The 411 Music Top Five 01.10.12: Top 5 Talented Female Singers

Posted by Ben Czajkowski on 01.10.2012

From Adele and Mariah Carey to Bjork and others, two 411 staffers rank their Top 5 Most Talented Female Singers!

Wyatt E.

Honorable Mentions: Doris Day, Mama Cass from The Mamas & The Papas, Linda Ronstadt, Aretha Franklin, Adele, Tori Amos.

5. Billie Holliday.

I'm not even gonna bother explaining this one. I assume most of you haven't been on a deserted island talking to a bloody volleyball for your entire lives, right? (I love that movie.)

4. Sade.

Sade has a voice that just doesn't come along every day. I give her extra points, in fact, because she has an incredible ability to set a mood with her singing. You could be anywhere, doing anything, and you hear her start singing and suddenly you're in a dimly-lit lounge with champagne and your best girl. Rare is the vocalist who can turn your whole world into an episode of Red Shoe Diaries. Sade rules.

3. Bjork.

As a vocalist, Bjork deserves more credit. Sure, she's a genius when it comes to creating strange, otherworldly sounds. But her scattered, and undoubtedly raw vocalizing is a powerful, disarming experience. This is a woman that sings like if she doesn't, her heart will be ripped from her body. You don't see that kind of urgency every day.

2. Janis Joplin.

I hear one time Janis Joplin walked into a drive-thru bank teller and ordered a Big Mac. The guy was like "what the hell, this is a bank, we don't serve food" and Janis got really pissed off and screamed "YEAH TAKE IT, TAKE ANOTHER LITTLE PIECE OF MAH HEART, NOW, BAYBEH...." She got seven Big Macs, a milkshake and a Buzz Lightyear toy. And Toy Story wasn't even out for another twenty-six years.

1. Karen Carpenter from The Carpenters.

If by some weird twist of fate I was given a time machine, I wouldn't go back and change classes I did in high school. I wouldn't go back and try and prevent a breakup. I wouldn't even go back and invent some now-commonplace invention and become a million thousand-aire. No, I would go back to 1970, knock on Karen Carpenter's door and say "Will you adopt me?" And we'd sign the papers and she'd sing me to sleep every night and I'd be the happiest boy in the whole world.

 

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Ben Czajkowski

I'm going to take a slightly popular slant with this top 5. Keep in mind that this is about talent and not looks.

5. Stevie Nicks.

Hard to believe that she has a new album out, in 2011. While she's far from the best actress, she is definitely an extremely talented singer. It's a shame that she holds the record for most nominations for Best Female Rock Vocal without a win at eight. In all thirty years with Fleetwood Mac, I've always felt that she carried that band.

 

4. Susan Boyle.

Going with pure talent here. Whoa. Her voice is mind-blowing. Since she broke ground on Britain's Got Talent, in 2009, and going viral after that, she became a shining example that people can do anything they set their mind to and show that they possess the talent and motivation to excel. Beauty doesn't need to be the driving factor behind success.

 

3. Lily Allen.

Maybe a shaky choice, but I was listening to her early; she's on my mind. I find her lyricism witty and charming. Hopefully, she comes back to music, someday. She just had a baby, in November and was married in June. So, she'll probably be spending time, getting her life off the ground. I'm not sure how I feel about her genre shift from her first album, Alright, Still, to her second album It's Not Me, It's You. Still, though, plenty of time to establish herself, further, in the music industry. You don't sell a few million albums without getting another shot.

 

2. Mariah Carey.

Before the explosion of Beyonce, there was Mariah. I grew up listening to her, crooning to her songs on the radio. I spent way too much time pretending I was Boyz II Men, in my early teens. Mariah has an amazing, emotional voice, and her vocal range is absolutely stunning.

 

1. Adele.

It rocks my mind that Adele's 21 is back atop the Billboard 200. Adele is such a young singer with a beautiful grasp on her talent. Hopefully, she doesn't start having public meltdowns and blow her gift on drugs, sex, and partying. Yeah, it would be great for headlines and celebrity fodder but not good for the soul of the music industry.

 

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The Final Word

As always, the last thoughts come from you, the reader. We're merely unpaid monkeys with typewriters and Wikipedia. Here's what you need to do: List your Top Five for this week's topic on the comment section using the following format:

5. Artist: Why you chose it
4. Artist: Why you chose it
3. Artist: Why you chose it
2. Artist: Why you chose it
1. Artist: Why you chose it