has anybody else noticed this about singers?

Very interesting comments, thank you. As an instrumentalist, I am well aware of what you describe. One of the most effective practice exercises that advanced saxophone players use is the perfection of the tuning of overtones; simple (?) long tones at first, but ultimately the ability to arpeggiate and play scales using only the overtones (harmonics) of note fundamentals...in tune. Very difficult to do, but a great way to find and be comfortable with the true center of pitches.

However, while I suppose it is possible that there is a relationship to how a given listener responds to a particular singers ability to find the core of sung notes or not, shouldn’t all listeners then react positively or negatively to the same singer? Moreover, some of the singers that are on the OP’s “doesn’t do it for me” list have, in fact, some of the most technically developed voices (for Pop singers); Paul McCartney for example. Conversely, some of the singers on the “does it for me” list have voices that IMO are far from well developed.

I think that what the OP experiences (or not) with certain singers is an emotional reaction which may induce a physical reaction. A musician friend and colleague swears, and I believe him, that digitally recorded sound induces in him an uncomfortable feeling of tightness and tingling in the forehead/temple area.

Regards.

Btw, the same can be said about instrumentalists; some have less than “beautiful” tones and still communicate like crazy.

mijosttn, where did you read or hear that?  By many accounts he actually started singing as a child, before picking up the trumpet.  

**** when he stops singing you can still "hear" the notes. ****

Great observation! He was an artist in the deepest sense of the word.

Perfect example of what I THINK Sam is referring to. Voice as rough and un”refined” as it gets. Coarse, not fine, gravel. No range to speak of. Yet, incredibly good sense of time and swing; like with his trumpet playing. Personality in spades. If his singing doesn’t put a smile on your face, then...........

You are applying an “audiophile” sensibility on steroids to the act of listening to music. They are two different, sometimes merging things; and, in the process, causing yourself to get in the way of the simple emotional reaction that is the goal of an artist at its most basic.

If you are being honest with your description of that reaction, you are simply digging the artist. Lighten up.