EWB's Top (However Many It Ends Up As) Singers of All Time

[GoGo Yubari]

Yes yes y'all, since Rolling Stone's list just wasn't much good, I figured I'd do my civic duty as The Guy Who Finished That List Benji Started and run the twenty-eighth countdown thread in this subsection this year. So, in this list you, the people of EWB, get to vote on who you think the best singers of all time are. Please do keep in mind that you're voting on who you think the best singers of all time are, meaning you're voting based, presumably, on singing voice primarily, as being part of an awesome band or writing great songs isn't the determining factor of quality here.

Now, what makes a singer one of the best of all time? Well... uh, yeah, that's completely up to your discretion. Ability to hit high notes? Smooth, effortless vocals. Ability to make ANGRY DEATH METAL NOISES?!?!? It's all good, as long as it's singing that you think is good.

So, let's hit up the rules, paraphrased from YI's rules for the artists thing earlier this year.

1. You have a grand total of ten nominations to make. Eleven would be right out, though if you seriously can't think of ten singers you really really like you can indeed nominate less than ten.

2. When making these nominations, the higher the number you place them at, the more points they get (if you put a singer at #1, they get ten points, if you put them at #10 they get one point, and so on). If you don't put them in order, I get to order them for you! And actually, I love doing that, so feel free to screw the formatting up. (Y)

3. Feel free to edit your list at any time because I won't be tallying up the votes until we reach deadline (and deadline is basically whenever nominations slow to a crawl, so I'll make a post notifying everyone of that).

4. Don't vote anywhere else but in this thread. So. Uh. If you were planning to vote in the EWR Stats Update thread? DON'T DO IT. I dunno, I really, really hope this rule isn't necessary but god only knows.

5. Any singer from any genre alive or dead is eligible for voting, as long as they, y'know, sing. Which, er, excludes rappers unless you can prove that they actually sing extensively (as opposed to, I dunno, Lupe Fiasco singing the chorus to one song or so).

Aaaaand that should be it unless I failed to cover anything? I'll put up my own list a little later tonight (or at least the first draft since I imagine I'll end up editing it twenty times before it's all said and done), so yeah. Vote or die, people of EWB.

[Sousa]

1. Margo Timmins (of the Cowboy Junkies... yeah, no chance at all of this woman winning, but Mick Foley and I know the truth, goddammit )

2. Meat Loaf

3. Howlin' Wolf

4. Ella Fitzgerald

5. Nat King Cole

6. Lou Reed

7. Elvis Costello

8. Frank Sinatra

9. Elton John

10. Patsy Cline

Edited November 20, 2008 by Sycho Sousa

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

I had to cut out way too many names.

1) Neko Case

2) Freddie Mercury

3) Roger Hodgson

4) Ray Charles

5) Burton Cummings

6) Dave Matthews

7) Paul McCartney

8) Gordon Lightfoot

9) Geddy Lee

10) Mika

Spot the instance of me ranking somebody a few spots higher than I normally would to compensate for an expected lack of total votes!

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

1. Jónsi Birgisson (Sigur Ros)

2. Annie Lennox

3. Jason Kay (Jamiroquai)

4. Matt Bellamy (Muse)

5. Bjork

6. PJ Harvey

7. Tori Amos

8. James Brown

9. Ray Davies (Kinks)

10. David Bowie

I'm limiting my choices to those in my own collection.

[Iain76er]

1. Otis Redding

2. Mike Patton (Faith No More etc.)

3. Jeff Buckley

4. David Bowie

5. Bruce Springsteen

6. Thom Yorke (Radiohead)

7. Chris Cornell (Soundgarden etc.)

8. Axl Rose (Guns N' Roses)

9. Beth Gibbons (Portishead)

10. Whitfield Crane (Ugly Kid Joe)

Edited November 21, 2008 by Iain76er

[Walker]

1 - David Bowie

2 - Ian Curtis

3 - Freddy Mercury

4 - Johnny Cash

5 - Bob Marley

6 - James Brown

7 - Bob Dylan

8 - Meatloaf

9 - John Lennon

10 - Bruce Springsteen

[METALMAN]

1. James Taylor

2. Paul McCartney

3. Ben Gibbard (Death Cab, Postal Service)

4. Jeff Buckley

5. Roddy Woomble (Idlewild)

6. Ryan Adams

7. George Harrison

8. Laura Marling

9. Julian Casablancas (The Strokes)

10. Adam Green

[Steeb]

1. Billy Corgan

2. Jay Kay

3. Jeff Buckley

4. Max Bemis

5. Torquil Campbell

6. Lisa Lobsinger

7. Leslie Feist

8. Neko Case

9. Amy Millan

10. Matt Bellamy

[darkrayne]

Will edit list at later time, but these are my top two without any doubt...

1. Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden)

2. Geoff Tate (Queensryche)

[Skummy]

1. Roy Orbison

2. Diamanda Galas

3. Jeff Buckley

4. Scott Walker

5. Tom Waits

6. Nick Drake

7. Otis Redding

8. Nina Simone

9. Bjork

10. Robert Wyatt

EDIT: Sorry Mark E. Smith, Nick Drake's better than you are.

Edited November 21, 2008 by Skummy

[Liam]

1. Mike Patton

2. Chris Cornell

3. Justin Broadrick (Godflesh/Jesu)

4. Jeff Buckley

5. Nick Drake

6. Maynard James Keenan

7. Aaron Stainthorpe (My Dying Bride)

8. Matt Bellamy

9. Darryl Palumbo (Glassjaw/Head Automatica)

10. Mikel Akerfeldt (Opeth/Bloodbath)

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Crap, I completely forgot about Waits. And Van Morrison. May have to edit.

[Downward Spiral]

Time to turn this list's credibility down a notch...

1. Meatloaf

2. Mariah Carey

3. Freddie Mercury

4. Aretha Franklin

5. Leona Lewis

6. Whitney Houston

7. Art Garfunkel

8. David Bowie

9. Matt Bellamy

10. Will Young

I will happily stand by any/all of these decisions

Edited November 20, 2008 by Downward Spiral

[thuganomic]

1. Freddie Mercury

2. Stevie Wonder

3. Bruce Springsteen

4. Whitney Houston

5. Michael Jackson

6. Frank Sinatra

7. Paul McCartney

8. Jon Bon Jovi

9. Jeff Buckley

10. Christina Aguilera

[Matt]

1. Frank Sinatra

2. Johnny Cash

3. Kurt Cobain

4. Paul McCartney

5. Bob Marley

6. Michael Jackson

7. Robbie Williams

8. Meatloaf

9. Jon Bon Jovi

10. Dave Grohl

[DeeJam]

1) Alicia Keys

2) Marvin Gaye

3) Luthor Vandross

4) Aretha Franklin

5) Christina Aguilara

6) Lenny Kravitz

7) Mariah Carey

8) R. Kelly

9) Smokey Robinson

10) Patti LaBelle

The lack of Alicia Keys in this thread is disturbing

[GoGo Yubari]

1. Frank Sinatra

2. Ella Fitzgerald

3. Marvin Gaye

4. Ray Charles

5. Al Green

6. Jimmie Rodgers

7. Johnny Cash

8. Michael Jackson

9. Sly Stone

10. Mel Tormé

List subject to change, probably repeatedly.

Edited November 26, 2008 by GoGophidian

[Quom]

1. Otis Redding

2. Mike Patton (Faith No More etc.)

3. Jeff Buckley

4. David Bowie

5. Bruce Springsteen

6. Thom Yorke (Radiohead)

7. Chris Cornell (Soundgarden etc.)

8. Axl Rose (Guns N' Roses)

9. Beth Orton (Portishead)

10. Whitfield Crane (Ugly Kid Joe)

Beth Orton the soloist, or Beth Gibbons the singer from Portishead?

[MalaCloudy Black]

1. Johnny Cash

2. Tom Waits

3. Robert Smith (The Cure)

4. Trent Reznor

5. Nick Cave

6. Mike Patton

7. Conner Oberst (Bright Eyes)

8. Anthony Kiedis (RHCP)

9. Ian Curtis (Joy Division)

10. John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats)

[Dr. Rated-R]

1. Chris Cornell

2. Paul McCartney

3. Freddy Mercury

4. Conor Oberst

5. Elliott Smith

6. Anthony Kiedis

7. Sufjan Stevens

8. Jeff Buckley

9. Tom Petty

10. Lemmy

Edited November 21, 2008 by The Rated-R Superstar