Favorite "Non-traditional" Singing voice

[StClone]

Michael McDonald leads my list for a singer that on first listen you'd think lacks real vocal quality in a traditional sense, yet conveys intense feeling in a very unique way. Berry White and Janice Joplin are in that category, too.

Got music? What's your favor in this line?

[mr_hat]

1. Iris Dement, although she's ultra-traditional, in a way.

[Burma Jones]

32. Saw her at the Birchmere not long ago

She is the voice of my heritage.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

2. Define traditional... you mean since recordings?

or how people sang for eons before?

[StClone]

I don't know

Maybe "really distinctive" is a better description.

[Ellen Forradalom]

3. Marianne Faithfull

Booze- and drug-coarsened vocal cords, but very expressive.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

62. I Love Marianne Faithfull!

[Whitacre D_WI]

4. Gilmore Tamny from the Yips.

I REALLY love her singing on "Clouds Were Ships."

[Intelsucks]

5. Richard Butler - The Psychedelic Furs

No range, no versatility, could be mimicked by almost anyone...

But what he did, he did very well.

[Burma Jones]

6. Bob Dylan (n/t)

[waylon]

7. Ralph Stanley

[dawgman]

50. His "Oh death" is incredible.

[Whitacre D_WI]

8. And no discussion of "non-traditional" voices is complete without:

YOKO ONO!

Don't worry, don't worry, don't worry,
Don't worry, don't worry, don't worry,
Don't worry, don't worry, don't worry, Kyoko...

And yes, I'm being completely serious. I love Yoko.

[Susang]

47. Me too!

Kiss kiss kiss kiss me now,
Just just just just one one kiss will do!

:-)

[Whitacre D_WI]

56. Thank you, Susang!

It's nice to meet someone else who actually likes Yoko!

on edit: :yourock:

[rusty charly]

9. Callas

not exactly... beautiful

[Whitacre D_WI]

25. Whoa, now...

...Maria Callas' voice was DEFINITELY beautiful. Challenging, sure. Nontraditional? Oh, yeah.

But I don't for a second think of it as not beautiful.

[Gildor Inglorion]

10. Macy Gray!

:D

[terrya]

11. Macy Gray. eom

[dolo amber]

12. Carla Bozulich

Ethyl Meatplow/Geraldine Fibbers. :yourock: :bounce:

[mitchum]

13. Lou Reed, until about 1979...

he doesn't even bother to try anymore. Just talks his way through the material
Others:
Mr Dylan (of course)
Richard Butler
Chet Baker
Lucinda Williams

[thebigidea]

28. I'll second that one...

remember his awful vocals on the VU reunion?

"Shiny shiny shiny boots of leather, ooo baby..."

ooo baby? in "VENUS IN FURS"?

OOOO BABY!?!?

I have no son.

[mitchum]

74. His "The Raven" sounds like Schoolhouse Rock

and you're right, that "Venus in Furs" is just wretched

[Bonhomme Richard]

14. Joe Cocker

Great voice with great phrasings. In the band I was in I had to sing "Leave you hat on" and "The Letter". Very rough on the vocal chords but a lot of soul.

[phaseolus]

15. Dr. John!

Go here
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006LLPC/qid=1076774590//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl15/104-6574439-3139939?v=glance&s=music&n=507846
...and listen to the snippet of "The Nearness of You" to hear the best version ever
of a sappy Cole Porter tune. It's the only vocal track from a brilliant solo piano album from
the '80s.

On edit: Hoagy Carmichael/Ned Washington, not Cole Porter. Sorry.

[Bonhomme Richard]

16. Can't forget Willie Nelson

Talk about a strange vocal.

[dawgman]

51. Willie would be mine

[nedlogg]

17. Louis Armstrong

n/t

[oxymoron]

18. Ricky Lee Jones

and Macy Grey

[Lydia Leftcoast]

19. Traditional Eastern European women vocalists

such as The Bulgarian State Choir, Lado Ensemble (Croatia), Marta Sebestyen (Hungary), the Pyatnitsky Folk Choir of Russia, etc.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. Joni Mitchell

I love her songwriting, too...

[blondeatlast]

21. Louie Armstrong and Tom Waits.

[arwalden]

22. Kim Carnes

[mobuto]

23. Tom Waits? Louis Armstrong? Ethel Murman?

Let me think of some more.

[fishnfla]

24. Lucinda Williams

nt

[11 Bravo]

26. Joe Cocker

The primal scream he lets go in the middle of "With a Little Help From My Friends" is classic.

[Fenris]

27. How about the master of nontraditional vocals: Tom Waits

[Blue-Jay]

29. Fenris wins!

Also, I love Willie.

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[populistmom]

31. Stevie Nicks

[StClone]

33. Brad Roberts remember him?

Mmmm,Mmmm,Mmmm Song...Brad Roberts Crash Test Dummies!

[NightTrain]

34. James Brown

And JB's voice wasn't the only "non-traditional" thing about his music!

[bleedingheart]

35. Roy Orbison was unique

however I don't like picking favorites...it feels to limiting.

[FlaGranny]

36. My choices - Ray Charles,

Roy Orbison, and Louis Armstrong. Maybe Patti Page? - when she got older.

[bobthedrummer]

37. Skip James

has one of the most haunting voices in the blues-but I really like Howlin' Wolf!

[Whitacre D_WI]

71. Skip is one of the great singers of the 20th century.

I was listening to the Complete Bloomington, Indiana concert in the car this week.

[baldguy]

38. Joan Armetrading

NSMA reminded me.

[MrSlayer]

39. Tom Araya! The most evil voice in Metal!

No one gets it off like Tom.

[greendog]

40. Leonard Cohen

Tom Waits, Iris Dement, Lucinda Williams, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Townes Van Zandt, John Prine, Robin Williamson, Alejandro Escovedo........

[HamstersFromHell]

41. Ian Anderson

One of the few who sort of sings with an accent.

[brainshrub]

42. Ani DiFranco.

And Cake.

[He loved Big Brother]

43. Bjork <3

[StClone]

44. I listened to an entire concert

She is very unique but VERY limited. The phrasing, tones, inflections were so similar in every song it was as if it were one long song. I kind of like her quirkiness and there was one point where she wound up a huge music box that she then sang in tempo with. That was cool, but she is rather narrow in her sound.

[Susang]

46. Limited?!?!

I'm sorry, but Bjork has amazing range. She was a child prodigy singing Icelandic classical folk music. She composes with symphonies, has sung with punk bands and works with various electronica artists, continually reinventing her style.

I have seen her perform live at different stages of her career and by no means is her musical talent narrow or limited. Her inflections can in no way be similar in every song, since each one is so vastly different musically, particularly in her last record Vespertine, as to require it. She growls, purrs, screams, wails, moans and seduces her way through a song. I can't name a single vocalist who can match her in range, emotion and ability who is performing currently.

However, I do not consider her a non-traditional singer/vocalist, as her voice is very traditional...for Iceland! :-)

[StClone]

57. What I heard

May not have been up to her pedigree but I stand by my observation. Her sound was to me repetitve and possibly an acquired taste. As I said I liked some of her works and by no means wish to say she is untalented.

[leftofthedial]

45. Tom Waits

many other great ones listed in this thread too.

I don't know how Tom Waits keeps inventing these great melodies with that ravaged voice of his.

[Susang]

48. Mary Margaret O'Hara

Victoria Williams & Amy Rigby

Special bonus prize to anybody who's seen them live!

[Snow]

49. *snicker* Glenn Gould

[mitchum]

73. HAHAHA

no need to snicker. That's very good

[arwalden]

52. Stephen Hawking -- Stephen Hawking Sings Broadway's Best

[StClone]

58. arwalden

Now that would be memorable!

[arwalden]

61. I Really Ought Not Make Fun Of Him

... but he's got enough money, he can handle a little good-natured teasing.

-- Allen

[Snow]

64. I heard Hawking speak in Minneapolis some years ago....

he joked that the only speech synthesizers he could find had American accents....

[dawgman]

53. How about William Shattner? Brings tears to my eyes.

[NightTrain]

54. Ahh, Shatner!

Listening to his TRANSFORMED MAN album never fails to make my ears water!

[VOX]

55. Captain Beefheart

Actually, I'm only being half a wise guy.

The guy is a terrific blues growler!

[MattBaggins]

59. Marc Bolan

been on wierd T.Rex kick lately

[spooky3]

60. I agree with you about MM. Paul Carrick sometimes affects me that way too

not sure that I have spelled it correctly. He did a great cover of a Pink Floyd song that made it sound completely different, very intense, very personal.

[lpbk2713]

63. Leon Redbone

Very "Non-traditional"

[Spider Jerusalem]

65. Tom Waits....

who is on record as describing his voice as "Louis Armstrong and Ethel Merman meeting in hell".

[rucky]

66. Isaac Brock, Steven Malkamus, Hope Sandoval

[Red State Rebel]

67. Leon Russell

But we're alone now and I'm singin this song for you...

[DemoTex]

68. John Baldry

Don't Try to Lay No Boojie-Woojie on the King of Rock-and-Roll!

[NewHampshireDem]

70. Paul Pena

when he mixes his Delta blues style with Tuvan throat singing.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000516VT/qid=1076868329//ref=pd_ka_2/102-7727207-9835310?v=glance&s=music&n=507846

And, for that matter, any of the Tuvan throat singers, such as Kongar-Ool Ondar. Non-traditional, in a very traditional way :)

[Madrone]

69. Female - Grace Slick -- Male - Tom Waits

eom

[mvd]

72. Definitely Lucinda Williams

Also Kasey Chambers, Janis Joplin if you include her, Cyndi Lauper, Alanis Morissette, Bob Dylan, Liz Phair, Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies, Aimee Mann, Willie Nelson, Thom Yorke of Radiohead, and more I'm sure..