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Post by Vic on Apr 15, 2024 14:16:55 GMT -5
Following on the heels of JessieLou 's Favourite Acts. This is my Top 100 Female vocalists from 1955 to today. This chart will focus on lead vocals on a song only. I used a general point system where each "hit" song is measured by how well I liked the song. Higher points given to songs who ranked higher on my favourite songs of all time. Different point values were given for duets, features or shared lead vocals. An example of a shared lead vocal would be on certain songs from Roxette or the Mamas & Papas. In cases where there is no distinguished lead vocalists such as Bananarama or En Vogue, the group would share the position. Artists from this century would be weighted differently. The reasoning for this is acts like P!nk and Taylor Swift who I have lived through in real time have had many singles. I feel they shouldn't be given a higher rank over artists from 60-89, who I prefer, because they weren't releasing single after single. Some ladies, from this century, will also be hit with a disadvantage because of a dislike factor, however I cannot deny the hit songs that I like. No examples here When all the points for each of their songs are tallied by artist. the Top 100 of compiled. If you are familiar with my tastes, you'll know, I do prefer many of the so called "geezer" acts. My tastes are pretty mainstream and very "old school" Top 40. In this chart you'll find some country ladies making an appearance. In the mid-90s, when Top 40 moved towards grunge and hiphop/rap, I found the sounds the "New Country". Being Canadian, you'll find acts known only here in Canada. My absolute favourite time in music was 1977-1984. So you will find a good portion of acts who emerged in this time. DISCLAIMER: If your favourites aren't here or lower than how you would rank them, I mean no disrespect. I would love to see your lists So I hope you can get a kick out of this. Before we kick off the Top 100 Ladies, here are ones that came close. 101 Beth Nielsen Chapman 102 Amy Sky 103 Irene Cara 104 Carole Pope (Rough Trade) 105 Lesley Gore 106 Alicia Keys 107 Toni Tenille (Captain & Tenille) 108 Dua Lipa 109 Cathy Dennis 110 Beyonce (Destiny's Child) 111 Candi (Candi & the Backbeat) 112 Crystals 113 Carrie Underwood 114 Joan Jett (Joan Jett & the Blackhearts) 115 Shirelles 116 Sarah McLachlan 117 Connie Francis 118 Michelle Wright 119 Linn Berggren & Jenny Berggren (Ace of Base) 120 Chiffons 121 Lorde 122 Lulu 123 Jordin Sparks 124 Kim Wilde 125 Nelly Furtado 126 Kreesha Turner 127 Lisa Loeb (Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories) 128 Natalie Imbruglia 129 Jackie DeShannon 130 Jessica Simpson 131 Natalie Merchant (10, 000 Maniacs) 132 Serena Ryder 133 Tiffany 134 Sister Sledge 135 Gloria Loring 136 Delta Goodrem 137 Amanda Wilkinson (Wilkinsons) 138 Lee Ann Womack 139 Patty Loveless 140 Cookie, Heather, Raylene (Rankin Family) 141 Joni Mitchell 142 Chantal Kraviazuk 143 Sophie B. Hawkins 144 Elle King 145 Adele 146 Emotions 147 Maxine Nightingale 148 Fergie (Black Eyed Peas) 149 Patti Labelle (Labelle) 150 Leslie Howe (One To One)
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Post by FreakyFlyBry on Apr 15, 2024 21:06:45 GMT -5
Good to see these here:
103 Irene Cara 105 Lesley Gore 106 Alicia Keys 108 Dua Lipa 109 Cathy Dennis 110 Beyonce (Destiny's Child) 113 Carrie Underwood 114 Joan Jett (Joan Jett & the Blackhearts) 116 Sarah McLachlan 119 Linn Berggren & Jenny Berggren (Ace of Base) 121 Lorde 122 Lulu 123 Jordin Sparks 124 Kim Wilde 125 Nelly Furtado 126 Kreesha Turner 127 Lisa Loeb (Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories) 128 Natalie Imbruglia 130 Jessica Simpson 131 Natalie Merchant (10, 000 Maniacs) 132 Serena Ryder 133 Tiffany 134 Sister Sledge 136 Delta Goodrem 141 Joni Mitchell 142 Chantal Kraviazuk 143 Sophie B. Hawkins 145 Adele 146 Emotions 147 Maxine Nightingale 148 Fergie (Black Eyed Peas) 149 Patti Labelle (Labelle)
Should be a good list!
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JessieLou
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Post by JessieLou on Apr 15, 2024 22:36:08 GMT -5
Very excited for this! I like these:
103 Irene Cara 106 Alicia Keys 108 Dua Lipa 109 Cathy Dennis 110 Beyonce (Destiny's Child) 114 Joan Jett (Joan Jett & the Blackhearts) 116 Sarah McLachlan 119 Linn Berggren & Jenny Berggren (Ace of Base) 121 Lorde 123 Jordin Sparks 124 Kim Wilde 125 Nelly Furtado 127 Lisa Loeb (Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories) 128 Natalie Imbruglia 130 Jessica Simpson 131 Natalie Merchant (10, 000 Maniacs) 133 Tiffany 134 Sister Sledge 136 Delta Goodrem 142 Chantal Kraviazuk 143 Sophie B. Hawkins 145 Adele 146 Emotions 147 Maxine Nightingale 148 Fergie (Black Eyed Peas) 149 Patti Labelle (Labelle)
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Post by ziggy2 on Apr 16, 2024 7:30:26 GMT -5
Wow, already some big names are out of the top 100. Beyoncé, Dua Lipa, Sarah McLachlan, Nelly Furtado, Joni Mitchell, Adele, Patti Labelle
Can’t wait to see the rest!
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Post by Vic on Apr 16, 2024 9:25:49 GMT -5
Yeah, I know a lot of "big " names are there already. hope I don't disappoint.
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JessieLou
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Post by JessieLou on Apr 16, 2024 10:07:52 GMT -5
Let's be real - Adele would've made the top 100 if she cared more about making music and less about taking lengthy hiatuses to party with Drake.
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Post by Cao Bin on Apr 16, 2024 18:00:32 GMT -5
Man, I wonder about Tori Amos, Björk, PJ Harvey, Kate Bush, Lisa Germano... Poor Sarah, but it's her fault for not releasing music.
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Post by Vic on Apr 17, 2024 14:13:55 GMT -5
Alrighty...just a description of what is to come. This is not a Billboard, Rolling Stone or critic's list. Just my favourites. it means squat My tastes are VERY mainstream. I don't stray into hard rock, alternative, hip hop/rap, triple A, or EDM. This chart will basically be as I said old school Top 40. Think Casey Kasem from the 70s and 80s. That's me. There will be artists on here that will make some cringe, You'll be pointing your fingers at me and snickering...but this is what I like. Without further adieu: Here are my Top 100 Ladies of the past 69 Years!
My Favourite Song: If You Had My Love - 1999
Other Great Songs: Love Don't Cost a Thing, Play, All I Have
I really liked Jennifer Lopez when she broke out in 1999. She had a string of good songs. Over the past 15 years, she has been very hit and miss with me. I didn't mind her being on American Idol. I feel she, like a few others still to come, tries to hard to be relevant. So at times, I feel meh with her.
My Favourite Song: I'm The Only One - 1995
Other Great Songs: If I Wanted To, Breathe, Your Little Secret
I do like Melissa. I feel she stays true to her music and herself.
My Favourite Song: It's My Life - 2003
Other Great Songs: What You Waiting For, Sweet Escape, 4 In the Morning
I wasn't a big No Doubt fan, but Don't Speak and It's My life helped Gwen land in the Top 100. I like Gwen, she carries herself well.
My Favourite Song: Your Daddy Don't Don't - 1982
Other Great Songs: All I Need, Girl's Night Out, Start Tellin' The Truth
In the early 80s, along with Darby Mills of the Headpins, Holly Woods was Canada's premier "rocker chick" fronting the group Toronto. They only charted for 5 years, but Your Daddy Don't Know and All I Need consistently do well on my all time chart, so bonus points given here.
My Favourite Song: Midnight Train To Georgia - 1973 Other Great Songs: Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me, Neither One Of Us, Love Overboard
Glady's truly is most known for fronting the Pips. She has had dozens of hits. Probably only a dozen of those clicked with me
My Favourite Song: Waterfalls - 1995
Other Great Songs: Baby Baby Baby, Creep, What About Friends
No predominant lead vocalist here, TLC share their rank. As you can see, I was a bigger fan of TLC when they first hit. I do enjoy them, but they haven't been the same since Lisa Lopes passed away. I did enjoy T-Boz's acting sting a couple years ago on Days of our Lives
My Favourite Song: Save The Best For Last - 1992
Other Great Songs: The Sweetest Days, Dreamin', Where Do We Go From Here
Save the Best For Last a personal favourite is defiantly a stand out! I do enjoy her Christmas album. Christmas songs do not contribute any points here.
My Favourite Song: Give Your Heart a Break - 2012
Other Great Songs: Skyscraper, Really Don't Care, Confident
Loved almost everything Demi did in the first half of her career. Lately she has been hit and mostly miss. I don't care for her new "rock" direction.
My Favourite Song: The Rose - 1980
Other Great Songs: Wind Beneath My Wings, From a Distance, Night and Day
Loved Bette's acting roles...who didn't like Hocus Pocus?? Bette has always done well with with me with some of her songs always showing up on my all time list.
My Favourite Song: As Long As I Can Dream - 1993
Other Great Songs: Come Go With Me, Point of No Return, I Wish The Phone Would Ring
Expose had a great string of pop-dance hits. Not many powerhouse house songs for me, but still many that were good and garnered enough points to put them here.
Well that is the first 10. The next group we'll travel to the mid 60's, Ireland, and the Idol franchise
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Post by Courage on Apr 17, 2024 16:56:20 GMT -5
Bette is certainly a jack of all trades, however vocally she wouldn't be anywhere near the top for me, but she still has some decent songs.
Not familiar with Holly Woods but the others I know for certain have jams. Glad to see you give a shoutout to "Where Do We Go From Here." That's such an underrated gem.
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Post by FreakyFlyBry on Apr 17, 2024 20:13:06 GMT -5
J-Lo has had so many great songs... one who can both sing and act well. From 1999-2003 I thought she was excellent, but she's had many great songs since as well.
Melissa Etheridge was just one of the best rock queens of the late 80's and 90's. Her debut album and "Yes I Am" were both excellent albums. Glad I'll have the chance to finally see her this summer at our jazz festival.
Gwen is awesome. Loved her from her No Doubt days to her solo career, she was best for me from 1996-2007 or so but again, I've liked a lot of her later stuff too, particularly No Doubt's reunion album "Push and Shove". Glad I got to see her in Vegas a while back, hopefully we'll hear more from her!
Toronto had a few good songs back in their day. Definitely had a great rock chick attitude!
Gladys Knight is a legend. I feel her best years were from like 1973-76, that streak including classics like "Midnight Train To Georgia" was very impressive.
TLC is awesome, "CrazySexyCool" and "Fanmail" were both excellent albums, a huge part of the 90's soundtrack. Still enjoy listening to classics like "Waterfalls" and "No Scrubs" today, both never get old.
Vanessa Williams had a good run in there, I enjoy a lot of her stuff. While I feel her ballads are her strong point, I feel "Running Back To You" is a good underrated uptempo song.
I also feel Demi Lovato was best in her earlier career, up to like 2015 or so. Her "Demi" album was easily her most consistent for me and "Heart Attack" remains a favourite of mine, second behind "Sober" overall in her career for me.
Bette Midler had some great songs - another one who did great in both singing and acting. Her big movie ballads I found her best, they showed her voice the best, particularly "Wind Beneath My Wings".
And Expose were a great freestyle group, I mostly enjoyed the songs that Jeanette sang lead on like "Point Of No Return", "Seasons Change" and "I'll Never Get Over You (Getting Over Me)".
Good start!
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Post by Vic on Apr 18, 2024 8:17:44 GMT -5
Forgot to add the videos...
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Post by ziggy2 on Apr 19, 2024 14:48:45 GMT -5
Good picks!
Happy to see Melissa Etheridge in there. Her first three albums are really good. Saw her in concert first row. Everyone was singing.
Vanessa Williams, great voice and a nice person. Same could be said of Gladys Knight with or without the Pips.
And Bette, of course, an icon for me.
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Post by Vic on Apr 20, 2024 14:58:06 GMT -5
Just saying, I really like all these ladies, placing this low isn't a diss for me. There are just other still come I like a little more My Favourite Song: Teenage Dream - 2010
Other Great Songs: Hot 'N' Cold, California Girls, RoarAaah Katy. I loved everything you did from the beginning in 2008 til about 2014. After that your persona kinda irked me. I'm warming up back to her now. But a great string of hits at the start! My Favourite Song: Call Me Maybe
Other Great Songs: This Kiss, Good Time, I Really Like You
From the Idol World, Canadian Idol came the finalist Carly Rae Jepsen. She's put out a lot of good songs, its a shame American radio gave up on her. My Favourite Song: Tik Tok - 2010
Other Great Songs: Love Is My Drug, Take It Off, BlowKe$ha may not be the greatest vocalist, but she put out a string of big hits for me including 4 number one songs. I'd love to see Kesha return to her glory days of success. My Favourite Song: It's Too Late - 1971
Other Great Songs: I Feel The Earth Move, Sweet Seasons, So Far AwayCarole didn't have the biggest streak of hit records, but the tracks she had really resonated with me. Her Tapestry album is iconic! My Favourite Song: Summer Sunshine - 2004
Other Great Songs: Breathless, Little Lies, What Can I DoAaah the Corrs, Andrea, Sharon & Caroline with such great harmonies. Love the respect they've shown to Fleetwood Mac with at least 3 cover versions. My Favourite Song: Pink Cadillac - 1988
Other Great Songs: This Will Be, Miss You Like Crazy, UnforgettableExcept for This Will Be, the 70's Natalie Cole didn't do to much for me. But in 1987, when she returned, she scored a whole whack of top 10 records for me. My Favourite Song: The Warrior - 1985
Other Great Songs: Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough, No Mistakes, Hands TiedThis is a great example of the power of the points. Patty doesn't have a huge library of hits but she has had a couple solo and with Scandal that were massive for me. My Favourite Song: Are You Happy Now - 2003
Other Great Songs: Game of Love, Breathe, Leave The PiecesWith 3 number one songs and 9 other charted hits including a couple from her country venture under the Wreckers, its no surprise Michelle would score well for me. My Favourite Song: California Dreamin'
Other Great Songs: Monday Monday, Creeque Alley, Words of LoveHere is a case where the ladies of the Mamas and Papas, Michelle Phillips and Cass Elliott had a slot of shared vocals with the band's Papas. But what a presence they had. The harmonies, the classics! My favourite Song: Baby Baby - 1991
Other Great Songs: Good For Me, Every Heartbeat, The Next Time I FallI've always like Amy's poppy sound. The early 90s were a good time, Amy helped that. Amy's Christmas albums get alot of play for me every December. Coming up...a visit to the early 80s for a couple female fronted bands, a trip trough the 60s and a visit down under!
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Post by FreakyFlyBry on Apr 20, 2024 22:56:26 GMT -5
Katy Perry is awesome, definitely one of my favourites of the past few decades. Loved her first three albums in particular, and she really puts on a great live show too, as her Vegas residency showed. Carly Rae Jepsen I feel is the best kept secret of a lot of online communities as she has maintained her popularity both here and on popheads. Of course, "Call Me Maybe" is iconic and legendary, but the "Emotion" album is still a favourite of mine, and 2020's songs like "Talking To Myself" and "Psychedelic Switch" stand strong among her classics. Kesha has been hit or miss for me - I really liked "Tik Tok" but I feel that she didn't really hit THAT big for me after that until "Praying". However, she's mostly not charted for me since then, but when she does hit for me, she hits big. Carole King is a legend - "Tapestry" set the template for basically all singer-songwriter female albums ever since. Great songwriter, both for herself and for all those 60's legends she wrote for too. The Corrs had a great sound mixing Irish traditional sounds with pop melodies and I feel that for their first decade at least, had a great run. Haven't heard as much of their recent stuff but I do like what I have heard of it too. Natalie Cole had a great sound of her own and definitely stepped outside of her dad's shadow - I agree with you that "This Will Be" is the highlight of her 70's career and that she was better in the 80's - "Everlasting" had a good mix of dance pop and slow jams. Patty Smyth had some good stuff, "The Warrior" in particular is an 80's classic but I also loved "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough". Michelle Branch - well, you know how I feel about her Great singer, "The Spirit Room" and "Hotel Paper" are all time favourites of mine and I even enjoyed her most recent album "The Trouble With Fever". I also enjoyed the Wreckers album, too bad she didn't stick in that direction very long. The Mamas & the Papas just had great folk rock harmonies and I feel they could make a great melody - some of my favourites of the 60's were by them, particularly "California Dreamin" and of couse "Creeque Alley". Mama Cass was definitely gone too soon. And Amy Grant, particularly in the "Heart In Motion" era, had great pop/AC music with Christian sensibilities, songs like "Baby Baby" have really stood the test of time for me. Not as familiar with her pre-crossover music myself, but I do enjoy her 80's hit "Find A Way" too.
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Post by Vic on Apr 21, 2024 17:17:38 GMT -5
Katy Perry is awesome, definitely one of my favourites of the past few decades. Loved her first three albums in particular, and she really puts on a great live show too, as her Vegas residency showed. Carly Rae Jepsen I feel is the best kept secret of a lot of online communities as she has maintained her popularity both here and on popheads. Of course, "Call Me Maybe" is iconic and legendary, but the "Emotion" album is still a favourite of mine, and 2020's songs like "Talking To Myself" and "Psychedelic Switch" stand strong among her classics. Kesha has been hit or miss for me - I really liked "Tik Tok" but I feel that she didn't really hit THAT big for me after that until "Praying". However, she's mostly not charted for me since then, but when she does hit for me, she hits big. Carole King is a legend - "Tapestry" set the template for basically all singer-songwriter female albums ever since. Great songwriter, both for herself and for all those 60's legends she wrote for too. The Corrs had a great sound mixing Irish traditional sounds with pop melodies and I feel that for their first decade at least, had a great run. Haven't heard as much of their recent stuff but I do like what I have heard of it too. Natalie Cole had a great sound of her own and definitely stepped outside of her dad's shadow - I agree with you that "This Will Be" is the highlight of her 70's career and that she was better in the 80's - "Everlasting" had a good mix of dance pop and slow jams. Patty Smyth had some good stuff, "The Warrior" in particular is an 80's classic but I also loved "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough". Michelle Branch - well, you know how I feel about her Great singer, "The Spirit Room" and "Hotel Paper" are all time favourites of mine and I even enjoyed her most recent album "The Trouble With Fever". I also enjoyed the Wreckers album, too bad she didn't stick in that direction very long. The Mamas & the Papas just had great folk rock harmonies and I feel they could make a great melody - some of my favourites of the 60's were by them, particularly "California Dreamin" and of couse "Creeque Alley". Mama Cass was definitely gone too soon. And Amy Grant, particularly in the "Heart In Motion" era, had great pop/AC music with Christian sensibilities, songs like "Baby Baby" have really stood the test of time for me. Not as familiar with her pre-crossover music myself, but I do enjoy her 80's hit "Find A Way" too. Really appreciate your thoughts thru this
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