a "new discovery".  but i could not leave her out of this discussion.

It is amazing how many names on this list i do not recognize.  Also surprised not to see Loreena Mckennitt listed.  She does some really lovely music

@ronkent - Totally agree about Kate; my favorite of her's is 'The Dreaming'. But one reason she may not have been mentioned is that she may not be a 'new discovery' to that many people. 

Also check out Jo Harrop and her album Path of a Tear. 

Great thread.  I may have missed her name but possibly the most creative and innovative female singer/songwriter of the past fifty years is not on this list.

She is a truly acquired taste but well worth the listen:  Kate Bush is her name and most people consider her album "The Hounds of Love" to be her greatest work. 

Also the music of Patty Larkin.  A truly wonderful singer/songwriter and fantastic guitarist. She has worked a lot with Bruce Cockburn

Waxahatchee. I’m really enjoying her latest album.

I just heard Mala Waldron live this afternoon.
Great vocalist and pianist.  
Goddaughter of Billy Holiday. 
 

Limited recording output, sadly. 

Janis Ian - 1975 album "Between the Lines", which multiple high resolution versions of some of the songs on this album are on Tidal.  Her 1992 album "Breaking Sielence" mastered by Doug Sax was one of the best sounding pop albums of the 1990s, IMO.

Joy Williams  - Check out songs Welcome Home, Till Forever, Before I Sleep, One Day I Will and What a Good Woman Does.  She was half of the Civil Wars, before they broke up.

Enjoy

This one isn’t newly discovered by me like yesterday, but a couple of years ago on public radio I heard Mia Doi Todd (who I had never heard of before) sing My Baby Lives In Paris, and I really liked the song and what her voice did with it, so I bought the CD and she is pretty good.

Danielle Nicole.  Depending on the song, she can bring out her inner Etta James, Susan Tedeschi (mentioned previously), Janis Joplin, or Amy Winehouse.  Brilliant!  Oh yeah, and she was the first female to win a Blues Music Award as Bass Player of the Year (she has won several more and was nominated for a Grammy).

Here are just two links to get you started.  Everything she does is worth checking out.  You're welcome 

https://youtu.be/QR2kyAMrX68?si=y0pSQHLkNB2ihutD

https://youtu.be/PQQZGsHe1hk?si=P6vBcAD9eyUeQZ96

I don’t think I saw this one listed but Shelby Lynne’s tribute album to Dusty Springfield, “Just a Little Love’n” is fabulous, both as an artistic creation and as a really well done audiophile recording. She released it in 2008 and is one of my favs.
I’ve got more to add as well so I’ll put a list together and share in a second post. 

+1 on Jennifer Warnes. Perhaps not the most naturally gifted singer ever but her The Hunter album is truly an audiophile recording and she does it justice. 

Agree with Treepmeyer- this is these discussion boards at their best.  

The singer for Bonny Light Horseman is male.

Here are two I forgot to include earlier:

• Cecile McLorin Salvant - Check out "Dreams and Daggers"
• Dominique Fils-Aime - Check out "Nameless"

Thank you for the amazing list. Have saved all of them to listen over the next few weeks.

I will add three

Bonny Light Horseman- a discovery for me in 2024. Got two of their LPs

the next two are not English singers. I don’t understand either of the two languages but just love listening to them:

Souad Massi- from Algeria

Maki Asakawa - from Japan

A few have been mentioned previously, most not.

Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Katie Pruitt, Iris Dement, Mary Black, Suzanne Cox, Jennifer Warnes and many others.

Streaming is a wonderful thing.

Skye Edwards, in the band, Morcheeba

Eilen Jewell

Patsy Cline

Sandy Denney

All great recommendation and I discovered them because of streaming.

Sophie Zelmani - Lake Geneva, Sing and Dance

Interesting thread as many of the recommended artists have been active for a long time.  It’s nice to see many veterans being "discovered."  Here are some I discovered within the past couple of years, most of whom landed on the music scene in the past 15 - 20 years, and have not been mentioned.  These ladies have "pipes" and don’t sound derivative.  Highly recommended:

• Julienne Taylor.  Check out "A Time For Love"
• Gabrielle Cavassa - She has a self-titled release, but check out her performances on Joshua Redman’s "Where We Are" release.
• Ane Brun - Check out "How Beauty Holds The Hand of Sorrow"
• Bria Skonberg - Check out "What it Means"
• Katie Melua -  So much good stuff to choose from, but "Live In Concert" is a great listen. 
• Josephine Cronholm -  Check out "Wild Garden"
• Halie Loren - Check Out "They Oughta Write A Song"
• Lori Lieberman - The "veteran" in the group.  Check out "Truly" 

Aside from the others mentioned…

Joss Stone - the “soul sessions” album 

Dominique Fils-Aime - R&B

Kandace Springs 

Rumer

Chantal Chamberland - if you like Melody Gardot

Tracy Thorn from Everything but the girl (all albums)

Hope Sandoval from Mazzy Starr

Grace Mahya

Simone Kopmajer

Don’t forget:

Sinne Eeg

Lindsey Webster

Nnenna Freelon

Elis Regina

Yes, as the OP I want to thank everyone for their contributions. It’s amazing how many female artists there are that many of us have never heard sing. Quite a lot of listening to be done. Thanks to streaming most of these artists can be easily found. 

Many thanks to the OP and all the respondents.  Threads like this are a great source of music recommendations.  I will listen to them all eventually.  Many I would never have stumbled on by myself.  Best wishes.

Taylor Rae - Mad Twenties

Katie Pruitt - Expectations

Kathleen Edwards - entire catalog

Lot of discoveries for me in this thread. 

I’ll add one of my all time favorites that I did not see here:

Malia - Black Orchid

Some excellent renditions of a few Nina Simone songs and others. 

Thanks to all contributors to this list !

Maiah Wynne.  Her album Out of the Dark is excellent. 

She is also singer in Envy of None.  A really cool band featuring Alex Lifeson of Rush. It’s not hard rock like Rush. 

https://youtu.be/XhCc23EthNQ?si=ff0y78bFMwxoFhDN

Melody Gardot (who also happens to have recorded a great version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow).

Susan Tedeschi is The Eighth Wonder of the World….

Basia Bulot ("heart of my own"

Vienna Teng

This may fall outside the spectrum of singers listed here, but I have to add Susan Tedeschi who is a terrific blues singer.  That said, I have all of Eva Cassidy's CDs, amazing voice.

Love threads like this.  Have already picked up several CD’s recommended here including Eva Cassidy, Songbird.  Great performance and SQ.  Check out Eva’s life story on another thread here.  Such a tragic account of a life that was cut way too short by a potentially curable malignancy. (With summer coming wear your spf 50 and have an annual skin exam by a competent pcp-it can truly be a life saver.)

Laufey

Emily King  

LOREN ALLRED ( see the secret she shared in BGT) 

https://youtu.be/oTw8AECmUNA?feature=shared

https://forum.audiogon.com/posts/2807538

@ kingbr

+1

Jonatha Brooke, cover of "Eye in the Sky", originally recorded by the Alan Parsons Project.