Favorite Vocalists

I am going to do it, despite the general dislike and ignorance that can be found here. I think that Tony Martin is one of best singers the metal scene has known. He is very flexible when it comes to changing tone in one line. He fitted the melodic era of Sabbath very well. Here are the first three albums with him on vocals:
His predecessor was Ray Gillen, who for some mysterious reason was not allowed to sing on The Eternal Idol.
This demo shows his excellence. Great higher range, also did tremendously well on melodic hard rock such as the following song. He did the high parts very, very well. There's a certain fire and drama to his voice when he sings in a certain range, that reminds me of a young Dickinson. Great volume as well.

I guess you could say I like singers who can deliver the goods: sing high. Lots of singers can sing midrange. But to do high octaves well in metal, I think that's only given to a smaller, more select group, the creme de la creme, the best.

These two guys can or better could sing high (Martin can't anymore and Gillen died in 1993). Some people can scream high, but not sing high, at least not with the same range, power and colour. Barlow is one of these high screamers. Also one of my favourite singers but he doesn't grab me as much as some others.

By the way, have you heard that Barlow utters an "Ahhhh" (taking his breath or something) after every line he sings on Alive in Athens (and probably all other live performances)?
 
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Forostar said:
I am going to do it, despite the general dislike and ignorance that can be found here. I think that Tony Martin is one of best singers the metal scene has known. He is very flexible when it comes to changing tone in one line. He fitted the melodic era of Sabbath very well.
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(emphasis mine)

I think you will find that nobody here dislikes Martin. Some may think he doesn't fit, some may think Dio/Ozzy were better, but I don't think there's been many people who straight-up say that Martin sucks. Ignorance, of course, is a problem, but in the end it comes down to that Martin wasn't as commercially successful as Dio and Ozzy. I enjoy quite a few tracks from the Martin era, and I wholeheartedly agree the guy can sing. But that's also only one part of the component for vocalists.
 
Good points.

Here is another of my favourites:

Greg Graffin from Bad Religion. He possesses the gift of harmony and he has a little bit of a rough touch to it.
His band is especially known for fast songs such as No Control, from 1989:
But they also did some slower work in which I find that his vocals shines particularly, such as this from 1990:
and 1991:
1993:
1998:
 
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Might not be as talented as the ones mentioned (some of them are among my favorites) but Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth is one of my favorite vocalists. His clean vocals are just beautiful. And he's the only guy that I can enjoy death growls from.
 
It's not about his growls themselves. It's the only case where I can connect the growls with the feel of the music.
 
You could say that but many growling vocalists would ruin Opeth's music as well.

Anyhow his growls aren't the reason why he's one of my favorites.
 
Mikael's clean vocals work, but I wouldn't say they are amazing.

His growls on Still Life, BWP and Deliverance were out of this world though. Before SL, they were just OK, after Deliverance, the downfall began :(
 
The Flash said:
Might not be as talented as the ones mentioned (some of them are among my favorites) but Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth is one of my favorite vocalists. His clean vocals are just beautiful. And he's the only guy that I can enjoy death growls from.
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If your into Akerfeldt's growls I would definitely check out his work with Bloodbath. I think his growls are better there than even on Opeth records.
 
So I have listened to all the Halford stuff...

I have come to the conclusion that I simply do not like Halford's natural voice (not falsetto wailing). The middle part of Silent Screams reminds me of LaBrie or Tate or Ripper. The only way I know how to describe that kind of voice is "thin". It lacks depth, it lacks breath, it lacks soul. He sounds like a choir boy to me, overly enunciated, like he's singing notes on a piano. As strong as his highs are, they often sound off key to me. That said, the highs in Dissident Aggressor are amazing and the intro of Dreamer Deceiver is really angelic and well sung.

Here Come the Tears is absolutely the best thing I've ever heard Halford sing. He's singing low, but there's a great richness of tone in his voice that I find lacking in other songs. Rapid Fire is also solid, he actually sounds a bit like 90's Bruce, which I'm okay with. Blood Red Skies...I'm not sure what to think. His wails are really something, but the verses and choruses sound weak to me. Still, the song is very interesting and really builds to a wonderful plateau.

As for Immortal Sin, I like his tone on the chorus. The half-spoken verses sound forced.

For everyone who loves Halford, more power to ya. Guess he's just not my cup of tea. There are some quality songs in there, though. Nice recs.

Oh, and Pat Benatar...I need to listen to some more of this. Promises in the Dark is incredible. That second half of Hell is For Children is just awesome. I love that these songs start quietly and build into real barn burners, it's reminiscent of Dio (especially the Sabbath stuff).

LooseCannon said:
I think you will find that nobody here dislikes Martin. Some may think he doesn't fit, some may think Dio/Ozzy were better, but I don't think there's been many people who straight-up say that Martin sucks. Ignorance, of course, is a problem, but in the end it comes down to that Martin wasn't as commercially successful as Dio and Ozzy. I enjoy quite a few tracks from the Martin era, and I wholeheartedly agree the guy can sing. But that's also only one part of the component for vocalists.
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Absolutely this. 100%.

Forostar said:
Greg Graffin from Bad Religion. He possesses the gift of harmony and he has a little bit of a rough touch to it.
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I quite like Bad Religion and I think Greg fits their music perfectly. I would not consider him a great singer from a technical aspect as he has a very limited range, but he is a great singer in that he fits his band absolutely perfectly and sounds amazing with them. That's really all you can ask of a lead singer.

I have not yet listened to his solo album. Any thoughts on it?

Speaking of fitting their band perfectly...Mikael Akerfeldt.

The Flash said:
You could say that but many growling vocalists would ruin Opeth's music as well.

Anyhow his growls aren't the reason why he's one of my favorites.
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For me, it's how he fits his vocals within his songs. Akerfeldt's use of clean and growl vocals makes Opeth something special. Not because they are the only band that does it, but because their music is so strong and Mikael takes great care in laying melodies over his riffs.

I love Mikael's clean vocals. I think they are stunning in their preciseness and character, but I do feel that without the growls, they lose something. Perhaps it is simply the interplay between his intense growls and his pristine baritone that I find interesting (something you don't hear on Heritage or Damnation).
 
Just to throw in some names that aren't mentioned, I think Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Fish, Greg Lake, Peter Hammill are among the best rock vocalists as well.

Edit: Gabriel was actually mentioned by Stardust, it seems.

Not a rock singer, but Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode is very very good.
 
So when I first went to post I got a few names very quickly into my head and thought "pah that was easy", then as I typed more began to appear. I've tried not to overthink it too much as it tends to result in making it more difficult :p These are I think my sure 5 FAVOURITE (i.e, not necessarily best) vocalists (based purely on voice, not frontman/writing etc). Order is not certain, and I've picked some songs for each - kinda a mixture between songs I really enjoy and ones I think showcase the voice well.

Ronnie James Dio
Any list without him is clearly wrong :p Lots of power and capability to evoke so many moods, he can be very soft when he wants to be but also very sinister.
Rob Halford
Not much needs saying as he's already been mentioned a fair bit. He has a great deal of 'voices' imo, the differences between the tone of his voice on Painkiller and Breaking the Law for instance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0LYzDMqd2c
Freddie Mercury
Okay I suck at writing desriptions/reasons, but it's Freddie so who cares. One word summary: Awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyMAmRSX-h4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3xwCkhmies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHWLVxg8MxA
Blackie Lawless
I don't think he's the best vocalist or even close, but he's one of my favourites. There is a slight grit to his voice which particularly when doing softer songs I think it adds a lot, to me it comes across as if there is a struggle to hold back some sadness while singing the lines which makes them more sincere - that's likely just me though. For the more aggressive stuff there's a reasonable harshness to it, a snarl/spit sort of.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usOvvtrSBW8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ2LWI5iOYY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOmWOsfM6As
Axl Rose
This is probably the most controversial, mostly due to his performances of the past few years. He can sound completely different from one track to the next but I think he's got a great range and sounds like there is a heck of a lot of energy going into each song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE2nBDf4u0k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CnSTSixzcg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0ujDEUfOtE

Others that came to mind:
Bruce
Ripper
Glenn Hughes
Steven Tyler
Meatloaf (very hit and miss though)
Johnny Cash
Joakim Broden (although I don't think he has the range the rest do.. his voice realllllllly works for the Sabaton stuff)
 
I'll just add a few that haven't been mentioned, but are personal favorites of mine when it comes to voices in rock.
I won't mention Dickinson as he is numero uno by far.

Jeff Buckley - Jeff Buckley's characteristic wailing sends shivers up and down my spine.
Few other singers are able to do this to me.
If he was still around, I am sure he would be mentioned among the really great singers of the last century. Now he is merely a footnote of what could potentially have been.

Chris Cornell - often referred to as a Robert Plant clone, and early on he probably was. Though in his later years I think he has excelled beyond that.
Later years meaning mid 1990s and onwards.

Eddie Vedder - Vedder was an inspiration on countless, terrible minions of the nu-metal/alt metal "singers".
Nonetheless I like Vedder, his voice is a great deep baritone in the style of Morrison and Daltrey.
When he really really roars/screams, even Bruce cannot compete.

Mike Patton - Patton's singing, howling, crooning, screaming, growling etc is of the very diverse kind.
I don't enjoy everything he has done, but some of the work with Faith No More is excellent and some is fucking intense.

Sean Harris - from the NWOBHM genre Diamond Head's Harris was awesome, especially in the early years. I think he should have made it far.
Bad career moves and bad luck means he has not done anything worthwhile in close to ten years.

Honorable mentions to Ian Astbury, Seb Bach, Joey Ramone and Maynard J. Keenan.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
There are some quality songs in there, though. Nice recs.
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And there's much more out there.
MrKnickerbocker said:
I quite like Bad Religion and I think Greg fits their music perfectly. I would not consider him a great singer from a technical aspect as he has a very limited range, but he is a great singer in that he fits his band absolutely perfectly and sounds amazing with them. That's really all you can ask of a lead singer.

I have not yet listened to his solo album. Any thoughts on it?
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I don't remember his first that well, besides that it had a different version of the BR song Cease.
I bought the 2nd but I regretted it soon because most of it sounds as a country/Americana album, and I am not a fan of that. I liked the opening track though:
Greg Graffin also deserves extra points for the restraint way he dealt with an annoying kid who gets too intimate. First someone (maybe the same kid) threw something at him @ around 0.20. Then he invites this prick on stage. See what happens next...
 
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I'm surprised King Diamond hasn't come up yet, his range and vocal power is absolutely fantastic.


I'm a massive opera buff and I could pretentiously babble on about my favorite singers and their renditions of certain roles/arias, but that's not for this forum.

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Some vocalists that haven't been mentioned yet:

Daniel Heiman (Lost Horizon)

The band is pretty much just another typical Swedish Power Metal group, but they're set apart from the herd with their awesome vocalist. Range is incredible and the energy in his voice at any pitch is still spine-tingling.

Maynard James Keenan (Tool, A Perfect Circle)

This guy is so versatile and can convey so many different emotions through his voice. His voice can either be smooth and haunting, mystic, or angry. Not to mention his screams are a thing to admire.


Trevor Strnad (Black Dahlia Murder)

I'm really surprised this poor guy hasn't busted his vocal chords by this point. He nearly makes death growling an art with his range. In his extremely high range he screams with a really chilling and unique timbre I had never heard from any death metal vocalist. He also effortlessly belts out guttural low notes that at first made me think there were two vocalists.

Tony Martin

This is the Sabbath vocalist everyone forgets about. He has a really awesome and powerful voice, but it's a shame the music on the Sabbath albums he sung on had really shitty production as well as uninspired music. His solo work is where he really shines,

Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones)

Jagger is simply too iconic not to mention. He had the best stage presence of possibly any rock band ever, and his vocals are really what made the Stones shine. I'd love to hear him on other stuff than boring radio-pop which makes the Stones a bit boring after a while.
 
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