Molly Drake
(Nick Drake's mother!)
very similar to Nick in tone and content but with piano |
Been on a Casandra Wilson fix for a while lately... |
Yma Sumac's voice is mesmerizing. Yma Sumac's name was based on her mother's name, which was derived from Ima Shumaq, Quechua for "how beautiful!" although in interviews she claimed it meant "beautiful flower"; either way she was beautiful.
Enjoy the music.
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Beth Orton has a distinctive and arresting voice.
Suzanne Vega just makes me melt into caramel and syrup every time I hear her. |
I just discovered Singh Kauron Amazon Prime Music. Wow. Is this heaven? |
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A second mention of Mary Fahl, what a fantantic singer. Check out "Going home" and " Ben Aindi Habibi" just a haunting voice.
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maxboy00: The entire "October Project" first album is a masterpiece. Sitting in a Sony movie theater, waiting to see Rob Roy, when they played "Return to Me". Just devastating... |
Dewller,
Agree, I have both OP CDs, really good, especially "Be my hero" and the live version of this track is a head spinner.... |
That would be Sussan Deyhim. Try Madman of God album, her best.
This is not your Loreena, Ella, El.Frazer, Lisa Gerard etc. This comes from a very different culture. |
Azam Ali is also interesting with great voice. |
Take a listen to Concha Buika, the queen of flamenco fusion. Check out "La noche más larga" and "El Último Trago" with the great Chucho Valdes on piano. I also consider Cecile Mclorin Salvant on her debut album up there with the greats.
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Elizabeth Anka Vajagic / Stillness of this day is an incredible LP |
Kelly Flint from "Dave's True Story" fits the "mesmerizing" category which most posters seem to emphasize over "unusual". When combining unusual with mesmerizing, I can't believe that in 6 years and 114 posts that no has mentioned Patricia Barber! LUDITES! (LOL)
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For me its Sarah Vaughn. She's unusual and mesmerizing all at the same time. Many excellent tenor saxophone players wish they could play with the emotional impact that "Sassy" did. |
Patricia Barber??? Really? Here albums are DRENCHED in artificial reverb. I have heard that with the 180 gram version, they finally got the thing to sound decent. |
Stacey Kent.
Very seductive. It's like if Grace Kelly could sing.
Or maybe Kim Novak. |
I haven't read all the nominations on this thread, so she may have already been mentioned, but Emmylou Harris has a distinctive and unusual voice. A pretty fair amount of vibrato, which I usually distain, but for some reason doesn't bother me in her case. Her voice has a lot of texture, being very "throaty", and she really inhabits the lyrics, giving them depth and meaning. |
It’s like if Grace Kelly could sing. Actually she does, and plays a mean sax also, but I think you referring to someone else :) Second for Kelly Flint, who unfortunately has fallen out of sight. And Stacey Kent is a favorite. Wish she was back in the states more. Beautiful voice that has stood the test of time - Judy Collins. At 76 she still does 150 concerts a year. Unusual voice - Nico of Velvet Underground fame. |
I scanned the thread and was SHOCKED that I did not see a mention of EmmyLou Harris until today. Unusual, mesmerizing and just plain awesome! Plus highly respected by other musicians. She's had an incredible solo career, but has also appeared as background vocalist on probably hundreds of other records. Nashville Royalty and the Queen of Alt-Country....... |
Sia
Her music is not for most people including me (some great songs though) but her voice is incredible. |
Back in 2010 I had cited several classical and opera performers in this thread. In the pop, folk, and jazz genres I’ll add the Australian singer Judith Durham, who was (and sporadically still is, ever since the group was formed in the 1960s) a member of The Seekers, as well as having pursued a solo career.
I find her voice to be both unusual and mesmerizing in its purity and its beauty.
Regards,
-- Al
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Cassandra Wilson and Phoebe Snow. |
Syd Straw. Her duet with Michael Stipe of REM is String of Pearls/Future Forties. Great song. |
Phoebe Snow 1970's
Eliza Gilikyson Today
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Emma Kirkby
Karen Peris
Lisa Gerrard
Marianne Faithful
Nico
Caroline Kava
Joan Baez
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My current favorite singer, possessing an immediately recognizable voice, is Iris Dement. There is a clip on You Tube of Emmylou Harris harmonizing with her. Iris is a great songwriter as well as singer. |
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I find Kat Edmunson's voice particularly intriguing. Very old school jazz sounding, but she uses contemporary arrangements and I like the combination. But I'd like the voice regardless.
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Emma Kirkby
Eva Cassidy
Youn Sun Nah
Cesaria Evora
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Lisa Gerrard
K.Bush
Bjork
Diamanda Galas
I may add some italian female singers, like Alice and Elisa, but I guess they're not so well known in the USA
but the one that mesmerizes me most, though not so unusual:
Kate Pearson
her voice is not "uncommon" but she definitively touches something inside me, her voice's vibrations cause resonances in me
I've read she now has retired and manages a hotel somewhere in a lonely place in the mountains; well, when I come to USA, no NY or LA, no Vegas, no Yosemite or Monument Valley: I'll go in that lost place and ask her to sing... :-D
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Chan Marshall(cat power)
Natasha Khan(bat for lashes, SexWitch)
Sigur Ros(wink) |
Mesmerizing:
Karen Carpenter
Lalah Hathaway
Doris Day
Unusual:
Nina Simone
Betty Carter
+1 Chante Moore |
I realize i'll be showing my age (67), but the one I could listen to all day is Jo Stafford. Just something about her voice. Not everyone's cup of tea but maybe some of you geezers will remember her., |
Jesse Sykes (and the sweet here after. Reckless Burning)
Margo Timmons
Hope Sandoval
Holly Cole
Emmylou Harris
Neko Case
Beth Orton |
Agnes Obel
Diana Krall
Lisa Lovbrand
Katherine Jenkins |
A recent thread reminded me of Lucinda Williams. Her voice is immediately recognizable, and though her pitch is often not-quite-on (though not nearly off as, say, Johnny Cash), her singing just oozes character and personality---far more important to me than pitch perfectness. Since I doubt anyone else has mentioned her, I have to insist: Tammy Wynette. My all-time favorite female singer, by far. I fell in love with her the instant I heard her voice. The only still-living singer within shouting distance of her is, as I have previously opined, the sublime Iris Dement, an Angel sent from Heaven. |
I am really astonished that no one mentions Laura Nyro. She was mesmerizing (maybe not for everyone), but for sure unusual. Listen to "New York Tendaberry" and you will understand. |
Lydia Pence
Ella Fitzgerald
Tierney Sutton
Cheryl Bentine and Janis Siegel
Mollie O'Brien
Esther Satterfield
Patricia Barber |
Jazzy - Stacey Kent is interesting in her smart phrasing.
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Tracey Thorn - Everything but the Girl / Massive Attack |
Try Sunny Sumter's album Sunny on Mapleshade records. The first song called Nick of Time is mesmerizing. |
I like her voice but I mistook her name (see my post above): she's obviously Kate Pierson, not Pearson*.
as I'm here, I also add some other votes:
Sinead O'Connor
Mimi Parker (Low)
Margo Timmins.
*q: is the pronunciation very different or quite the same ? my English is bad and I often mistake in these cases
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Silvana Ida of Apoteosi, 1975
Annie Haslam of Renaissance II, 1972
are angels
Jane Duboc of Bacamarte, 1983
Jane Relf of Renaissance I, 1969
Rocker:
Inga Rumpf of Frumpy & Atlantic,1970 |
Good hit on Yma Sumak!
I’ll add:
Diamanda Galas
Nina Hagen
Anita O’Day
Gretchen Parlato
Guesch Patti
Julee Cruz
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Teresa Salgueiro;
Lisa Ekdahl;
Cat Power;
Feist;
Whitney Houston;
Beth Gibbons;
Carla Bruni;
Sky Edwards;
Dani Klein;
Ana Moura;
... ... ...
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