Best Male Singers of the 20th Century


There is an interesting current discussion about the best female vocalists on CD. I have my own ideas about the best male singers (any category) of the 20th Century, but would like to hear other opinions.
sdcampbell
What's up! Have we all forgotten Tiny Tim? Does anybody think Sinatra, Caruso, Dylan or any of the above mentioned could have made "Tip Toe Through the Tulips" a smash hit? OK, maybe Dylan.
Lou Rawls!I just bought, Black and Blue,and Tobacco Road!!My God this guy is good!!!This is the first time ive heard anything by Lou,cant stop listening to these cds!
Classical/Opera = Luciano Pavarotti
Standards/Nightclub = Frank Sinatra
Ballads/Rock = Roy Orbison
Jazz = Louis Armstrong
Country = Jim Reeves
Christmas = Nat King Cole

Did smoking have something to do with it?
I am surprised no one mentioned Greg Lake. Maybe I missed it. As far as Fogerty?

Puleeze.....
Sam Cooke, Dean Martin, Sinatra, Marvin Gay, Tony bennit, Smokey Robinson and I LOVE the Ames Brothers....So many singers today can harmonize...its a lost art.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. There are a great many reasons why he is one of the most recorded artists in history. Perhaps the greatest lieder singer of all time.
Surprising to me that no 'old pfarts'(remember Carrol O'Connor's 'Music for....')mentioned,just for the resonant beauty of the voices,Ed Ames,solo,and Brook Benton. Cheers...D4W.
ROBIN ZANDER! I can not believe in this entire thread he was not mentioned. My favorite anyway. Sings ballads, rock, country, screams, hums. The man with a thousand voices. Awesome!
06-08-07: Gsm18439
Paul Robeson
+1, without a doubt.

Although a good case could also be made for Enrico Caruso, John McCormack, or Jussi Björling, as suggested above.

Honorable mention to Matt Monro.

Regards,
-- Al
Years ago Pavarotti stated that Frank Sinatra was the greatest singer of the 20th Century. I concur with other's on this thread that he was the greatest. His voice during the 1940's when he was with Capitol was his best singing ever until 1951 when he severely tore his vocal cord's in a singing accident which caused permanent damage where he could no longer reach the upper octaves but still had a commanding powerful voice. He truely was the Chairman of the Board.
Joe Cocker's voice in the late 60's was unbeatable. Saw him on his first U.S. tour with his Grease Band. Knocked me out the window. At the time, I had a dream of putting Joe Cocker and Janis Joplin together to make an album which would have been the best blue's singing duo of all time.
Yeah sure. Janis can't sing the blues. Just ask Jim Morrison. OOPS, too late.
I am starting to feel Eddie Vedder is our best rock singer. Lightning Bolt tour is a defining moment on how well his voice has matured.
A tie for me, both jazz guys: Mark Murphy and Johnny Hartman. Such different styles, so both are the best to me.
I know a totally unknown local tenor in the Baltimore MD area who performs locally that has the purest tone of anyone I have ever heard that I can think of.
Wasn't there a guy called Pavarotti who managed to hum a few tunes last century ?
We are limited by who have on disc or have heard in person. This may seem like an obvious statement, but many greats are not properly represented in the current discography - and they will never be. They performed in an era where recording technology was in its infancy both in terms of quality and quality (the lengths of their recorded performances) and reproduction. And even remastering does not help a lot. A good, but not great voice recorded today may sound a lot better than a great voice recorded 50 years ago. A shame, really, but also reality.
1. Billy Eckstine -- undiscovered, under-appreciated, less known but OUTSTANDING!
2. Nat King Cole
3. Freddy Mercury
4. Leonadr Cohen
5. Robert Plant
6. Joe Dassin