Not even close, imo...

Freddie could write, play, sing and work the crowd like no one else. Who else except maybe McCartney? I think Freddie passed him in those last couple of good years.

closely followed by:

Bruce Dickinson
Rob Halford
early Geoff Tate

(just off the top of my head)

never got into Queensryche that much.

so I'm not poo pooing but rather throwing out an easily overlooked alternative.

I love Queensryche, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Dio, but read this:

I would agree that he is a grade A d-bag.

The Todd La Torre fronted Queensrÿche (the real one) is really good. They are laying gigs right now. Unfortunately I'm going to see the Eagles the day they're playing my area. I hope to catch them soon.

Loved the self titled album, it was worlds better than Tate's childish and stupid FU album. Hell I'd definitely say it's one of the best of 2013.

When you consider that Blackbird and Helter Skelter are sung by the same person it's pretty darned impressive.

I voted for Mercury, though

Sometimes it is "make up a band of 5 of the best bass players, still alive", or "make up a band of 5 best drummers, deceased"


In answer to your questions, Ozzy inevitably is always THE voice of hard/heavy/arena rock for us

Rock is so wide open. It would depend on your perspective and what you think Rock is right this moment. Storytelling rock? John Mellencamp, bar no one. Pop rock? Old school rock? Rockabilly?

You should get a lot of varied and fun responses!


(Bass player winner? - Flea)

Winner of most under-rated lead guitarist for our band? Lindsey Buckingham

On edit, I did not see this was a poll...if these are the choicecs, Freddie Mercury..and he would be in our band as well.

on AXS. Didn't know what I had missed until then. So much to catch up with which I am looking forward to.

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_James_Dio):

Amazing range, technically sound.

Rob Halford is good, but nobody could lay a hand on Dio.

...although I also have a strong personal love for Jon Oliva before he lost his range.

Queen was the first rock group I ever heard -- I was raised in an all-country-or-gospel home. In fact, the only reason that one snuck by was because it was a 'soundtrack', not a rock album.

Also, Rbt. Plant, John Lennon or Paul McCartney, Roger Daltry, Ozzy, Brian Johnson

The only possible competition Mercury has would be Robert Plant. Maybe Janis Joplin.

Well, in classic rock, anyway. Contemporary metal has Brittney Hayes from "Unleash the Archers" for instance.

...but it could have included a hundred choices, and I'd have still picked Freddie.

There are also some amazing voices in Pop (a genre into which Queen obviously ventured often and brilliantly), in somewhat obscure, niche genres like Ethereal (Lisa Gerrard...), but I stuck to Rock. Probably my favorite hard rock singer these days is Lzzy Hale of Halestorm:

it's not Bob Dylan.

The golden god.

.... I'm only a moderate Led Zep fan, but the power of Plant's vocals is undeniable. Plus without him, all of the "metal" nominations here would have never existed as they all copied his style.

and can he tell a story in song!

agree

Robert Plant was a great screamer hitting incredible notes but thats it..

How about Paul Rodgers. Dude can sing..

Favorite voice of all times...David Ruffin..

My opinion.

I concur with your assessment of Plant and Mercury, and Dave Ruffin was indeed a great one

Roger Daltry from The Who

Jon Anderson from Yes

Robert Plant

Sting

Though, admittedly, Joplin was a solo act at the peak of her career.

BTW, I saw Heart in concert back in 2005 or 6 in Atlantic City - Ann's voice has just gotten deeper and better, believe it or not - I'm not sure if she can still hit the high notes, but it's even lovelier (IMO) than when she was younger.

And Eddie Vedder.

She is the best.

Ann sang 98% of the lead vocals for Heart

Note to self, don't smoke pot & post.

I've never heard of a couple of your choices.

Who are Burton Cummings and Chuck Negron ....

speaking as a child of the sixties that I am.

You missed about a dozen more major rock singer in your poll, I might add.

And yeah, I knew better than to try to make it all-inclusive, so I just went for those who I remember hitting pure notes with amazing range. (Shit, I LOVE Joe Cocker, but he didn't make my list due to the parameters I noted in the OP.)

Rock was about the antithesis of great vocal abilities. It was more about the idea of authenticity and personal vision.

From the standpoint of purely vocal chops, most of the important singers suck. That was kind of the point.

Bob Dylan, the most important, had a voice like a frog. Roger Daltry of the Who looked great but was barely adequate. Freddy Mercury had a great voice but Queen is trivial in the history of rock, Latecomers with Broadway influences.

Van Morrison has both a great voice and important original artistry.

Most of the great vocalists of the era were black soul singer. James Brown, Otis Redding, and many others.

Any specific reason for saying that?

I think he's in the top echelon, but maybe I'm missing something.

Quadrophenia still brings chills to me. But he's superb on all their albums.

He is good at looking the part and swinging the mike and mike stand around. Very theatrical.

Neither an interesting voice, nor a powerful voice. I saw him up close at one of the big Tommy performances with the Who.

and I would put Jimi Hendrix as second.

To Jeff Buckley singing Hallelujah. His album was really very strong. And gone way too soon like many other shining stars .

That is all.

Of course. With an honourable mention to Brit Daniel from Spoon.

on edit: I'm guessing that a bunch of folk who think Freddy Mercury and Robert Plant were amazing singers may not have heard of Spoon, so here ya go...

She ranks up there I figure.

I also like Patty Smyth's voice

She has brilliantly sung every kind of music there is, almost.

I would put Benatar above Smyth, but it's close.

I swear he hit 3 octaves easily and the tone was pure.

Hands down.

--imm

Jesus Christ Superstar, The Temple (Gillan comes in at 1:53)

and Ann Wilson

best show designer.. but not the best singer.

Lead for the only Band that mattered.

I loved the Doors.

Paul McCartney

Nilsson

Billy Joel

Eric Carmen

etc etc etc

and no-one else even comes close.

Jezz, all men and only one woman, Linda Rondstat? Not Janis? or Aretha (rock?)? How about Ann Wilson from Heart?

Van Morrison. Roger Daltry. Rick Danko. (personally Jerry Garcia is my favorite singer of all time though it is more the feeling of his voice than his voice itself. So comforting, like sitting on the porch in a creaky rocking chair.

Newer people are:


LP (an amazing voice!)
Carolyn Wonderland (sings like Aretha and Janis on a five day bender)
Jim James (My Morning Jacket)
Eddie Vedder

Heart got big in the 70's and bigger in the 80's. David Coverdale would be on my list too, but he got his start with Deep Purple before Whitesnake. My list would include Steve Perry, Lou Gramm, Brad Delp, and Dennis DeYoung. I know it's popular to bash AOR but god these guys could sing.

Eddie Vedder is a great frontman and a great songwriter but a medicore vocalist. If we're putting someone in contention from the 90's I'd go with Chris Cornell.

And I've seen Freddy live - no disrespect, he's on the top shelf - but there are quite a few. Greg Walker, who sang for Santana in the late '70's, has an amazing set of pipes

Last edited Sun Jan 5, 2014, 05:59 PM - Edit history (1)

timbre is basically a subjective exercise. A matter of personal taste.

Freddie Mercury, Robert Plant, Ian Gillan, Rob Halford, Bon Scott, Dio, Steve Perry, Steve Walsh, and Steven Tyler all had great total range.

Axl Rose, Chris Cornell, and Sting had even a bit more total range.

I like all of them, they are all great singers with unique timbre.

My favorites out of the above are Plant, Freddie, Ian Gillan and Sting.

I like Ann Wilson, John Fogerty, Pink, Don Henley, Roy Orbison, Linda Ronstadt, Sam Cooke, and Van Morrison just as much as vocalists because of the timbre of their voices. And lots of others.

He has a quality in his voice I've never heard anywhere else. And.......Gawd.......what a great name!

He put on a great show back in the day but his technique was piss poor and you can hear him tearing his voice to shreds if you watch live clips of them.

Is she the best? Probably not.

(Doobies)

You however, get awarded several points for including the highly underrated Negron and Cummings among your few selections

Here's Steve Marriott and the Small Faces on French TV, with a smokin' version featuring guest vocalist P.P. Arnold:

underrated rock musician in my book.

had a 4 octave range, and Elvis and Bono have called his the greatest voice they've ever heard.

Looks like a near unanimous opinion.

heh... No, I love him but seriously, I voted for Freddie

I'm a fan of Maynard James Keenan. I love Tool and A Perfect Circle, and MJK's side project Puscifer.

So freakin' sad she'll never sing again.
I like Cher and Elton John too!
Elvis and Roy Orbison...that's about it for me.

The Man of a Thousand Voices.

for all the Robin Zander fans…

I recently took up the drums and I can't play along with Bun E. to save my life. Many drummers are fairly easy to keep up with; he blows me away.

Most of the time he plays with Brian Wilson but he plays with other bands.

The only singers he goes out of the way to see is Robin Zander and Polly Harvey.


Robin Zander really has an instrument.

he still has quite a bit. We saw them just last year and it was a great show.

There is no best. Period.

and that choice of course subject to change as time and exigencies change us all.

For how boring life would be if our tastes and beliefs in fashion and entertainment remained constant from any given moment or point. How very boring and uninteresting indeed.