Do you ever wonder?

My list would be virtually anyone on commercial radio - sounds negative but the current state of pop/rock music is just intolerable for me. This really became apparant when I got back into vinyl and broke out all my old artists from the 60's and 70's.

There is alot of great music that is current it is just not played on commercial radio. If I hear Pearl Jam, Live, or Boston once more...

"Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts" - Paul Simon. Mr. Simon has said that he has had the pleasure to have worked with hundreds of stellar musicians that nobody has ever heard of.
Great fame, more than anything else, is just sheer luck. The spotlight finds them, not the other way around.

That said, my short list:

Joe Cocker
Coldplay

Cheers.

Norah Jones is simply "angelic." She is articulate, smooth, beautiful and simply one of the best female artists around. One can get "lost" in her music and her talent is "top tier." But, your question simply shows the "magic" of music in that we all have different perspectives.

I agree with Mapman. Well said.

Some people win the music lottery, some don't. Sometimes it's talent; sometimes it's luck; sometimes it's marketing or the people around you. I don't know. How did George W. become President?

I'm not a big Celine Dion fan but I have to say that she has a magnificent voice. That's what got her out of Quebec in the first place. It gets lost in everything that is around her presentation and shows though.

No opera singers on your list? It was Alfred E. Newman of Mad Magazine who said: "If opera is entertainment, then falling off a roof is transportation." LOL Look it up. I wouldn't make something like that up.

Good one, Bill. You are the provocateur el suprimo.
I don't agree with all on your list but that isn't your point. The band I don't get is "Cowboy Junkies". I have tried and tried to catch the buzz on them. Great arrangements - yes. Great recordings - yes. Good songs? Good performances? I guess, but mainly I just fall asleep.