What is your favourite female vocal?

[The_Lhc]

Don't know if it's been mentioned and I can't be bothered to look back through 5 pages of posts to find out but everytime I hear Estelle's American Boy it puts a smile on my face, not because it's a great song, it's exactly the sort of stuff I never listen to, but it's a great vocal and by that I don't mean it's an amazing voice, quite the opposite in fact, the vocal is quite flawed, her voice cracks in a couple of places and it amazes me and pleases me that it hasn't been auto-tuned to within an inch of its life.

In fact it hardly sounds like they've done anything at all, just laid it down over the backing track, which gives a real feeling of, well, reality I guess, it sounds exactly like a girl from London would sound if she was singing along in her bedroom or something, without sounding contrived like someone like Kate Nash (spit... dreadful). It's just really good to hear that done in this age of anodyne, vapid vocals.

 

[aliEnRIK]

I have loads but for some reason I always immediately think of Sinhead O Connor singing 'silent night'. It gives me chills and sounds totally amazing.

SILENT NIGHT

(Youtube really doesnt do it justice though....more a 'flavour' of it)

 

[Drummerdave]

RodhasGibson:Any more of that and I"LL confiscate your drum kit my boy.

Just try it!!

Don't buy a lot of female vox however Joni Mitchell (Hejira), Natasha Khan and PJ Harvey spring to mind. A wee bit of Bjork doesn't hurt either.

 

[Anonymous]

Lisa Hannigan on the blowers daughter (or anything else on the album) from Damien Rices' O, her vocal really makes an otherwise average track something special. Also deserving of a mention are Beth Gibbons for Roads from Portisheads Dummy album (although I prefer the live version on the brilliant Roseland NYC album) and Bjork for All is full of love (great video)

 

[survivor]

Just thought of one but I don`t know who the vocalist is? The song is `No Worries` by Simon Webbe from four years ago. The female vocalist on this song is very good indeed. Simon made the fatal mistake of drafting in a guest female vocalist who can wipe the floor with him! He`s not the first mind, Patrick Swayze and Limahl both made the same error back in the 80`s.

 

[bretty]

Cowps:Lisa Hannigan on the blowers daughter (or anything else on the album) from Damien Rices' O, her vocal really makes an otherwise average track something special.

Completely agree. Her voice sends shivers up my spine. I'm waiting for my copy of her solo album to arrive.

 

[Anonymous]

bretty:Clare Newsome:

ooooh, so MANY! Probably my top five are:

Ella Fitzgerald

Nina Simone

Julie London

Aretha Franklin

Dusty Springfield

..and that's without Diana Krall, Eva Cassidy, Dinah Washington, Madeleine Peyroux, Keely Smith, Billie Holiday, Amy Winehouse, Nancy Sinatra, Tori Amos, Carole King, Carly Simon, Mama Cass, Suzanne Vega, Michelle Shocked, KD Lang and more i've probably forgotten!

Now come on, Mrs(?) Newsome, the threads called 'Favourite female vocal'! You can't just name all the women you like, you've got to narrow it down a wee bit! It's tricky, isn't it?

By the way, did you see Madeleine Peyroux on Jools, last night? First i'd heard of her, but the girl can sing.
adelle and lissie, both are my fav female vocals. both have amazing voices and both excite and move me

 

[lastcoyote]

mary margaret o'hara - 'to cry about'

 

[Alec]

Dunno if ive contributed to this one yet* but mine could well be Natalie Merchant covering To Sir With Love with Michael Stipe. Or 10,000 Maniacs doing Because The Night unplugged. Or Merchant again doing Hello In There with Stipe.

I'm sure there are other female singers I like. Hayley Williams has an impressive set of pipes too.

* Oh yeah, I'm on page one.