Ah yes. Quite possibly my predominant role model that makes me the person I am.

A friend once called his voice "verbal diarehha". Hehe.

Overall:

Female -

Dusty Springfield


Male -

Marvin Gaye


Some of my other favorites:

Frank Sinatra
Al Green
Diana Ross
Bjork
John Lennon

And a *big* vote for Thom Yorke. Some of the performances he puts in are simply astonishing in how he morphs his voice and transforms his vocal style from album to album. Great pipes on that guy.

Female: Ella

Male: Cash

Don Dokken - Dokken

Klaus Meine - Scorpions

Maynard James Keenan - TOOL

Johnny Cash - who needs to hit the highs with a voice like his

Freddie Mercury - my personal favorite - incredible voice

Amy Lee - Evanescence, I don't care much for the band, but lordy...just listen to her voice.

Don Mclean - Starry Starry Night is solid proof...

You guys listed the rest, thanks, bye :D.

male- Roy Orbison

female- Joan Baez

Pretend there's a big wide world out there:

Caesaria Evora
Kate Rusby
Youssou N'dour
Rokia Traore
Om Kalsoum
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Lena Willemark
ETC.

I'd have to go with Freddie Mercury, though I am not a huge Queen fan. The guy's voice was amazing.

Another vote for Karen.

There are many that I can't dispute already mentioned. Others that come to mind as contenders:

kd lang
Ann Wilson of Heart
Van Morrison
Paul Rodgers

I have to agree with a previous poster, Allison Krauss could sing the phone book and it would rule. Anyone wanting to hear one of, if not the best voice in any genre, check out her song, "maybe". Other pics: I don't think i saw anyone mention enya, i like those haunting songs, like "may it be" from LOTR etc.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

mike patton

J. Mascis
Cobain
Steve Perry

Eva Cassidy has an awesome voice. (The LATE Eva Cassidy, I should say.) I can't say she's the greatest, because that's just simply hard to say. But there's way too much passion in her voice to overlook such vocal talent. It's almost like she's experiencing some sort of epiphany while she's singing.

Sinatra or Elvis

Another vote.

Rob Halford :editking: - The best in IMO.

Steve Perry

Bruce Dickinson

David Coverdale

Robert Plant

C.J. Snare

Rod Stewart

Annie Lennox

Bryan Adams

Brad Delp

Fran Cosmo

Ronnie James Dio

Layne Stayley

Ann/Nancy Wilson

Grace Slick

Don Henley

Just some off the top of my head. -ptth-

Rock and Roll McDonald's! Rock and Roll McDonald's!

Martin Sexton
Alison Krauss
Rob Halford

Whitney Houston (before she met Bobby Brown and crack)
Marvin Gaye
Luis Miguel

No question -- Ray Charles. A voice of infinite soul, of course, but also of great emotional shading, to where he could alternately break your heart and make you cackle at his wickedness.