Ann Wilson
Ann Wilson
Ann Wilson

WAY above all the rest. Just an amazing voice - and a good songwriter, too.

Neko Case

Agnetha and Frida from ABBA - no female vocals have ever been better apart and especially together!
Annie Lennox
Chrissie Hynde
Tina Turner
Melissa Etheridge
Bette Midler
Sharleen Spiteri (Texas)
Deborah Conway
Shania Twain

My favorites...

Allison Krauss
Kasey Chambers
Neko Case
Andrea Corr
Karin Bergquist (Over the Rhine)
Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek)
Patty Griffen
Lennon Murphy
Sarah Shannon (Velocity Girl)
Lisa Marr
Kathleen Edwards
Kate Rusby

Maybe not all the best, but ones I like...

Regina Spektor
Patsy Cline
Eva Cassidy
Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley; some Postal Service)

Bjork.
Alanis Morissette
nikka costa

Imogen Heap
Tori Amos

My Personal Favorites:

Dido
Andrea Corr
Harriet Wheeler (The Sundays)
Leigh Nash ( Sixpence None the Richer)
Shawn Colvin

Love em!

Basia
Sade
Tina Turner
Mariah Carey
Cyndi Lauper
Whitney Houston
Anita Baker
Toni Braxton
Vanessa Williams
Donna Summer
Tina Arena
Anastacia
Taylor Dayne
Christina Aguilera
Leann Rimes
Wynonna
Bette Midler
Patti LaBelle
Chaka Khan
Debbi Harry
Annie Lennox
Olivia Neutron-bomb (back in the day)

partial list and in no particular order

I went through 3 pages and didn't see Nina Simone's name. Horrific. Get it together people.

Nina Simone.

Hey cfloyd3 there are not many jazz fans here (Ladyday fan man here).

Very unfortunate she never did any solo work or that The Sundays never got back together. I really loved her voice.

Enya

Just got back from an Alison Krauss show....wow, what an unbelievable voice, and Union Station was just as great! She has a fantastic voice though, no doubt about it.

Interesting that I stumbled across this thread as I was thinking about this over the weekend due to two incidents.

First, I was working on my basement and threw Blues Brothers in for background, and it really hit me how great Aretha Franklin's voice is compared to ANY female soul/r&b singer in the last 50 years. It's not even close.

Secondly, riding with my wife and she was listening to Nora Jones, the cd where she does the song with Dolly Parton. If you are a female country singer whose name isn't Dolly Parton, I'm sorry, but you lose. I don't care how good your voice is, you never, ever, ever will sound half as deep and rich and strong and powerful as her. Ever. Every female country vocalist should hear her sing and be embarrassed at even thinking they were somehow in her vocal league.

Agree with Lucinda Willaimsa and Kasey Chambers
will also add Grace Potter

Aimee mann
Tori Amos
Sia

Sally Ellyson (Hem)

Maria McKee

Katharine McPhee
Shania Twain
Shakira

Hope Sandals On - Mazzy Star

My favorites... (** by those I don't think have been mentioned before in this thread...)

Agnetha Faltskog & Frida Lyngstad (ABBA)
**Amanda Ghost
Bjork
Charlotte Martin
Emmylou Harris
Enya
Fiona Apple
**Fleming McWilliams (Fleming & John)
**Happy Rhodes
Imogen Heap
Jem
Kate Bush
Loreena McKennitt
**Mary Fahl
**Marie Fredricksson (Roxette)
**Sam Phillips
Sarah McLachlan
Suzanne Vega
Tori Amos

- Mr. Flix

Alison Goldfrapp of GOLDFRAPP
Madeline Kahn
Bjork
PJ Harvey
Dusty Springfield
Karen Carpenter
Tina Turner
Dolly Parton
Vanessa Williams
Sarah McLachlan
Gwen Stefani
Joan Osborne
(her rendition of "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" on the doc Standing in the Shadows of Motown is required listening)

Madonna (mainly pre-Guy Ritchie)
Whitney Houston (pre-Bobby Brown)
Mariah Carey (pre-skank, pre-Sean "P Diddy" Combs)

see my signature :) gotta give newcomer Grace Potter a nod on this one.

Just saw Joanna Newsom tonight. Her voice is so idiosyncratic, it's hard to truly gauge it or even compare it to others. Even people like bjork and Kate Bush don't work completely - they work as comparisons because their voices are also their own things.

Anyway, I fell in love with Newsom tonight. She's really coy and cute (she giggled a lot) and her music is hypnotic.
-ringding-