Best female American singer

[davidt]

I've been listening to a couple of Etta James windham hill albums a lot lately. Love's Been Rough On Me is using country soul material and Heart of a Woman is the repertoire of Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae retro-fitted with a groove. I love them.

Along the same lines I once saw Kim Massie in a club in St Louis. (there's a few things on youtube with her). She's amazing live but not well known outside her city limits I think.

Gladys Knight always sounds great to me.

Don't forget the country ladies: Alison Krauss and Rhonda Vincent on the bluegrass side or mainstream country like Lee Ann Womack, Chely Wright, Pam Tillis and many,many more. There's some really great singing by them if you dig around. Emmylou of course you don't have to dig for.

Too many and all too good for one to be judged the best IMHO.

David

[Papa M]

Don't forget the country ladies......
Too many and all too good for one to be judged the best IMHO.

Agreed - however I've always had a thing for Iris De Ment. And when she sings with John Prine......
Mind you - John Prine can do no wrong in my view.

[c hristian]

when it comes to country, i go with Patsy Cline AAALLLL THE WAAAAAYYY!!!

(thanks Jamie for the Cline mention)

[judith]

Leontyne Price - I consider her among the best of America's great female voices.

[nikki akinjinmi]

I didn't want to indulge in this strand, because there are so many contenders, but
Chaka Khan would, in my humble opinion, be up there with the greats.

[nikki akinjinmi]

Another is Linda Jones, a gospel singer called Kim Burrell, and the Clarke Sisters - all of them, Kathy Mattea, Judy Garland, Dorothy Love Coates....I could go on and on....Etta James, Debbie Harry, Mahalia Jackson (who have already been mentioned)...and numerous others.

[Hugh Weldon]

Nikki

Chaka Khan would, in my humble opinion, be up there with the greats

Yay! Muchisimo de acuerdo!

Everytime I've thought of suggesting a name, someone jumps in and beats me to it. Been listening to Chaka/Rufus's Stop on By all week.
And she's playing O2 soon I hear.

Don't think we've mentioned Joni Mitchell yet, perhaps not the best singer but surely one of the great voices.

[nikki akinjinmi]

Nikki

Chaka Khan would, in my humble opinion, be up there with the greats

Yay! Muchisimo de acuerdo!

Everytime I've thought of suggesting a name, someone jumps in and beats me to it. Been listening to Chaka/Rufus's Stop on By all week.
And she's playing O2 soon I hear.

Hugh, their version of Stop On By is good, but have you heard the Vicki Anderson & Bobby Byrd version of it? This is good too.

[Con Murphy]

Nikki, I can't believe you forgot Laura Lee.

I'd like to make a case for Erykah Badu....but I can't because you're looking for the best, and I agree that this would be between the standard names already mentioned (Aretha, early Tina and Bessie Smith would get the podium places for me). But I do think Erykah's a very good singer, and a highly original artist all-round. In earlier times, when she might have had to concentrate on the singles market (as in 45s) and condensing her experiments into more focused, 30-40 minute long albums, I think she would have sounded even better.

Lydia Mendoza hasn't been mentioned - does she count?

[nikki akinjinmi]

Nikki, I can't believe you forgot Laura Lee.

Gosh, Con, you're right, how did I leave her out? I was looking at some of her records earlier. Shame on me!!!!

[Alan Balfour]

But my second choice would be Mahalia Jackson.

The first gospel LP I ever owned was a second-hand copy of Mahalia recorded live at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. The last track of the first side made the back of my neck tingle, The Lord's Prayer. You can almost sense the awestruck audience doing their best not to drop pins! [loud laugh]

[Hugh Weldon]

Nikki

Hugh, their version of Stop On By is good, but have you heard the Vicki Anderson & Bobby Byrd version of it? This is good too.

Yeah just checked it, Vicki really belts it out, a little OTT at times perhaps. Just realised Chaka was only 21 when she did that first Rufus album. She was on Jonathan Ross the other night and I came in halfway and didn't recognise her! Anyway may be going to see her at O2 on 22nd.

[nikki akinjinmi]

Nikki

Hugh, their version of Stop On By is good, but have you heard the Vicki Anderson & Bobby Byrd version of it? This is good too.

Yeah just checked it, Vicki really belts it out, a little OTT at times perhaps. Just realised Chaka was only 21 when she did that first Rufus album. She was on Jonathan Ross the other night and I came in halfway and didn't recognise her! Anyway may be going to see her at O2 on 22nd.

Hugh, I saw her on Jonathan Ross too. I hope you enjoy the gig. I think I have left it a bit too late to get a ticket, with a decent view, now.

[Rob Hall]

Another contender for this thread: Karen Carpenter. BBC3 showed a programme about them last Friday night and I was reminded - irrespective of what we might think of the music - her voice was a lovely instrument that gave hints of emotional depths not necessarily present in the lyrics she was singing.

[Gordon Neill]

Ah yes, I agree about Karen Carpenter. A perfect pop voice. And I still like some of those songs - 'Superstar' is still a guilty pleasure.

But flipping back to relative obscurities ('cos that's what we like on this site, you know we do) I'd also nominate Bessie Jones as a worthy contender. I don't know much about her and, as far as I know, she didn't bring out many records. But she has a few field recordings on the Alan Lomax box set 'Sounds of the South' which are quite stunning. My favourite is 'Sometimes' (which was sampled by Moby a few years ago). I can't find a clip of that, but here's a sound-only youtube of her singing 'O Death'.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=a_UfPLijcOI