Jack Bruce of Cream! Grace Slick and Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane!
You can Vote for Most Valuable Lead Vocals (Rock Groups)
Not, best, but "most valuable".....
Not to date myself but my vote goes to David Byrne of Talking Heads.
Not to date myself but my vote goes to David Byrne of Talking Heads.
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IMO you need to break this down into two categories. First would be as the “front man” and second would be actual vocal talent. Front man you have to go with David Lee Roth vocal talent is more difficult as they all use so many effects even I could sound good. I do like Geoff Tate Queensryche and Jack Russell Great White. |
mcslipp While I might agree that Van Halen had more good songs with David Lee Roth than with Sammy, I think their two best songs are Dreams and Right Now (with Jump a close third), both with Sammy. Also, Roth is not really a good singer and he's the Jim Carrey of rock stars (overdoes everything). roberjerman Kiss sucks. I think Freddie was the best front man ever and to me, that made him the most valuable. |
Brian Johnson
of AC/DC |
mapman has a screw loose saying Colllins over Gabriel. Genesis is never Genesis without Gabriel. Simply put, a unique individual whom brought fame to a group that Collins rode home to the bank. Roger Daltry is symbolic as MVP vocalist. Robert Plant is not far behind. Ahead of them all is Natalie Merchant. There is no 10,000 Maniacs without her! |
I didn’t say Collins over Gabriel. Only that Gabriel was replaced and the group went on to even greater fame works against Gabriel as Genesis MVP. MVPs are not easily replaced. In fact when Collins left and they gave Ray Wilson, a fine vocalist on his own right, a go, that was it for Genesis. So there is a case to be made for Phil Collins as an MVP with Genesis. |
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You are correct @rpeluso, Manuel’s first name is Richard. Levon said he considered Richard The Band’s lead singer; he was Clapton’s favorite white male singer. Richard, Levon, and Rick all sang the melody on different songs, sometimes one of them singing some verses, another others (Rick takes the lead on the "Wait a minute Chester" verse in "The Weight", Levon on all the others). And in some Band songs the three of them sing the verses in harmonies that wrap around those of each other. Robbie has said they were emulating The Staples, who end The Last Waltz performing "The Weight" on a sound stage, filmed after the LW concert. In that version, Rick again sings the "Chester" verse, Richard plays not piano but drums (he was a fantastic drummer, playing them on about half the songs on the brown album), and Levon plays mandolin (all the Band members were multi-instrumentalists), not singing at all. All three of them could have been a band’s lead singer, very rare in all of Rock ’n’ Roll’s history. All three had (all are deceased now, alas) unique, easily identifiable voices. The Beatles had two great lead singers (George, bless his heart, was not much of a singer), but most bands are lucky to have one. Buffalo Springfield had three singers---as did Moby Grape, making good harmony vocals possible. An obvious 3-lead singer band is Crosby, Stills, & Nash (4-lead singers if you consider Neil Young a singer ;-) . And lastly, Rockpile---Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, and Billy Bremner, who, like CSN&Y, had two lead guitarists. They made only one album under that name, but are the band on a number of Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe solo albums. |
Damn ol' brain. I just watched the performance of "The Weight" I referred to above; it was on "Evangeline"---with Emmylou Harris---that Richard plays drums and Levon mandolin. On "The Weight" Levon plays drums and sings the first verse, Mavis Staples the second, Pops the third, Rick the fourth, and all the final. A great version of this absolute classic of a song, better imo than anything John & Paul wrote. You may disagree ;-) . I also failed to include The Byrds as bands having three lead singers (that is, when Gene Clark was a member). Great harmony vocals too, of course. Bassist Chris Hillman didn't sing while a Byrds member, but does in his post-Byrds career, both solo as a member of The Desert Rose Band. |
