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I got into a debate with someone recently, who declared the best female singers are of Black origin. They were adamant this was historically correct.

I said two words. Streisand & Carpenter, end off.

Agree?

I agree with your debating partner.  Yes, those two women are great singers, but without blinking, I can think of a dozen excellent Black female singers.

Disagree, that is 5 words.

I would like to test this.

It's all subjective, isn't it?  I can think of loads of female singers I think have fantastic voices, but others might not like them at all.  Dolores O'Riordan from The Cranberries is one example.

You were right to question it.  My brain froze for a blink or five at 11...

Aretha Franklin
Witney Houston
Billie Holiday
Ella Fitzgerald
Dionne Warwick
Donna Summer
Diana Ross
Anita Baker
Janet Jackson
Tracy Chapman
Mary J Blige
Toni Braxton

In general not a fan of warbling and wailing females but sinead, siouxsie, shirley manson, kin's pick are all beautiful listens to me. For additional reasons I could watch debbie harry c1980 most of any day

Janet Jackson?!  Missed Lauryn Hill, Nina Simone, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys, Witney Houston, Jill Scott ...

Aren't we all of black origin?

WHitney mentioned twice. Dont know much about black female singers but Beyonce seems very talented

Janet Jackson just LOLOLOLOL

fine list apart from that.

Eva Cassidy, Karen Carpenter, Sarah Maclachlan and Streisand though. Nectar.

Fair cop, don't know how I missed it.  I think Beyonce is just about the greatest pop star at the minute, but her voice just isn't amongst the very best.  I'd far rather listen to some of her records than a few of the dreary ballards from some I think are better singers.

Could probably do a much better white list than the OP, but sure I'd put more black singers in the top 20.

Alison Moyet.

Far too subjective to get a consensus opinion either way.

FWIW, the first 3 names I thought of were Aretha Franklin, Barbara Streisand and Edith Piaf but if I'd been 10 years older or younger I'd probably have 3 totally different names each time.

How could I forget tracy thorn.

Alot of the Black American female singers tend to come through church choirs and wonder if that's why there are so many good ones?

Mariah Carey and Alicia Keys are in both camps, surely? 

Can't stand Carey, but can't deny that she is a very talented singer.

Obv no 'right' answer here as it's totally subjective. If you're into soul/blues/jazz/r n b your faves are more likely to be black. If you prefer rock/punk/musical theatre/opera, probably less so.

Shout out to Beth Ditto whilst i'm here too

Sinead certainly has a goregous voice, but I'm a sucker for the Irish lilt.

I did know that Mariah Carey was mixed, but didn't want to complicate by adding a third category.  See my post at 1.05 for views of Mariah's records.

You need to add Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera and Adele to the white list.  Celine is obv number 1 if we are to pick the dreariest song collection from our list of talented singers.  Whilst on the subject, I don't think I could listen to that Tracey Chapman record again, even after so long.   Don't get me wrong, I own the said record, and I even enjoyed it for a time... it was just everywhere for way too long, and now they may as well put on Achy Breaky Heart.   Think I might have to add Adele to that list too. 

So we now have a mixed race list (Mariah and Alicia) and a very talented singers whose records you have difficulty listening to list (Tracey Chapman, Adele, Mariah, Celine and I'll throw in Toni Braxton).


 

Is that Guinness with pineapple in it?

bev knight

nap

I'm not a fan of Janet Jackson's as such, but she fit the category.  So does Tina Turner, but I intentionally left her out because her raspy voice does me head in.  Lesser of two evils...

Rihanna. discuss. sales of 200m in 7 active years.

Probably number 2 current behind Beyonce? Both have scope to be all time top 10?

I try to watch this no more than 3 times a day.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw-NHqEa4FA

Having seen both Alicia Keys at the Roundhouse and Rihanna at the NEC, Alicia is by far the superior singer. Just WOW.

No love for Roberta Flack ?

I think that must be true, but Rihanna made better use of her talent.  Same with Beyonce and Madonna.  Can't imagine any of those 3 saying they wish they had worked harder.

In no particular order

Katherine Jenkins
Maddy Prior
Adele
Diana Ross
Aretha
Janis Joplin

The racial origin argument is spurious since it depends on the genre you're considering.

Btw listing Rihanna, Beyonce and Madonna in a list of great singers is like listing Audley Harrison in your Top Ten Boxers

I don't think you will find many that think Audley Harrison worked hard and made the best of his talent.

I thought we were discussing great singers, not 'people who worked hard to make the best of their talents'.
There's obviously no denying that Beyonce, Rihanna and Madonna have been commercially successful, but that doesn't make them great singers. Audley won an Olympic Gold Medal, and a WBF Belt but that doesn't make him a great boxer.

Well I put them together and said they made better use of their talent than Alicia Keys has.  At no stage did I say they were in the list of great singers, I specifically excluded Beyone earlier, and was responding to tightend asking us to discuss Rihanna. 

Think you were misreading what I had said.  It was just a minor tangent, and I don't think any of them are on the list of great singers, or deserve to be compared to Audley!

You're right, it was my misread. Apologies.

Slightly less tangentially to the original question, how many of us thought Adele was black when we first heard her?

Kate Bush anyone?

Karen Carpenter - really? I have never understood, she just seems to be a one trick pony to me, quaint maybe but mentioned in the same vain as some in this thread? I will never understand.

Rihanna is just another product of the Autotuned 21st century.  Autotune's move into live performances has been the biggest step back in Music since electronica replaced session musicians.

In terms of recent pop princesses, the best voice by far is Christina Aguilera - she can really belt it out.

Dirrty

Best current singer IMO is Laura Mvula, you have to check this album out! It's my album of 2013, sheer class.

This is what makes appreciation of music/singers so much fun I guess. Someone alluded to the entirely subjective nature of this and it's bang on of course. People can tell me that Eric Clapton is a much better guitarist than Tony Roberts but it don't mean a thing to me - I'd rather poke my eyes out than listen to Clapton playing guitar but 2 minutes of Tony Roberts and all is fine with me. Just the same way I'd much rather listen to Madonna or Beyonce than most of the obv 'great female singers' mentioned so far.

By the way, I went to see a concert by a Harpist yesterday, which is really my specialist subject now. She didn't sing tho, perfect.

Yes please, I may have to reconsider the view that I don't like female singers much. She's great. Actually, have thought of one black female singer that I used to really like, less interested now - Joan Armatrading

Amy Winehouse has to be right up there on the all time list.

For me, a lot of the recent names listed haven't had chance to pass the test of time.

20 years from now, will any of Adele, Rihanna, etc be on anyone's list?

If you think I'm going to waste my valuable time by contributing to this pointless debate, then you're sadly mistaken.

Was thinking about this whilst i was at work this afternoon and ,yes, it depends on personal preferences.

FWIW These are my choices

Live............Gwen Dickey, Dee C Lee , Millie Jackson , Angie Stone , Corinne Bailey Rae ,Stevie Nicks ,


Recorded.............. Tammi Terrell , Dusty Springfield , Timi Yuru , Wendy Rene , Etta James ,Loleatta Holloway , Alicia Keys , Brenda Payton  ,LaVern Baker ,Ronnie Spector , Billie Holliday

Mamma Cass?

FYP

Karen Carpenter one trick pony? erm not sure many singers branch out to various forms of music apart from what they know best. :)

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUDshT19j8Q

lol..I love her.

Really is a pointless debate because pretty much every singer mentioned here is brilliant and can hit almost ever note perfectly but in their own way.

Agree with AndrewT about Christina scoring a point for the crackers though.

 ;D

Definitely.

And Peggy Lee?

These were not scientific conditions.

Celine Dion is dreary? I could listen to Celine Dion all day!

Not the greatest but considering some of the other selections Grace Slick (Jefferson Airplane) deserves a nod.

Also if you're a sucker for multi instrument muscians like me then Katzenjammer is worth a gander.

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Account hacked George? If you need help just PM me.

Sharon den Adel

Google tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, she would be 96 today.

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