Favourite Female Vocalist? - Page 6

Oops, I missed that one. Great minds think alike...

For me, it all starts and ends with Edith Piaf. Incredible pipes and delivery. Anyone else listen to her?

As of late: Goldfrapp

For sheer purity: K.D. Lang

Off the top of my head:
Iris Dement; Shemekia Copeland; Mahalia Jackson; Ella Fitzgerald; Edith Piaf; Billie Holiday; Nina Simone; Dusty Springfield; Lucinda Williams; Margo Timmins; Mavis Staples; Emmylou Harris; Claire Torrey makes it solely for her spine-tingling backing vocals on "Great Gig In The Sky"; Chrissie Hynde.
And lately, the woman who sings lead vocals for the Heartless Bastards.

Justine Suissa. Ohhh how I yearn for her sweet voice whispering my ear. Sarah McLachlan gets runner-up.

Occasionally, in doses. She was an original, for sure.

Just heard Allison Krauss again for the first time in a long while, on a tribute to James Taylor that aired on PBS. Fantastic.

A few days ago, I found a dusty cache of old CDs. They probably sat hidden away for the last eight or nine years. The little treasures among them all were three Shirley Horn classics. Here's to Life, You Won't Forget Me, and I Love You, Paris were never better than when I rediscovered them.

I am surprised that I didn't see Shirley Horn's name mentioned in the earlier posts. I even neglected to mention her in my prior post on the thread. Some of us are a little more seasoned than others and seasoning plays tricks on the memory.



Nice call, Mr. Checks. However, Sylvia Sass is my favorite for those Strauss songs. I don't know that you can find it to download. You might be able to find that CD new, but likely used on eBay or Amazon. The CD is on Hungaroton and was issued in about 1979 or 1980. In the 1970s, Sass was being often being reviewed as that era's Maria Callas.

Sylvia had no shortage of offers to sing at the very best venues. In fact, she did sing in the best opera houses. For whatever reason, though, she toured infrequently and stayed in Budapest more often than not. These days she's more of a footnote even though she still gives recitals and has a successful voice school.

By the way, you may remember that Beim Schlafengehen was used with great dramatic effect in Peter Weir's Year of Living Dangerously. Linda Hunt (in a fantastic gender bending portrayal of the male photojournalist, Billy Kwan) put the music on an old Victrola and the scratchy, crackling version of the song does the rest. The movie credits were not correct; they wrongly said the song was September.
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Neko Case
Kelly Hogan
Feist
Emmylou Harris
Sarah Harmer

How about Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins?

For those of you who like the Sundays, I bet you'd like Cocteau Twins as well.

And don't forget Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson of Lush, and Rachel Goswell of Slowdive.

That's another very good call. Eva Cassidy's voice is truly lovely. Her story is a very sad one. It is ironic that I didn't hear of this fabulous American talent until well after her death.

The first time I heard her sing, it was on BBC radio in England around 1999. Her cover of Sting's Fields of Gold was then, and still is, otherworldly. I didn't hear her on American radio until around 2001.

When we visited with friends in Ireland, we heard the Irish singer Chris de Burgh in Dun Laoghaire. He said that his song, Songbird, was dedicated to Eva.
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Ella Fitzgerald
Mary J.Blidge
Nina Simone
Aretha Franklin
Lauryn Hill

oh, that's right. white girls can't sing.

I hadn't heard much about Eva Cassidy until your post, FC. Thanks for the reccomendation, her voice is divine.